Towing with the new Ford Escape 2.0 Ecoboost

[bnurczyk]

Anyone have any real world experience towing with the little Escape? Its rated at 3500 lbs., my rig is about 2200 with gear (no trailer brakes) well within its rating.
I'm more interested in how the vehicle actually performs with this kind of load on a long trip.

Bruce

 

[ricohman]

Hi Bruce. My sister has one and tows a small camper that weighs about 2500lbs.
The only problems she has are poor economy when it gets windy, and the Escape tends to wander with the camper in tow. Her toungue weight is about 300 lbs.
You will need brakes on the trailer. I was with her when the service fellow recomended brakes on any trailer over 1500 lbs. I have since repaired the brakes on her trailer and it stops ok now. Without trailer brakes the Escape wanted to keep on going.
But it tows ok for a small vehicle and you should be fine. A boat drags less air than a camper.

 

[bnurczyk]

Thanks for the feedback, is the camper a pop-up or a full size? Ford specks out 30 square feet max of frontal area. How bad is her economy when towing? I hope it is better than my Ram 1500 with a hemi. Not to sure about retrofitting brakes on my trailer, it has a 3700 lb axle but no mounting plates to add brakes. I would have to have plates welded on or replace the axle.

 

[ricohman]

She has an older travel trailer, not a pop up. 30 square feet is only 6x5 feet. I don't know how you could have a camper that meets that. Maybe it doesn't include what is hidden by the car?
Can't help you with exact numbers on economy. Most of the women in my life do not figure that out. Only complain about always filling the tank.

 

[thomas15]

Bruce,

I would be very interested in hearing how your Escape performs pulling your boat. This weekend, I installed a hitch to our 2012 Escape XTL with a 2.5. I haven't pulled my boat yet, which weighs about 1500 pounds complete (16" Alum.). I did test everything, wiring and so forth and test pulled a small inflatable with a 10 hp outboard. This pulled quite well but is hardly a comparison to what you are asking about.


We have had our tin boat for only about 3 weeks. Up to this time we have used our Ranger 4x4 to pull it, which is of course no problem. One of the reasons I decided on a tin boat was to make it possible for the Escape to pull our boat. On long tows I will probably opt for using the Ranger but we will see. Our Escape is not the fastest car on the road by any means.

 

[H20Rat]

The only problems she has are poor economy when it gets windy,

If its anything like my turbocharged 2.0l subaru, economy is BAD when pulling! (similar horsepower/torque numbers, although ecoboost is DI) Pulling my boat which is about 2300 pounds give or take, I get down to 12-13 if it is a strong front-side wind. Pulling into a direct headwind isn't nearly as bad as a 45 degree from the side, that kills all slipstream off the tow vehicle. I still can't explain it, but the best mileage I ever saw was pulling a very light popup camper, did upper 20's for a 60 mile trip. (this is better than my normal driving!)

 

[Fleetwin]

I have a lot of experience with the 3.5L EcoBoost- Explorer. Pulling upwards of 5K#.

Best pulling vehicle I've ever owned. Power is consistant throughout the power band. It rarely downshifts.

Economy is about 2/3 of average non towing.

 

[ihearth2o]

Its rated at 3500 lbs., my rig is about 2200 with gear (no trailer brakes) well within its rating.

Bruce

You can go over your RAWR without exceeding the tow rating. Look on your driver side door for a certification/tire sticker. It will tell you your axle ratings. Then for a few bucks, go to a weigh station with your boat rigged up. Put one axle on each scale.

 

[H20Rat]

You can go over your RAWR without exceeding the tow rating. Look on your driver side door for a certification/tire sticker. It will tell you your axle ratings. Then for a few bucks, go to a weigh station with your boat rigged up. Put one axle on each scale.

Consumer/light duty vehicles RARELY have RAWR ratings , I can't ever recall seeing one on a unibody vehicle. In any case, its rated at 350# of tongue weight. If OP's rig has that much tongue weight he has other issues...

 

[H20Rat]

She has an older travel trailer, not a pop up. 30 square feet is only 6x5 feet. I don't know how you could have a camper that meets that. Maybe it doesn't include what is hidden by the car?.

Ford basically doesn't want you towing a non-popup camper behind. The drawback of a turbo in a gasoline engine is that you don't want to be running at max boost for extended lengths of time. A massive anchor behind you will cause that. Anyway, the escape by itself is probably mid 20's frontal area, so there is very little allowance for anything hanging outside the vehicle's profile.

 

[ihearth2o]

If you are talking about published/marketing ratings, then I would agree that they are typically not made available for light duty vehicles. Certification/tire stickers though should be on all vehicles and should include axle ratings. Our 2011 Ford Explorer (first year it went to unibody) includes axle ratings on the sticker and so does our 2009 Honda Odyssey. Heck, my 1995 Toyota Camry had axle ratings on the sticker (checked it to make sure I wasn't overloading the rear axle when I had four bikes on the hitch rack). There might be 2 stickers on the driver side door…one for tires and the other for GVWR, GCWR, GAWR (front and rear).

Tongue weights are ratings for the hitch receiver, not the rear axle. It is certainly a factor when towing but just because you are under tw ratings, this does not mean rear axles are not overloaded. You can overload rear axles with passengers and gear alone. I agree though that if OP has 350lbs+ in tw on the vehicle, there are other issues….

 

[css4608]

I tow a boat that with trailer that weighes about 3000lbs. The trailer stops ok with no brakes, actualy better then a 2006 Mazda tribute.

My issues are with traction, I had to work hard to get off a gravel ramp. I also have to be real easy on the accelerator to go up hills.could not make it up a hill in the rain due to tire spin issues. I would get 4 wheel drive if I had it to do over again. I am looking into weight distribution for my trailer. I have about 300lbs of toung weight.

My car only has 7000 miles on it so the tires are still good.

 

[Rich Novak]

I tow a boat that with trailer that weighes about 3000lbs. The trailer stops ok with no brakes, actualy better then a 2006 Mazda tribute. My issues are with traction, I had to work hard to get off a gravel ramp. I also have to be real easy on the accelerator to go up hills.could not make it up a hill in the rain due to tire spin issues. I would get 4 wheel drive if I had it to do over again. I am looking into weight distribution for my trailer. I have about 300lbs of toung weight. My car only has 7000 miles on it so the tires are still good.

Same here get the 4 wheel Dr. Or all wheel drive ,had same issues on ramp. Having air lift bags installed today leaving wed. On 2k mile trip back to Vegas pulling a 2500 lb. Boat. Will update as I go. Rich

 

[bnurczyk]

Hi all, been gone for a while, thanks for the feedback. We actually just picked up the AWD Escape (love it so far), less than 500 mi on it, manual says wait until 1000 mi before towing anything. So it will be a bit before I can do a test tow.
A little more on the boat, it's a tin Jon 1860 all-weld made by Lowe for Lund, SC, full interior, the closest current model weighs in at 970lbs, the 90 E-tec is a lot lighter than I thought at just over 400lbs and another 500lbs or more for the trailer (very heavy galvanized Trailmaster). So my weight estimate may be a little high, yes, I do need to get it on a scale so I know what I really have. Batteries, gas, misc. stuff add up fast. I can dial in the tong weight if needed by moving the winch tower a little, I do know about balancing a load in/on a vehicle.
At least the boat is low profile, but it is rather wide. I was hoping on a long trip I could save a bit on gas over the Ram but then again its sounding like it probably won’t. And if I can’t stop it on wet roads it could be bad, yes I did see the towing disaster post. One accident like that costs more than a lifetime of gas savings.
If I decide to part with the RAM in the next couple years I’ll look into brakes to make towing with a smaller vehicle safer. At least in a pinch I have a backup vehicle for the close to home stuff, a real test tow will tell all.

 

[oldjeep]

Hi all, been gone for a while, thanks for the feedback. We actually just picked up the AWD Escape (love it so far), less than 500 mi on it, manual says wait until 1000 mi before towing anything. So it will be a bit before I can do a test tow.
A little more on the boat, it's a tin Jon 1860 all-weld made by Lowe for Lund, SC, full interior, the closest current model weighs in at 970lbs, the 90 E-tec is a lot lighter than I thought at just over 400lbs and another 500lbs or more for the trailer (very heavy galvanized Trailmaster). So my weight estimate may be a little high, yes, I do need to get it on a scale so I know what I really have. Batteries, gas, misc. stuff add up fast. I can dial in the tong weight if needed by moving the winch tower a little, I do know about balancing a load in/on a vehicle.
At least the boat is low profile, but it is rather wide. I was hoping on a long trip I could save a bit on gas over the Ram but then again its sounding like it probably won’t. And if I can’t stop it on wet roads it could be bad, yes I did see the towing disaster post. One accident like that costs more than a lifetime of gas savings.
If I decide to part with the RAM in the next couple years I’ll look into brakes to make towing with a smaller vehicle safer. At least in a pinch I have a backup vehicle for the close to home stuff, a real test tow will tell all.

I'm guessing that the Ram mileage doesn't change a bit when you are towing that