Bill Pierre Ford

Ford says it has sold more than one million Escapes since the small Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) was first launched in late 2000. That’s a big number no matter how you slice it, and it seems to indicate people like the Ford Escape just the way it is despite no substantive changes for the past six years.

To begin with, here are some of the things that are going to change in the exterior styling of the 2008 Escape: First, the fascia. Second, the beltline, which is the border between the sheet metal and the glass windows on the sides. The beltline is now a tad higher. The tailgate will get a minor facelift while the headlights and taillights will look unnecessarily different. From the outside, the Escape has essentially evolved from a sexy teenage pop idol to a professional wrestler without any growth in size. It is precisely this metamorphosis that has given me the first reason to feel disappointed.

The side plastic cladding is gone, too. Frankly, it was those unpainted plastic covers that caused me to steer away from the CR-V toward the Escape at the last minute. If you had the chance to check them out, you would have noticed that the plastic covers on the Escape’s wheel-well flares are much thicker than the ones on the current CR-V model.