Great TALL Family Vehicle

It's My All-time Favorite

Yep, as wife of a very TALL man, I've tried a bunch of vehicles ... Jeep, Explorer, Tahoe, Ram, Silverado, even ragtops ... and this compact XLT SUV has given us THE maximum in interior space and visibility along with luxurious-enough accommodation, economy, comfort, handling, and carry-all facility.  I love it.  Better yet, WE love it!


The Best (for me!) Is ...

(Tall torso-ed people will appreciate this.)  We've got a sunroof!  Maybe it's a moon-roof.  Since they usually rob us of four inches of headroom, and we need 40" clear, I've had so little experience with either that I don't know one from the other; but our 2005 Escape has a tinted "skylight" that slides back to let the sunshine in, and opens to give us fresh air.  It's a sweet treat.


What Drove Us to an Escape ...

After nearly four years and only 21K miles, my husband and I traded our 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab (Laramie package) for a used 2005 Ford Escape.  The object, in June of 2007, was to save on gas.  We did.  We get about 25 miles to a gallon with the Escape, and like that a lot.


Other Features We Like ...

We'd been a little bit spoiled with the Laramie package.  A leather trimmed interior, heated seats, and bevy of amenities including dual-zone air conditioning and premium stereo weren't features we expected to find in a $19,000 used Escape, but ...

Our peppy, 200-horsepower, 3.0-liter, V6 came with plenty of amenities including that fabulous "skylight," fully automatic all-wheel drive (which has proven to serve us well on wet roadways), leather seats, a nice center console with loads of storage space, a cargo cover, serious rear leg and headroom, premium stereo and CD changer, good handling, and comfortable ride. 

That my 87-year old mother-in-law has no complaint about travelling long distances in a rear seat speaks volumes.


Handling ...

That this little number handles real sweetly bears some elaboration.  We live at the nexus of two limited access highways, and are a couple of secondary road miles from a borough where there's  rear-angle parking on the main drag.

I mention the parking because it's a bug-a-boo with me.  I hated backing the Ram over a well-travelled bike lane (Yes, thanks to the genius of modern planning, that's there, too.) into a slanted parking slot just to go to the bakery; so I didn't.  Now that we've got the very manueverable Escape, the family gets giant cookies and cream-filled cakes a lot more often.  (That's correct!  I'm not much of a kitchen creature, either.)  The Escape moves in and out, 'round and about ... well ... easy as pie!

Getting on and off the highways is good news, too.  Our Escape has terrific acceleration for merging and passing, and is otherwise quite responsive for yeilding and my personal specialty ... "safety swerves" (that cause my Honey to sweat bullets) ... without being "tippy."  Believe me, I know "tippy."  I've rolled both a Volvo sedan and a Chrysler Sebring in my time, and lived to tell about it; so, you see, I am quite good at some things.


Being better able to talk hairspray than power-train, though, I defer to the car guys for techy details (I see there are some excellent reviews here), but one thing I can vouch for is

Vehicle Reliability ...

We've had this now four-year old Escape on the road for nearly two years, and haven't had it in the shop for anything other than routine maintenance and PA state inspections.  That's really sweet. 

I love our 2005 Escape XLT.


Bottom Line ...

Chances are you'll find a lot to like about a 2005 Ford Escape ... especially if you're a very TALL driver ... and have a blond wife. :o)