[cantdrv55]

Got my new company car and it's the Ford Escape. I wasn't thrilled about the car choices I had, especially with the corporation choosing Ford this year for its fleet. The only motors available to me were the hybrid and the 4 cyl. I chose the 4 banger.

I'm impressed with the torque of this thing. It only has 171 but its get up and go didn't let me down. I took it over the Sierras to Reno late last week and it had no problem climbing the grade at 70+ mph, I even passed several trucks and autos along the way. The auto 4WD was flawless too.

On the way home, the storm was at full tilt. Crashes left and right of me, cars stuck in deep snow, there was a Prius facing on coming traffic because it spun out. My little Escape got me home with no drama. The only time I had to pull over was to clear the wipers of ice and snow.

The SUV also came with Microsoft Sync. That's the cool bluetooth-like wireless connection that was almost plug-and-play. It could "read" the songs I loaded onto my Blackberry and play it all wirelessly. No touching my phone at all as I can control it via the buttons on the steering wheel. The car also came with a USB connection in case I want to load and play songs off a flash drive. Cool technology.

The fit and finish is reminiscent of offerings from Honda and Toyota. Seams are tight and no squeaks. Granted I've only had it for 1200 miles but the Ford Taurus wagon I had a few years ago was a like a squeaky toy right out of the gate. The styling of the Escape is also very un-American like. No weird angles or inappropriate roundness. Just solid styling and engineering.

Anyway, I've never been a fan of Fords but if they're all going to be built like the Escape, I'd say the imports finally have some stateside competition.