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
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