Buying a new car is suposed to be a happy experience, but unfortunately it
has turned into the worst nightmare I have ever had.  I just pray that my
wife is not killed in it.  She has bought into the myth that SUV's are
safer.  We took delivery of a new 2005 Ford Escape about 1:30 today, and by
8:30 I was writing letters to my congressman, state senator, Ford Customer
Relations, and Bill Ford himself.  I resisted buying it, because of all the
nightmare stories I had heard about SUV's.  I took the chance that somehow
they had gotten better, but then there is the Escape.  We were in the turn
lane on a six lane section of road, and were in the far right turn lane.  We
turned onto the far right lane of another six lane road after the light had
changed to green.  We weren't going more than 20-25 mph, the Escape had so
much body roll and lean that I was sure it was going to end up on its side.
What makes it even worse is that there was a great deal of torque steer, and
you could feel the vehicle wanting to go out of control.  Thank God the sun
was out and the road was dry, and there were no bumps in the road.  Had it
been wet and had there been a bump we would have went into a unrecoverable
skid, and most likely rolled over on the Escape's side.  This vehicle has no
redeeming qualities.  It is about the size and shape of a Model T.
Unfortunately a Model T  has less body roll, a better ride, and doesn't have
to worry about torque steer.  I was so shaken by the experience that I would
not ride home in it.  I intended to take a taxi home rather than get into
that death trap again.  My wife drove home in it, and got my car and came
back to get me.  I prayed the entire time she was gone that she wouldn't be
hurt or killed.  In college I had a 1973 Pinto, and at the time I knew they
cought fire and could explode.  I never felt as insecure about riding in a
car as I did in the Escape. I had a much more secure feeling in the 1973
Pinto.  After this unpleasant experience I found something that scared the
living daylights out of me.  As I walked to the back of the vehicle I could
not see if any cars were comming past in the parking lot at work, until I
cleared the back of the Escape.  I am greatful that we don't have any young
children now, because if I couldn't see oncomming traffic, an excited
running child could never see or be seen.  I wrote my state senator asking
for legislation banning SUV's from school parking lots, and forcing them to
outter areas of shopping centers and malls just for the safety of little
children.  I am a died in the wool Ford Fan, but after this experience, I
sure am going to take a look at Rice Rockets.   I sent an E-Mail to the
dealership where we bought this deathmobile asking if we can put down cash
for what we got as a trade, and this deathmobile can sit in the back yard
until we can save up enough to trade it.  I'll go to the bank on monday to
get  a signiture loan to upt down and get our eleven year old over 100,000
mile old car back.  You can't stop people from being stupid, and if my wife
is dumb enough to drive that death trap there is no way I can stop her.  But
I know I will not risk my life, nor will I let her take anybody in it.  If
she wants to kill herself by driving the Escape so be it, but I will prevent
her from hurting or killing anybody else in it.