2022 Ford Escape ST-Line PHEV review

What is the Ford Escape ST-Line PHEV like on the inside?

The Escape PHEV ST-Line’s interior is much like other Escape models.

The red stitching, silver metallic highlights, and faux carbon-fibre pieces give some pizzazz to an otherwise fairly drab-looking interior, with a mixed-bag of soft and hard plastics. The materials used on the doors and lower parts of the dash really feel a little cheap for a $50,000-plus vehicle.

The steering wheel has a typical-of-Ford squishy steering wheel using perforated Sensico artificial leather, with ample adjustments. The seats look really nice, but I found them a little flat in the base.

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Behind them sits a large 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster which doesn’t process data quite as rapidly as the most cutting-edge systems, but which looks very swish with its various skins. The optional head-up display readout doesn’t project onto the windscreen, but rather a small fold-up glass piece.

The centre tablet display is quite small at 8.0 inches, but the Ford Sync 3 system (no longer the latest generation) remains dead-simple to negotiate. There’s a helpful PHEV system diagram buried on one of the menus, and a battery-health readout too.

Your various driving modes are controlled by buttons alongside the centre tunnel, with corresponding confirmation readouts in the centre tunnel, while the shift-by-wire transmission rotary dial is a novel approach.

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Storage comprises an open shelf under the climate controls with two cleverly-lit USB ports, plus two (also backlit) centre cupholders, and bottle-friendly door bins.

The back seats are good, with my 194cm frame able to fit behind my own driving position without much trouble, and occupants get separate vents and USB ports. The seats fold 60:40, and there’s a pull-down centre armrest.

Boot capacity does not change for the Escape PHEV, staying at 556L with five seats in use (to the roof). The boot floor measures 1729mm long, 1051mm between the wheel arches, and 833mm tall.

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What’s under the bonnet?

The Escape PHEV’s complicated drivetrain comprises a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine running the efficiency-focused Atkinson drive cycle, an electric drive motor-generator, and a lithium-ion battery with 14.4kWh energy capacity.

The maximum power output is a decent 167kW, sent to the front wheels through an e-CVT automatic transmission. At 1843kgkerb, it’s 222kg heavier than the non-PHEV version in FWD.

The PHEV is also the least capable towing vehicle in the Escape range. It has a maximum braked towing capacity of 1200kg, where all the other models can tow up to 1800kg.

Ford claims combined-cycle fuel economy of 1.5 litres per 100km – as always with PHEVs, entirely contingent on your charging habits – and up to 56km of pure-electric range. The fuel tank is 45 litres, 12L smaller than the other Escapes, but then again its efficiency is far greater.

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There are four driving modes: EV Auto (default, set-and-forget), EV Now (prioritises battery-only miles until depleted), EV Later (uses the engine to keep the battery at a set charge for later, though I didn’t find this entirely true), and EV Charge (engine recharges the battery, beyond regular regenerative braking, like a generator).

The battery is best charged using a backlit passenger-side front guard-mounted Type 2 charging port and is also to a tiny degree automatically replenished on the move using regenerative charging that captures the kinetic energy normally lost during braking.

The easiest way to charge is to plug it into a regular wall powerpoint at home through the supplied three-prong cable and leave it overnight – while monitoring it from the Ford app from your couch. That is, if you have the facilities.

You can also use a Level 2 public AC charger or home wallbox, which rapidly escalate your charge times and the latter of which costs a few grand to buy and have installed.

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How does the Ford Escape ST-Line PHEV drive?

The regular Escape is one of the more fun-to-drive medium SUVs out there, with light yet quick steering offering sharp turn-in, well-sorted body control, and a ride quality that balances comfort and control except over particularly sharp imperfections (e.g. potholes).

It frankly feels quite car-like, even though the rear torsion beam suspension doesn’t sound particularly sporty.

I also managed a zero to 100km/h dash in 9.0 seconds, which is acceptably brisk for most users I’d venture. This was in the Sport setting which limits the car to its default driveline mode.

That lack of a Mitsubishi-style multi-motor all-wheel drive (AWD) system does limit its versatility however, and the way it puts its power down when driving aggressively. Ground clearance in the Escape PHEV is also 18mm lower than the petrol-only models, at 160mm.

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While it’s not the absolute cutting-edge of PHEVs given its age – some incoming alternatives are said to offer greater all-electric range for instance – I found the Escape PHEV to be a pretty cohesive effort.

This gist is this: For daily driving errands it’s an electric car provided you charge it like you charge your phone, but on long trips or when you forget to charge it, it reverts to driving like a regular hybrid car – just heavier because of the big battery. It’s a sort of ‘in between’ technology.

The highest-profile test, of course, is pure electric range. I found the 50km mark to be a good, achievable average per charge, which is fine for many urban commutes.

When I really applied caution and drove like an urban hyper-miler, I even eked out an indicated 63km EV-only stint.

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Following this test I then recharged the battery to 100 per cent from my wall socket at night, conducted a mixed 130km drive loop the next morning, and finished with a fuel economy readout of 2.1L/100km. This comprised 70.1km of electric driving incorporated – the battery until drained, plus moments of coasting and downhill energy recuperation all count.

For a second crack I charged it to 85 per cent, spent two hours at the wheel on a fairly highway-biased, combined-cycle drive loop of 128.4km, and did 73.2km under electric power. I yielded 3.3L/100km fuel economy on this stint.

This part largely squares up with my test car’s lifetime figures: 1916km since the main trip computer was reset, in the hands of various drivers, with a cumulative readout 3.3L/100km average, taking into account semi-regular wall charging on the part of various borrowers.

That’s good, but still doubles the claim… Which frankly shows how silly PHEV fuel economy claims are in general, given they really only make sense on a 100km loop leaving with a full charge, and won’t be replicated over the next 100km in the journey.

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Of course, you won’t always be leaving with any charge at all, at which point the Escape PHEV becomes a slightly heavier regular hybrid, relying on clever electronics to dip into hidden battery reserves when coasting or at low-rolling speeds.

Impressively, my average fuel economy in these conditions was 5.7L/100km, which is similar to what I’d expect from a regular Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, which cannot drive long distances as an EV like this Ford can. This was based on a 64km loop, with 13km of this utilising these battery reserves.

Even with no useable battery charge indicated, like all good hybrids it tends to roll off the line electrically to maximise smoothness, and at those times where the petrol engine fires up, it does so without offensive noise or vibrations.

So, while the Escape PHEV doesn’t present any massive surprise, it felt cohesive, refined and most of all predictable in its energy use.

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