New Ford Escape Hybrid
 

Has anyone purchased the new Escape Hybrid?

It got a really good review on Autobloggreen.com and I'm seriously considering getting one. Very impressive MPG for a big SUV!

Hey Colby,

If you're:
- a city/urban slicker
- want to spend $5-6 more than you need to
- obliged to drive an auto
- disinterested in safety features like stability and traction control
- interested in being insignificantly greener
- thinking that an SUV with a 103+" wheelbase is a big SUV
- inclined to want awd for another $1-2 k
- disinclined to consider return on investment
- inclined to possibly become a "Hypermiler Poser"

With all due respect to your interests and inclinations, then go for the new Escape or Tribute or Mariner Hybrid rather than the Escape or Tribute fwd 5spd.

Tribor

Am I missing something?

Isn't this forum for vehicle reviews?

Are you missing something? I don't think so. That's an opinion or review of the Ford Escape Hybrid vs the plain wrapper (manual fwd) Ford Escape, which I've seen advertised for $15k.

It may not pencil, but it's good looking, spacious, handles well, rides well, and has--I think--a nice following of happy owners. Am not sure if there's an owner of a new one in this forum.

So hopefully, someone will step forward here and review it in a manner more to your liking. I sincerely hope so.

My father-in-law has an Escape Hybrid. I can't speak much of it because I've only driven it once or twice. Seems solid, was very impressed in the build quality for a domestic (no offense meant, I've owned primarily domestics in the past). The CVT is a little better in my bro-in-law's Prius... the CVT in the Escape seems to overrev for the throttle input... JMO though. It does get up and move very swiftly though when needed, like the Prius. (This is helped because they can run off of both gas/battery motors at the same time for more power.) I think he gets like a hair under 35MPG, but he also drives very slow in spots to maintain battery mode, takes high speed turns to keep momentum, and drives highway at like 5 below the limit. Tibor's #'s are impressive though for a 5MT gasoline Tribute, so take that into consideration of what is possible.

I do agree with Tribor in that it is not what you want to get from a strictly financial standpoint... it will take YEARS (if ever) before you recoop the money over a 5MT base Escape. However if you are more interested in the environmental impact of a Hybrid SUV vs. it's conventional counterpart, then go ahead and consider it! Do remember though, there are tax rebates out there (still I think?) to help even out the price.

Colby,

Please accept my apology. My post was intended/directed to shortfalls of the SUV hybrid -- not you for asking--like really good in town mpg and so-so highway mpg (compared to non hybrid standard models available), unavailable safety features like traction and stability control, and no real opportunity to recover added costs unless it was driven several hundred thousand miles in the city (well beyond its useful life with battery replacement costs).

I think buying a small SUV hybrid like the Ford products (Escape, Tribute, and Mariner) makes more sense than buying a larger one with much poorer mpg numbers. Owning one is a statement that the owner's environmental intentions are good and indicates a willingness to spend extra $ to demonstrate that. I also think the Ford product family is out in front of other manufacturers with their small SUV. Buying a compact hybrid like a Prius or comparable Honda makes really good sense as the payback is much better although we don't know what those replacement battery packs will cost....do we?

Jandree has confirmed that a new Escape owner is very happy with it. So the Escape Hybrid is quite likely the best small suv hybrid available now. Planned improvements will include traction and stability control as I understand it. There should be a continuum of refinements to attract more buyers.

Peace,

Tribor

There’s something else to consider with those battery packs, regarding the environmental friendliness of them. I don’t remember specifics or a source, but I was reading an interesting article that questioned if Hybrids were in fact harsher to the environment overall because of their batteries. Although I’ve read that Lithium Ion batteries are on the horizon in at least the Prius (which aren’t as bad), the Escape still uses a Nickel based battery (Ni-MH)… and the argument that the manufacturing and eventual disposal of these batteries is going to be a real pain environmentally speaking. I believe the article attempts to compare a Prius vs. a Hummer (which I think is a real stretch), but perhaps it’s an arguable point when comparing a Escape Hybrid vs. an Escape.

That study was working with the assumption the Prius had a 100k mile life and the Hummer a 300k mile one. First gen Prius on the road with many more miles than that with the original battery.
Plus, the batteries are recyclable.

Wow, well that's actually pretty damn impressive they got the technology that right the first shot.

Having owned and researched the crap out of the Escape Hybrid, here's my view on it.

#1 It doesn't really do anything well except provide the punch in acceleration of the V6 while sipping the fuel better than the 4-cylinder in town.

It can't tow more than 1000 lbs. It only seats 5. And the AWD system supposedly doesn't do as well as other dedicated AWD systems on really slippery surfaces. I've read tales of people being stuck, spinning just one wheel, with the rest well planted on the ground, though I never experienced that myself.

Essentially the only reason I would get one again would be if I had to have the extra ground clearance, as otherwise, one could get similar hauling capacity, economy, and performance out of an Impreza hatchback for less money and potential technological headache.

It's a great vehicle and I don't fault the hybrid technology at all. It worked wonderfully. It's just not very practical when you start comparing actual capability vs. cost and payback.

That said, we sold ours primarily to get out of the payment. Otherwise I think we would still be driving it because it truly was pleasant to drive, and fun to push into the 40 mpg range by hypermiling.

The highest mileage Prius was a 2002 (1st gen) with 349,531 miles on the original battery pack. Sadly it was recently totaled in a car wreck.

In fact Toyota pays a $150 premium on Prius battery packs to help ensure they get collected & recycled.

The nickle is worth more than that salvaged.

That is one heavy vehicle and the engine is only 133hp plus the 70Kwh - 94hp from the motor man that is a lot of electric power - could power a car on the electric motor alone and for the battery to put out that much power it has to be pretty well designed also. The gas engine alone at 133hp vs Scion xB @106hp with approximate weights of 3500 lbs vs 2500 lbs seems to make it pretty slow! Looks like it has about the same or less interior space too and only for about $10,000 more in price. Length is 14.6feet Scion xB about 13 feet and a much shorter hood so the interior must be a lot smaller. Interesting that Toyota makes the hybrid drive ala Prius!

From wikipedia: Sanyo Electric Co., which first produced hybrid car batteries in a joint venture with Honda, built the 50 kg (110 lb),330V 5.5 Ah (would make it 1.8kWh storage) , 250-cell nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack for the 2005 Escape Hybrid. Electric only range max 1.5-1.9 miles.

The hybrid accidents scare me. We had a special pole in the shop in case someone had to be pulled off a hybrid with a problem.

Certainly, it's not a likely thing to happen, like a gasoline fire in a regular vehicle, but I don't think most people would completely prepared for watching for potential risks of a hybrid injury rescue.

Scions had dirty little engines. They've improved.

car (w/ 5spd in non hybrid)............. EPA/Carb score
Escape hybrid .................................8/9.5
Escape ..........................................6/7
2008 xB .........................................6/7
2006 xB .........................................2/2

Emissions is more important to some over absolute fuel economy.

Ford developed their own hybrid system. There was some possible infringement on Toyota patents, something like 10% of the total patents on the HSD. So both sides reached an agreement to avoid court costs. Neither side has come forward with the exact specifics, but Toyota got diesel and emission tech from form Ford.

As when powered off, the battery is physically disconnected in an accident.
The high voltage cables are bright orange and run down the center bottom of the car.

I believe the fuel line is more likely to be accidently cut by a rescuer.

I am not sure what the score means on the EPA/Carb numbers but any hybrid will probably put out less polution because it probably is not running the gas engine during part of the test or in the case of the Prius and Escape they operate the engine at higher rpm all the time and usually preheat the engine further reducing the emissions.

They also have tech in place to reduce evaporative emissions will the vehicle is parked.

Score is just a scale the car is put into based on measured pollution. Getting a fuel economy number is a happy coincidence to what the EPA is really testing. To get a certain score, the car needs to produce under the cut off limits for the tested pollutants. Using a number is easier than the SULEV, LEV, Bin 5, etc rankings

Most new cars are in that 6 to 7 range. To get a 2, the 1st gen Scions probably only had the minimum required emission control equipment. However, the TDI Jetta produces slightly less total pollutants than the the gasoline version. It does produce lots more NOx, which is why it's a 1 has opposed to a 6. It's possible the Scions failed at one thing in a similiar fashion.