This is one of Ford's best interiors in years in terms of the look and feel of materials used. The headliner is plush and molded to the contour of the roof. Our Escape Limited had thick, tautly tailored leather on the seats and hard, glossy black plastic where you might expect fake wood or metal. It looked like the lacquered finish on a fine piano. The satiny black or silver used in lower trim levels isn't bad, either. Yet the highlight is a woven-look, rubberized trim on the dash and console. It looks sporty and suited to a more expensive car. The lowlight is the grained plastic on the door panels, which feels hard and looks cheap. Fortunately, it's not enough to overwhelm the good stuff elsewhere.

The Escape features upholstery cloth made from 100-percent recycled material. You'd never know by its look or feel, and Ford claims that compared to upholstery made from virgin fiber, production will conserve about 600,000 gallons of water and 7 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.8 million pounds.

Escape's front seats have enough cush to prevent numbing and enough support to limit fatigue during longer drives. Overall, though, the seats are smaller than those in a larger sport utility. Drivers with big frames might find them small. There's not an abundance of side bolstering, but that makes it easier to slide into the seats, and there's enough to keep occupants solidly in place during the type of driving a typical Escape owner is likely to undertake.

The gauges are clustered in a shaded binnacle that can be absorbed in a glance: Tachometer left, speedometer right, with fuel and coolant temperature in the middle, along with an easy-to-read trip- and systems-info display. We absolutely loved this, because it includes a menu that allows the driver to easily cycle through and change features such as headlight-off delay and auto-locking.

The gauges and switches feature Ford's new signature backlighting style, which the company calls Ice Blue. No gripe here, as the bluish white is crisper and brighter than conventional green-yellow or orange lighting. The problem is the script on the gauges, and particularly the speedometer. It's muddled and lacks differentiation beyond the big even numbers, so it's hard to tell quickly what speed you're driving unless you are traveling precisely at 20, 40, or 60 mph.

The dashboard is tall and squarish, but it's attractive and fits Escape's little-truck theme nicely. The big vents at the ends move lots of air, and there are two more in the middle near the top of the center stack. These can be aimed to avoid blasting the drivers hands or face with a rush of air. At the very top sits a neat TFT display that shows compass direction, date and time, exterior temperature and, on models so equipped, the two interior temp settings.

When it comes to placement and function of switches, the Escape is first rate, and examples are easy to find. When the driver rests his or her left forearm on the door rest, the window buttons sit almost perfectly at the fingertips. With elbows on the door rest and center console, arms are even and hands rest nicely at 9 and 3 o'clock on the steering wheel. The mirror adjustor sits on the door pillar, and it's easy to reach when the driver's head is in driving position. One easy-to-use stalk controls the blinkers and all wiper/washer functions. The steering wheel controls for cruise and audio work without moving hands from the driving position.

Audio and climate controls work just as well. The volume and station-selector knobs are good sized, but more important, they are raised substantially from the stereo plate, rather than nearly flat to the surface as they are in some vehicles. The radial switches for fan and temperature are also big and easy to find. The pushbuttons to control airflow direction and the rear defogger are small, but they tend to be adjusted less frequently than the others. The audio jack is at the bottom of the center stack, just above a lined bin where you can set an iPod with reasonable assurance that it will stay put for the entire trip home.

The Escape Limited we drove had Ford's optional touch-screen navigation system, which is becoming one of our favorites from any manufacturer. Its biggest weakness is the display screen, which is smaller than those in some other vehicles. Yet the graphics are clear, and easy to read to the smaller details, at night or wearing sunglasses in bright daylight. More important, the system is easy to use with minimal distraction, and easy to learn without pouring over the owner's manual. The software identified obscure roads that others missed. It's an expensive tool, to be sure, but we particularly recommend the navigation system with the Escape Hybrid. In the Hybrid, it includes an energy display that demonstrates in real-time the fuel-saving benefits of hybrid drive. By paying some attention to the graphs, you'll find yourself becoming a more environmentally friendly and fiscally efficient motorist. It can be fun to see how efficiently you can drive.

Storage space is aplenty in the Escape, at least in terms of cubbies within reach of the front passengers. Start with that rubber-lined, slide-proof bin in front of the shifter, which is great for iPods, phones, glasses, a wallet or change. The little rubber mats in this bin and in the cup holder bins can be pulled out for cleaning, a nice feature. Swing-down overhead bins are provided for sunglasses and garage door openers. The glove box is big enough for stuff beyond the owner's manual. Decent-sized bins are molded in the door bottoms, though whatever goes there tends to slide. The crown jewel is the center console, which is large enough to swallow a hand bag or laptop computer. Better, it has two removable trays that allow stacking of smaller items inside. Better still, the trays can be hung outside the console, adding even more storage. These details add to the pleasure of living with the Escape for everyday running around.

The back seats are comfortable, though the seatback is too straight for some tastes. There's plenty of knee room, and noticeably more headroom than before. A 5-foot, 9-inch, 170-pound passenger stayed comfortable for nearly on hour behind the driver, though the middle space works best for six-year-olds. There are cup holders and a power point on the back of the console, but storage space for rear passengers is limited to those slide-prone bins at the bottom of the rear doors.

For 2008, some of the interior dimensions, particularly headroom, have increased. Cargo capacity has decreased slightly, from a maximum of 69.2 cubic feet to 66.3, with 29.2 cubic feet behind the rear seat, compared to 33 previously. The difference is equal to a big duffle bag, and Escape's maximum cargo volume puts it below the leaders in a class that includes the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Jeep Liberty and Chevy Equinox (73, 72.9. 69, and 67.1 cubic feet, respectively).

The cargo space is easy to maximize and access, however. The rear seat folds quickly, 60/40, and the bottom can be removed to make a perfectly flat load floor. There aren't a lot of frills in back, but the essentials are there: tie-downs, and an optional cargo shade and under-floor bin that's deep enough for a small load of groceries.

Ford invested a lot of time and money making this latest Escape quieter inside than its predecessors. The windshield, for example, has an acoustic laminate sandwiched between two layers of glass. The headliner has more sound-deadening capability, and the carpeting is 50 percent thicker. The net result, according to Ford, is a 20 percent reduction in interior noise at 80 mph.