The instrument cluster is easy to see day or night. A brightly backlit tachometer and speedo flank smaller fuel and coolant gauges and a colour display.  By pressing the arrows on the left steering wheel spoke, the driver can toggle between screens in the display to find information such as average fuel economy, distance to empty, digital speedometer, MyKey information, and real-time 4WD graphic. There’s also a gear display and compass.

The large centre touchscreen, part of the MyFord Touch option, is divided into four squares for four categories: Navigation, Audio, Entertainment and Climate. Touching any one of the squares will activate a full-screen sub-menu with greater detail and more options. There are also smaller Info, Home and Settings buttons.

MyFord Touch is purely a touchscreen – there is no controller dial to navigate through the functions.  The screen’s touch sensitivity has been improved over the years to reduce lag times and avoid the problems created by double-touching.  I found that by using a ‘deliberate’ touch, the touch sensitivity was good enough.  What I didn’t like was the design of the screen housing. The screen is inset deeply into the dash where it’s more difficult to reach than a screen that’s flush with the dash surface. As well, the redundant audio buttons in front of the screen are placed on a horizontal surface where they’re harder to see and operate.   For me, this central IP design doesn’t make sense.

Traditional heater and air conditioner controls are found just below the screen and once you remember that the dials are for temperature and the buttons are for fan speed and ventilation, you’ll have no trouble.  Climate controls are also located in the touchscreen.

Voice-activated Sync controls for telephone, audio and navigation work well if you know the proper commands, but variations of those will confuse the system.

The transmission shift lever is easy to reach on the centre console, as is the handbrake. Two cupholders behind the shift lever have a removable divider that allows cups with handles to be placed there.  A small but deep storage bin under the centre armrest contains two USB ports, one SD card slot, 12-volt power point and even video/audio jacks. It also has a removable coin tray.

With its tall roof and boxy cabin, the Escape has plenty of headroom and adequate legroom for four or five adults.  The rear seat doesn’t slide fore and aft like in the Chevrolet Equinox, but the front seats can be adjusted if more rear legroom is needed.  There’s plenty of footroom under the front seat cushions for rear passengers, and rear outboard passengers can rest their arms on a folding centre armrest with two cupholders if the centre position is ounoccupied. A 110-volt power outlet is located at the back of the centre console.

Connect with Autos.ca