2006 Ford Escape Facelift launched in Japan

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Ford Malaysia seems to be on an aggresive marketing campaign for the Ford Escape, perhaps in preparation to clear off it’s existing CBU stock for this. Ford has launched a new facelifted Ford Escape in Japan.

The Ford Escape’s current honeycomb mesh grille nose has been refreshed to the same chrome bar style of grille as the new Ford Ranger and Ford Everest, with a few other exterior design enhancements like new bumper, head lamp and tail lamp design. From some of these photos it seems you also get the obligatory signal lamp on wing mirror feature which every car manufacturer seems to be implementing these days, though if Ford Malaysia refreshes it I don’t know if we’ll get that level of trim.

Other than aesthetic enhancements, the 2.3 litre inline-4 in the Escape 2.3L VICS has also been equipped with variable valve timing, and the SUV’s overall NVH has been improved. More photos and two videos after the jump.

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Video: Ford Escape Bear Advertisement 1

Video: Ford Escape Bear Advertisement 2

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • stephenstreets (Member) on Jun 26, 2006 at 6:45 pm

    LOOKs HOT, Specially the interior, I really like the grill look , makes the old plasticky escape look dated like some 90s thing. 2.3 litres, i think i can handle that on the highway. Now if only i could afford it.

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  • raptorclans (Member) on Jun 26, 2006 at 6:47 pm

    sweet… they seemed to have updated where it matters… improved dash, meters, the grille looks fine to me, classier looking. the old one did seem a lil cheap from certain angles. the wing mirrors wif the signals look like they came off a merz… and it's actually quite ok. crystal look lamps look ok too… not too overly done. nice car, if they made it like the KLIMS concept it'd be even sweeter XD

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  • johanbey (Member) on Jun 26, 2006 at 7:18 pm

    Can anyone identify the badge on the front grill panel? V6? Ghia? Btw I think the facelift is much needed for Escape. A friend of mine sold his for an Innova, claimming the 2.0L Duratec performance is dissapointing, terrible milage and shoddy interior quality. Im not sure bout the current 2.3L, but sure remember the pre-launch gimmick in walkway of 1-Utama shopping complex, what a hype! I think the basic problem with Escape is utterly uninspiring design, hardly muscular even for a urban 4WD SUV, you wont exactly swithc lanes when you see an Escape on your rear view mirror.

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  • szw (Member) on Jun 26, 2006 at 7:41 pm

    looks almost da same wif da current version .

    but da car in da pict looks kindda big , hope dat dey din dissapoint me .

    but i still think da size is same as da current version .

    but da dash looks quite promising , luv those blue intrument panel .

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  • Fairman (Member) on Jun 26, 2006 at 7:56 pm

    Wah..facelift of ford escape, it looks more sporty and younger than current one, they have done much improved on interior….but i still prefer CR-V,

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  • Tracks (Member) on Jun 26, 2006 at 8:17 pm

    The facelift looks good but its long overdue as the competition looks far better compared to the current model. The headlight, grills and bumpers looks up to date and not. Interior looks okay as well and it has climate control. Lets hope that when it get to our shores, the equipment count still stand high. I wonders whether the light could be installed into the current version.

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  • i-zonda (Member) on Jun 26, 2006 at 8:40 pm

    Looking at the current 2nd hand value of Ford Escape, quite a bargin… Yah, wonder currrent model can facelift 'ourself' when the part available… Dun u guys think the button arrangement on the dashboard looks similiar to current accord?

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  • yiaomo (Member) on Jun 27, 2006 at 12:39 am

    Have you all been to Taiwan before or read car's magazine from that Island ? It's basically the same design as the island locally assembled Ford Escape which was introduced and sold 5 years ago to date….nothing special and surprising !

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  • raybrig85 (Member) on Jun 27, 2006 at 12:43 am

    the front look is ok…the rear end..look outdatedla…not impress me at all…if we parked it bside x-trail…cr-v..the rav4 and freelander…the escape will looks old…

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  • aksMs (Member) on Jun 27, 2006 at 3:07 am

    I've never like the Escape. But the the 1st ad is quite amusing thou…. Hehe…

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  • szw (Member) on Jun 27, 2006 at 5:38 am

    da ad is in chinese wor ?

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  • jtshin (Member) on Jun 28, 2006 at 7:09 am

    yep… is the taiwan advertisement of the new Escape…

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  • kenfresh (Member) on Jun 28, 2006 at 10:23 am

    I always believe the Escape is a rather good buy, at least here in Malaysia. But Ford's got that rather unfavourable reputation here, with exception to the pickups.

    Overall design of the new Escape looks more like facelifted versions actually. Hardly radical, hardly innovative. Same old.

    And the ads, goodness, nowhere near the creativity level of the VW ( or any other ads for that matter) Zero wow factor.

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  • kenfresh (Member) on Jun 28, 2006 at 10:24 am

    My bad. it is facelifted.

    apologies.

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  • jsli (Member) on Jul 05, 2006 at 5:17 am

    Actually it IS made in Taiwan and then exported to Japan. It has been heavily advertised here by Ford Taiwan to show their production quality (of being accepted by picky Japanese company).

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