Bought a real nice 2008 Escape XLT 2WD...

[LoneRanger]

Was looking for a decent Escape XLT for the son. Came accross a nice one: 2008 Tungsten Gray Escape XLT, 4cyl, 2WD, one owner. Bought new in Dec 2007 at the same dealership where it was recently traded-in against a full size SUV. Local construction company owner's personal ride, which he kept immaculate, and had all scheduled maintenance performed at the selling dealer. Paint is near perfect, interior is near perfect, 43,000 miles. Saw the carfax plus they ran a service history showing that it was in for all scheduled maintenance oil changes and etc. First OCI was @ 2500 miles. Motorcraft bulk 5W20 and motorcraft filters. Final price, 14K + tax etc.

 

[LoneRanger]

We were finding that there were plenty of Escape XLT 2WD 4 cyl's in the market right now, but it seems most are off-lease vehicles that the dealers are going to auction and buying to put on their pre-owned lot, at least around where we live. Problem with thoe off-lease ones that we looked at is they didn't have any verifiable service history, so no way to know if Biff or Buffy the leasee (not a dig at leasers just a dig at lazy leasers) thought "oh, I only have this car for two yrs, why waste money on so many oil changes..." In that light, we actually would have leaned more toward an off-lease car dumped by a rental firm like Hertz because at least they would have gotten scheduled maintenance.. maybe. So when we found this one owner one that was dealer maintained we made a play for it. Asking price was $16,995, bargained to $14,000 even and I know they still made money on it but that's fine because we're happy.

 

[duaneb9729]

sounds like a great buy to me! congrats!

 

[saberz]

Grats on the purchase, most vehicles that have full service histories are snagged up! When I was looking for cars to trade my tC in for, I found an Equinox, Salsa Red, immaculate inside and out(auto trader), car fax had full history and it was posted less than 1 day(same day). I called and i was told it literally sat on the lot for a few hours before someone snagged it up.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: LoneRanger

In that light, we actually would have leaned more toward an off-lease car dumped by a rental firm like Hertz because at least they would have gotten scheduled maintenance.. maybe. So when we found this one owner one that was dealer maintained we made a play for it. Asking price was $16,995, bargained to $14,000 even and I know they still made money on it but that's fine because we're happy.


Actually all 3 of our Panthers were former lease cars from major rental companies.

You made a awesome deal...Its awesome that you got the service records...Congrats...I am sure your son will really like it...I see them everywhere down here.

 

[LoneRanger]

Yeah, like I said I wouldn't be too afraid of an off-lease car that came from fleet flushing by the rental companies like Hertz, Enterprise, etc., because they do have them serviced and they adhere to the maintenance schedule... whereas with an off-lease car that was leased by Joe Blow, you really have no idea if he gave it decent maintenance under the hood or not unless records can be shown, which we found several dealers could not show records and in fact the cars had come from auctions.

 

[addyguy]

I'm jealouse - that is EXACTLY what the wife and I want for our next vehicle, but we can't swing it now.....

Good job on your find! Will you be maintaining it for your son?

 

[LoneRanger]

The next two oil changes will be free from servicing dealer (more Motorcraft bulk 5W20), then yes, I'll... we'll be doing the maintenance.

The one thing that is weird is Ford's maintenance schedule supplement to the owner manual is pretty generic-- it has two schedules, one for full size trucks and suv's and one for cars and CUV's. It does not have a specific schedule for the Escape. The schedule only mentions automatic transmission fluid change out at 60K miles if equipped with the "torqueshift" auto trans, which I don't know if this Escape has or not. I'm inclined to have the auto transmission fluid and filtfilter changed at 60,000 regardless.

Quite the upgrade going from my 'old school' 1994 Dakota to this.

 

[StormRider]

Your 08 has the CD4E 4 spd transmission, which needs to be serviced every 30K according to those on the various Escape forums. If it hasn't had a trans service yet in its life, then it needs to be done. The good news is that it takes regular Mercon V and the dealers around here have coupons for a trans flush for about 100 bucks..

 

[silverrat]

Transmission fluid every 30k miles, Fuel Filter every 15k miles, Coolant every 60k.


Transmission has got a drain plug, so it makes it a lot easier.

 

[kkreit01]

Good buy. Check out Escape-City: a lot of info on there.