2013 Ford Escape ecoboost review

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Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: itguy08
I'm fine with my Ecoboost 3.5 - in the SHO it weighs about as much as an F150 and I can get 18-20 in town and up to 25 on the highway. Not bad for an AWD land yacht.


Your Taurus weighs "about as much as" 5,300 pounds? Holy cow... Land yacht indeed.
wink.gif



According to Ford 4,341 lbs. for the SHO.
Ford has the F150 at 4600-4900 lbs.

She's a Fatty but I love her!
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
If you don't drive with a smooth foot, even making small adjustments all the time, gas mileage will be bad. My father and I can pull 29/30 out of it. My mother, 26 best.

Once it was 5 or 6 months old (around 9 or 10K miles), my parents escape gas mileage shot up. Was the same with my Focus.


This is valid. Many vehicles need as much as 10k miles before mileage peaks. Goes for a lot of different cars.

We had wildly different drivers in our 3.5 EB models, from 20's to nearly 80. Also 3 different platforms. All got poor mileage in my opinion.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

We had wildly different drivers in our 3.5 EB models, from 20's to nearly 80. Also 3 different platforms. All got poor mileage in my opinion.


I think it all depends on your expectations going in.

Prior to the SHO I had an 04 Infiniti G35 Sedan 6MT. Was roughly the same gas mileage in the city (20-22) and I may have kissed 30 on the highway. But that car was a lot lighter (3300 lbs), didn't have AWD, and was a manual.

So I had no great expectations going in and I'm happy with the outcome. Had I thought I was going to get 30+ MPG, I'd be miffed but at the base, it's still a 3.5L V6 under the hood when not on the boost and somethng like a 6-7L V6 when at max boost.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Miller88
If you don't drive with a smooth foot, even making small adjustments all the time, gas mileage will be bad. My father and I can pull 29/30 out of it. My mother, 26 best.

Once it was 5 or 6 months old (around 9 or 10K miles), my parents escape gas mileage shot up. Was the same with my Focus.


This is valid. Many vehicles need as much as 10k miles before mileage peaks. Goes for a lot of different cars.

We had wildly different drivers in our 3.5 EB models, from 20's to nearly 80. Also 3 different platforms. All got poor mileage in my opinion.


My Focus needed 15K. It always got what I considered to be "good" gas mileage. Then at 15K, it shot up!

EcoBoast still seems gimmicky to me. I like the technology behind it, and I think it's cool that they can make a 4 cylinder (or v6) with that much power and a very broad torque band.

But seems like something a V6 or V6 with variable valve timing would be able to do just as well.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Miller88


But seems like something a V6 or V6 with variable valve timing would be able to do just as well.


Not sure. The best comparison would be the Duratec 3.5 and the Ecoboost 3.5. I don't think that the Duratec comes close to 300 HP and the curve isn't that flat. Even comparing to other 3.5 V6s none get over 300HP without forced induction. And they all get about the same fuel economy.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
12-15mpg?

What?

For something that small?

I can treat my full size, extended cab, large V8 powered pickup truck that way, and still get that in town.

The more that I read about these EcoBoost engines out in the REAL world, the less impressed that I am.


The lowest I got with city driving was 22MPG.


Please explain what you meant here:

"12-15mpg getting on it a bit around town."


I'm not flogging it around town. Just going quickly off the line. Nothing that would attract attention.

I continue to get poor mpg Around town. Having rented the escape hybrids, this thing gets a solid 10mpg less around town. It's showing 16mpg with a few highway miles thrown in.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

We had wildly different drivers in our 3.5 EB models, from 20's to nearly 80. Also 3 different platforms. All got poor mileage in my opinion.


I think it all depends on your expectations going in.

Prior to the SHO I had an 04 Infiniti G35 Sedan 6MT. Was roughly the same gas mileage in the city (20-22) and I may have kissed 30 on the highway. But that car was a lot lighter (3300 lbs), didn't have AWD, and was a manual.

So I had no great expectations going in and I'm happy with the outcome. Had I thought I was going to get 30+ MPG, I'd be miffed but at the base, it's still a 3.5L V6 under the hood when not on the boost and somethng like a 6-7L V6 when at max boost.


I will repeat we loved the engine for everything except sounds and mileage. It was smooth, exceptionally powerful, and had good transmission programming as well.

But our expectations were that it would be like every other newer vehicle we had purchased in the last few years. Namely that it would easily exceed the EPA label for mileage if driven fairly gently. Even with a nearly 80 year old man driving it very gently it simply did not.

I would feel differently if I had only one of them to reference, but the three in my immediate family and the couple of others I know friends with have convinced me they sure aren't set up for fuel economy. Maybe on the EPA testing, but not in the real world.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

But our expectations were that it would be like every other newer vehicle we had purchased in the last few years. Namely that it would easily exceed the EPA label for mileage if driven fairly gently. Even with a nearly 80 year old man driving it very gently it simply did not.

I would feel differently if I had only one of them to reference, but the three in my immediate family and the couple of others I know friends with have convinced me they sure aren't set up for fuel economy. Maybe on the EPA testing, but not in the real world.


That's cool - wasn't knocking you or your experiences. I guess I've been happy with being smack within the EPA ratings. And maybe I don't know the meaning of driving gently as I've never seen over EPA on any car!
smile.gif


It would be interesting to put the same driver in, an Explorer with the regular 3.5 and note fuel economy and then the Ecoboost 3.5 and see what the differences are. I know they are rated differently but would still be an interesting test.
 
My parents drove out to see me yesterday and back home. Calculated by hand they got 31.2, according to the computer 31.6. Was about 140 miles round trip.

It was all state highways with some small towns. It's a 2.0 EB, AWD. My father drives very light.
 
On a highway trip with it today. 22.3 mph overall on premium, driving 72mph or less. Kind of hilly here in northern CA.

On one stretch, I reset the mpgs while on cruise control at 65mph, prior to my fillip. It displayed 27mpg steady state 65mph.

There is no way this particular vehicle will ever reach 30mpg without driving at a steady 50mph.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
On a highway trip with it today. 22.3 mph overall on premium, driving 72mph or less. Kind of hilly here in northern CA.

On one stretch, I reset the mpgs while on cruise control at 65mph, prior to my fillip. It displayed 27mpg steady state 65mph.

There is no way this particular vehicle will ever reach 30mpg without driving at a steady 50mph.


I'm wondering if advanced electronics let them "game" the EPA testing and yet drive normally otherwise?
 
Look at the gear ratio. 3.07:1. While the engine does have a fair amount of low end torque, it's geared too high to game the EPA tests.

I wonder how well they would do for mileage if it had the same ratio as the 2.5 NA (3.55)
 
One more quick update.

The roads here are rough, hilly, switchback mountain roads. The escape turbo is wonderful in the hills, the AWD worked perfectly on a very steep gravel hill and the handling/brakes are wonderful.

I've been driving some of the most intense back roads and this little SUV is perfect for the task. I've grown to really like it.

The 235/50/18 continue tires grip very well in tight corners. I'm not claiming its a sports car, but within reasonable limitations it does exceptionally well.
 
Originally Posted By: SLCraig
We have them at work in our fleet. SE's with the 1.6 ecoboost. Seems like a nice little vehicle, although the cabin is small (Focus sized front seat area) Other than that it drives well and rides pretty good too.

I am not the norm here, but I think it looks better than the outgoing model as well, I never liked the 08-12 models.


I drove a friends 2013 Fusion with this 1.6 Ecoboost. Sure was noisy. Much more engine noise than my old Taurus. Is this normal for a modern 4 cylinder?
 
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
I drove a friends 2013 Fusion with this 1.6 Ecoboost. Sure was noisy. Much more engine noise than my old Taurus. Is this normal for a modern 4 cylinder?


I think some direct-injected engines are somewhat noisier than engines with conventional fuel injection systems. I don't know what is responsible for the noise. There is sometimes (always?) an additional fuel pump at the engine, and the fuel injectors are obviously much different as well. They may make much louder "clicks" than traditional fuel injectors.
 
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Originally Posted By: SLCraig
We have them at work in our fleet. SE's with the 1.6 ecoboost. Seems like a nice little vehicle, although the cabin is small (Focus sized front seat area) Other than that it drives well and rides pretty good too.

I am not the norm here, but I think it looks better than the outgoing model as well, I never liked the 08-12 models.


I drove a friends 2013 Fusion with this 1.6 Ecoboost. Sure was noisy. Much more engine noise than my old Taurus. Is this normal for a modern 4 cylinder?


Noisy as in more vroom or ticking? DI engines tick.
 
Originally Posted By: rshaw125

I drove a friends 2013 Fusion with this 1.6 Ecoboost. Sure was noisy. Much more engine noise than my old Taurus. Is this normal for a modern 4 cylinder?


Engine noise? I know my Ecoboost is a little "ticky" due to the High Pressure Fuel Pump as well as the injectors. Bot on the 3.5 there is insulating foam in the valley of the V, around the fuel pump, and on the underside of the cover. You can hear it outside of the car if you listen for it but in the car, nothing.

And it's really loud without the covers. As part of the yearly maintenance on all cars, they get a Simple Green/Pressure wash. Afterwards I run them to boil the water off. The EB 3.5 is loud without the covers!
 
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