Looking at a 2018 Ford Escape SEL, but wondering about the reliability.
The Escapes seem to be plentiful and at a very good price.

This leads me to wonder why, is there something wrong with them?

They are plentiful cause of the cost and competition (plenty of unibody, 4cyl, awd's out there). Personally I'd go with a rav4 or nissan's equivalent over the ford (but I had nothing but issues with the last ford I had and I was always a ford guy. So keep in mind I'm salty over that one).

As far as reliability goes, check current recalls compared to other vehicles of similar design.

Rented one for a week. Wouldn’t even want one if it were free. I’d sell it and buy a Honda, Toyota, Kia or Hyundai. Layout was funky, ride was below average compared to the competition and just didn’t feel like it had the quality over its competition.

There’s a reason why there’s so many available and at a good price.

Not sure if that model is affected but the few people I know personally that had one all had the transmission take a dump around 90-110k miles.

good might be a streatch. check out edmunds or car and driver and see what they say.

My Daughter and SIL love ford and they just bought a 2019 edge with all the options.

Nobody that I know who has had an escape over the years has been happy with it.

I personally like my Forester

No, much better choices out there.

They are small on size and underpowered.


Overpriced (but really everything is)


I had a 2012 edition, 40000 miles the transmission was clunking out and the back tailgate was rusting

It was off-road once, to a grass parking lot.

Its nice to know that Ford circles the problems with the cars

My wife had a 2011 Escape hybrid. She liked driving it. Until it developed a brake problem.

Brake warning light on instrument cluster would come on intermittently, pedal would get hard -- she had to apply much more pressure to brakes.

She took it to one of the largest Ford dealers in the area. They gave her a loaner, kept her car for over a week, added a couple ounces of brake fluid, charged her over $150.00, no trouble found.

Repeat: No trouble found! They called her to pick her car up. She started it, did not even take it out of "Park," and there was the brake warning light. "No trouble found." She marched back in to the service department and dragged a supervisor out to show him the $150.00 "no trouble found" warning light. She drove it away and never returned to that dealer.

She is very happy with the RAV4 Hybrid that she bought last year.

quote:

Originally posted by ThankGod4Sig:
No, much better choices out there.

They are small on size and underpowered.


Overpriced (but really everything is)


I had a 2012 edition, 40000 miles the transmission was clunking out and the back tailgate was rusting

It was off-road once, to a grass parking lot.

Its nice to know that Ford circles the problems with the cars

That model is much different than the current Escape.

We had. 2014 Escape Platinum with the 2.0L Ecoboost.
There was nothing underpowered about that thing.

We had ours for about 3 years and had zero problems out of it.
It was a great riding and traveling car for 2 people.
One the first kid arrived it became very very cramped. Once 2nd kiddo was on the way we knew we had to get something bigger.

We liked the thing a lot except for the size once it was no longer the two of us. Though it was a Titanium with every possible option.
As lower end model with the smaller engine I am not sure one could say the same.

Way better choices out there OP.

I have a 2017 Escape Titanium that the wife picked out as her daily driver.

It's been a great car for us, AWD, 1.5lT (EcoBoost) averages 25mpg with mostly local driving.

She weighed it against the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson, Honda CRV, and Toyota Rav4.

The Kia was actually the sportiest of the bunch, but she preferred the suspension on the Escape

The Rav4 interior was cheap feeling compared to the Escape, so much so that my wife got out of the Rav4 as soon as she sat in it.

The CRV was close, but she preferred the layout of the Escape.

MY MIL ended up buying a 2018 Escape SEL with the sport package after riding in my wife's Escape.

I would highly recommend one with the larger screen (8 inch) as the smaller screen version seems to draw the most complaints.

My wife had one and Ford had to out in a new engine and transmission under warranty. Couldn't wait to sell it

At work we have a few as Fleet cars. they are very basic and truly suck ass.
My buddy bought a 2018 Titanium Escape all loaded up, it is much nicer but I personally would buy a Toyota or Honda or Hyundai if I needed that size vehicle.

The reports on-line with coolant leaking into the cylinders is a bit to prevalent.

Adding that the the statistics of yea vs. nay here, think I will look some more.

$16,000 for a 2018 Escape SEL with 20,000 miles was very tempting.
Thanks all.

I have a good friend who had both Edge and Escape from Ford, always nagging problems then after the warranty ran out at the 5-yr mark, the major headaches began. Hard pass.

We had a Ford Escape as a company vehicle and we put a lot of miles on that car driving from NJ as far north as Vermont and as far west as Kentucky and the car held up very well. Only one real issue other than routine maintenance and since it was a GSA vehicle it was the Plain Jane version but it drove and held up well. Not sure I would buy one, I'd probably go with a RAV IV or Honda before I bought the Escape.

Doesn't LDD have one, gave one to his daughter and hops them up with tuners, Livernois I believe.

The ecoboost 4 banger in these are great engines, we have the Lincoln MKC version, different body panels and interior. Ours have been well made, no rattles, never in for any recall, no mechanicals, change oil and rotate tires.

Neighbors daughter has had hers for at least 6 years, still runs good, looks good and I know he said it's had zero mechanicals other than normal maintenance...

I was taking a serious look at the Escape. I always research one thing. Can I get to and replace the battery myself. On the Escape you have to remove the wipers. 7 bolts, and 8 plastic clips, and something else that I don't know what it does to get the battery out. I bumped up to the Edge. A little bigger and you only have to take the air filter cover off to get to the battery.

My 2018 has the 1.5 engine with eco-boost. In the two years of driving it (20,000 miles) I have had no problems and it has become one of my favorite vehicles. It is comfortable, peppy, fun to drive and has great visibility. I miss my F150 and my Mustang however my back problems demanded a change.

Lock N Load

Michael
USMC Ret

quote:

Originally posted by Wishbone:
Way better choices out there OP.

I think bicycling would be a better choice than than an Escape.

2009 Escape here with 106k miles. No issues at all, replaced 6 year old battery today in 5 minutes.