forester or ford escape

BobnShaz, please do more research on the Ford Explorer. I have been a Ford bloke for 41 years and recently, i changed to a 4wd vehicle. I had picked out a Ford v6 Explorer and when i told a mate of mine, he asked "why one of them"? So i phoned an old mate who worked on Fords for many years and he told me not to go with it. So, i phoned the RAC engineer and he told me the costs of replacing the rear timing chain. This alone changed my mind, so i now own a Landcruiser and love the vehicle. Hope this helps.

Depends on what you want - they are still rather different though both soft-roaders.

The Forester is a well built piece of work.

The Escape is a rebadged Tribute I think but probably has more space

The idea of long hot trips in LPG converted vehicles however, worries me, but only anecdotally - not from real experience.

lpg worries me to but i would use both fuels not just lpg . just trying differnt options have been running aterrano 11 td for the last 3 years and has been a great car averages 10l per 100ks and now will retire it to a back up car 300000ks. diesel is just to dear where i live now and modern peterl engines seem to do a lot of ks now... cheers

Any reason it has to be a softroader?

Could a gas Ford Falcon or dual fuel Commodore do the same run?

Escape does not have a lockable 4WD system at speed, unlocks itself at anything above 40-50 km/h IIRC. (Basically useless system, prone to overheating anyway when in use).

Subaru invented the softroader. True "all wheel drive". Used to be as reliable as you could get, certainly feel better about any Subie than some of these new things (Rav4/X-trail/Escape/etc).

Other options would be a lateish Suzuki Vitara/Grand Vitara.

Whatever you chose, make sure you can get a gas kit for it BEFORE you buy.

Just sold the wife's 1999 forester GT with 200,000klms. It did not miss a beat & was probably the most reliable car we have ever had & would have kept it if it was not a turbo.(only had 2 CV joint boots replaced) hope the new x trail is as good

I had an manual '04 Outback (similar donk at the Forester although a '03 Forester is probably a 2L rather than a 2.5L as now... Outback bit heavier but maybe a bit more aerodynamic) and it used 10L/100 around town (city) and about 8L/100 on trips (hwy @ 110-115kph, some towns, bush tracks, etc). I think the Forester is going to better those figures which an Escape/Tribute isn't going to match downhill with a tailwind from figures I've read. I drove some Tributes (and Rav4, X-Trail, CRV) when buying the Outback and they drive like a truck in comparision. Subaru's flat 4 engines take a little while to get used to, different noises and power delivery (no need to rev it's head off, unlike a similar age Rav4 for example). Was very happy with the Subaru but sold it due to towing requirements.

salesman said he can get flat lpg tanks to go underneath,a need 4wd as 50% of the roads are dirt and if it ever rains here in this god forsaken place i will need 4wd on some of these tracks