My Thai wife and I were looking to upgrade our Ford Escape to an Edge, we had about settled on the top of the line. As we left the Ford dealership I told her we should compare with Lincoln, same car but luxury.
So we went to the Lincoln dealership and looking at us they tried to put us in the basic Nautilus, I said no, I want the high end. Wow, what a difference. The Nautilus is way above the Edge. So we bought it, no regrets about getting the Lincoln over the same ford (for about $15K more).
The reason I highlighted “my Thai wife” was because she had no idea that Lincolns existed. They don’t sell Lincolns in Thailand.
So 3.5 years later our only regrets are that we didn’t special order and didn’t upgrade to the Aviator (Explorer).
You are fortunate about your Escape. Each of our kids bought one. All three have had lots of problems, the worst is two transmission failures and a cracked engine block. It’s now sitting at home ready for the junkyard.