2013 Ford Escape Official MPG Numbers Announced

The new 2013 Ford Escape has lost some weight and gained some increased aerodynamics, and the official mpg ratings from the EPA show an improvement, but are still not quite the best among Escape’s competitors.

The 2013 Escape is offered with three engine choices, a 1.6-liter four-cylinder that offers 178 hp and 184 ft-lb of torque, a 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 240 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque and a 2.5-liter four-cylinder which puts out 168 hp and 170 lb-ft of torque.

The two smaller engines make use of Ford’s EcoBoost fuel saving technology, which nets the small 1.6-liter motor 33 mpg highway and 23 mpg city. The 2.0-liter EcoBoost is rated at 30 mpg highway and 22 mpg city, while the largest engine, the 2.5-liter four-cylinder gets 31 mpg highway and 22 mpg city.

While Ford is claiming that the Escape is now the most fuel efficient small SUV on the market, the Mazda CX-5 gets 26 mpg city and 32 mpg highway with an automatic transmission, or 26 mpg city and 35 mpg highway with a manual. The small Ford engine does beat the automatic transmission CX-5 highway number by 1 mpg, but all the rest of the engine options and all the city mpg numbers are bested by the Mazda. The 1.6-liter driven Escape does however provide an additional 20 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque over the Mazda.

Ford also says the the 1.6-liter serves as a replacement for the Escape Hybrid model, and on the highway this is true, as the new gas engine gets 33 mpg while the hybrid only got 31 mpg. But in the city, the hybrid was much better with fuel, getting a 34 mpg rating while the new 1.6-liter “replacement” nets 23 mpg city.

Read our review of the 2013 Ford Escape here.