When Ford announced it’d abandon cars for the deliciously sweet and thick profit margins of crossovers, SUVs, and trucks, people panicked. Nameplates like Taurus, Fusion, and Focus were set to retire. Ford attempted to quell any protest by saying new products at similar price points would fill the sedan void. We now have our first look at that strategy in the form of the 2020 Ford Escape, which debuted earlier today. It’s set to take on the likes of the Chevrolet Equinox when it goes on sale this fall, though the two are now vastly different.
One of the Escape’s most striking features is its design. It’s no longer a paint-by-numbers crossover with a cardboard box as the design template. The 2020 Ford Escape looks more like a car-turned-crossover than a crossover-turned-car. Squint, and you’d bet your last dollar you were looking at the Ford Focus Active that was supposed to go on sale in the U.S.
But nope, this is the new Escape, which is longer, wider, and lower than the outgoing model. The swooping roofline, long hood, and raked windshield give the 2020 Ford Escape the look of a hatchback. The bigger footprint increases passenger space and cargo capacity—up to 37.5 cubic feet compared to the Equinox’s 29.9 with the second-row seats still upright.
The new Escape further differentiates itself from the 2019 Equinox when you peek under the hood. The Equinox offers a trio of turbocharged four-cylinder engines:
- Turbo 1.5L I-4 LYX gasoline engine making 170 horsepower and 203 pound-feet of torque
- Turbo 2.0L I-4 LTG gasoline engine making 252 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque
- Turbo 1.6L I-4 LH7 turbo-diesel engine making 137 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque
The new Escape offers four different powertrains, two gasoline, and two hybrids:
- Turbo 1.5L I-3 gasoline engine making 180 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque
- Turbo 2.0L I-4 gasoline engine making 250 horsepower and 275 pound-feet of torque
The standard hybrid uses a 2.5-liter four-cylinder run-in on the Atkinson cycle. Total output is 198 horsepower. Ford didn’t give many details about the plug-in hybrid other than it’ll have 209 horsepower and an estimated 30 miles of range on electric power. Front-wheel drive is standard while all-wheel drive is optional.
Inside, the 2020 Ford Escape offers a plethora of new features and technologies such as an optional 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 8-inch infotainment display on all models except the base S trim, and a head-up display. The Escape also receives Ford Co-Pilot360TM as standard, which makes available other driver-assist features such as Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go and Lane-Centering. This adds some much-needed technology to the Escape to compete with the Equinox that offers features such as GM’s Surround Vision.
Ford didn’t release the starting price of the new Escape. The current model starts at $24,105 (all prices exclude fees and destination charge), so expect that to increase slightly for the new 2020 model year. The 2019 Chevrolet Equinox starts at $23,800. The 2020 Ford Escape goes on sale this fall with the plug-in hybrid going on sale in spring 2020.
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Comments
Weird shape, nice interior! It’s good to see a digital cluster, Equinox have nothing like this.
Looks cheap inside like the Explorer.
If you put Kia on the nose people would never know it’s a Ford.
Bla!
I thought it looks like a Mazda 5 clone save the front end which is much worse.
This should help Equinox sales.
Lord that thing is ugly.
That’s… an odd looking vehicle. Every time I see it, it looks uglier.
Odd looking but the interior is on point
Not sure even women will go for this. Must be trying to help Bronco sales.
Customers continue to trade in older sedans for these small to mid sized crossovers. With this, there is ongoing growth in demand and sales for all brands should remain healthy.
Do we get to a point where there is too much supply of crossovers?
Maybe so, but advanced driver safety/ accident avoidance technologies could become big drivers for new vehicle sales for many years, for all types of vehicles.
Another egg like boring generic CUV that could pass for a 5 year old Mazda with a silly microwave dial shifter and a glued to the dash iPad. Don’t like the idea of a 3 cylinder engine with less torque than the outgoing 1.5T that will sound weird and it looks like Ford is taking a page out of GM’s playbook and only installing the 250 Hp 2.0T in the highest most expensive trim level. Just plain dumb. How did we ever get to this craziness?
I have come to the conclusion that the American auto industry is so bent on staying ahead of trends, that current design and product model structure continue to suffer. “”SUVs are the in, the sedan is dead”. So they then start “Sedaning” true SUVs to the point of a taller hatchback? “EV and autonomous vehicles are the future”. How many EVs have the Big 3 cut from their lineups? How close are we realistically to adequate EV charging infrastructure and FULL autonomy? I care and believe in the American auto industry, and I KNOW there is a future for EV and autonomous vehicles, but I feel like we are loosing sight of the basics.
I hate Ford but admit that this near premium design looks inspired by the likes of Audi or Subaru.
Chevrolet will always be dumbed down for the sake of Buick. Meanwhile Buick has become a waste of space in the US because it stands for NOTHING in 2019 except “I got a great deal” or “I couldn’t afford a Cadillac”–neither winning arguments for any brand.
Ford is smart to compete in the faux upmarket space as opposed to benchmarking Toyota. They seem to be learning from FCA.
Faux upmarket space? Ford? What are you talking about? Ford competes in the same “space” as every other value brand. Or do you mean Lincoln?
I’m a designer, although not in the auto industry. I wish. In my opinion, that front is a snooze fest…ZZZZ
The back isn’t terrible, but maybe trying just a bit too hard. Interior is an upgrade! Everything else seems strange
(egg-like and more car-like) considering it’s in a segment with the new “tough and rugged” redesigned RAV4.
It looks like it also has some influence from the Tesla Model 3, and will be more in line with the (“soon to be released” Ummm, sure!) Model Y.
Exterior is ok at best. Great Headlights.
But very single manufacturer makes GM interiors looks like little kids plastic cheap toys.
Give me a break. Ford’s interior quality has become horrendous over the last few years. The Escape and F-150 have had major issues with the plastic dash and glove box warping. The “fix” Ford issued for the Escape’s dash warp called for fins to be taped in the defroster vents to direct hot air away from the surrounding dash. It didn’t work. Not to mention it didn’t address the fact that the garbage plastic would warp just due to the fact that the car was parked in the sun. F-150 dashes are so prone to it that they have warped while sitting on the dealer lot.
Wow what a pie hole and a stand up screen to boot.
It’s like Kia and Porsche had a retarded child.
Wow, the grill looks like a scene out of a Japanese Godzilla horror flick.