ugh it looks like it has black plastic around the wheel arches...lets hope that isn't the case. To be fair the concept had them too

 

They are probably a rubberized plastic trim like you see on the BMW X1,3,5,6 and the Jeep Grand Cherokee, etc.

I personally like this on an SUV, it makes it feel a little more rugged. As with BMW's and Jeep even now I would guess its there depending on the trim level.

 

I want to say the Porsche Cayenne has it to.

The rdx is a joke aimed for loyal fit and civic customers who clearly have no idea a basic ford escape offers more features lol.

 

Cayenne has it too, depending on the trim...the S models get body colored moldings.

 

Ford escape also has the added feature of being horribly unreliable

 

I haven't heard anything about the Escape being specifically unreliable. I know several people with Escapes new and old and they seem fine.

 

There's been a few hiccups with the EcoBoost engines in the Escape, but otherwise as SW12GS mentioned, Escapes new and old are decent little utes and over the years Consumer Reports usually recommends over the years. My family has a 2005 and 2010 (1st and 2nd gen) and they've been solid

 

A lot of the bad press on the Escape, as well as other Fords, has been the My Touch system. Like I Drive and others, they'll get it fine tuned. Seems like RDX has a solid system.

 

Funny enough Sync works (takes some getting used to), one of Ford's biggest problems was not training people on the system like Lexus does with their LDS and LTS's.

The latest iDrive works really well, but that first gen was garbage.

Our Pre-owned lot also has a few late model MBZs and Audi's with COMAND and MMI which work, but can be very fussy.

Saw a commercial for the latest A3 yesterday and it shows the driver inputting the alphabet (writes a 'S'). I'd be curious to try their latest version, and of course excited to see how this newest Remote Touch from Lexus in the RC and NX functions.

 

Probably the F-Sport variant we're seeing in the photo, whereas the leaked one may be the "standard" toned down grill.

Really excited to see the final product!

 

Yeah Sync works well, and MyFordTouch is much better than it was.

 

I had no issues in the Explorer or Fusion I rented, both were quite impressive.

 

When it first came out it was a mess, the MyFordTouch.

 

Speaking of interfaces and back on topic, we can expect the Remote Touch "touch" a la RC.

From C&D: "Sliding your finger over Lexus’s Remote Touch Interface moves the on-screen cursor through menus and scrolls the nav maps. The pad pulses as the cursor passes over selections, what the industry calls “haptic feedback,” and the driver presses down on the pad to make a selection. The graphics and menus are largely unchanged from previous Lexus models, and because the complicated menus and small buttons are unchanged from before, it’s only a small step forward rather than a great leap. But it is progress."

Any guesses on NAV/Audio screen size and its form factor? 8" ? "Fixed tablet style" or "Flip-up/motorized"?

 

not sure why you can't write letters and numbers on the touch pad....