Ford Escape off road capabilities?
 

Hello,

I'll be in the market for a new car in the next few months and
I'm thinking about a 4x4. Since I'm a 20K+ mile per year commuter,
I want something that is comfortable and fun to drive, gets decent
gas mileage and is under $30K. I do a fair bit of surf
fishing, so I'd like to get something I could drive on the beach.
That's about the toughest off roading I'd be doing besides maybe
some rough, sandy fire roads in some of the local state parks.
No real off roading or rock crawling.

The Escape seems like it might fit the bill.
It has a manual center differential that can be locked but it
doesn't have a low range. The last time I owned a 4x4 (15 years ago)
I always drove the beach in low range, I never tried high range.
(BTW, the beach I'd be driving is Island Beach State Park in NJ.)

Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle?
Think it could handle this kind of driving?

Thanks in advance,
VI
How

"Chenz759" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> I'll be in the market for a new car in the next few months and
> I'm thinking about a 4x4. Since I'm a 20K+ mile per year commuter,
> I want something that is comfortable and fun to drive, gets decent
> gas mileage and is under $30K. I do a fair bit of surf
> fishing, so I'd like to get something I could drive on the beach.
> That's about the toughest off roading I'd be doing besides maybe
> some rough, sandy fire roads in some of the local state parks.
> No real off roading or rock crawling.
>
> The Escape seems like it might fit the bill.
> It has a manual center differential that can be locked but it
> doesn't have a low range. The last time I owned a 4x4 (15 years ago)
> I always drove the beach in low range, I never tried high range.
> (BTW, the beach I'd be driving is Island Beach State Park in NJ.)
>
> Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle?
> Think it could handle this kind of driving?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> VI
> How
>

Get an '03 Izusu trooper, they've stopped making troopers in preference to a
new platform made in the USA instead of japan, but the last of the '03s are
going dead cheap, sure theres not going to be any resale 5 years in the
future, but if you by one to keep they last forever, are reliable and can do
anything you ask them to. Far more than the Escape.

"Chenz759" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> I'll be in the market for a new car in the next few months and
> I'm thinking about a 4x4. Since I'm a 20K+ mile per year commuter,
> I want something that is comfortable and fun to drive, gets decent
> gas mileage and is under $30K. I do a fair bit of surf
> fishing, so I'd like to get something I could drive on the beach.
> That's about the toughest off roading I'd be doing besides maybe
> some rough, sandy fire roads in some of the local state parks.
> No real off roading or rock crawling.
>
> The Escape seems like it might fit the bill.
> It has a manual center differential that can be locked but it
> doesn't have a low range. The last time I owned a 4x4 (15 years ago)
> I always drove the beach in low range, I never tried high range.
> (BTW, the beach I'd be driving is Island Beach State Park in NJ.)
>
> Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle?
> Think it could handle this kind of driving?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> VI
> How
>

Get an '03 Izusu trooper, they've stopped making troopers in preference to a
new platform made in the USA instead of japan, but the last of the '03s are
going dead cheap, sure theres not going to be any resale 5 years in the
future, but if you by one to keep they last forever, are reliable and can do
anything you ask them to. Far more than the Escape.

"Chenz759" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> I'll be in the market for a new car in the next few months and
> The Escape seems like it might fit the bill.
> Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle?
> Think it could handle this kind of driving?

We had one come along on a 4WD trip run by our 4WD club.
It didnt' make it through the first part of the weekend.
And all we'd done was a fire-trail.

The problem was the humps they put on the tracks to make water flow across
the track rather than down it.
It kept bottoming out on these humps. And it wasn't long before a bashplate
was driven up into the works.
We had to stop 3 times, about 30 minutes each time, to bash the thing back
down again - not made any easier by the difficult access, and the fact that
it's mounted on rubber, so all attempts to bash it back were absorbed by the
rubber.
They had to come home on the blacktop on the second day, while we all
continued on with the 4WDing.


Can't say anything about it's sand capabilities, but it's ground clearance
was woefully inadequate even for a basic Australian Fire Trail.
It wouldn't likely have a hope in hell of doing anything more severe.

Trentus

"Chenz759" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> I'll be in the market for a new car in the next few months and
> The Escape seems like it might fit the bill.
> Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle?
> Think it could handle this kind of driving?

We had one come along on a 4WD trip run by our 4WD club.
It didnt' make it through the first part of the weekend.
And all we'd done was a fire-trail.

The problem was the humps they put on the tracks to make water flow across
the track rather than down it.
It kept bottoming out on these humps. And it wasn't long before a bashplate
was driven up into the works.
We had to stop 3 times, about 30 minutes each time, to bash the thing back
down again - not made any easier by the difficult access, and the fact that
it's mounted on rubber, so all attempts to bash it back were absorbed by the
rubber.
They had to come home on the blacktop on the second day, while we all
continued on with the 4WDing.


Can't say anything about it's sand capabilities, but it's ground clearance
was woefully inadequate even for a basic Australian Fire Trail.
It wouldn't likely have a hope in hell of doing anything more severe.

Trentus

They sell Escapes in Australia?

Ed

Trentus wrote:

> "Chenz759" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'll be in the market for a new car in the next few months and
> > The Escape seems like it might fit the bill.
> > Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle?
> > Think it could handle this kind of driving?
>
> We had one come along on a 4WD trip run by our 4WD club.
> It didnt' make it through the first part of the weekend.
> And all we'd done was a fire-trail.
>
> The problem was the humps they put on the tracks to make water flow across
> the track rather than down it.
> It kept bottoming out on these humps. And it wasn't long before a bashplate
> was driven up into the works.
> We had to stop 3 times, about 30 minutes each time, to bash the thing back
> down again - not made any easier by the difficult access, and the fact that
> it's mounted on rubber, so all attempts to bash it back were absorbed by the
> rubber.
> They had to come home on the blacktop on the second day, while we all
> continued on with the 4WDing.
>
> Can't say anything about it's sand capabilities, but it's ground clearance
> was woefully inadequate even for a basic Australian Fire Trail.
> It wouldn't likely have a hope in hell of doing anything more severe.
>
> Trentus

They sell Escapes in Australia?

Ed

Trentus wrote:

> "Chenz759" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'll be in the market for a new car in the next few months and
> > The Escape seems like it might fit the bill.
> > Does anyone have any experience with this vehicle?
> > Think it could handle this kind of driving?
>
> We had one come along on a 4WD trip run by our 4WD club.
> It didnt' make it through the first part of the weekend.
> And all we'd done was a fire-trail.
>
> The problem was the humps they put on the tracks to make water flow across
> the track rather than down it.
> It kept bottoming out on these humps. And it wasn't long before a bashplate
> was driven up into the works.
> We had to stop 3 times, about 30 minutes each time, to bash the thing back
> down again - not made any easier by the difficult access, and the fact that
> it's mounted on rubber, so all attempts to bash it back were absorbed by the
> rubber.
> They had to come home on the blacktop on the second day, while we all
> continued on with the 4WDing.
>
> Can't say anything about it's sand capabilities, but it's ground clearance
> was woefully inadequate even for a basic Australian Fire Trail.
> It wouldn't likely have a hope in hell of doing anything more severe.
>
> Trentus

"C. E. White" > wrote in message
...
> They sell Escapes in Australia?

Can't guarantee it's the same thing called the Escape over there, as
companies name things differently in some countries, but we do have a
soft-roader (I like the term "faux-wheel-drive") made by Ford, called the
Escape here.

This is what the Aussie Fords call the Escape.
http://www.ford.com.au/showroom/pass...ge_Gallery.asp

Trentus

"C. E. White" > wrote in message
...
> They sell Escapes in Australia?

Can't guarantee it's the same thing called the Escape over there, as
companies name things differently in some countries, but we do have a
soft-roader (I like the term "faux-wheel-drive") made by Ford, called the
Escape here.

This is what the Aussie Fords call the Escape.
http://www.ford.com.au/showroom/pass...ge_Gallery.asp

Trentus

Trentus wrote:
> "C. E. White" > wrote in message
> ...
>> They sell Escapes in Australia?
>
> Can't guarantee it's the same thing called the Escape over there, as
> companies name things differently in some countries, but we do have a
> soft-roader (I like the term "faux-wheel-drive") made by Ford, called
> the Escape here.
>
> This is what the Aussie Fords call the Escape.
> http://www.ford.com.au/showroom/pass...ge_Gallery.asp
>
> Trentus

It is sold as a Maverick in the UK! It's not very good though and very few
have been sold.

http://www.ford.co.uk/ie/maverick/-/-

--
Julian
---------
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