2008 Ford Escape

[lasimmon]

Been looking at Ford Escapes recently. Found this one:
http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Ford/Esca...ms=trucks_vans

Anyone know if this is good value? Overpriced? etc.

I am not the most car savvy person, just thought I would see if anyone has some feed back

Thanks!

[RickDaTuner]

I would stay away from this particular model of the Escape.

I could list countless problems with these cars, ranging from simple key remote issues to full blown transmission problems.
There is also a laundry list of recalls, TSB, and SSMs for this car, one particular nasty one is the drivers side PTU seal and bushing which if not dealt with in time will cause your transmission to fail. Another fantastic one is a vibration at 85-130km/h caused by an improperly balanced drive shaft, that goes on to destroy the center differential on the Power Take Off unit.

I'll admit they are somewhat nice to looks at but, take it from a ford factory trained mechanic; They are just not worth the headache

[leftwing]

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Escape/2008/

My mom has an '10 Ford Escape and I love driving it, its only got about 5000kms so no problems have surfaced yet but I really enjoy driving it.

The one your looking has looks really nice with all the bells and whistles. From browsing Kijiji quickly, it looks like a good value. The prices I saw on comparable vehicles were from 23k-28k. Just make sure you get a thorough inspection done before agreeing to buy and do as much research as you can on the issues that Rickdatuner suggested.

[lasimmon]

Thanks for information guys. The seller is actually a good friend of mine so I am not worried about them trying to offload a lemon but I wanted some info on how they hold up, so thanks!

[ddduke]

Bought one for my girlfriend a few years ago because she only drives about 5000km a year and wanted something with cargo room, 4x4 and decent on gas. We got the fully loaded v6.

They're pure garbage. When I drove it, it was so uncomfortable it would make my back hurt after an hour (I have no back problems btw). They're so cheaply made that half the interior trim peices broke, including all three air knobs which makes winter days really fun when you have to use pliers to change the heat settings while waiting 2 weeks for new ones to come in. The tailgate started to rattle all the time because the bolts that held it on would loosen up by themselves (she doesn't drive on gravel roads or any roads that would rattle her car like crazy to cause these to loosen). One day the brake lines cracked while driving and pissed out all the fluid, making the brakes damn near useless, I had to use the ebrake to stop then have the car towed. Tranny issues. Stereo volume knob would only work from time to time. Alternator went. The list goes on.

You have to remember this was a vehicle with very minimal use. She only drove it to work which is really close and sometimes to run errands. We had it for 2 years and I just decided it had to go, I just could not stand how big of a POS it was. I don't even want to know how bad it would have been if I had it as a DD and drove it 4-8000km/month like I do my truck.

The only good thing I have to say about it is that they are absolutely unreal in the winter, puts my truck and avalanche to shame.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

+1 Garbage.

They are the cheapest in their class for a reason.

I've worked on plenty and my inlaws have one.

They hate it and I hate driving it. It's slow, has a small gas tank in which it gets poor mileage. It has a howling transmission at 100,000 and its got god awful resale so they cannot trade it in for a Rav4 or CRV.

Stay the hell away from that pile of crap.

[ddduke]

Originally posted by AE92_TreunoSC
has a small gas tank

Forgot about this, sooooo fucking annoying. Drove me insane.

[tentacles]

Originally posted by RickDaTuner
I would stay away from this particular model of the Escape.

I could list countless problems with these cars, ranging from simple key remote issues to full blown transmission problems.
There is also a laundry list of recalls, TSB, and SSMs for this car, one particular nasty one is the drivers side PTU seal and bushing which if not dealt with in time will cause your transmission to fail. Another fantastic one is a vibration at 85-130km/h caused by an improperly balanced drive shaft, that goes on to destroy the center differential on the Power Take Off unit.

I'll admit they are somewhat nice to looks at but, take it from a ford factory trained mechanic; They are just not worth the headache

What if you only got the 4 cyl. FWD? would that be better?

I looked over some reliability surveys and the only consistent issue is a leaking trans cooler, for which there is a TSB.

[lasimmon]

Im still on the fence because I hear you guys with all your complaints, but I also have other friends with them with no complaints as well as I find online almost an equal amount of complaints and those who say its fine haha. Im at a crossroads.

[dandia89]

I'm kind of confused, wouldn't you want a car that has minimal complaints rather than a 50/50 split?

[RickDaTuner]

Originally posted by tentacles


What if you only got the 4 cyl. FWD? would that be better?

I looked over some reliability surveys and the only consistent issue is a leaking trans cooler, for which there is a TSB.

I would stay away from the Vehicle all together. The current design of the 4cylinder engine causes it to develop piston slap on cold start in as little as 150k kms.

The transmissions in the 4 cylinder suffer the same issue as the 6 cyl AWD, The underlying cause of this is due to a poor seal and bushing design used in all escape models.

Transmission cooler lines that leak are believe it or not a minor issue on that car. they do for the most part all leak. and this is due to a poor clamping process during manufacturing.

Further to these issues the engine of the 4 cylinder suffers from failing VCT sensors, and on the 6 cyl as well

If you use the rear hatch more than the average person, you can also expect that the wire loom that controls the high mount stop light and also the rear lock will also fail. This due to a wire loom that was made about 1cm too short and will fray and crack over time.

Again, I could on, and on, and on on the faults of these cars.

The First Generation Escapes were great, but as soon as they moved to the new gen, it has suffered greatly.

you're better off with a fusion, or some what better of with a flex or edge, a bit more money but much more reliable.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by lasimmon
Im still on the fence because I hear you guys with all your complaints, but I also have other friends with them with no complaints as well as I find online almost an equal amount of complaints and those who say its fine haha. Im at a crossroads.

What? a 50/50 split of complaints has you at a "crossroads"? . Good cars do not have 50% of people complaining about them.

Also at least one person in this thread is a mechanic, whose opinion would likely be more valuable than than your friends with no issues.

Escapes are well known to be crap, and they have incredibly low resale value (why do you think that is?). I would avoid at all costs.

[tentacles]

Originally posted by RickDaTuner


I would stay away from the Vehicle all together. The current design of the 4cylinder engine causes it to develop piston slap on cold start in as little as 150k kms.

The transmissions in the 4 cylinder suffer the same issue as the 6 cyl AWD, The underlying cause of this is due to a poor seal and bushing design used in all escape models.

Transmission cooler lines that leak are believe it or not a minor issue on that car. they do for the most part all leak. and this is due to a poor clamping process during manufacturing.

Further to these issues the engine of the 4 cylinder suffers from failing VCT sensors, and on the 6 cyl as well

If you use the rear hatch more than the average person, you can also expect that the wire loom that controls the high mount stop light and also the rear lock will also fail. This due to a wire loom that was made about 1cm too short and will fray and crack over time.

Again, I could on, and on, and on on the faults of these cars.

The First Generation Escapes were great, but as soon as they moved to the new gen, it has suffered greatly.

you're better off with a fusion, or some what better of with a flex or edge, a bit more money but much more reliable.

So the last gen was all right then? According to Wiki the MY 2008 is the current bodystyle but still used the I4 engine and 4 speed auto from the last gen. The new engine and trans only came in in MY 2009.

I guess the one in the ad probably still isn't a good idea because it's a V6 and AWD, but 2007 and prior model year with I4 and FWD should be pretty good no?

[BrknFngrs]

I'm with Rick on this one. No first hand experience, but a good friend of mine had transmission failure as noted above.

[crapstixs]

Any vehical has a huge amout of problems, nothing lasts forever. Allmost every vechical on the road will leak fluid from hose crimps, allmost every GM ever built has piston slap and half of the honda's on the road also do. Any cam phaser will stick if the oil is not changed. No manufactur has built a auto tranny that dosent fail. Yes some trannys do blow up more than others, but all will fail at some point. these are all problems that most vehicals have.
imo these are all normal problems that all cars have.

[Team_Mclaren]

Originally posted by crapstixs
Any vehical has a huge amout of problems, nothing lasts forever. Allmost every vechical on the road will leak fluid from hose crimps, allmost every GM ever built has piston slap and half of the honda's on the road also do. Any cam phaser will stick if the oil is not changed. No manufactur has built a auto tranny that dosent fail. Yes some trannys do blow up more than others, but all will fail at some point. these are all problems that most vehicals have.
imo these are all normal problems that all cars have.

at <150k? You have been buying the wrong cars

[crapstixs]

Originally posted by Team_Mclaren


at &lt;150k? You have been buying the wrong cars

I dont buy cars, I work on cars all day. and the escape dosent have too many problems compaired to other vehicals on the road.

[RickDaTuner]

Originally posted by crapstixs
I dont buy cars, I work on cars all day. and the escape dosent have too many problems compaired to other vehicals on the road.

As a tech, especially a Ford tech, you prove a great deal of the time that you have some pretty low standards when it comes to the proper operation of a vehicle.

I am honestly shocked that you are here defending the Escape. Of all the people on this forum, having access to all the Ford privileged information that I do, you're going to sit there and tell me that the Escape is on average with all the other cars on the road?

Get real buddy, I'm starting to think that you just like defending the Ford product as if it were your obsession

[RickDaTuner]

Originally posted by tentacles


So the last gen was all right then? According to Wiki the MY 2008 is the current bodystyle but still used the I4 engine and 4 speed auto from the last gen. The new engine and trans only came in in MY 2009.

I guess the one in the ad probably still isn't a good idea because it's a V6 and AWD, but 2007 and prior model year with I4 and FWD should be pretty good no?

You'd be alright man, the first gens suffer from the front brake lines fraying over time, so just keep an eye on those, or you may get caught with a ruptured brake line as mentioned above.

[crapstixs]

Originally posted by RickDaTuner


As a tech, especially a Ford tech, you prove a great deal of the time that you have some pretty low standards when it comes to the proper operation of a vehicle.

I am honestly shocked that you are here defending the Escape. Of all the people on this forum, having access to all the Ford privileged information that I do, you're going to sit there and tell me that the Escape is on average with all the other cars on the road?

Get real buddy, I'm starting to think that you just like defending the Ford product as if it were your obsession

Im not a ford tech, I have never worked for ford. nor am a I really big for fan of ford.

The 3.0L in the escape is a great engine that ford has been making for many years. yes it dose have some tranny problems but what car dosent. All of the problems that you listed off, Allmost all cars have. hose crimps? really are you going to tell me that that is not a common problem with all cars. Every manufactur has problem with vct systems. The escape is not the best suv on the road hence the price.

unlike you I dont sit here on the internet and spew a bunch of bull shit to get my ego stroked. When I do post I try to give real life experience and solutions that it usefull. Not some shit copied right from a text book just so I can sound super smart.

you figgered out how a o2 sensor works yet?