Despite this Escape’s lower-profile tires, maximum cornering grip on our skidpad measured the same 0.85 g as its 1.5-liter sibling, which is still well above average among compact crossovers. That car rode on 18-inch wheels with 235/50 Michelin Latitude Tour HP rubber our tester sported 19-inch aluminum wheels shod with 235/45 Continental ContiProContact tires. Unsurprisingly, we found the 2.0-Liter EcoBoost Escape to display the same competent road manners as the previously tested 1.5-liter EcoBoost Titanium. Shifting for yourself is an option (via steering-wheel-mounted paddles on the SE and Titanium and also by a thumb switch on the shift lever), but if compact-class thrills are your ultimate goal, Ford sells a dandy hatch called the Focus ST that will let you get your groove on wherever and whenever you wish. Only once did we catch it flat-footed and slow to react to an abrupt application of full throttle, where it missed a beat before downshifting. Programmed for smooth performance rather than split-second action, the transmission will likely never give the average buyer a second thought. Gear swaps are performed by a six-speed automatic with manual shifting capability, the sole transmission available across the lineup. With full grunt online at a relatively low 3000 rpm, the power to merge or dart for holes in traffic is never more than a pedal stomp away. In our real-world highway fuel-economy test, run at a steady 75 mph, the Escape 2.0T achieved 26 mpg, a single mpg below its EPA highway rating. For reference, that’s 5 mpg less than the 24 mpg we earned in its 264-pound-lighter doppelgänger with the 1.5-liter EcoBoost engine and front-wheel drive. Did we dip into its meaty, all-hands-on-deck torque more frequently than the average driver? Definitely. The Escape with the bigger EcoBoost is EPA rated at 20/27 mpg city/highway, but we could squeeze only 19 mpg from it over 500 miles, even with the standard stop/start system doing its shutdown routine. Yet Ford’s upcharge for the 2.0-liter’s extra hustle doesn’t stop at the dealer in addition to that, Ford recommends (as it does with the 1.5-liter EcoBoost) that you feed the 2.0-liter engine a steady diet of premium fuel for maximum performance-and you’ll be buying more of it. This statistical shakedown is not to whet the appetite of power-crazed suburbanites, but rather to illustrate what the $1295 price premium for the 2.0-liter EcoBoost brings to the table. HIGHS: Good power, tons of tech and safety features, intuitive controls.
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