Hardworking and Adaptable

NOTED Dave McLeod 2018

Resting easy between the Ford Ecosport and the Ford Endura sits the new Ford Escape ST-Line EcoBoost AWD; the not-so-compact SUV.

A charismatic 5-seat vehicle, the sporty Escape ST-Line is as comfortable navigating city streets as it is hitting the road for weekend getaways.

A hard-working, good-looking SUV that adapts well to a multitude of everyday driving situations, the Escape ST-Line is the perfect partner for Kiwi lifestyles. The Escape ST-Line offers nine colour options – there’s something to suit even the fussiest SUV enthusiast.

I test drove the Escape ST-Line in a bright and shiny Race Red colourway. Alongside its standout hue, the Escape ST-Line also delivers bold exterior and interior sporty design cues. With a black-gloss upper trapezoidal grille, other contrasting exterior highlights include lower nose accents, fog light surrounds, fender trim and roof rails, all underpinned with unique, 19-inch alloy wheels.

The Escape ST-Line offers the sportiest Escape driving dynamics yet, with chassis enhancements including thicker anti-roll bars and a 10mm lower ride height for reduced body roll and sharper responses, giving you the road confidence you need.

Although it sits in the compact SUV category, at 4.5m long, around 2m wide and 1.7m tall, the Escape ST-Line is no shrinking violet. Even better, its outer size specs translate well on the inside, too.

Ford Escape: Please don’t let me be misunderstood

Rob Maetzig
09:49, Jul 24 2017

Ford’s medium-sized SUV offering, the Escape, doesn’t sell in especially big numbers in what is New Zealand’s fastest-growing new vehicle market sector.

It should do. After all, this Spanish-built SUV is a really nice vehicle, with qualities right up there with the likes of the volume-selling Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson.

But it doesn’t. Whereas last year 3612 of the Toyotas, 3061 of the Kias, 2841 of the Mazdas and 2650 of the Hyundais were sold, the Escape achieved just 1236 sales. Not very good for an SUV offered by one of the country’s most dominant vehicle marques, with a dealership in just about every town.

So what’s the reason? Let’s hark back to the lyrics of a mid-1960s song, made famous by British band The Animals:

But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood

Could it be that the Escape’s mediocre sales go back to the few years when Ford misunderstood market forces in this part of the world and allowed it to be sold under the unfortunate name of Kuga? While that name might have been acceptable in Europe, in New Zealand it disenfranchised half of its potential market – women – who for obvious reasons would have shied away from owning a vehicle with that name.

Escape from the clutches of Kuga

WORDS: PETER LOUISSON | PHOTOS TOM GASNIER

For those always uncomfortable about driving a vehicle called Kuga, ford has gone to the trouble of renaming its medium SUV Escape.
We break loose in the titanium version.

Let’s be honest here; the Kuga hasn’t changed that much in its transition to Escape, a name well known to Ford faithful, so call the name change a part of the facelift if you want because that’s simply what this is: Kuga facelift plus a new name.

Now some women of a particular age own and drive the Kuga as a badge of honour. They would actively seek out this compact/medium SUV as their vehicle of choice, for obvious reason. However, for every one of them, there would have been plenty more who would never have gone near Kuga because of its name. And that’s despite different spelling from the big pussy. All the same, conservative women with kids who buy SUVs seemed to associate the Kuga name more with predatory middle-aged women and so many of them sidestepped the SUV because of those connotations. An easy way to trim the Ford from a long list of contenders perhaps.

Whatever, there’s not so much in the way of negative vibes associated with the Escape name badge, unless you’ve a fear of prisoners on the loose.

http://www.nzautocar.co.nz/car-reviews-app/ford-escape-titanium-awd-2-0-ecoboost-nz-pricing-specification-and-review-2017

First drive: behind the wheel of the 2019 Ford Endura

MATTHEW HANSEN • 18/12/2018

The Ford Endura joined the New Zealand blue oval line-up earlier this year, and punters didn’t need to be Sherlock Homes to spot the elephant in the corner of the room — this was an old car.

It debuted in this form in 2014 over in America, with ‘Edge’ badging stuck to the boot-lid. But, despite being a teenager in ‘car years’, we still found reason to rather like the Endura when we drove it back in July — how well it drove and how it looked being two of its big attributes.

Now, there’s a new one. Well, sort of.

We were invited last week to cross the ditch to a wet and wild Melbourne to drive the new Ford Focus and new Canadian-built Ford Endura, ahead of their 2019 arrival.

The thoroughly American Endura seems a curious fit next to the plush-cut-rugged Everest and the more family orientated Escape. Ford on both sides of the Tasman have padded its position in the line-up by touting it as a replacement for the much loved Aussie-made Territory, but the truth is that it’s something rather different entirely.

Remove the son-of-Territory complex, and it’s actually quite hard to find direct competitors for the (we think quite handsome looking) Endura.

2019 Ford Endura Titanium AWD – Car Review – American Luxury

APRIL 8TH, 2019 JOHN GALVIN (JSG)

As the replacement for the Ford Territory, the rest of the world know this car as the Ford Edge. Now available in Australia and New Zealand, it’s being sold under the model name Endura.

Can the Endura stand up to the legacy of the old Territory and how will it compare to other brands in the massively expanding SUV market?

In New Zealand, there are 4 variants of Endura to choose from. All Endura models come with the same 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine that produces 140kW of power and 400Nm of torque. They also all have the same 8-speed automatic transmission.

Each variant builds on the spec of the previous one. Stating with the Trend FWD, the main features are adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, integrated active noise control, push button start with keyless entry and a towbar. The Trend AWD adds intelligent all-wheel drive to the line up already available in the Trend FWD.

Moving to the ST-Line you get a bit more again, 20? alloy wheels with black inserts, black trapezoid front grille and surround, enhanced park assist with pull out assist, perpendicular park and flankguard, front heated & cooled seats with 10-way power adjust (driver & passenger), full sports inspired body styling kit, Miko Suede perforated seats with leather accents and sports-tuned suspension.

Ford Endura ST-Line – Endura aims high

WORDS: KYLE CASSIDY | PHOTOS TOM GASNIER

Ford launches a new SUV offering in the Endura. Is it everything you’ve been looking for?

Ford recently announced it was going big on SUVs in the US, and would be ditching car lines as they came up for replacement. You have to feed demand, and if people are willing to pay the premium for crossovers and SUVs, then Ford is backing the right horse. We can’t see the SUV trend slowing any time soon and manufacturers will find new high riding niches to plug.

Locally the Ford line-up of SUVs includes the Ecosport which misfired on arrival but the new ‘improved’ model is now on offer, the Escape soldiers on but is aging and then there’s the rugged Everest, Ford’s only seven seater as the once popular Territory has been gone a year now. Ford’s newest SUV recruit is a North American-sourced rig they call the Edge, but here it’s known as Endura.

The Edge name is registered by Toyota down these ways, and so Ford had to recycle Endura, a name for an engine range long gone now. The current Edge debuted in the US in 2015, making its way across the Atlantic in early 2017 and it arrives here in limited numbers initially.