had between 2-3 feet snow on my street this morning, as well as my driveway and on top of my truck !. Freakin nuts snow storm last night, that you may only see once every 10 years or more.

I had to get out of town by 9am for work today, and the Ford Escape blew through the snow like nothing. I had no time to shovel the driveway at 6 am, just cleaned off the truck, and drove the truck out pretty easily through the huge snow drifts on the street. The amount of snow on the streets in my subdivision was crazy high, no way any car could have made it anywhere, as there has not been any snowplowing on my street in 24+ hours.

I gotta say the Escape felt super secure in the extreme conditions we got, pretty much drove effortless while other vehicles just died and were stuck all over the place. It's day's like this that make a high clearance 4wd vehicle worth their weight in gold, which is the reason I got one. I've never had a 4wd vehicle before, I've gotten stuck enough times with 2wd vehicles so the difference today was a night and day difference. The higher fuel consumption cost didn't bother me today , though I had to work while everyone else my city got a snow-day off.

I've owned my xlt v6 for a month which I bought as a winter vehicle, so I never had a chance to drive it in winter conditions until today. The little truck was a tireless work horse today. It needs better wipers but that is easy enough to correct. Just thought I'd share my great experience with this truck, I know some people have asked about it's winter abilities before so I just want to express my satisfaction with it. It's a simple truck but it works pretty damn sweet when you really need it.

 

That was a crazy snow storm you guys got in London, eh Joey? I plow snow and I am kind of glad we didn't get that much. Glad it worked out for you.

And, may I recommend the Reflex wipers from Canadian Tire? Kind of expensive (around $20 EACH) but they work GREAT!

-Matt

 

yup I am in London, this was the worst snow fall I remember in the last 15+ years, perhaps even longer. If you get paid per plow this storm may have been loonies from heaven for a plower, but it was a nightmare for contract plowers.

Thanks for the info on the wipers I'll check them out for sure, btw my wife is from Sarnia, I'll be there for the xmas holidays with my Escape.

 

I know the threads a little old, but I have to jump in and agree. I live in Washington state (not exactly known for snow). However I live in Fall City up a old logging road about 1100 feet. The road has been black topped but it was never made into a "real" road. We received about 1 to 1.5 feet of snow. It took me a long time to get down I-90 from work and then finally to this old logging road. No one had gone up it yet or if they had thier tracks were already covered. The car in front of me (all wheel drive sedan) kept getting stuck it couldn't plow the snow and it made me stop a couple times on a step incline, it finally got out of the way and let me make the path. The escape did awesome I can't tell you how many cars I saw stuck on the way home.

Tom

 

It moves through sand real well down here in Florida. What a nice SUV!

 

I guess I spoke too soon, I actually got stuck this weekend on my street about 20 yards from my home. The Escape got perched on some high hard packed snow/ice that had blown in a corner of our street from an open area. I didn't realize how deep it was until I was on top of it, and then realized how hard packed the snow was, ice packed. I put too much trust in the 4wd system, I realized the Escape's system transfers power to the wheel with the least amount of traction. So I had one wheel spinning on the front and one wheel spining on the rear. I put my interior floor mats under the spinning wheels to give them traction and then the opposite wheels started spinning. We had to dig the truck out of all the snow and ice that was jammed under the chasis, and got some helping hands from neighbours to push her backwards, finally got it out, but it was tough.

I guess the truck gets good traction in straight line driving, but if you get into some tough situations the power ends up at the wheel with least amount of traction unfortunately. I guess there is something to say about locking diffs. Lesson to learn is keep the vehicle from getting into really deep snow, once it gets too high the vehicle gets perched upwards and traction to the wheels is tough.

 

JFUSION- One thing I learned with open differential four wheel drive systems is to use your brakes to even out the traction on your tires. It is not the same as limited slip but it does help.

 

ah thanks for the tip, I never thought about that, I should have tried it, damn. Thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep that in mind next time round.

 

The factory tires aren't nothing to write home about either. A set of BFG AT KO's will make a big difference.

 

Well I drove my wife's Escape this morning 2wd and my normal work truck today 4wd. We got about 3-4 inches of snow. I can't tell a difference between the two except the fwd is more predictable, even more so on ice. Maybe it was deeper I'd notice a difference but as mr. fusion found out after a certain height it won't matter. We have over 50k on our stock tires and no problems. It's all in how you take care of them.

 

I'm not talking about how long stock tires last, it's about the traction. I run bfg's on all my 4x4's as I wheel alot. They have an aggressive tread pattern with good sipping for ice and decent street manners. They made a real difference when I put them on my 01 escape, it was like a different truck. The stock tires were firestone and were pretty much helpless.

 

Good tires do make a difference in a vehicles capabilities, especially any truck.

 

During February we had a huge snow storm and my Escape handled awesome. I was really pleased with how it handled the extreme conditions