I’ve always liked the Escape. It never really stood out of the crowd, but it always did its job quietly and comfortably albeit just south of the spotlights. It was like a supporting actor in a movie – always there, but never the star.

Through the years it has matured, but never completely evolved; the good news, however, is that this model you see here is the last of its’ generation and is the best one to date. Just don’t expect it to be taking a stab at the lead role yet – that should come in 2008 sometime when the all-new, second generation Escape comes over to these sides of the mangroves.

Basically, it is the same old Escape we’ve grown comfortable with except that it has managed to kick a few annoying habits to make itself more liked, like repositioning that big, long column shifter and putting in a traditional floor mounted transmission as well as a redesigned center stack comprising of audio and climate controls. Major external changes include a redesigned front bumper, grille, headlights and hood, as well as LED taillights and rear bumper. Also, Ford have wisely dropped the punchy V6 option and decided to stick with the 146 hp, 4-cylinder, 2.3 L Duratec 23, which replaced the first gen’s asthmatic and woefully underpowered Zetec 2.0 that wheezed its way to only 127 hp.

Yet despite the slight boost in power, the Escape has never really leaped out of the showrooms in the same way the CRV has, but that doesn’t mean to say that it doesn’t have its strengths; the ride, for example, remains one of the best in its class. You see, while the CRV chooses to share its platform with the Civic, the Escape has built its’ hopes on the Ford CD2 platform, which is in turn based on the Mazda GF platform, which was used by the Mazda 626 and explains the stability at higher speeds and the slightly more composed handling.

But the best thing about the Escape at the moment is nothing. Ford is currently offering Zero percent interest on all Escapes, which makes it one of your best bets in its segment right now. And, with the standard inclusion of dual airbags, ABS, EBD and Brake Assist, and it becomes a safe bet, too.