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2013 Ford Escape
It's a new model year and a major redesign. Please post if you are considering a new Escape, or have tested one out or plan to buy one.
If you already own one, please give us your report.
Thanks!
If you already own one, please give us your report.
Thanks!

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I would never have considered buying an Escape before the redesign. The outdated, boxy design did not appeal to me and my opinion is clunky and old fashion.
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1795942/photo-9.jpg
Drove 1.6 and it seemed like a little rocket ship and suspect 2.0 is downright Fasssssssssst.
I was getting over 27 on a test drive in 1.6 on about a 10 mile flat highway trip.
Thanks
congrats to them and you
The issues you reported should be resolved by the dealer as they all sound like something is broken and you should not have to put with that. I too am coming out of German and Japanese cars for the last 20 years and hope Ford has things figured out. My prior 20 years have had maybe 3-4 issues in all those cars over 20 years and all very small brief fixes.
When driving with a passenger in the front, it becomes acceptable. Dealer says it's normal for a FWD car, but they've only driven it with a passenger on board. I've emailed them a request to drive it solo. No reply.
The literature says that the 2013 Escape has electric power steering with "torque steer compensation." I suspect that the unit in this vehicle is faulty.
Has any of you driven a 2.0 FWD with no passenger on board? If so, what is your impression of the vehicle's torque steer? Or, can you direct me to a source of information on this issue?
It started on a long drive where the navigation system locked up, and would not turn off. National Ford service center said the only solution was to disconnect the battery or pull the fuse. Not great options...
I brought the escape in for the carpet recall, and had them look at the navigation system as well. A day later, it was returned to me with a new side console panel, and all the settings reset. They could not determine the problem with the navigation system, so they just wiped it. When I got into the car, the automatic windows wouldn't work (probably a by-product of resetting the system, and easily identified and resolved...but it was not identified nor resolved). Luckily I was still on the lot and returned to the service center. They could not fix it on the spot, and had to keep it another day.
Other issues with the vehicle:
Gas mileage does not come close to advertised specs. I get just under 20 MPG regardless of primarily highway or city driving (and I drive extremely conservative).
Underpowered. Once the boost spools up, it is barely adequate to accelerate to traffic speeds on the beltway. If I don't get that rolling start, cars are braking behind me.
Synch / MyTouch is far too buggy for sale. I frequently get about 30 seconds of delay whenever I try to input a command (both from the voice commands, and the touch screen). If that's not frustrating enough, I have to unplug and re-plug my iPhone in after each engine start or it won't play through the car. This creates a secondary effect b/c every time you plug in a new device, synch has to index and rebuild voice commands. I'm halfway to my destination before I can even begin to listen to an audio book or music.
It does have some nice convince features like the foot operated tailgate, and blind spot detectors (parking assist does not work, and it incessantly beeps whenever I park)
To top it all, when I got my Escape back the first time (it is still in the shop for the automatic window issue), it had a noticeable amount of bird crap on it.
It's the lack of attention to detail, and a plague of numerous problems that makes this vehicle a poor buy and an even poorer investment.
Ford should have done some further testing and QC before releasing it to the public.
Not sure how that works but hopefully it takes care of you as that is a shame you had those problems. Some reviews I have read of people with same car seem to love it and reported 30mpg in a Titanium. You must really have a Lemon as surely everyone can't be like that. I have heard of times where the dealer will just take care of it and put you in a new car at the dealer ship without going down the lemon law path.
Many reputable dealers will do at least what you mentioned, and some will outright return your money (Chevy has an ongoing guarantee like this). I'm upset at this dealership, as they don't seem to care about the company name...
I was curious how the other people got such good gas mileage. Maybe they were mistaken in their engine size / drivetrain? Or maybe they trusted the onboard sensor instead of calculating it themselves (reset counter at each gas fill up, and do some minor division).
Anyway, I hope I can get my money back, and try again with a better product!
Thanks
This makes the percentage of time the Escape will be in the shop since I purchased it: 21.7%
This is quite unacceptable for a new vehicle purchase.
@al63017: I hope it won't come to contacting a local news company. I would have to get a far worse treatment from Ford before I did that. The dealership does have a lot of time to resolve my issues, and I will give them the benefit of the doubt as much as I can (though their track record to date hasn't been great).
@tim156: well Maryland's lemon law does state that a dealership does have three chances to fix a non-safety related issue that will affect resale. I am thinking an unresponsive navigation / MyFordTouch could qualify, or if you have to turn it off by disconnecting the battery every time it freezes, or even if my gas mileage doesn't improve above 20 MPG.
But hopefully, they can either fix it, or resolve the issue before I have to push the lemon law.
I wish I got your gas mileage just once! I would have continued the wonder I had when I first purchased it!
And the bird crap...you're absolutely right. In the grand scheme of things, it matters less than what I ate for lunch, but it's the little things that make a great dealership (or lack of the little things that really solidifies a first impression)
@al6307: I really hope I have a special case, and the positive reviews all over the Internet are what led me to buy it in the first place! I really did love the looks of it (a sporty minivan look), and the technology suite was a deal closer. As the wonderful haze of new car euphoria wore off, I began noticing things that did not meet the expectations I had when I purchased it (MFT / Navigation / sync responsiveness, bugs with iPhone connectivity, locking nav/MFT system, gas mileage, ability to accelerate when required).
I hope you will enjoy it, and be able to overlook these issues if they are present in your vehicle, but maybe see if you can get a return guarantee from your dealership just in case.
no car drives as the manufacturers specs indicate. ie. hybrid. Ford want to sell a suv, advertised specs are usually so out of wack with real world, just be careful about the sales pitches.
this suv has been in europe for years. I am surprised at the bugs listed. Wikipedia has a good write up about the euro version.
Let us know now and then how things are going. I think there will be happy ending to this as I can't see Ford just leaving you hanging off a cliff. Hang in there!!!!
If you want to squeeze out the best mpg’s, you will need to be very light on the accelerator. I noticed when you take off from a stop with a heavy foot, the average mpg’s drop very quickly. The highway portion of the trip in Western Wisconsin was all curving, rolling hills, with small towns every 8 to 15 miles or so apart. The mpg’s reading is really sensitive on this car, much more than my Focus. It reacts to nearly every transmission shift when it’s under any kind of load and drops a few tenths going up hills and vice versa going down, no surprise. The best mpg I got was 34.5, driving 55 on a straight flat road. On the rolling hills, with the cruise set at 58 (Wisconsin Troopers are notorious), I was getting 29-31 mpg’s and generally when I’d cruise into a town it would increase to 31.2 and drop to 28.4 as I got back up to speed. I’ve always done this, but it’s a good idea to use the accelerator to gradually get back up to speed then reset the cruise, rather than hitting the resume button, downshifting and racing to speed, your mpg’s will take a BIG hit when the turbo kicks in. I did take it up to 110 for a brief time, maybe 45 seconds to a minute and it was smooth and handled really well. I tried to run it at different speeds; at 75 for 10 miles it read 26.2, at 70 I got 26.6 and at 60 got 28.7 and climbing, but I had to exit to head east to Wisconsin. Seems the mpg sweet spot is right around 60, again, no surprise. For the entire trip I averaged 28.7 mpg on Trip 2.
It was a rainy and dreary morning and the rain sensitive wipers worked great, there are much more reliable and consistent than my Focus. Yesterday, after much work, I finally got the seat to where I like it. I only got out of the car twice and my butt and legs were comfy the whole time, no circulation cut off on my legs like in the Focus. Being able to tilt the front of the seat cushion down really helps. The Escape seat is wider and my left leg doesn’t get strained by the seat bolster. There are a few things that could be improved on. The interior could use a cubby for cell phones, change or whatever. The side windows could use a rain channel, (remember cars before the 80’s that had a big chrome rain channel) because the rain pours in off the roof. It was humid and the windshield fogged up easily, all I wanted to do is have some air flow but couldn’t, had to use the defroster, which runs the condenser, which lowers mpg’s. I don't like the look of side window deflectors, but they're a must if you want to drive with the window cracked when it's raining.
The fit and finish of my interior is perfect. All the pieces line up, are tight and evenly spaced. There are no rattles, squeaks or thumps. There is some minor creasing in one area on the passenger seat and on the drivers side rear seat where the cloth and leather meet, but nothing to get worried about and someone not looking for it would never notice. Other than those two minor things, I couldn’t find anything wrong with the interior, and I looked. The paint is flawless, but I suppose I might find something when I wax. All the doors and hatch are aligned perfect, all the body lines match and the tires were only inflated to 40 psi rather than 36. All in all a great package, excellent work LAP.
I hope this helps those thinking of buying one, and gets those waiting for theirs even more psyched.
FWD or 4WD?
Did you experience much torque steer?
Was there a passenger or any other load in the passenger side of the vehicle?
Seems to be a more common observation with new cars these days; I think the programming is "aggressively" searching for mpg savings (as further indicated by your mpg readings comment).
I miss "exterior" rain gutters.
The dealer order the 12S34 "kit" to fix the brake/accelerator carpet clearance today. My VIN was on the list - but it's an obvious issue.
I'm also getting poor gas mileage (20mpg), but I think it's because it soo hot in Dallas. Just 1200 miles - so the Titanium is really not broken in yet. Using regular gas ... wondering if premium would give better mpgs. I know my last car was very particular about the brand of gas too.
Cheers, Rollsplat
1. Lift and hold the switch until the window is fully closed, then release
the switch.
2. Lift the switch again for one more second.
3. Press and hold the switch until the window is fully open, then release
the switch.
4. Lift and hold the switch until the window is fully closed.
5. Open the window and try to close it automatically.
6. Reset and repeat procedure if the window does not close
automatically.
We tend to think that it's primarily engine break-in. There's a LOT more to it. Consider the friction in all the seals on rotating parts, the meshing of mating parts, the sliding and rolling bearings in engine accessories (alternator, water pump, AC compressor) and throughout the drive train. All of this stuff has to break in, and that takes miles.
http://www.epa.gov/fuel economy/420f06009.htm
i. Turn the ignition ON. (I did not have to start the car - I just hit the start button to turn on the accessories in my Titanium).
ii. Start with the windows in the down position.
1. Activate and hold the window control switch in the UP position until the window glass stalls for 2 seconds into the glass top run and release the switch.
2. Activate and hold the window control switch in the UP position again for 2 seconds and release the switch.
3. Activate and hold the window control switch in the DOWN position until the window glass stalls for 2 seconds at the bottom of its travel and release the switch.
4. (repeat 3) Activate and hold the window control switch in the UP position until the window glass stalls for 2 seconds into the glass top run and release the switch.
5. Test for correct window operation by carrying out the one-touch up and down feature.
I posted this with my library of other documents for the 2013 Ford Escape here:
http://bit.ly/R3jX66
window_motor_initialization.pdf
Cheers, Rollsplat
Let us know. Thanks
There are a lot of little inconsistencies in the MFT touch they should have resolved before releasing the software. I won’t bore everyone with my entire list here, but here are a few that “bug” me;)
1. Ford appends to every text message from the car "This SMS was sent from my Ford". Is this necessary, really?
2. Having problem getting my Blackberry 9900 to display any phone contact photos. No resolution yet.
3. There needs to be a soft-reboot USB drive that won't delete all your MFT setting like Master Reset does. (because you know you’re going to have to do this from time-to-time).
Other:
The door pillar locks don't adjust the seats to position 1 or 2 - as I think they should according to the manual. I've tried everything – no resolution.
You can see my entire list http://bit.ly/R3jX66 - MFT_Issues_2013_Escape.pdf
I don’t think Ford is listening, but if anyone has their ear, pass it on!
Cheers, Rollsplat
1. I haven't looked, but is there a function within the menu, like on my iPhone, to delete the "sent from" message?
2. On my Focus, after the update, it took multiple attempts and a call to SYNC support to get my phone to connect. The same phone connected on the first try in my Escape.
3. Granted, you shouldn't have to be pulling fuses or disconnecting batteries to get the signature media feature to operate correctly, but pulling fuse 67 and 79 does not wipe put your saved settings.
Other:
a. What do you mean? The seat automatically adjusts when the fob is in range, or when you press the 1, 2, or 3 memory buttons. I don't recall reading that the power lock switch has anything to do with it.
b. Go to Ford Social or their Facebook page to pose your questions, concerns and issues, I've read that they are very responsive on those media sources.
Chatted with Rebecca at Ford on Facebook -- http://www.facebook.com/RebeccaAtFord
Who gave me a link to:
http://boards.synccommunity.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?sr=y&msg=3904.1&nav=messages&we- btag=fordsyncmb
If you download this to an empty USB Drive, remove the BT4T-14D546-GA.cab and modify the autoinstall.lst to open DelayedReboot.cab, you'll have yourself a quick way to reboot Sync, without loosing setting on your radio and custom chat messages. You won't have to re-program your one-touch up/down windows if the get reset when you pull that battery cable.
Still need to resolve the fob1/fob2 + door pillar keypad entry codes that are supposed to set your memory seats. Mind don't work yet.
Cheers, Rollsplat
This is after a week of dealership visits and phone calls with an escalated customer care specialist. Their help: "you, as a customer, will do what you think is best. Good luck"
Customers shouldn't have to delve so deep into the inner workings of their vehicles just to reset their system without affecting all the electronics...they shouldn't have to reset their system in the first place!
...and ford should be up front and honest about what they're selling and stand by their products...
I guess we are living in a new world.
I've had mine nearly a week and have just over 400 miles on it. Since my road trip last Sunday, (documented in an earlier post) I have been averaging 26.5 in combined highway/city driving, 1.5 mpg above the EPA rating. A lot of people complain about poor gas mileage. Sometimes it's the car, but most the time it's their driving conditions and habits. Slow down, back off the pedal at starts, coast to stops and use a quality gasoline with quality additives and you should get decent mileage.
In the Fuel Economy section my window sticker reads:
22/City, 30/Highway, 25/Combined