2013 Ford Escape

“There isn’t much this doesn’t have to offer,” joked Lee Ward, a sales rep at Friendly Ford in Geneva, referencing the five-passenger SUV.From an EcoBoost engine with turbochargers and direct-injection to a hands-free lift gate with video-game-inspired motion-sensing technology, the Escape allows users to connect, move and venture without a worry.

A best-in-class, fuel-nursing 33 mpg on the highway serves as a strong selling point for the 1.6L EcoBoost engine, which features a  turbocharger on the inline four-cylinder setup. The engine features variable camshaft timing to improve the economy, boasting 178 hp while allowing plenty of low-end torque for passing.

A second engine option is the 2.0L EcoBoost, featuring 30 mpg highway and 240 hp. The engine combination allows 3,500 pounds of towing capacity. The third engine, coming standard, is the Duratec inline four-cylinder with 168 hp. Each comes mated to the six-speed SelectShift Automatic, allowing the driver to select a gear like a manual, or run with the ease of an automatic.

“I’m pretty impressed with the Hands free access,” Ward said. “This can do more than you might expect it to.”The ease of access is a major selling point of the vehicle. A simple toe-wave has the rear hatch springing open. A class exclusive, a gentle kicking motion under the bumper with the Intelligent Access key fob in a pocket or purse combine to trigger the lift gate to open; replicating the action will make it close.

The height can be reprogrammed to fit inside tighter garages, so the lift gate doesn’t swing to its full height and avoids contact with roofs and rafters.The lift gate exposes a 67.8-cubic-foot storage area; the seats split in 60/40 fashion and form a flat path all the way to the backs of the front seats with the adjustable cargo load floor in place.

“You can have a flat shot all the way to the front and maximize your length or drop the floor to a lower spot,” Ward said.The tech-savvy aren’t left wanting, either. Ford SYNC can pair with a cell phone, transferring all contacts to support voice-activated calling. The technology can also play MP3s, USBs or iPods. Anything with Bluetooth can stream to the system, including popular audio sources such as Pandora, iHeartRadio.

The controls are mounted on the steering wheel, and can be activated by simply pressing a button and asking Ford SYNC to do what you wish: “Call Mom” or “Play playlist: Road Trip.”Additional activated services include turn-by-turn navigation.

“Just say the word, SYNC will get it done,” Ward said. “SYNC can also read incoming text messages to you.”The huge MyFord Touch LCD display makes controlling the devices easy and also places an LCD screen in the gauge cluster. The five-way controls on the steering wheel mirror the display panel and allow access to the media hub and dual USB ports. Voice commands also bring up weather reports and can find destinations or points of interest without a physical address. Looking into blind spots is a snap with the in-dash display, with a meter to help judge rear-backing maneuvers.

The Escape can even parallel park itself; a press of a button engages active park assist, which alerts the driver when an appropriate opening is found. Then, the driver removes his or her hands from the wheel, and the vehicle will park itself, giving commands to the driver to shift gears and apply the brake and accelerator.

The Escape also features intelligent four-wheel drive, available to determine road conditions and adapt 20-times faster than the blink of an eye. Ford advertises the on-demand system as its most advanced intelligent four-wheel drive system ever.“If you can’t find something you like about Escape, take it out and look a second time. There’s so much more to go over. I’m still learning everything about rtls. Ford did a really good job getting it together on this one,” Ward said, listing off additional available items such as Curve Control, Roll-Stability Control, and the ability to cue the MyKey functionality to block calls and texts while driving. 

The dozens of innovations make the Escape a multi-segment offering with multi-level appeal. The body even features 10 pounds of recycled clothing in the sound-dampening system, and the post-consumer and post-industrial polyester fabric carpeting includes 25 recycled 20-ounce plastic bottles per vehicle. More than 85 percent of the vehicle is recyclable after it’s retired from service.

 Some herald it as a debt-free degree, but that largely depends on how you define “debt.” Students won't have a fixed sum hanging over their head, gathering interest that’s being skimmed off by a for-profit lender or big bank—but they will be making regular payments of a (small) chunk of their income for a (rather long) time. Though the final details will be hammered out in the pilot program, the bill suggests that graduates of four-year programs pay 3 percent of their income—and grads of two-year schools pay 1.5 percent—for 24 years. The goals are to eliminate the upfront cost of college and to allow students to take jobs that pay less but have more social benefit without worrying about making monthly debt payments. Students who make a lot of money will pay a larger amount into the fund, and each generation will fund schools for the generation after them—hence the name, Pay It Forward.

It's noteworthy that the proposal came from students themselves. In the fall of 2012, Barbara Dudley, the founder of the Oregon Working Families Party, taught a capstone class at Portland State University on student debt with professor Mary King. The Pay It Forward plan had been considered elsewhere—most recently in Washington state—and the students considered it as along with other proposals for state and national action to solve the student debt crisis. “We fell in love with it,” says Kevin Rackham, who was a junior at Portland State when he took Dudley and King's course.

The students were deeply involved in every step of shaping the bill, says Sami Alloy, a WFP campaign manager. “They decided that they thought this was a just way to create a shared responsibility model that would remove that initial financial and psychological barrier.”

The students presented their proposal (the full text of which is available on the Oregon WFP's website) to a panel of legislators and secured a champion in Portland Democrat Rep. Michael Dembrow, chair of the Oregon House higher education committee, who introduced the bill. The Working Families Party made the bill a legislative priority, and the students worked with Alloy and Dudley to lobby for the bill. They were backed by a coalition that included the Oregon Student Association, Portland State University Association of University Professors, Jubilee USA, the United Food and Commercial Workers union and Teamsters Local 206.

“With the hard work of the students and the political power we've built as the WFP, we were able to build consensus in the legislature, but I don't think that anybody expected it to move this fast or to be so unanimous,” Alloy says. “The reason this has struck such a chord is that people are hungry for a solution to the student debt crisis.”