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AUTO REVIEW
worth noting that there’s only 34.3 cubic feet good for 178 HP and 23 mpg city/32 high- Hornbeak can fill you in on those details.
of storage space behind the rear seats (68.1 if way. Optional on the SE and Titanium Es- One notable option is the hands-free
you fold down those seats). For the record, capes is the best engine, a 2.0-liter
that’s comparable to its main competitors, four-cylinder EcoBoost motor that pumps hatch, which allows you to open the hatch
the Honda CRV and Toyota RAV-4. out 240 HP but still gets 22 mpg city/30 by kicking your foot below the rear bumper.
highway. I thought it was gimmicky at first, but with
A six-speed automatic transmission and time I found myself using it frequently.
front-wheel drive come standard, and all Es- HANDS-FREE HATCH Thank you, Ford.
capes except the S can be had with all-wheel Pricing ranges from just over $22,000 for
drive (AWD). The base engine is a normally Mulally’s One Ford program makes a lot
aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder with 168 HP a stripped model that no one but a lab of sense, but could easily have resulted in cars
and respectable fuel efficiency (22 mpg courier would ever drive to over $35,000 for that customers didn’t want. So far that hasn’t
city/31 highway). The SE and Titanium a loaded Titanium version. We don’t have happened, and instead we’ve been treated to
come standard with an EcoBoost — in Ford- space here to delineate the various trim pack- nice vehicles from other regions of the world
speak, that means the engine has turbocharg- ages and options available on the Escape, but that work fine here. Such is the case with the
ing and direct injection — 1.6-liter engine as always, BCMS Auto Program director Phil Ford Escape, nee Kuga.
Steve Schutz, MD, is a
board-certified gastroenterol-
ogist who lived in San Anto-
nio in the 1990s when he was
stationed here in the U.S. Air
Force. He has been writing auto reviews for San
Antonio Medicine since 1995.
For more information on the BCMS
Auto Program, call Phil Hornbeak at 301-
4367 or visit www.bcms.org.
visit us at www.bcms.org 45
