Escape from Your Truck ; Ford's newest SUV is a better alternative.(Brief Article)

Some of our readers have written us with a problem. They've owned and loved Ford trucks: F-150s, Explorers, Rangers, even Broncos. So much so that they've made them their sole means of transport, commuting in them and even buying them for their spouses to take the kids to practice. And while a love affair with a truck is a beautiful thing, some of these readers realize that all is not well.

The first step of any rehab is admitting the problem. Some say it's the lousy handling or the poor fuel economy. Others maintain it's the lack of space left in the garage. Some have even begun to doubt the value of paying the increasingly steep price tags these trucks carry. All admit that no matter how much they love trucks, it's just not necessary, practical or responsible to drive one all the time. But Ford has a cure that's a whole lot more fun than a 12-step program. Fittingly enough, it's called Escape.

Built on a new platform shared with the Mazda Tribute, it's significant as the first Ford SUV that's not truck-based. This unibody vehicle with four-wheel independent suspension and rack-and-pinion steering rides and handles like a car. How much so? It made it through our slalom at 41.2 mph and pulled 0.72 g on the skidpad. (For comparison, the Ford Taurus' numbers are 41.7 mph and 0.76 g.)

The car-like SUV is not a new idea, and Escape isn't that different from the Honda CR-V: four doors, seating for five, and a cargo area behind the rear seat. Dimensionally, Escape is two inches shorter than the Focus sedan, but inside has the feel and nearly as much interior room as an Explorer. Plus it has an upright seating position and a high-visibility greenhouse, two truck genes that many drivers find appealing. Escape bears a strong exterior resemblance to Ford's other ``E'' SUVs, so much so that its styling alone is enough to attract buyers. What differentiates Escape is the availability of a 200-hp V6, something that nearly all respondents mentioned as a deciding factor in their purchase.

In our track testing, a front-wheel-drive, V6 Escape did 0 to 60 in just 8.18 seconds, faster than a whole host of vehicles including the Honda Civic EX coupe, Kia Sportage, Nissan Xterra, ...