Boston.com's view

As the Joe Pesci character might say in “My Cousin Vinnie”: Whatcha got here is a car aimed at your ‘ute market.

He’s not talkin’ “ute” as in sport utility vehicle, but “ute” as in youthful buyers. But the new Ford Escape is, in fact, a sport ute, aimed at young and active buyers.

And the question arises, does the market really need another sport ute. The answer, if you are Ford and have left the small sport utility market to foreign manufacturers – notably Honda and Toyota – is yes.

So Ford built a new SUV from the ground up. Did not base it on a car platform, as others have done. Did not slap it on a heavy truck platform that would deny the final product the car-like feel that many folks are demanding in their SUVs these days. Instead, they designed a whole new platform (shared with the Mazda Tribute) that incorporates Ford’s first ever unibody truck platform. They gave this little SUV an optional, powerful V-6 engine and a tuned suspension that is better than what I’ve felt on other Ford SUVs.

Let’s start with the engines. The XLT I tested came with a 3.0-liter, V-6, 200-horsepower Duratec. You’ll recognize that plant from the Taurus. A 130-horsepower, 2.0-liter, four-cylinder is the base engine, but unless you plan to do little more than tool around the suburbs looking SUVish, you’ll want the bigger engine.

And if the bigger engine is too politically incorrect for your tastes, you might want to hold off. Ford will – for 2003 – build a hybrid version of the Escape with a four-cylinder gasoline engine and an electric motor. Forty miles per gallon and the towing and acceleration capabilities of the V-6.

For now, this is Ford’s challenge to the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V and it is a car that, if you’re looking for a small SUV, you ought to drive for comparison. It certainly feels roomier inside than either of those two challengers and, with the leather package, is downright luxurious for a small SUV.

It’s not an SUV for a family with three teenagers. The back seat is more comfortable for two rather than three growing kids. The front buckets were firm and roomy with good back support. Control knobs on the dash had too much of a light-plastic feel to them, though they were easy to use.

And if there’s one major complaint to be made about the interior, it’s that there aren’t enough nooks and crannies in which to store the very accoutrements of the active lifestyle led by the Escape’s target market. Even webbed pouches in the door, the ceiling, behind seats, would have added both a rugged look and utility.

So you’re somewhere between rugged/active and plush/comfortable as you motor along in the Escape.

It’s all in the straddle and, in building a four-wheel-drive car that needs to do well on the highway, Ford found itself straddling.

On the highway and secondary roads, it’s a better-riding car than the larger Explorer. It’s just as tall an SUV as the Explorer, yet it doesn’t have that top-heavy, seesaw feeling the Explorer delivers in sudden or tight cornering. That’s got to be because of the Escape’s carefully tuned independent suspension, with struts, coil springs, and antiroll bar up front; trailing arms, coil springs, and antiroll bars in the rear.

It moved in and out of traffic at reasonable speeds, held nicely on corners, and gave a smooth, straight-ahead ride. It’s an SUV in which you can comfortably commute and do so getting about 20 miles per gallon.

My only at-speed complaint with the Escape is that it’s noisy. I don’t know if it’s the roof rack, the step-up rails, or the tires – or some of all of them – but it is a noisy road car.

Offroad? Well, let’s just say it’s a good thing that like most SUVs, few Escapes will ever get full-bore offroad treatment.

This is billed as four-wheel-drive, but it’s really a front-wheel-drive system that, when the car senses those front wheels slipping, will shift torque to the rear wheels for help.

That will be good when you get caught driving in snow or you need to motor along a moderately muddy road in the spring. And that’s all most of you will ever need. But the Escape is not really a vehicle in which you escape to the deep woods. On the hill near home where I test SUVs, I could sense the front wheels going into full slippage before the transfer took place – and that was too late.

The four-speed automatic transmission – your only choice with the V-6 – was smooth and let me run out the engine when I wanted to.

I sense that this is an SUV that will undergo more refinement, and it should, because with this platform and this engine and this suspension, Ford is on the cusp of a very fine, small SUV.

Nice touch:

The split rear gate. Rear window is hinged above and lifts up. Lower gate opens separately. Just like on some big SUVs.

Annoyance:

The ignition key tucked high up on the steering column. Not easy to find in light or dark.