The Escape is one of those cars that got less interesting to me as it got better. The original, hybrid and boxy small crossover was really ahead of the market in many ways. While the model has improved measurably over that original, it has lost a little flair. The fact that it’s basically gone is both representative of where the auto industry over-pivoted towards EVs and, frankly, how it’s making up the gap with more expensive models.
While the Escape is one of The Morning Dump’s preoccupations, it’s not the only one. I’m also interested in how Tesla is selling Full Self Driving and, at least according to one report, it’s over-selling it. The USMCA? Probably, maybe, kinda dead. It sounds like there’s more talk coming about how it’s gonna be a bunch of bilateral deals, though maybe those can save it?
Here’s something I haven’t written about lately: Grand Theft Auto VI. It was way more expensive to make than I realized.
Money Talks So Escape Owners Won’t Walk
In researching The Morning Dump this morning, I’ve all but convinced myself that Ford is going to name one of its UEV-platformed electric vehicles the Ford Escape. It just makes too much sense. Assuming the Ford $30,000 EV pickup is the Ranchero, the family crossover based on it should just be the Escape. Right? Remember I said this… unless I’m wrong, and then you can just forget it (and if I am right I’ll just remind you of that fact a bunch of times).
By the way, the first ever story I wrote as an automotive journalist was covering Ford’s future CEO Mark “Execumullet” Fields announcing at the Chicago Auto Show that it was silly for the company to abandon the Taurus name and that it would be renaming the Ford 500 the Ford Taurus. That was a weird, mid car, but it brought the Taurus name back for a little while at least.
The Escape hasn’t ever quite had the prominence of Taurus or Explorer, though it has a loyal following and sold in impressive volumes, especially towards the end of last decade. That’s why Ford abandoning the Escape name always struck me as odd. It’s always been a great entry-point into the fold with a loyal following (my own MIL went Explorer->Escape->Escape). Essentially, the Ford Escape died so the $30,000 truck could live, and with both the Bronco Sport and Maverick in the fold it maybe made less sense to retain it.
I keep forgetting that Ford also abandoned the Edge around this time, and I assumed that Edge buyers would go Explorer and Escape owners would go Bronco Sport/ Maverick. My assumption was wrong. Well, half-wrong. Edge buyers are going to the Explorer and so are Escape owners.
What’s going on here?
Some Escape owners are managing to get great deals on the old stock of Escapes on dealer lots, but like Knicks hats, that’s an increasingly finite resource (I haven’t been able to find a hat all weekend). Other than not bringing back the Ford Escort, the people who run the company clearly have some idea what they’re doing.
If you wanted a cheap Escape, the MSRP was as little as $32k before Tax, Title and Licensing fees. As for the Ford Explorer, technically the cheapest is the Active 100A rental special is the cheapest at $40,750 out the door. I want heated seats and USB ports, so for the much larger three-row I think the regular Activ spec is the one to get, and at $42,075 delivered that’s a big jump from a base Escape.
According to Automotive News, the answer for Ford was just to make the Explorer $10,000 cheaper for Escape owners:
But current Escape owners can save up to $10,000 through private offers from the automaker aimed at keeping them in the fold, said Jim Moshier, general manager at Ricart Ford in Columbus, Ohio. Ford told dealers that those targeted discounts, plus more attractive lease options, would help make up for the Escape going away.
Moshier said his store is selling significantly more Explorer Active models this year, which Ford has prioritized building. Many of those base-model buyers are moving up from the Escape.
“It’s not that big of a jump when you add the private offers in there,” he said. “Ford met the need.”
I am on the record complaining about trimflation, so for me the big news here isn’t just that Ford is making it possible for Escape owners to upgrade to the Explorer, but that Ford seems to be sticking to its pledge to make more of the entry-level trims.
A part of me doesn’t love getting people who don’t really need a larger three-row vehicle into a larger and heavier three-row vehicle. The size of the Escape just the right size for people and offers a nice alternative for something in between the Bronco Sport and Explorer, which, again, makes me wonder if the new EV thing isn’t just going to be an Escape.
Tesla Is Reportedly Exaggerating The Safety Of FSD
I know people who are not particularly enamored with Elon Musk who have older Model Ys equipped with what Tesla calls Full Self Driving, and they love the tech. These are interesting conversations for me, because I am skeptical of the platform as a perfect replacement for drivers. I always make it clear to them that they also need to do it supervised as the system isn’t perfect.
Better than the average New York driver? Yeah, well, maybe it is.
This is the point Tesla has been trying to make to regulators: Perfect? No. Better? Yes. Is that true, though? Reuters looked at some of the claims made by Tesla and you’ll be surprised to learn that the company that exaggerates everything may have exaggerated something.
The presentation […] claimed FSD could have potentially saved 32,000 lives and prevented 1.9 million injuries.
Researchers interviewed by Reuters said those figures are highly misleading because they are based on the unrealistic assumption that every U.S. vehicle, including freight trucks and crash-prone motorcycles, would be replaced by an FSD-enabled Tesla car – and that every Tesla car is, in fact, at least seven times safer than the one it replaces.
The Reuters examination also found Tesla exaggerates the technology’s safety by comparing a rate of crashes in FSD-piloted Teslas that triggered airbag deployments to a U.S. crash rate for all vehicles that includes far less-severe accidents. The company also compares its cars to the average U.S. vehicle – which is much older than the average Tesla. That distorts the results because automakers have gradually introduced new safety features that reduce crashes.
This does seem misleading, but it appears that it’s misleading in the “lies, damn lies, and statistics” sort of way that many companies in all realms, including automakers, engage in. The regulators interviewed by Reuters said any approvals for FSD came after their own testing and didn’t rely on claims from Tesla for what it’s worth.
Yeah, So, USMCA Talks Are Now Bilateral Talks
President Trump last week claimed that the USA didn’t need anything from Canada and Mexico as a way of dismissing his own USMCA trade deal, meaning the most likely outcome is the USMCA goes away and is replaced by a bunch of bilateral deals. Or, similarly, the USMCA gets an extension because bilateral agreements act as quasi-amendments.
Per The Canadian Press, that seems to be happening:
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he expects to see bilateral agreements negotiated with the United States as Canada and Mexico look to extend a critical continental trade pact.
“I would expect that we will have bilateral arrangements between Canada and the United States, between the United States and Mexico, sort of adjacent to the trilateral framework,” LeBlanc said at the U.S.-Canada Summit in Toronto on Thursday.
“If those agreements resolve issues that all three countries are trying to resolve, I’m hopeful that we might, at that point, have the extension.”
Cool.
Grand Theft Auto VI Was How Much?
I finished GTA V in a hurry, realizing that I had a kid on the way and that this would probably be my last chance to finish a massive game. Little did I realize that it would be so long for the replacement that I’d maybe have time again to finish the sequel.
Also, according to this Manager Magazine article, it was a lot of money to make.
The wait is finally over: On November 19th, the video game “Grand Theft Auto VI,” or GTA 6 for short, will be released. This was confirmed by Strauss Zelnick (68), CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the video game company responsible for the GTA series, at an investor conference at the end of May. After two postponements of the release date last year and roughly 13 years since the release of its predecessor, GTA 5, the wait for millions of fans should finally be over: November 19th could go down in history as the day a single product turns the entire entertainment industry upside down.
Because GTA 6 is not only considered the most expensive video game of all time, but also the most expensive entertainment product ever. It has been in development since at least 2018 , and industry analysts estimate that production costs have now reached up to $1.5 billion . Take-Two CEO Zelnick declined to give specific figures in a recent interview , but confirmed: “It was expensive.”
Damn.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
While I will forever be a Texan, I think this Knicks playoff run is what finally made me feel, after living here for more than a decade, like a New Yorker. It not only brought the city together, it also exemplified everything that’s great about this place. We’re a messy, complicated, diverse, incredible mix of people. We can do anything. And if one piece of music exemplifies it, maybe that’s George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” The son of immigrants, Gershwin might have done well anywhere. Might. In New York, though, he flourished.
The Big Question
If you had an Escape and had to replace it, what would you buy?
Top photo: Ford
I’d replace it with a Mazda CX-50 Turbo
TBQ: I’d be more likely to go smaller than bigger. Corolla Cross, Trax or maybe Subaru Crosstrek for resale value.
I am shocked to hear this. /s Imagine trusting Tesla.
TBQ: A Rav4 if I could source one without big markup. But if I was sticking to Ford? Probably a Maverick. But screw brand loyalty unless they show some sort of loyalty to me via good service and offering a good deal on a replacement and an old Explorer is not a reasonable replacement.
“The size of the Escape just the right size for people and offers a nice alternative for something in between the Bronco Sport and Explorer”
2008 Escape owner here, and TBH, I feel like the Bronco Sport is probably the spiritual successor to the Escape. The Explorer is too big (and really doesn’t have the interior room to match the exterior; I rode in a friend’s in DC the first/only time,and was surprised at how small it seemed inside, even if technically it may not have been). This thing has been super low maintenance, and after 175k, I’d almost look for another one in the 2008-2012 range, but they do have an issue with the rear wheel wells/shock mounts rusting out, so I’d only consider one from out west or such.
Esp your Escape generation for sure, which boxed/angled up the original design nicely!
TBQ: a car. Any car. Just not an SUV.
TBQ: As a current owner of a 2023 Maverick Hybrid that’s been trying to get Ford to fix a bad drive line vibration issue (truck only has 29k miles) and having not getting anywhere despite the dealer having the truck for 40+ days, I simply would not buy another modern Ford.
I would walk (since I was not given a loaner from the dealership) over to the Buick dealer and look at the Envista.
It’s stylish, affordable and different. It’s not available with AWD but neither was the Maverick Hybrid when I bought mine. Build quality seems to be higher too.
Yes, that’s right, I would take an entry level, Chinese made GM CUV over anything Ford makes in the roughly same market segment. I’m so done with the Blue Oval right now.
Since you are in this current predicament, go forward to your nearest Mitsubishi dealership and pick up a new 2026 Outlander. I, in no way am being supported by Mitsubishi just currently own three of them with two of them being Outlanders, a ‘22 and a ‘24 and you may be surprised, especially over Chinesium.
Maybe rent one first…
Designed and built in Okasaki, Aichi Japan, not junk.
If I had an Escape…
– I’d hate my life.
Just bring the gun already.
My ‘14 Escape 1.5T I had as a company vehicle handled well and had decent power for it cramped size but I was glad when they replaced it.
We were one of those that found a killer deal on a new 25 Escape. Purchased it last October for my daughter – Never titled but somehow racked up 500 miles ( I think it was a car used for a sponsored golfing event). Sticker was over $54,000 – got it for 1/2 off $27K. Dealer originally had over $2K in BS markups (fabric protection, dent protection, nitrogen in the tires and professionally done tinted windows). We threaten to walk, so they didn’t charge us for the BS (and we kept the tinted windows). We used Ford points to buy the very nice 2″ receiver for an added bike rack and added some Amazon roof rails. It’s a quite nice little SUV with the same bullet-proof drivetrain and dash as our 25 Maverick hybrid.
So far the car has been great. Gets 30-40 miles all EV battery range, then it turns into a kick ass hybrid with a large battery. Only minor quibble is if you drive it around town, you hardly use any gas (depending on your commute), but on the highway it’s low-mid 30s mpg and the gas tank is small – I think about 11 gallons, so you’re filling up every 350 miles or so. Like I said, a minor quibble.
Use autotempest.com you may find some still floating around on dealer lots.
P.S. The Ford saleslady had absolutely NO CLUE what a plug-in hybrid was. I don’t think she even knew the difference between a hybrid and an eco-boost. Clueless, but in our case, it worked to our advantage. She was desperate for a sale 🙂
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to give salespeople correct information on the products they’re trying to sell me. They let absolutely anyone with a pulse do that job…
Having spent 4 months attempting to be a Ford salesman, I can attest to this.
A certain hi-volume VW dealership in Palm Beach County refused to hire me as a salesperson explicitly because I knew too much about the product line. Sales Manager literally told me, “we don’t hire “car guys” here”.
I was on a test drive with a friend once and was talking them through the details of the car. The salesman riding along said that he would just shut up because I knew more about the car than they did. It wasn’t even technical stuff, just basic info on the engine, trim level, etc.
Telsa overselling the capabilities of their products? No way!
Is USMCA dead?
With behaviour over the last year-and-a-half: it’s a treaty that has been functionally ignored under claims the person who negotiated it was an imbecile.
But what trust would anyone give any new bilateral agreement in the current environment?
Regardless: it’s not officially dead until 2036 regardless of current statements. That’s multiple presidential election cycles.
If you had an Escape and had to replace it, what would you buy?
If I had an Escape, that would imply I literally could not care even the slightest bit less about what I drove and would shop accordingly.
In that alternate reality, I would go for a new-ish Chevrolet Malibu. I have seen 3-year-old Malibus with ~50,000 miles for under $15k. They are roomy, efficient, and not terrible. Definitely nothing to brag about, but they will get you where you need to go for a very long time.
If you don’t care about what you drive, just buy something car enthusiasts won’t.
I think Escape buyers like the Explorer mostly b/c it’s now one of Ford’s remaining inoffensive, generally competent vehicles…just like the Escape used to be.
Farley’s “exciting vehicles only” sounds good to us and the internet hype machine, but for a lot of buyers, boring and solid is the key. Ford’s strategy is certainly edgy, but data like this offer an interesting counterpoint.
I think, based on the average Escape buyer, they’d probably buy a Nissan Rogue.
Plus they can cosplay as law enforcement.
When the trans went out on my girlfriend’s Escape, she went to a used Pontiac Grand Prix. Probably not ideal, but it served its purpose for a bunch of years.
Seems to me like the Escape people are moving to Outlanders or those little Buick SUVs.
I see Envistas everywhere now…and honestly it doesn’t bother me at all, they’re nice looking little cars.
I like the Envista even more than the Trax. That rear rake makes me happy; squint and it’s a hatchback car. Less cladding, and it’s basically the same height as my Focus.
I test drove one a couple years ago, didn’t buy it but came away impressed. Like the Trax, you get a lot for your money.
No CarPlay = no GM for my entire family.
The one I test drove was a ’24, it still had car play! Ended up buying a ’24 GMC that likewise has car play and android auto.
I can’t believe I am saying this, but I considered a Buick. No hybrids killed all interest immediately.
Certainly not another Ford product. Then again, If I was the kind of person that would buy an Escape new, I’d probably think a Stellantis product was a good decision. I think that is the sort of person that might end up in a Hornet. Or a 96 Month Hemi Ram 1500 loan at 13%.
Got an Escape PHEV as a rental in Germany a few years back. I opted for a manual Opel MPV, but somehow the lady at the rental desk wasn’t too pleased with my choice, and bumped me up to the Ford 🙁
Wasn’t expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised! The hybrid system worked really well even without plugging it in (tries really hard to maintain EV mode in the city), plus it had little rubber bumpers that swung out of the door everytime you got out, so you wouldn’t dent the car next to you. A bit mediocre as an EV though, 50km and the battery’s kaput.
Ford may be replacing customers in sufficient quantity to reduce the bleeding to sales numbers, but to say Escape customers are buying the Explorer is a dangerous assumption. It’s way larger, more expensive, and worse when it comes to fuel economy etc.
If I needed to replace an Escape hybrid or PHEV it would not be with the Bronco Sport or Explorer. Maybe the hybrid Maverick AWD, but probably a RAV4 or CRV and CX50 HEV before the Tucson or Sportage
Reading about how much GTA VI cost to make reminds me of Titanic. Adjusted for inflation, it cost more to make the movie than it cost to build the actual Titanic.
This surprises me very little, because the entire American auto industry is basically a house of cards that’s built on upselling people into larger vehicles that they can’t really afford and don’t need. “Oh, we don’t have (smaller, more affordable, more efficient) vehicle anymore, but we’ve got this big old truck on the lot and the finance guy already has a deal on it that’ll keep your payment the same!”
I’ve been getting YouTube ads from local Chevrolet dealerships (idk how their algorithm chose me, clearly they should rethink it) and they’re literally just advertising payments now. OWN A NEW SILVERADO FOR ONLY $499 A MONTH, NO QUESTIONS ASKED! Then you read the fine print and it’s a goddamn 84 month loan at like 10% interest on a 4 cylinder work truck….
There’s ample evidence that all of this is bad and can go very wrong basically overnight, but whatever…line go up, and seeing as we just made Elon Musk a trillionaire through meme stocks and are about to see gas prices get lower just in time for Orange Man’s birthday bonanza because he got bored of an absurd conflict he started, I’d say the economy does seem to be as vibes based as ever.
Don’t worry, Ford and Stellantis seem to be looking fondly at the good old days of 2007, and are absolutely convinced that 2008/9 will never happen again. Normally I don’t give much credit to any US manufacturer, but GM at least has a well diversified portfolio across size and price brackets. Not all are the best products in the world, but a lot of them are at least competitive. Sure beats whatever the heck it is that Stellantis is doing.
I watched an in depth review of the new Cherokee last night and it is absolutely baffling to me that Stellantis still doesn’t have their QC under control. Exterior panels were misaligned, the interior was already creaking and rattling at 4,000 miles…and the damn car is one of the most expensive in its class and hoping to woo people away from Honda and Toyota.
Lol. Lmao, even. You are correct though, other than a severe and conspicuous lack of hybrids GM does seem to be in a more competitive position, but who knows. If people stop being willing or able to finance Silverados on obscene terms I still think they’d be in deep, deep trouble.
At some time: there’s a tipping point.
The rest of the world has likely seen the light (err, lack of oil) and has been walking away from the strategy to Hemi-all-the-things.
So what’s the winning angle to both covet the manufacturing of this style of product, but also to be the reason that it will have no viable future for export?
They legitimately think that the American market, the fact that Americans are rampant, insatiable consumers, and our “regulations are communism” situation will be enough to sustain them forever. Combine that with the fact that whenever they come crawling back with their tails between their legs the government happily siphons wealth from you and I to keep them afloat and they feel downright indestructible as long as they’ve got Yee Haw Land on lock.
…this is not going to work out well for anyone involved except the billionaires, but in the era of end stage turbo capitalism the only thing that matters is the next earnings call. They’ll worry about the future when it’s here, as is American tradition.
Bleak picture to paint that we never learn, will double-down on poor decisions, and then offer government handouts to businesses that suffered at the hand of poor decisions.
But, then, farmers have been suffering this abuse for years of trade wars (and real wars) that impact costs, limit exports – to then get a pittance of government hand-outs to barely (not quite) stay afloat.
I rode in a brand-new Escape recently and it was fine. Quiet and filled with bits of tech that mostly seemed to work. Did it make me want one? No. But it wasn’t bad, though of course only an actual owner knows what the usual bunch of Ford recalls feels like in real life.
The first Honda CR-V is my favorite one: small, with external hinges on the back door, etc… No doubt the current one is light years nicer to drive and ride in, but the early one has way more personality. A neighbor has one of those first Escapes (that he never drives… maybe it’s not running?) in remarkably good shape (I think maybe it was his mom’s). It doesn’t have the appeal of that first CR-V (or Rav4 even) but few old CUVs do.
TBQ: Rav4 or Maverick hybrid if I wanted to stay in the Ford family
I’m not getting GTA6. If they spent that much, I can only imagine how scummy the monetization scheme for Online will be this time around. And it wasn’t nice in 5.
It’s bad, but as someone that has been playing GTA Online since it’s initial launch, I have never once felt the need to pay for anything. I enjoy the little grinding of businesses to get the money for the new DLC stuff. My wife and I still probably spend ~5 hours/week playing it after we put the kiddos to bed. We are probably going to use PTO to play it on launch day after dropping the kiddos off at daycare.
I always liked the Escape because it looked decent and could be had as a PHEV.
“You know, if I had your Escape, I’d kill myself!! Wait here, I’ll see if I can dig up a pistol.”
Escape replacement and I still liked Fords? Bronco Sport
If I’m not mistaken it’s basically a retro blockier Escape anyways that shares almost all the same bones. Not sure which one sells better.
Except no hybrid in the BS. I can’t figure out why.
They probably didn’t want it to step on the Escape, we might see a BS hybrid now that the Escape is dead
The Escape sold better while they were both in production but neither sold as much combined as the CRV and RAV4 did individually. And the Hyundai/Kia Tucson and Sportage both individually sold more than either Escape or Bronco Sport.
The Bronco Sport carried the Bronco brand tax while being less efficient and smaller for more money with the only engine being the 1.5L I3 in all models below the Badlands and no hybrid or plug in hybrid available.