Auto News 5

Other than the fact that I don't own a trailer to tow behind this big Ford, I used the Expedition to its full extent this past weekend. I loaded up two car seats and three adults for runs to Trader Joe's, Ikea, Target, and Whole Foods. I never ran out of space for the shopping and no one complained about not having enough room. The ride and lack of noise on the highway is impressive and it plugged through the snow with little trouble Sure, it's still a big huge beast and doesn't exactly handle well or slot easily into parking spaces but it does what it sets out to do quite well. I find the interior packaging far superior to that of a Suburban. The seats fold flat, making it very easy to load flat pack boxes at Ikea. In a Suburban, you have to decide if you need to remove the third row before heading off on your errands. If you then need to haul extra people, you have to reinstall the third-row seats. Not good. I also find that the Ford doesn't have the annoying secondary vibrations through the chassis and the suspension that you feel in the GM product.

It's January and that means that its time for the annual three day extravaganza of world premieres that is the Detroit Auto Show.

This stripped-down Ford Escape is so far from the average Escape/Mariner/Tribute you see on the roads, it's almost funny. I'd love to know what the take rate for this manual transmission is. The shifts aren't particularly rewarding, since the throws are pretty vague. The four-cylinder engine doesn't feel much more responsive with a five-speed manual than it does with an automatic, either.