2023 Ford Escape

Carvana (opens in a new tab) says the 2023 Escape remains part of the fourth generation introduced for 2020 but gets a substantial mid-cycle update with a redesigned front end, upgraded screens and a reorganized trim lineup, with SYNC 4 standard on an 8-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and an 8-inch digital instrument display standard across the lineup. Ford Authority (opens in a new tab) adds that the standard screen can be swapped for a 13.2-inch unit that is optional on the Active, ST-Line, ST-Line Select and PHEV trims, and that two exterior colors are dropped and two new ones added.

Car and Driver (opens in a new tab) describes a reworked front fascia with new lighting elements, a revised hood and an updated front bumper. EPA rates the 2023 Escape at 26 to 40 mpg combined and $1,550 to $2,400 a year in fuel, the top figure being the hybrid; KBB lists 23/31 to 42/36 mpg city and highway.

NHTSA lists 13 recall campaigns for the 2023 Escape, more than most model years. Several concern fuel and engine fire risk: 22V859000 and 24V634000 cover fuel injectors that may crack or lack O-ring support discs and leak fuel in the engine compartment, 23V380000 covers an engine failure that may release oil and fuel vapor near hot components, and 25V372000 covers a cylinder head whose ball plugs may fail. Two more, 24V954000 and 25V789000, cover high-voltage battery cells with a manufacturing defect that may short internally and cause battery failure on plug-in hybrids, with owners advised not to charge the battery in one of them until it is repaired. Others include 24V440000, a cruise-control radar module misaligned in production, and 23V506000, an instrument-panel module improperly soldered so the panel may not light.

Owners have filed 133 complaints with NHTSA on this model year: electrical system with 61, engine with 31, power train with 23, unknown or other with 17, forward collision avoidance with 16 and lane departure with 8.

Kelley Blue Book (opens in a new tab) lists the cheapest 2023 Escape, the Active, at a Fair Purchase Price of $18,500, with trade-in values of about $12,200 to $18,850 and private-party values of about $16,900 to $22,400 depending on trim. With this many recalls, the plug-in hybrid's battery campaigns and the engine-failure campaign are the ones to settle before buying.

EPA rates the 2023 Escape at 26 to 40 mpg combined and $1,550 to $2,400 a year in fuel. The 2023 Honda CR-V rates 29 to 40 at $1,550 to $2,150, the Toyota RAV4 28 to 40 at $1,550 to $2,250, the Chevrolet Equinox 26 to 28 at $2,250 to $2,400 and the Hyundai Tucson 25 to 38 at $1,650 to $2,500. On EPA figures the Escape's hybrid matches the CR-V and RAV4 hybrids at 40 mpg combined, and its gasoline models trail them slightly.