Ford Escape

Looking at SUV . Been told that the above are unreliable. Any opinions out there.

Ford. fix or repair dailey

You're going to get plenty of opinions here, take them with a grain of salt. Try a search for the escape in the search engine.

I don't know much about them but they always look smart. I would consider buying one. 3.0 litre may be a little thirsty, but not as bad as the 4.0 bigger SUV's.

http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/ford/escape/

Theres no particular reason why Escapes should be avoided, as long as you realise that its going to cost a bit more in fuel if you are trading up from a medium sized car.On later models there is a 4 cyl option which is adequate but not nearly as much fun or as good at towing as the 3.0V6, all depends on what you want it to do. Escapes do get bagged by muppets who know nothing about them and get them mixed up with Explorers who are also the same people who say you should fork over a pot of gold for a Mazda6 when you can have a Mondeo for thousands cheaper so watch out for that. As with everything get a full prepurchase check and avoid anything thats not in A1 cond and got a shonky service history, there is a good choice of these on the market including Jap imports that don't seem to be very different from NZ new versions so take your time to get a good one. These are also sold as a Mazda Tribute.

at the old workshp i was at we had a couple of these that came in. all o which had issues with the wiring at 1 point or another

All fords are unreliable!

Won't be nearly as nice to drive generally as the bigger territory , and is a much older design in suspension , interior packaging etc . But being Mazda based it will likely have more reliable build quality than a typicle "Friday avo built Aussie car" that sadly still exists with many Territorys/Falcons/Holdens etc. It would HAVE to be a v6 one though.

Have got the 200bhp V6 Tribute. Love it. It's a bit thirsty but better than the commodore. Just keep it serviced regularly.

It is a smaller SUV then others out there - It certainly doesn't have the same room as something like a Territory etc would have.

I wouldn't bother with the 4cyl, they are gutless and no fun to drive, and not really any good for towing.

The V6's go alright once you get used to the throttle (on the early '03 shape Escapes), they used an early form of electronic throttle on them and there is sometimes a slight delay when taking off at lights etc.

I'd try to get one of the newer '08 models. The '03 are generally a good car when going, but as with any car have their faults (And since I work on them daily I've seen everything that goes wrong with them!)
Things to check:
Play in front wheel bearings, Exhaust rattle/tinging sound under accel (Caused my exh studs breaking, have to remove whole engine to repair - a 12 hour job), Starter motor (Have had a few flywheels that munch teeth which is again a 12 hour job as above), Manifold gasket leaks, Front Crank seal/sump leaks.

Otherwise, check service history, spark plugs is a major job on the V6 as all the inlet manifold has to be removed, check trans and engine history etc.

As with anything, all cars have issues. I only see the ones that break down. They are generally pretty reliable but do have some common issues. But again, I wouldn't own one, simply because to me they full in that useless is is a SUV or just a 4wd car kind of demographic that things like the RAV 4 etc fall into . too small to be a proper SUV but to big for just a family car to drive around town with.