The 2020 Ford Escape may look like one compact crossover SUV, but like the English language, it’s really three different things wearing one trenchcoat.
The 2020 Escape comes with a choice of four trim levels, three engines, two transmissions, and a choice of front- or all-wheel drive. Variety’s great, until it’s confusing: Among all those choices Ford will sell you a turbo-3 Escape with all-wheel drive, a front-wheel-drive Escape Hybrid, or an all-wheel-drive turbo-4 Escape Titanium with all the trimmings. The test-drive pressure is real.
Which one should you choose? We drove the 2020 Escape in and around Louisville, Kentucky, and came away with a pecking order of favorites—with an unexpected winner.
Here’s how we ranked the 2020 Escape after our first drives, with an asterisk.
2020 Ford Escape
The penny-pincher: 2020 Ford Escape SE
If you like spending less money on better things, you may be tempted by the base 2020 Ford Escape S, especially if you want to stay within a reasonable monthly payment or loan term. That’s difficult to do now that the average transaction price for a new car hovers in the high $30,000s. For $26,080, the 2020 Escape S comes with some critical features including automatic emergency braking and power features.
What it doesn’t have: All-wheel drive, a touchscreen interface, or Apple CarPlay/Android Auto compatibility. In those ways it’s the lesser car when compared with either the $25,505 2020 Subaru Forester or the $25,545 2019 Honda CR-V LX.
Pass the base car and opt for the $28,290 Escape SE, and those missing features appear along with a power driver seat and satellite radio. The SE is the car we think most shoppers will choose, and it’s the model on which we based the 2020 Escape’s rating of 6.8 out of 10. It has all the hallmarks of this new Escape, from very Mazda-like body curves to light and direct steering to a well composed ride. It’s powered by Ford’s new 180-horsepower turbo-3, which means acceleration is more measured, and some interior trim looks inexpensive compared to rivals, but this Escape has adult-sized back-seat space (with a sliding second-row bench) and excellent standard safety equipment. It’s no longer truly inexpensive—but which compact SUV is?
2020 Ford Escape
The spendy sportback: 2020 Ford Escape Titanium turbo-4
The best version of the previous Ford Escape stuffed a powerful turbo-4 under its hatchback-like hood for muscular power to match its tenacious grip. The turbo-4 is back for 2020, and it’s a little less expensive, but it’s been demoted to second rank by a new arrival.
Ford makes the 250-horsepower turbo-4 available in SEL and Titanium Escapes. On the former it costs $2,285 with standard all-wheel drive; on the latter it replaces the hybrid powertrain and tags another $2,885 to the sticker. At its least expensive, the turbo-4 Escape costs $32,735, a few hundred dollars less than a 2019 Escape with a similar engine—but the 2020 version comes in SEL, not Titanium trim.
It also comes with better ride that softens the last Escape’s needle-like handling. Longer, wider, with more suspension travel and with better all-season tires, the new Escape outpoints the old car with its more fluid and more controlled ride. There’s more compliance, but more lean into corners, too, and steering feel has relaxed noticeably. The previous Escape admittedly pushed the boundaries of what exactly makes a crossover SUV versus a high-bodied, great-handling hatchback; the new Escape clears that air and comes down on the side of comfort.
Drop all common sense, and it’s easy to configure a turbo-4 2020 Escape beyond $40,000. That’s hardly the point of a compact crossover vehicle—and at that price we can name a half-dozen vehicles that deliver stronger performance or better luxury feel. Keep it lean in the low-$30,000 range, and the most powerful Escape delivers.
It’s not the best Escape, though.
2020 Ford Escape
The all-arounder: 2020 Ford Escape SE Sport hybrid
We’ll have more to say here on Thursday, as Ford has put a hold on hybrid driving impressions to string out your interest at least through this week. We don’t need to tell you how it steers or rides differently from the other versions to tell you it’s our pick.
What we can say today, is that the hybrid drivetrain can tap its lithium-ion battery at speeds of up to 85 mph, and that Ford estimates it will outpace Toyota’s RAV4 hybrid for combined EPA fuel economy—even before the plug-in Escape arrives next year with about 30 miles of electric range on tap.
We can also say the 2020 Escape SE Sport hybrid nails a sweet spot of equipment and pricing. The $29,450 SE Sport Hybrid gets a power tailgate, navigation, a panoramic roof, and adaptive cruise control—and it can be trimmed up to Titanium grade for a few thousand more dollars.
It’s a power play for a more efficient Ford fleet. At that price and at its expected EPA ratings, the 2020 Escape will draw more people into a high-economy hatchback—and that will help Ford offset fuel economy of the thousands of Navigators and Super Duty pickups they sell that bring in billions.
It’s the smart pick in the 2020 Escape family. Check back on Thursday, and we’ll tell you more about how the hybrid drives.
Ford paid for travel and lodging to Louisville so that we could bring you our first-drive impressions.
