With its wheels shrouded in low-rolling resistance tires, don't expect great handling out of the Escape Hybrid at anything but low speeds. Step up to optional all-wheel drive and those numbers shrink to 29 city and 27 highway mpg. During the course of our testing, we consistently sat about 30 mpg, so the EPA numbers are quite realistic. Drive the front-wheel drive Escape Hybrid Limited like an EPA tester and you'll be rewarded with 34 city and 31 highway mpg. Tuned for efficiency over performance, power delivery is relaxed. Those power numbers aren't impressive for a vehicle the size of the Escape, but fortunately, the little SUV is much lighter than it looks-although with the hefty battery pack in the rear, the weight is a little oddly distributed. Power is rated at a combined 153 horsepower, with torque coming in at 136 pound-feet. As the distance closes between the vehicle and the obstruction, the beeping speeds up until it is finally a solid tone at a minimum safe distance, at which point you should stop.įord's hybrid drive system pairs the extra-efficient Atkinson-cycle gasoline engine and an electric engine with a planetary gear set and continuously variable transmission setup that's not unlike Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. When the vehicle is in reverse, the vehicle periodically beeps when something (or someone) is behind it. Our Escape Hybrid Limited didn't offer a rearview camera option rather it was equipped with a rear-proximity sensor. Once stored, you're able to voice dial your contact by name using Sync's excellent speech-to-text system. Pairing is a breeze with voice or touch-screen commands, and includes the option of downloading your phonebook to the Escape's hard drive.
#2009 FORD ESCAPE BLUETOOTH#
Point of interest searches, data access, and destination entry can all be controlled with the voice command system, a useful feature when you need to find a gas station while you're hustling down the freeway.Įarlier, we mentioned Bluetooth audio streaming and, as you can guess, hands-free calling is also part of the standard Bluetooth package. Traffic data, weather forecasts, fuel prices, and other useful information are beamed into the vehicle via Sirius Travel Link. Here you'll find the beautifully rendered maps of the GPS navigation system. Fortunately, the LCD is a high-resolution unit with crisp graphics and a responsive touch interface. While we feel that "Audiophile" is a slightly ambitious moniker for the system, we're sure most listeners won't be disappointed.Įvery command isn't accessible by voice, so users will have to make use of the touch screen. The system sounded better than most seven-speaker systems we've tested, with clear sound and tight bass at all but the highest volume levels. However, the effect was particularly apparent and slightly off-putting with human voices, such as when listening to talk radio. The effect creates a tall, broad soundstage that we came to appreciate. Mid- and high-range sounds are lifted up and away from the dash by the system's blend of audio processing. Rounding out the audio sources are the analog auxiliary input and AM/FM/satellite radio.Īudio quality from the self-proclaimed seven-speaker "Ford Audiophile" system was interesting. The Bluetooth streaming only features basic controls for Play/Pause/Skip, but that's a shortcoming of the protocol, not the Sync system.
With the scanning completed, we were able to speak commands, such as "Play artist, James Brown," to jump to a specific artist, album, genre, or song in our library.ĭigital-audio sources include the aforementioned USB port, a six-disc CD/DVD player with MP3-decoding capability, an internal 10GB hard-drive for ripping music from CDs, and A2DP Bluetooth audio streaming. The time it takes to scan the library can vary, ranging from a few seconds for a USB drive with a few hundred megabytes of music, to several minutes for a hard-drive-based iPod.
#2009 FORD ESCAPE PORTABLE#
Connect an iPod or portable storage device to the USB port and Sync scans and learns all of the music on the device. However, Sync isn't merely a voice command system. The heart and soul of the Ford cabin tech experience is the Sync technology suite, which lets users access functions of the audio and, if equipped, navigation systems with simple verbal commands.
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