2018 Ford Escape vs Toyota RAV4

What's the difference?

If you haven’t realised that small, medium and large SUVs have taken over the world then you’ve been living under a rock – a rock that someone in a purpose-built dual-range 4WD would have driven over with disdain.

But while popular city-focused SUVs have not been designed, built or indeed marketed for serious off-roading, they can at least cope with dirt tracks and gravel roads. And it is those types of road surfaces which will likely form the outer limits of expected usage in these wagons anyway.

Some mid-sized models achieve a near-perfect marriage of on-road manners and light-duty off-road capability – and Ford’s Escape is having a decent crack at getting that combination just right. But does it succeed? To find out, read on.

The RAV4 set the standard for the medium-size SUV market before there even was one, with just compatriots Honda and Suzuki to deal with. Since its first generation way back in 1994, the RAV4  has become such a fixture on our roads.

It's nearly 2018 and the RAV4 is well into its fourth generation while most of its competitors can only claim to be in their second. The last few years has seen the ever-present Toyota lose its grip a little, and so Toyota waved the specification wand at the RAV4 to help it keep up the pace in a market with more competitors than a "Shout Expletives At Donald Trump" competition.