Debating whether to buy this model or stay away.

How do you ESC when this thing crashes?

I have had one since launch and it has never crashed, that said I use caps lock as a second escape key anyway (an option available in the standard settings app)

I've been using one since October, only seen one crash.

I remapped Caps Lock to Escape a few months before getting it so I'd have plenty of time to adjust. There's a setting for that in System Preferences.

The crash takes the form of it locking up. This is particularly annoying when you need to turn the volume down.

Clicking on another app usually unlocks it.

You don't. It doesn't happen often, but it is frustrating. Each time it eventually rebooted on its own.