|
Despite its butch appearance, Ford wants to improve the fuel economy and handling, so they essentially made the Escape as a front-wheel driver with the ability to engage the rear-wheel drive automatically when the fronts begin to slip. The idea has been introduced before in Honda’s Real-Time All-Wheel Drive. However, unlike Honda's multi-plate clutch system, the Escape uses a rotary blade coupling to detect the slippage and to distribute power to the rear wheels. A three-finned blade compresses silicone fluid in three separate chambers, engaging a clutch for on-demand four-wheel drive. For those contemplating some mud plugging, you can lock the Escape in four-wheel drive mode with just the twist of a dial on the dash. On the subject of driving, the Escape has been tuned to behave much like a tall car. The steering provides good on-center weight and accuracy, imparting a Escape with a more nimble feel and agility on twisty mountain roads compared to the Toyota RAV4. Body roll is barely noticeable. As car-like as it could be, the Escape still suffers from some inherent SUV problems at higher speeds such as tremendous doses of understeer, which is quite evident in some fast corners. The additional bulk of the Escape doesn’t help either, making it suffer the most understeer compared to the others in this segment. Aside from understeer, because of the Escape’s more boxy profile, it suffers more from wind noise, especially from the A-pillar. In 4x4 XLT guise, the Escape comes with the usual set of safety equipment that’s standard in cars in this genre: dual SRS airbags, anti-lock brakes and electronic brakeforce distribution. Unlike the Japanese, the Escape still relies on vented discs in front and drums at the back to provide the stopping power. Nonetheless, it performs quite well, stopping the Escape dead in its tracks with complete confidence. Inside, it’s the only soft-roader to have three child-seat mounting points at the back as standard. Overall, the Ford Escape couldn’t have come at a better time. Though the 4x2 XLS is destined to go to the irritated people who lined up and are still waiting for their Honda CR-V, the 4x4 XLT is aimed for those who want to have an entertaining and well thought-of package that’s relatively flab-free and true to image. Though the same amount of money may buy a Toyota Camry or a Nissan Cefiro, neither of these luxo-cruisers has the same youth-oriented feel and versatility that can only be satisfied by a SUV. Moreover, neither can make its occupants break out of the typical three-box thinking that’s trapping many buyers, much like the everyday EDSA traffic. Maximizing ownership of an SUV means living a certain lifestyle—an active lifestyle. Though the Toyota RAV4, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Subaru Forester and most especially the Honda CR-V may present themselves as instruments of such a life, each is compromised. None of these can provide the same combination of image, space and overall 4x4 performance as a Ford Escape. This one is capable of actually going out and enjoying the active life. motioncars.com would like to thank Ford Group Philippines for accommodating us for the Ford Escape 4x4 XLT MT and AT test drive.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
