Greg,

I recently was in the market for a new vehicle. My decision was based on it having 4WD and a decent amount of cargo space. I had been looking at the Aztek (actually saw the original concept car... which, I might add, looked very NICE before they sliced and diced it to what they're now selling... anyhow...) and was fairly happy with it, but when I got close to it, looking from the rear, I was totally turned off by it's fat ass. It just didn't look nice. I'll admit that the interior is very nice, but the captain's chairs seem out of place in a CAR and make the inside seem cramped.

Then a friend of mine told me about the new Ford Escape. I went to a dealer to find one (had some difficulty finding one in stock at the time!) and instantly fell in love with it. It's not too big for everyday driving; is very good on gas, especially for an SUV; has a good amount of horsepower behind it; has quite a bit of cargo space even before you put the rear seats down (you'd be surprised how much you can get into that seemingly small space!); has a ton of room for the front passengers and quite a bit of leg room for the people in the back seats (my g/f's brother plays football, is 6' 2" and 280 lbs., and was very comfortable back there). I love the moonroof, too!!! It's also about 3-7 grand less (fully loaded) than the Aztek (base)! My single complaint is that it doesn't have steering wheel controls for the radio. I can live with that, though... I'll be getting my tuner and Sony stick soon enough.


George