Smoke 'em on level pavement? Smoke em might be a bit strong but certainly a good burn out. If I want to truly smoke tires I have to get out the Mustang.

 

One other thought is that there is not a little computer guy in the Escape looking at the pavement to see what is coming. Level dry pavement might quickly have a puddle, an icy spot, a patch of gravel, a painted crosswalk stripe, or an oil spot on it. The real world is like that.

If you are heavy on the throttle with front wheel drive only and hit a spot like that, cars do weird things. If the Escape was normally 100% in front drive mode and hit a slippery spot like this, it would not be a good idea to SLAM the center diff into a locked position, going from 0 to 100% locked--it would cause even more problems. As it stands, if you hit a bad spot with the front wheels while giving it moderate throttle, the slight torque that the rear wheels are receiving will keep the car moving without abrupt driveline shock type stuff. And more torque is transitioned to the rear wheels when the computer figures out that a front wheel is spinning. Again, this is by design and makes sense to me.

In Michigan, winter driving involves going from snowy roads to icy spots, to dry spots, to wet spots, to icy spots, etc...sometimes many times in a single mile. The Escape's AWD system is a godsend on this kind of pavement. The Liberty or Ranger will be in RWD at all times, and if you lock the transfer case on a snowy/icy section and then hit a dry section of pavement, you get drivetrain windup. I've had 4WD vehicles in the past, including a brutal Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser, and they made little sense in winter conditions on the road.

The Escape, like most other small SUV/crossovers, is car derived--it is a Mazda 626 platform that sits higher up--and this is why it is so popular with people who drive it primarily on the road. If you want a 4WD truck an Escape is not really it.

George

 

I didn't put the 4WD emblem on the rear, Ford did! Why not call it what it really is? Depends on what your main ride was before.

Marketing Ploy? One point like DFCO or deaccelleration fuel cut off. You can read a PR about the Flex/Fusion and both stated they are the first to have DFCO! How can that be?

 

It would been nice if Ford chose to have a dash icon for 4WD enabled but they didn't. Of course there is a unused 4WD icon in the upper lefthand corner. It'll be interesting to watch my SG-II this winter.

I've read a post in another forum who has a Down Under version called a Maverick in which the 4WD came ON along with the ABS light. In that owner's manual shows that as a fault condition.

No mention in the '09 manual about the 4WD dash icon.

The shop manual mention a high temperature problem cause full lock up of the ATC rearend unit for cooling purposes, I guess. It states to idle in park for ten minutes for cooling but dosen't mention how you know this is happening. Could this enable the unused 4WD dash icon??? Since there's only two wires going into the rearend to operate the ATC unit, I'm clueless as to how they detect a overheating condition!!!

 

You still seem to be focused on the AWD/4WD nomenclature thing. 4WD is a global term and can be applied to AWD vehicles because they *can* drive through all 4 wheels. Honda calls their electronic AWD system "Real Time 4WD" and I'm guessing that there are many other mfrs out there who use 4WD or 4X4 logos and advertising for cars that we might refer to as AWD.

Your comment on DFCO makes it seem as though you have a hobby of keeping score on advertising claims...

If you have a legit problem getting somewhere with your Escape, post about that and we'll discuss...you have not mentioned a single shortcoming of how the Escape actually operates. People love these vehicles. I bet it will surprise you with its competence.

Take care,
George

 

Ford used the term 4WD on the Escape along with the description of a "on demand" which I believed! If they would have called it AWD, I "may" purchased another Ranger. I might be happy with the way it handles under adverse driving conditions but I'm just not too happy that what I thought I was getting, I didn't.

If that one FEH owner didn't post a picture of a SG-II showing all that rear wheel torque, I never would have known the real story.

Being a retired machine repairman from Ford, I like to know how things work and I'm amazed at what limited information is available even to dealers.

There are numerous assemblies that aren't field serviceable.

The DFCO came up in a Escape Hybrid forum and first I ever heard of it. A search showed DFCO patent for an early Escort. It's been refined since then. A scanner that can show Loop Status or a SG-II will tell you if you have DFCO and the '09 FE has it. Maybe my '97 Ranger had it too! During that search I found the exact same wording for DFCO operation and claims of being the first vehicle to have it on those two Ford vehicles.

 

Yes.....just did it test driving one today......and i still bought it

 

FWD or 4WD?