Ford Australia has made an interesting announcement. It is regarding the replacement of the Ford Kuga with 2017 Ford Escape which will start from $28,490+ORC with the front wheel drive option. Ford Australia President and CEO, Graeme Whickman stated that “The Escape will follow the formula set by the Ford Kuga as a family friendly, fuel-efficient and five-star safety rated SUV”. He also added that “We’ve responded to calls for a broader line-up, with the front-wheel drive Trend giving consumers an even more compelling SUV offering, and with sharpened MLPs across the range”. What Ford Australia is actually doing is getting rid of old things and adding something new and fresh to their lineup and offer.
If you managed to catch a glimpse of the new Ford Escape, then you already know that it pretty much follows the same design cues as all other Ford SUVs including the Edge. Escape features large upper trapezoidal two-bar grille and a smaller lower segment. The upper grille has found its place between two new and redesigned headlights with daytime running lights while the lower grille is flanked by reshaped fog lamps. Back of the Escape has been graced with a new set of nice looking tail-lights, and depending on the trim you can get all of this sitting on either 18-inch or 19-inch alloys. It also received two new colors – White Platinum (comes in tri-coat) and Copper Pulse which will be offered throughout the range.
Ford boasts that the interior has been made to look cool and to simplify things. According to them “The steering wheel and air-conditioning controls are even more intuitive, and feature fewer and more distinguishable buttons and switches, making the Escape’s cabin features easier to recognize and navigate. All automatic Escape models will feature paddle-shift functionality that enables drivers to manually select gears, adding to its fun-to-drive ethos”. On top of all that Ford added “The second-row stadium seating boasts family-friendly packaging, with rear tray tables on the Titanium, as well as ISOFIX anchorage-points and rear air-vents on all models. It also offers up to 1603 liters of convenient cargo space with the stadium seating folded”.
The Trend trim from Ford Escape will also be available but with optional hands-free power tailgate that you can activate by poking your foot underneath it. Ford also brags about offering a whole bunch of safety features that will come with the new Escape including Ford’s Adaptive Front Lighting System which monitors ambient light conditions which according to Ford also “features anti-glare capability, as well as country road, city street and also maneuvering beam-shaping abilities”. With it will come a “next gen” version of Ford’s optional Active City Stop collision avoidance system, which now operates at speeds of up to 50 km/h unlike the previous version’s 30 km/h.
Based on all of this Ford put a lot of effort into the Escape, but that was probably to ease your transition From Kuga, and to make sure that you really are replacing a model that now has a worthy successor. Below you can see Ford Escape pricing based on the trim it offers:
Ford Escape Ambiente
1.5 L FWD 6-speed manual MLP $28,490+ORC (110 kW at 6000 RPM and 240 Nm at 1600-5000 RPM)
1.5 L FWD 6-speed automatic MLP $29,990+ORC (134 kW at 6000 RPM and 240 Nm at 1600-5000 RPM) and
1.5 L AWD 6-speed automatic MLP $32,990+ORC (134 kW at 6000 RPM and 240 Nm at 1600-5000 RPM)
Fuel consumption: 6.3 L/100 km (manual) and 7.5 L/100 km (automatic).
Ford Escape Trend
1.5 L EcoBoost FWD 6-speed automatic MLP $32,990+ORC
2.0 L EcoBoost AWD 6-speed automatic MLP $35,990+ORC (178 kW at 5500 RPM and 345 Nm at 2000-4500 RPM)
2.0 L TDCi AWD 6-speed automatic MLP $38,490+ORC (132 kW at 3500 RPM and 400 Nm at 2000-2500 RPM)
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km (petrol); 5.5L/100km.
New Ford Escape Titanium
2.0 L EcoBoost AWD 6-speed automatic MLP $44,990+ORC and
2.0 L TDCi AWD 6-speed automatic MLP $47,490+ORC.
