Ford Vehicle

Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * The Escape has been Canada’s most popular compact SUV over the past four years, combining a user-friendly cabin and attractive styling with a very reasonable price. It’s not a tough, truck-based SUV like the larger Explorer or a slick and sexy crossover like the Edge, but the charming Escape has proven to be the right-size Ford SUV for over 100,000 Canadian owners.

For 2009, the Escape retains its platform and basic powertrain, but gets a new 2.5-litre I-4 engine. Its braking system has also been improved and refined. If the environmentalist in you still needs more proof that this is a “green” car, consider this: the Escape’s fabric seating surfaces are made from 100 per cent recycled materials.

That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but the supplier, Interface Fabrics, estimates that the use of recycled materials will save “600,000 gallons of water, 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents, and the equivalent of more than seven million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.” It’s good to see Ford emphasizing a point that we don’t often think about — the resources consumed simply to build a vehicle.

Sustainable practices are a major focus in the design and construction of buildings, but the consumer desire for “green” products has yet to make a real impact on the construction of automobiles. You can figure out how much gasoline your car uses, but how much electricity did it take to build it, and how much waste was generated in the process? Hybrid powerplants and alternative fuels will get us part of the way to owning environmentally friendly cars and trucks.