Nothing has really gone wrong with this car. Just the nature of the beast I'm afraid.
In 2700 miles the best gas mileage it has been getting is 16.8 mpg. That is with combined city/hwy driving. I thought I was purchasing the 4 cyl. for better gas mileage, but it seems I was wrong.
Response for a 2.3L engine is very poor. Take off in 1st gear is great, but when it shifts into 2nd there is nothing there and the same with the higher gears.
The noise from the exhaust sounds like a 3 year old playing motorboat with it's mouth in a swimming pool.
I just called the dealer this morning about the gas mileage and they told me that it's not even broken in until I get ~7000 miles on it and the gas mileage should improve by then. I don't know if I will keep this Escape that long.
Relax, mileage should improve like the dealer told you. I have a 2005 XLS with the 2.3 in it. I am at 11000 miles and am getting 22mpg city/hwy.
We just purchased one last night, 4cyl, manual, and have already found it to have excellent gas mileage AND plenty of power. The wife drove it home (we live in the Foothills) and at one point, while we were not paying attention as we were talking, she realized we were going uphill, in fifth, and she didn't have to add any pedal to maintain speed. I instructed to her to drop one gear and floor it just to see how much pickup it would have, and will admit it was sluggish, but it continued to gain speed. The sluggishness is to be expected...4th, 4cyl, going uphill? Over all, I'm very impressed.
Keep in mind, ours as of now, has 85+ miles on it so I'm by no means an expert!
My 2004 escape xlt with about 26 K miles has done fairly well so far, but keep the transmission well maintained by keeping it flushed out and refilled with new fluid every 20 k at least. these are old design transmissions that still use the old mercon fluid that have been around since the 80's and these transmissions are sensitive. do not use mercon V as that will ruin the transmissions.mine is a 201 hp V6 with 4 speed automatic. Engine has done great do far.
I am really big on taking meticulous care of a car, and performing routine maintenance like clockwork. But even I have to think that changing transmission fluid every 20,000 miles is a sign of nursing along a pretty feeble design. I agree that you're doing the right thing, whatever it takes to nurse along the weak design. However, if it really requires that, then it is certainly a weak design. I seem to remember that in the 1970s and 1980s, you never had to even change your transmission fluid. They would keep working when the stuff turned orange. The only time you needed to change it was when you bought one used, 15 years old, and it had 140,000 miles on it, and you figured you might as well change it just to do it a favor. But not now. Somewhere, between then and now, something has been lost in the area of engineering durability.
I agree with the last comment about changing the trans fluid. I owned a 1984 olds cutlass that got water in the trans fluid and the trans never slipped or gave a bit of trouble. Today its all about production, not quality. Even Toyota is starting to have reliability issues with there Camry. The Ford Fusion is starting to give the Camry and accord a run for there money according to the car magazines I've been reading.
Another comment I had was on the person talking about the 4 cyl engine not getting good mpg. Well, you have to remember a 4 cyl engine in an suv is a lot different than one in a car. SUV's are heavier and higher off the ground which robs mpg. We have an 02 Mazda Protege that only gets 30 mpg on the highway. If fuel mileage is a big issue then I would say buy a Focus, Aveo, or Corolla.
The 2.3s take awhile to break in. My 2.3 Ranger gets 29.35 city, rated 24 city/29 hwy. MPG sucked at first, but it broke in nicely. Trannies, well, have become more electronic. Changing the fluid allows more heat to dissipate to protect the electronic components. Saturated tranny fluid is useless beyond pressure.
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