I just bought my wife an Escape today. I had no idea these were so nice! We got a 2003 Limited 4x4, 3.0L DURATEC™ V6 in Satin Silver with Ebony Black leather. I spend most of my time here up in the SuperDuty forums, and never even had a chance to read up on what you all have to say about your Escapes. Luckily, I haven't found out about too much going wrong with them.

We had a Windstar...and suddenly it hit her; "Am I a soccer mom?" she says to me. I said "Well, you do drive a mini-van!" She wanted a 4wd, so off we went to the Ford dealer. We first looked at the new Expediton. Very nice! Too much cash, not to mention rediculously large. Explorer, again very cool, but EVERYBODY HAS THEM! We drove the Escape, and it was everything we ever needed for under30 grand! Splendid!

I'll try to get pics of it in my gallery today.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 04-Jan-03 AT 09:00 PM (EST)]congrats! You don't hear to much about the Escapes. We bought it's cousin Mazda Tribute back in March. Our only complant is excessive wind/road noise and the shift lever is in the way of the radio.

 

Congrats on the Escape! Can you believe all the toys on the Limited? Heated seats, reverse sensing- gotta love 'em! We can't keep them in stock. I think the best part is the maneuverability- you can just turn that thing on a dime, like the original Bronco/ IH Scout. You'll be amazed at what people do with these little 'utes!

 

I got one about a month ago just like yours only mine is Ash Gold with the black leather interior. It is truely a pleasure to drive. I find myself slowing down and enjoying the trip more these days.
I heard all the stories about "too much wind noise" and I don't know if the Limited has more insulation or not but I didn't think it was/is any more noisy than any other vehicle. In fact, we stopped at the dealership Nov. 29 because it was a particularly windy day, just to drive one and they had a Limited equipped just like the one we had decided to order (we had no intention of buying a vehicle that day). Since they had what we wanted in stock and we were going to buy one anyway, we decided then was as good a time as any other.
I have not been a big advocate of front wheel drive over the years but the Escape gives the driver no indication that it is in front wheel drive when it is not in 4 wheel drive -- I like that (the front wheel drive) a lot more than I thought I would. The only negative comment is that I wish it would have had an illuminated ignition switch. I find the key slot difficult to find -- admittedly a minor complaint.
We're getting 17-18 MPG around town and took it on 1 road trip which got us about 22 MPG. What are you getting?
It is the nicest vehicle we've ever had.

 

Hey thanks all! Were really enjoying the new Escape. I call it the Ess-Kuh-Pee. I don't know why. It's just so cute, it needs a pet name.

The Tribute looks cool! It has more chrome in the grille!

Joe, we just finished our first tank of gas, and got just under 16 mpg. I'm sure it will get better though. The key switch is kind of a pain to find at night. The only real complaint we have is that we noticed the little plastic cover that fits over one the child safety seat anchor locks is missing, and the others keep falling off. Not sure what I'm going to do about that. Seems so petty, but I think it should be taken care of anyway. I'm also not quite used to the accelerator pedal. I don't know if it's stiff like some others have stated, or if it's just touchy. My wife hasn't said anything about it, so it's probably just me.

 

We looked hard at both the Escape and Tribute. We didn't like the grey plastic cladding the Ford had. The Mazda uses smooth painted cladding. We had acutally came very close to buying a Green Escape XLT but the dealer was screwing us big time on financing....

 

>We didn't
>like the grey plastic cladding the Ford had. The Mazda uses
>smooth painted cladding.

I couldn't agree more V10man. The Escape Limited has painted cladding. I don't care for all that plastic either. But some apparently love it. Chevy seems to sell those Plasticlanches quite well! lol