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For the best ride quality, the Escape wins by a mile. It absorbs humps, potholes, road joints, and even undulating sections of concrete. Nearly all unpleasant vibrations are filtered out by the MacPherson strut front / multilink rear suspension. We drove all three vehicles on one of the most jarring segments of pavement in Metro Manila: Paseo de Roxas between Makati Avenue and Gil Puyat. Where the RAV danced about uncomfortably and the CR-V vibrated slightly, the Escape simply glided through without complaint. The seats are wide and comfortable, particularly the generously driver's chair. Back and thigh support are excellent for all five seating positions. The Ford Zetec engine is always audible from the driver's seat, with the A/T version slightly quieter. Road and wind noise are moderate, and there were no squeaks or rattles in our 7000-km old unit. The Ford has the airiest cabin, helped by the light-colored (but hard) plastics and fabrics. Visibility is good even towards the rear, as there's no spare tire to block the view. For your daily fix of Michelle Branch, it's best to stay in the Ford. There's some depth and clarity in the sound, a no-magazine 6-CD changer, and best of all a large volume knob. The RAV has a 1-DIN CD unit but has ten more discs under the driver's seat. Every performer sounds like they're singing from the bottom of a deep well, though. For other types of sound environments, the CR-V's 2-DIN Kenwood has the usual useless Church/Disco/Morgue settings, a zillion tiny buttons and the trademark Swimming Dolphin. Not-too-awful sound can be coaxed out after much fiddling with the equalizer. Luggage and Utility These three present themselves as utility vehicles, and though none of them come close to a refrigerator-type van, they do try hard at it. For carrying stuff, the RAV rear door opening is huge, but so is the clearance required. It also swings open on the correct side—if you're in Japan. For LHD countries, it faces the wrong way, into the traffic side. The load floor is commendably low and flat. Still, the shallow space and protrusions from the wheel wells limit the carrying capacity. Fitting four pieces of full-sized airport luggage will take some juggling. The second row seats can be folded or even removed, without tools, in less than a minute. With its third seat in place, the CR-V has nearly zero luggage space. It's easy to collapse and flip up the seat, though, leaving an enormous space that can swallow stacks of monobloc chairs five high. You'll need some additional lifting to clear the small lip at the tailgate. As with the RAV, you can fold and tumble the second row of seats without removing the headrests. The rear glass still flips up, and, thankfully, it's now mounted on the rear door itself. Unfortunately, the rear door also swings open to the traffic side. There's a tiny picnic table under the third row, and below the picnic table a deep waterproof bucket. The CR-V is indeed the Samsonite luggage of this group. The Escape does pretty well considering its spare tire is mounted inside the cargo space and not the rear door. Because of that, the rear door can swing up instead of sideways. This makes the Escape the easiest to load in a tight space. The load floor is high because of the spare tire, but the luggage area is deep and wide, with various compartments and a storage net for smaller objects. The Escape's seats can be folded flat, but the headrests have to be removed, the seat cushion flipped up and the seat back pushed forward. The split is a useful 70/30, allowing a choice of one or two rear passengers with the additional luggage space. |
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