Were thinking of trading my wife’s car in for a bigger vehicle for our growing family, so I’ve started to look into all the different options.

Cosmetically and economically I like the look of the 2011 Escape, but I’m wondering how dependable the 3.0L is? I haven’t had a ton of luck finding reviews of the engine(mostly review of comfort level and features, which comes second to us)

How many miles do you have one yours? What kind of upgrade have you had to make in order to get better performance and dependability?

Overall, is this a good engine? Or is it riddled with problems that will cost me a ton down the line?

 

My wife and I have a 2009 with the 3.0, identical to the 2011 and we now have 215,000 miles on it. My wife just drove it over 800 miles one way to visit her folks so that tells you how much confidence we have in it. The motor and transmission have been nearly flawless, we've followed the manual for any maintenance but other than spark plug changes there hasn't been much to do on the motor.

 

I can offer that my old '02 Escape was a 3.0L and the only real issue I had was from the coils. Mine would drop a cylinder in extreme humidity but only until it warmed up a bit. Unknown to me at the time, I was destroying one of the 3 Catalytic converters. I should have changed the coil(s) immediately and the damage incurred was my fault.
When we decided to trade in the old one, we looked for a newer Escape with the same engine and now own a '12.
Personally, I like the engine. Fuel economy is OK and the power supplied is good.
There are other engines available and I'm sure others have their opinions, but my experience is strictly with the 3.0L.

I would purchase another 3.0L Escape with little concern about reliability. What I don't care for is the newer designed body. I like the look of the older ones.

 

That's good to hear. I know the post only mentions '11 but I'm looking from '10-'12.

So overall good reliability without have to put really anything into it. And I agree completely. I wont go any lower than '10, just for sake of millage and that we'd be trading in a '13. Also no higher than '12, after that the body starts to look less like an SUV and wore like and SUV/sedan crossover. Almost a hatchback with a slightly higher center of gravity.

 

Exactly. They share the same silhouette as too many other vehicles.

 

The main issue on these years is a seal-bearing on the driver side axle shaft. I have a 2010 and havent had any issues. Something to watch for. My 2010 is the 2.5 4 cyl. We replaced out 2001 Escape with the 2010, wife likes old stlye too. The 01 was a 3.0 went through 2 coil on plugs and 3 of the 4 wheel bearings. I traded it in with 198,000 miles and was bummed, but at the time I got 3500.00 for it on trade in.

 

I have a 2010 that my wife has been driving for 2.5 years. We got it with about 85,000 miles and now it has 125,000.

I am extremely impressed with the powertrain. Heavy throttle from a stop makes for squealy noisy obnoxious wheel spin. At higher speeds where wheel spin isn’t possible, it makes for vigorous acceleration. It’s actually quite a beast.