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Brand New 2010 Escape V6 4WD - very bad gas mileage

7K views 21 replies 7 participants last post by  wptski 
#1 ·
I bought a new 2010 3.0L V6 4x4 240 HP Automatic Escape from the dealership in March and it has about 1000km (621 miles) on it right now.

Since I got it, I have been driving it normally, not like a crazy person or a granny, normal city driving. The spec says that I should get around 11-12L/100km which is 27 MPG (for the city) but its been 3 months now and I am still getting 17L/100km which is 13-14 MPG, which is a off by quite a bit giving that I'm usually driving by myself with nothing but seats and carpet in the vehicle.

What I don't understand is what am I doing wrong? Why the shitty gas economy? What can I do to make it better?

I called the dealership and they had no clue regarding this matter. Its pretty bad, I mean the last time the I filled her to the top, the gas light came on after only 220km or 136 miles and it took $45 worth of gas to fill it up, now is that bad or what
 
#8 ·
Escape 4wd is full time awd with FWD bias until wheel slip is detected.

I also advise going to the dealer as 1000kms and under three years falls under warranty. I'd question the low mileage, it was probably sitting a LONG time. Some things you can check/do are:

keep shifts under 2500rpm
tire pressures are adequate
as mentioned check the brakes, make sure they don't feel as if they're sticking; faulty calipers are rare
parking brake isn't engaged when driving
highway speeds are kept under 65mph (EPA highway cycle is 60mph with A/C on)
vehicle steers and turns as it should
air box is clear of any animal nesting/waste

The only thing you can do otherwise is to drive it if there are no transmission or engine software updates at the dealer. By drive it, I mean to put miles on it. Don't cheapen out on the gas either and see how that does for you mileage wise. If the vehicle was sitting for over a year chances are good there's carbon in it. Only way to blow it out is to drive it like you stole it. Lock it in 3-4 gear on the highway and do a couple short 25-40 mile trips to blow the carbon out. Even doing a seafoam treatment may be a good idea.

Oh, and $45 worth of gas tells me NOTHING. You need to post volume purchased to get an accurate mileage reading. $45 will fill up my Durango R/T about 1/3 of the way. It only gets 325 miles to a tank on the highway, so don't feel so bad.
 
#9 ·
Escape 4wd is full time awd with FWD bias until wheel slip is detected.
That's incorrect and also what I thought when I first purchased my '09 but that's not the case. It engages every time you leave from a dead stop no matter what the road condition is. The percentage of rear wheel torque slowly drops off as you reach a constant speed.
 
#10 ·
Ford's 4wd is more sophisticated than the likes of Honda/Toyota as an example where the computer can move power to the rear in milliseconds up to 50% or as required. Earlier Escape 4wd were 70%front/30% rear torque split, until Ford realized it couldn't even climb a steep dirt hill and they changed the settings for the latest generation making it a bit more capable and better able to adapt to changing road conditions.



If you put the throttle down when accelerating, the vehicle will transfer power to the rear as the front wheels may detect slip, although you may not actually 'feel' it from the drivers seat. In normal driving, at least in the rental unit I had (2011 4wd V6), there was no front wheel peel as the vehicle adjusted accordingly but I did feel more pull from the front end. My only complaint was the smallish sunroof. Anyway...

Right from Ford Source:

The Ford Escape is actually a front-wheel drive vehicle with an all-wheel drive option. A four-wheel drive module, which regulates torque between the front and rear axles, receives signals from the vehicle's ABS sensors when the front wheels begin to slip or rotate faster than the rear wheels. This causes the all-wheel drive module, part of the rear axle, to engage the rear differential, activating the rear wheels.
 
#14 ·
I'm very hesitate to trade in my Durango with no electronic nannies or electronic 4wd...just full time 4WD with 40/60 torque split although I don't feel it unless I put the accelerator to the floor only to realize it lacks a LSD front axle so I get a 3 wheel peel instead of a 4 wheel peel. I can even lock it in 4LO on the trails. I'll make farm use out of it before it gets traded in.

These newer car based SUVs are best ordered with FWD I think.
Check this out:

 
#16 ·
Subaru aside, it shows how car based 4wd works...or doesn't work depending on conditions. Normal street driving its fine but there's really not much benefit over fwd.
 
#18 ·
I had the last video in my bookmarks as a friend of mine was hard pressed to get a RAV4 for his cottage, which is in the boonies but instead went with a new 4Runner. In most cases on road or gravel, even more so in the winter, compact SUV 4wd units will hold their own. Over rocks, rivers, and rough trails, they will not.

Would it not specify the 4wd operation in the owners manual?
 
#20 ·
I had the last video in my bookmarks as a friend of mine was hard pressed to get a RAV4 for his cottage, which is in the boonies but instead went with a new 4Runner. In most cases on road or gravel, even more so in the winter, compact SUV 4wd units will hold their own. Over rocks, rivers, and rough trails, they will not.

Would it not specify the 4wd operation in the owners manual?
Specify what? How it really works? No way! I got fooled by the brochure and a salesman. The above scope screen was posted in 04/09 sometime after seeing some pictures of a Scanguage-II showing lots of rear wheel torque on what appeared to be just a wet road and on a Hybrid to boot.

Even the Ford Workshop manual doesn't explain much about the system's operation. At one time there was a link to a Ford site for the Fusion which has the same system except they call it All Wheel Drive, a play on words. Anyway this site had a selectable moving graphic showing the shift of power under different road conditions, etc. It showed a series of "S" curves on a dry road and power shifting side to side on the rear wheels. It doesn't work that way and I guess that's why the page was pulled!

What the video shows is not really a 4WD problem but with the AdvanceTrac System which should detect the spinning rear wheel and pulse that wheel's brake to send power to other rear wheel because an open differential will send all the power to the spinning wheel.

I wish they would have just had just the front wheels on the rollers like I've seen in another Sabaru video.
 
#19 ·
I had the last video in my bookmarks as a friend of mine was hard pressed to get a RAV4 for his cottage, which is in the boonies but instead went with a new 4Runner. In most cases on road or gravel, even more so in the winter, compact SUV 4wd units will hold their own. Over rocks, rivers, and rough trails, they will not.

Would it not specify the 4wd operation in the owners manual?
 
#21 ·
Ford and their ways....

I know the Jeep website shows their 4wd systems. One in particular, for their Escape fighting Compass/Patriot SUVs, the OffRoad LevelII package includes a low range transfer case and brake torquing rear wheels to limit slip. Cheaper than a proper rear locker, even for a vehicle with independent rear suspension. Even an LSD would be an improvement.

I did work on an older CR-V (2.0L I4), and the rear axle shafts are like twigs, and uncovered from the elements. The pumpkin is similar and to my knowledge is a FWD biased system where the transfer case (dare I call it that?) would shift power rearward only when the front axle slips.

Electronic nannies are a PITA. I think I even have a brochure of the E-Series van with a 3 photo slide show on how the AdvanceTrac will keep you on the road in adverse conditions.

Do the hybrid's not have motors on the rear wheel hub? Or just the centrally located system under the hood? I can't recall which hybrid has the rear wheel motors to assist (probly Toyota...).
 
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