[jbartlett79]

So I just bought my Escape last month; I finally needed an SUV.

In the past 2 years, I've gotten very heavily into caving; after moving to CT from AR, I couldn't find anyone to make music with and had to find a new hobby. I go caving basically every weekend, and am cartographer for several caves in Arkansas and a small portion of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. These days, I am constantly driving down gravel/dirt roads, and constantly toting around bins full of wet, muddy crap. I'm also constantly driving back from Northwest AR on twisty roads in the middle of the night, with wildlife wandering across them, an area in which going from a sporty compact to a compact SUV is a bit of a downgrade in terms of maneuverability and driving enjoyment.

I drove compact import vehicles for years, including my beloved '91 Integra for the last 5. My wife has a Mazda 3 hatchback, which I think is a great vehicle, but the low ground clearance and low-profile tires makes it impractical as a "caving vehicle" that wouldn't subject me to truck-like fuel economy during the 5 or 6 days per week I'm not underground (or the times I'm not the one driving).

I didn't need 4 wheel drive or anything fancy; what I did need was good ground clearance, tires thick enough to handle gravel or dirt, enough cargo space for 3-4 bins (and the caving buddies to go along with them), and fuel economy I could tolerate on 3 hour drives to the Buffalo or 8 hour drives to Mammoth. Oh, and I didn't want to spend any more than we spent on our Mazda 3. Enter the '09 Escape XLS.

Here is a photo I took of a friend caving in Alabama.
Here is a funny photo of me caving in Arkansas.

edit: and here's a photo of the Escape being unloaded for a trip; We'd already taken out a huge ruck sack from the space in the upper right when this photo was taken. Four guys and all their gear, which was more than usual since we were going on two trips in the same day, one of which required additional vertical equipment and one of which required wetsuits.

That's why I needed one, and that's what I do with it. What's your story?

 

[andjayik]

That looks wicked!! :rockon:

 

[MidnightTribute]

Cool put it to good use! Looks soo cool

 

[jonas1022]

My wife and I have always had a large car, ie Crown Victoria, Marquis, Buick Century. The replacement vehicle for the last of those was an Explorer. It in turn was replaced by a Escort Sport for her use. She kept the Escort for ten years and wanted something that was larger inside, handier for projects, and still capable of getting good fuel mileage. It was logicial to me that we needed to go back to a SUV type vehicle, and one that was more fuel effecient than the Explorer. So and Escape seemed the perfect match :thumb: . The Ford dealer wasn't dealing on their Escapes :shrug: , so I headed off to the Mercury and Mazda houses. Mazda made the best deal. And hence, we own the Tribute :thumb: . I also looked at other makes, but remained unimpressed with the competition or their pricing strategies. Too much for too little. :bang:

 

[JIMMYJOHN]

I use it as our second car. Our Windstar has 144,576 Miles on it and the 03 Escape has 44,000 on it. I use it to pull the trailer with the ATV on it. and any other time we hit the Moutains.

 

[ZX2R]

I started life owning two dogs, an Escort ZX2 and an 87 Ranger. My wife and I(ha!) got pregnant, so we needed an SUV to tote the whole famn damily. Now it is my mom-mobile that I occasionally load up.

 

[camusdarrach]

I go to and from work, family shopping, and Scotland trips in mine

 

[Tribby]

You are a crazy man :lol: I've done caving a few times and it absolutely scared the :censor: out of me. My Dad on the other hand loves it and goes a fair bit. I'll try and dig up some photos of his last trip to show you.
Thanks for your photos btw

 

[Ajax]

That first photo was absolutely incredible! :kneel:

I would love to try something like that. BTW have you seen the movie The Descent? One of my favorite newer horror movies

About a month after I bought my Escape, I went on a 3 month "deployment" to work in NC, so I put all my furniture in storage and all my clothes, camp gear and computer gear in the Escape (should have took a pic, it looked like yours) and hung two bikes on the bike rack (hitch mounted). I don't fill it up all that often now, but I occasionally carry inside it my bicycle, dog, friends and their kids, and sometimes gun-toting maniacs lol. Just not all at once....

 

[Davis137]

Carry my dog in the back, occasional passengers in the back seats, often stuff from the hardware or department store with the seats folded flat...etc.

Since we use the OC Transpo to get to work, we only use the truck during evenings or weekends, or on holidays. We'll be using the truck to carry around my Daughter after she's born too (Already have an Eddie Bauer Infant Carrier/Seat for the back to carry her in).

 

[CrashNburn]

travel to and from work, carry the kids and the groceries, and get it stuck when ever i try to look cool.

 

[stone]

Cruise around in my spare time. Travel to work. When i am in the mood it is my, mobile radio shack. Icom transceivers are used. The commercial Icom F2010 and ham specified IC-208H dual bander. Used to do offroading in mud with it. Have sinced refrained from playing on mud tracks.

My gearbox did not cope, henceforth the oil was cooked. The dilemma was rectified with new oil. But on the mechanics advice, i discontinued the offroading. He mentioned next time i might be in for, major gearbox and possibly transaxle repairs. Have taken heed of his advice.

It is a convenient shopping car. Plenty of room in rear cargo bay and back seats. Also part of groceries fit on the rear passenger floor. Periodically i go for long distance cruises on the sealed highways. Have found the escape , :happy: to be quite a versatile and functional vehicle.

Because of the past cooked oil in gearbox hassle, i no longer go mudding on unsealed tracks.

 

[JIMMYJOHN]

I do what all the others do I drive it once in a while, wash it let it sit a week or two and start all over again :bust:

 

[Spark757]

I wash my baby whenever I can. Wax every other month or so depending on the weather. Daily driver, I accumulate a LOT of miles and I predict even more when I take it to college 6 hours away next fall I've put almost 10,000 miles on it already in the few (6) months I've owned it.