Escape

Make
Ford
Segment
SUV

Right now, the compact crossover segment is the hottest fought space in the automotive market. That means Ford's redesigned 2020 Escape is important for the blue oval's bottom line. We would even go as far as saying there's not much room for error now that Ford has canned the Fiesta and Focus now.

As the build-your-own tool is now open for business for the new Escape, we had a poke around to see how everything adds up. For now, there are five trim levels and three different engines to choose from with a plug-in hybrid to follow at a later date. There's also a small selection of colors inside but nine exterior colors available in total.

The exterior colors available are Black, Ingot Silver, Sedona Orange, Dark Persian Green, Velocity Blue, Magnetic, Desert Gold, and Oxford White. Rapid Red and Star White are also available with a $395 and $595 premium respectively. Magnetic is close to a gunmetal gray. Availability is dependent on trim level, and the $595 Star White is not available on the S model. Below Titanium and above the S trim, then Oxford White becomes available.

The interior is completely trim dependent, but there's not a lot of choices. The S trimmed Escape is only available with the Ebony black cloth interior, then in SE trim the Sandstone cloth becomes a free option. The other option that opens up is Ebony or Sandstone ActiveX Seating Material with the SE Sport Hybrid. ActiveX Seating Material is billed as being leather-trimmed and will stand up to more wear and tear than the standard cloth.

The SEL trim seems to be the sweet spot of the trim levels, and adding $2,285 adds the more powerful 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, which only pairs with all-wheel drive, while leaving off the unnecessary trappings of the Titanium trim. We would also add Ford CoPilot 360 Assist, which we wish would come as standard instead of adding $695 to the price. Beyond that, the Dark Persian Green paint is nice but subtle and the Ebony Black ActiveX interior shouldn't show dirt too quickly and wear well.