Hi all
Thread Starter
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New User
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
From: LA, CA
Hi all
My wife & I just got an '03 Escape from a Toyota dealership. I did a lot research for this vehicle, including using this forum so I wanted to say thanks for all the great info on this site.
It's a long story but we nearly didn't get this vehicle because we discovered it had severe electrical problems due apparently to water getting into the main control box for the electronics. Long story short we got the dealers to send it to the nearby Ford dealership where they completely replaced the wiring loom. They also did the accelerator cable recall.
Why didn't we walk away? Well this car has a unique combination of features that I haven't seen before. My wife fell in love with it immediately, and so I had to do what I could
We found out from Ford that it was built in Kentucky and is a custom job. I don't think the Toyota dealers knew what they had and I also think they caused the damage when cleaning the engine. Anyway we got the repair work guaranteed for 12k miles and also got a 100k mile warranty from our bank - just in case...
They lost out on this deal :
Late '03 Escape XLT 2wd - spotless!
Sunroof
Mach Stereo with 6-CD changer
2-tone grey bodywork
2-tone custom leather seats, match bodywork
Running boards
16" alloy wheels
everything works
We were renting '05 escapes to go camping in for a while, which made us want to get one of these great vehicles! I never thought I'd buy a Ford! I'm normally a Japanese/ German car fan. Our 1990 Toyota truck has 267k miles on it and still going strong! However being a UK expat, it feels really good to drive a Ford in the country of its birth.
Anyway, blah blah - mods - I plan on getting an ally grill, intake, cat-back exhaust and then see what a chip would cost. But I want to drive it around stock for a while first. I love the 200 hp but it's a little thirsty - so tempting to use that right foot all the time. The auto transmission is surprisingly quick to react - much better than the larger Ford SUVs, like Explorer. The V6 sounds wonderfully angry when you floor it, but grip is surprisingly poor in the wet when accelerating. I wondered if the 4WDs we rented were using the transmission at all - now I know they were and it's a great system that you don't need to think about.
Anyway, very happy with the 2WD '03
Thanks for reading!
cheers
-Eaks
It's a long story but we nearly didn't get this vehicle because we discovered it had severe electrical problems due apparently to water getting into the main control box for the electronics. Long story short we got the dealers to send it to the nearby Ford dealership where they completely replaced the wiring loom. They also did the accelerator cable recall.
Why didn't we walk away? Well this car has a unique combination of features that I haven't seen before. My wife fell in love with it immediately, and so I had to do what I could
We found out from Ford that it was built in Kentucky and is a custom job. I don't think the Toyota dealers knew what they had and I also think they caused the damage when cleaning the engine. Anyway we got the repair work guaranteed for 12k miles and also got a 100k mile warranty from our bank - just in case...They lost out on this deal
:Late '03 Escape XLT 2wd - spotless!
Sunroof
Mach Stereo with 6-CD changer
2-tone grey bodywork
2-tone custom leather seats, match bodywork
Running boards
16" alloy wheels
everything works
We were renting '05 escapes to go camping in for a while, which made us want to get one of these great vehicles! I never thought I'd buy a Ford! I'm normally a Japanese/ German car fan. Our 1990 Toyota truck has 267k miles on it and still going strong! However being a UK expat, it feels really good to drive a Ford in the country of its birth.
Anyway, blah blah - mods - I plan on getting an ally grill, intake, cat-back exhaust and then see what a chip would cost. But I want to drive it around stock for a while first. I love the 200 hp but it's a little thirsty - so tempting to use that right foot all the time. The auto transmission is surprisingly quick to react - much better than the larger Ford SUVs, like Explorer. The V6 sounds wonderfully angry when you floor it, but grip is surprisingly poor in the wet when accelerating. I wondered if the 4WDs we rented were using the transmission at all - now I know they were and it's a great system that you don't need to think about.
Anyway, very happy with the 2WD '03
Thanks for reading!
cheers
-Eaks
Last edited by Eakster; Jan 12, 2005 at 02:42 PM.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,123
Likes: 2
From: Fort Smith
Welcome to FTE Eakster! 
Glad you found the information here useful. I myself am a new Escape owner also - well - the wife is anyway.
We bought an '05 Limited. I was actually impressed with the Escape from my initial thoughts. It has suprised me. My baby will always be the Explorer, and the Escape will never take its place, but the Escape is just what she was looking for when it came to size, power, room inside, etc.
Hope you stay around!
Glad you found the information here useful. I myself am a new Escape owner also - well - the wife is anyway.
We bought an '05 Limited. I was actually impressed with the Escape from my initial thoughts. It has suprised me. My baby will always be the Explorer, and the Escape will never take its place, but the Escape is just what she was looking for when it came to size, power, room inside, etc. Hope you stay around!
Thread Starter
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New User
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
From: LA, CA
Finally..!
I got some interior shots of our 2-tone leather on a nice sunny morning yesterday - to those that were interested in this custom job we found at a Toyota dealership. The new pics are towards the bottom of my Gallery.
We have just got it back from its 2 1/2 week vacation at the Ford dealership garage, so it had just been cleaned and loved.
Long story short - after we had the wiring loom totally replaced just before signing the papers for it, it turns out the one thing left that didn't work was the a/c! Took us 3 months to get it back in the shop. At first they couldn't figure out the problem. Then, they thought replacing the main processor would fix it. The new one they ordered, when it finally arrived, was found to be defective, so they had to order another one. Took a Specialist to finally fit it properly.
In the end, job's a good 'un, and the car runs really nice - *everything* works this time
- I made double sure of that before driving it off the lot.
Just as a warning - it will cost you 75 bucks if you want a new key made - that is just the programming fee. Another alarm key fob will cost nearly 50 bucks, and *then* they will tell you they need to program that too and try and charge you *another* 75 bucks to lethargically punch those buttons ( a five minute job).
If you kick up enough fuss, like my wife is good at, you might get those charges knocked off
Just to rub salt in the wounds someone from the dealership bothered me at work wanting to hear our experience for Customer Service records. Then later she called my cellphone for the same reason - she didn't realise she'd already called me. The word 'incompetence' is now firmly imprinted in my head when I think of this particular Ford dealership.
(No offense intended to anyone on this board who might be connected to Ford. - these guys really seemed to not know what they were doing for the whole 2 1/2 weeks and left us hanging about for a long time when we came to pick it up, messed up our key order and tried to hit us with all these charges at the last minute).
Just out of interest we got them to lend us a brand new Ford Ranger pickup (1000 miles on clock) while Storm was in the shop (again after wifey made a fuss). I have to tell you, it was like driving a car built by a completely different manufacturer. This one drove like a truck. Once you realise it's a truck and treat it like that it's not so bad, but everytihng, and I mean *everything* was a much inferior experience to our 2 year old Escape. From the transmission (poor pick-up and loud noise) to the visibility, to the placement of the interior switch gear - everything seemed like a poor design in comparison.
Glad to have her back
Cheers!
We have just got it back from its 2 1/2 week vacation at the Ford dealership garage, so it had just been cleaned and loved.
Long story short - after we had the wiring loom totally replaced just before signing the papers for it, it turns out the one thing left that didn't work was the a/c! Took us 3 months to get it back in the shop. At first they couldn't figure out the problem. Then, they thought replacing the main processor would fix it. The new one they ordered, when it finally arrived, was found to be defective, so they had to order another one. Took a Specialist to finally fit it properly.
In the end, job's a good 'un, and the car runs really nice - *everything* works this time
- I made double sure of that before driving it off the lot.Just as a warning - it will cost you 75 bucks if you want a new key made - that is just the programming fee. Another alarm key fob will cost nearly 50 bucks, and *then* they will tell you they need to program that too and try and charge you *another* 75 bucks to lethargically punch those buttons ( a five minute job).
If you kick up enough fuss, like my wife is good at, you might get those charges knocked off
Just to rub salt in the wounds someone from the dealership bothered me at work wanting to hear our experience for Customer Service records. Then later she called my cellphone for the same reason - she didn't realise she'd already called me. The word 'incompetence' is now firmly imprinted in my head when I think of this particular Ford dealership.
(No offense intended to anyone on this board who might be connected to Ford. - these guys really seemed to not know what they were doing for the whole 2 1/2 weeks and left us hanging about for a long time when we came to pick it up, messed up our key order and tried to hit us with all these charges at the last minute).
Just out of interest we got them to lend us a brand new Ford Ranger pickup (1000 miles on clock) while Storm was in the shop (again after wifey made a fuss). I have to tell you, it was like driving a car built by a completely different manufacturer. This one drove like a truck. Once you realise it's a truck and treat it like that it's not so bad, but everytihng, and I mean *everything* was a much inferior experience to our 2 year old Escape. From the transmission (poor pick-up and loud noise) to the visibility, to the placement of the interior switch gear - everything seemed like a poor design in comparison.
Glad to have her back
Cheers!
Last edited by Eakster; May 13, 2005 at 08:01 PM.
