My wife dragged me to the Ford dealer last weekend to "look." Well I looked....and left.

She had been noticing the good mileage of the little Ford Escape...which is only available with a manual tranny on the 4cyl...not the V6.

But after looking at everything there I decided that there wasn't anything there that made me want to endure 5 years of sweat. I still love my 95 4Runner with it's manual tranny and I just don't see anything innovative out there (other than the hydrid vehicles.

So I took my money and went home.

 

Glad you left, remember, the Escape has had something like 10 safety recalls since it came out.

 

My parents test drove one and I must say that my truck sitting on 33's was quieter on the road than that thing.

 

Took the 4Runner in this morning for the dealer to replace the rear output shaft seal on the transfer case. Test drove a new 4Runner SR5 V8 and a Highlander Limited, both priced at about 33K.

At 70 mph, the V8 was spinning at about 2100 rpm, compared with my '95 at about 3200 rpm. The 4runner was smoother and quieter than the Highlander. Toyota rates the V6 4wd at 1 mpg more than the V8 which happens to have the same EPA gas mileage as my 95 (19mpg).

I'm just trying to imagine that new Runner with Malamute hair in it.

 

That Escape is tiny also. I mean really small compared to the Runner.

 

The oil pans are made of aluminum as well. Doesn't bounce off rocks to well, speaking from experience. luckily it was for a tv show so we handed back ford an escape minus an engine.

 

We didn't even take one for a test drive. I'm just not a Ford fan. Although I have to drive about 35 minutes to get service (Las Cruces Toyota) and the Ford, Honda & Jaguar dealers are just a couple of miles away, I'm just not sold on Ford's better idea.

That new 4Runner has me thinking though. For all the beating it's taken here on the board, it was the quietest, most comfortable, and easiest cruiser I've been in in quite a while.

Don't know what it's like offroad, but that's prbably why I'd keep the 95.

 

Don't forget that the Mazda Tribute is the same vehicle as the Escape. Zoom...Zoom...

 

On a business trip to Austin a few months back, the rental agency handed me the keys to an Escape. It was a windy day, and I couldn't believe how hard I had to fight to keep from being blown off the road.

Net -- I got a 3-day test drive at company expense and learned that it wasn't a car I'd want to own.

 

19MPG? That had to be downhill. Mine has never given me that kind of mileage (before the mods of course)

 

Must be because yours is a '93. The extra wear and tear ya know.

 

I bought it in 95 though...

 

I routinely get 19mpg on the 95.
Get 17 at 70-75 fighting a headwind.
Just got the injectors cleaned and put a glasspack on it. But I'm swapping that out to a 2.25 cat-back with a LOOOOONG Magnaflow. We'll see what that does to the mpg.