Hello, I am thinking of purchasing an Escape and was curious as to what everyone is getting for gas mileage in their 6cyl autos. 2wd and 4x4. city and hwy and mix. If any of you keep up with that.

Also, anyone tow a boat or trailer with their Escape? My current truck only has 153hp and 175lbs of torque and pulls my boat fine which weighs approx 27001bs. Odd this machine is rated only at 2000lbs with its power when my truck is rated at 3500.

Any information would be great!

Thanks.

 

It's 2000lbs without the class two towing package because it's unit body construction. No frame rails to hang heavy stuff on, so the small hitch or bumper loads have to be around 200lbs. With the bigger hitch frame spreading the load to more body panels, it can hold 350lbs of tongue weight so 3500 lbs of trailer weight is okay. See? The usual figure given for balancing the load is to have more in front of the trailer axle, somewhere around 10% of the total weight to be on the tongue. The class two is good for up to 500lbs on the tongue for a good margin of safety. However, if you exceed the 350 lbs, you may be putting to much load on the standard tires, axles, bearings, and springs.

 

I've got a 4x2 V6 and get 24-24.5mpg. It's a highway commute but the destination is downtown Dallas so there is some traffic. I've seen some people say they get 18 or worse in town but you don't know how aggressive they drive. The lowest I've noticed was 22mpg and I was loaded down with 4 people, cargo and primarily driving around town.

I've never towed but will probably do some light towing occassionally. Due to the number of transmission complaints I've seen I'm cautious about heavy towing with the Escape.

 

Thanks for the info. Im tryin to replace two vehicles with one and having a hard time trying to find one that gets decent gas mileage and can tow my boat. I thought this one would be it but I am concerned about the transmission. Gas mileage is acceptable to me but does me no good if I'm unable to tow the boat.

Thanks for the information

 

Get the class 2 tow package ninx2 and you won't have to worry about the tranny unless you exceed the 3500 lbs specs. Do the recommended maintenance and don't sweat it.

 

I'v had an '01 and now an '03 Tribute (same drivetrain as Escape)
I tow a small bass boat that probably weighs a little less than what you want to tow. I can hardly even tell that there is anything back there, it tows fine. The only complaint I have is that the rear seats need to be down and the hatch needs to be open to see the trailer when the boat isn't on it. It is hard to correct the trailer in reverse when you can't see it!

As for mileage, I have the V6 AWD and (with strict record keeping) get 19 - 20 overall. In the winter, when I lived in the cold north, mileage dropped alot, this is the most cold blooded vehicle I have ever driven. I have a K&N drop in on the '03 and I had a K&N and a Gibson exhaust system on the '01. Mileage didn't change very much, and I wouldn't recommend the Gibson system, it rusted very quickly, didn't fit well without some tweaking and was loud in the cab.

Keep up with trans fluid maintanance and it will do fine.

 

I'm averaging 16.5 MPG on my '04 V6 AWD over the first 5000 miles. I hope it gets better soon!