Hi People,
I am thinking about a new car(suv).
I own a prius. (wife drives it mostly).
I might like an allwheel drive hybrid.
Has anyone here taken the escape OFF ROADING?
I live in the LA Cal. area and do go to the snow 2 times a year,
Also drive dirt road to get to fishing/ hiking areas.

Mark

 

In Michigan that wouldn't qualify as off-roading. Unless the path requires an ORV sticker and that you know exactly how wide your vehicle is, you're just driving an unmarked seasonal road.

The AWD version of the Escape handles that just fine, be it hybrid or conventional engine.

 

I've taken my FWD deep into the Rocky Mountains, and on some very steep and very high elevation trails, and it performs like a champ. Knocked my socks off.

It is not a rock crawler. The only time you may have trouble is if you are at a dead stop and the wheels are blocked. If you apply throttle and the wheels don't move in a few milliseconds, the throttle is dis-engauged. Rocking back to give the wheels a chance to move even slightly you will be fine.

There is power to spare at slow speeds. I've yet to find any trail too steep. I've done some maybe 25% grades just fine.

It feels scary going down steep hills... there is less engine brake ability, but you do have 4 oversized disc brakes which do well.

I think you will be happily surprized at this little SUV's capability.
Ford wanted to make a "no compromise" hybrid. They delivered.

 

LOL, too true.

Raven is the best person that I know of to talk about real off-roading, as he's taken it through some pretty great real offroad trails. I don't know if it's still up, but some of his friends put up a video on Youtube of it cutting through some offroad trails.

I live on a dirt road that during the winter I've seen other cars get stuck on, including my own parents Focus, but I've never had a problem. 15+ inches of snow, no problem. rough "Some people call this a road, I don't" roads, no problem. "steep" 20% grades, no problem. I've only had a slight problem once, and it was backing out after a real bad snowfall at my grandparents house, where it got too steep and slippery, and cut out during reverse, I put it back in drive, went forward, back in reverse, tried again and succeeded. That's it.

 

Frankly.... driving around Detroit with all the potholes, I think the worst "off-road" conditions might just be ON-ROAD.

 

I've taken an FEH to Joshua Tree, northern Nevada, and the Grand Canyon area for dirt trail driving and it's great! There's nothing like creeping along in electric mode with only the sound of your tires in the dirt. The Escape has a small wheelbase and decent ground clearance, and as the other posters agree it is quite capable for most situations, even with the stock all-season tires.
The only issue I found is that most of the 4WD FEHs here in SoCal dealers are fully loaded, so I had to hunt around for a while to get a plain one.

 

Same here. Took awhile to find a "stripped" AWD. Finally found one with just the 110vac outlet and side airbags.

 

i totally agree. it took me months to find a simple awd. people feel so much to load it up it's crazy.

__________________________________________________ _
bmw 745i
bmw 745i brake pads

 

Sorry don't quite understand why you don't want the 'loaded' awd, is it just the price, or something to do with a difference in performance. I assume it's price?

 

For me, it wasn't affordability, just that I didn't feel like any of the options were a good value. I forget what all the options were for 2007, but I knew I specifically didn't want the factory nav, leather, painted bumper trim, or sun roof. In place of the nav I now have two SGII's and a refurb Garmin Nuvi 350. Or maybe I am just cheap, but I planned to use the vehicle as an SUV (offroad, haul stuff) and none of the options enhance that usage. I am glad I got the 110vac outlet however.