Mar 13th, 2012 by Ross Edwards
There are only two small SUVs left that still have the aggressive, truck-like look. If you’re in the market for a small SUV and don’t like the sleek, melty look of most crossovers, you basically have the 2012 Ford Escape and the 2012 GMC Terrain to choose from. And you’d better choose fast, because for the 2013 model year, the Escape will trade its current look for the crossover uniform.
The 2012 Ford Escape
The 2012 GMC Terrain
The 2012 GMC Terrain is powered by a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with 182-hp. The Terrain is available with all-wheel drive or front-wheel drive. The Terrain’s six-speed automatic transmission gets it 22-mpg city, 32-mpg highway ratings with front wheel drive and 20-mpg city, 29-mpg highway ratings with all-wheel drive.
The 2012 Ford Escape is available with a lot more powertrain choices than the Terrain. The base engine is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder with 171-hp. That four-cylinder can be ordered with a five-speed manual transmission that probably won’t get much love from buyers and serves as a way for Ford to meet a $21,440 base price, or a six-speed automatic that gets similar gas mileage (21-city, 28-highway as opposed to 23-city, 28-highway in the stick shift). A Hybrid version of the Escape is also available, and is rated at 34-mpg city and 31-mpg highway. Front and all-wheel drive are both available on the Escape and Escape Hybrid, but the stick shift can’t be combined with all-wheel drive.
The Escape is slightly taller than the Terrain inside, with 40.4 inches of head room to the Terrain’s 39.8 and 41.6 inches of leg room to the Terrain’s 41.2. Rear head room in the Escape and Terrain is identical at 39.2 inches. The Terrain’s back seat is slightly larger than the Escape, with 39.9 inches of leg room compared to 35.6 in the Escape. Buyers who take a lot of adult passengers or who have older children will probably find that extra 4 inches of leg room saves a lot of knees in the back.
Trunk space with the seats up is 29.2 cubic feet in the Escape and 31.6 cubic feet in the Terrain. With the rear seats folded, the Escape has 66.3 cubic feet of room and the Terrain has 66.1.
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