ot Ford Escape any good?

We had a 2001 and now have a 2005. On the 2001 you could choose between 'manual' and 'automatic' 4WD, on the 2005 it's all 'automatic'. They're nice vehicles, had no real problems with either, but they're not exactly serious off roaders. The do work well in snow and ice though. These were our first 4WD vehicles, and I can see why 4WD are overrepresented in the 'vehicle in ditch in snomstorm' category. They are very confidence inspiring, but of course in the end don't stop or regain control, once lost, any better than most cars.

We have an 02 my better half drives... I can testify that we had about

3/4" of solid, slick ice on our uphill driveway - bad enough you couldn't even stand up to walk across it, and she started out from a dead stop right up out of the driveway (about 167' long) and never spun a wheel. Hers is the auto/man model which basically means you leave it in auto mode all the time unless you have about 6 or 8" of snow solidly covering the roadway, then if you have problems, you can switch it into manual to keep the 4WD active all the time. She likes it, good vision, a little road noisy, but basically a good vehicle for her on Southwestern PA winter highways. Never gotten stuck - yet. Seems to be a good vehicle. HTH Ken.