What are some specific things that should feel different? Turning, merging, accelerating (especially with overdrive off) all feel great. Turning radius isn't bad at all. Only thing is you can't take tight corners super fast unless you want to flip over.
> Only thing is you can't take tight corners super fast unless you want to flip over.
This is what is usually called "handling". The other things you describe are driving comfort or something like that. "Handling" usually means the dynamic characteristics of the car that would make it fast around the turns in a track for example. The large mass at a high center of gravity makes all SUVs pretty bad at this.
Unless the Escort was broken this seems too rose tinted a view. Large SUVs like that may be comfortable but they definitely don't handle well.