One Year, 10 Months.

That's how long I've had my 2003 Prius. In total, I drove the car 60,700 miles in that time frame. It is with mixed emotions that I announce that the car has been replaced. Happy, now that what I wanted to buy nearly two years ago, now sits in my driveway. Sad in the fact that a great car no longer sits in that same driveway, and that I will be saying goodbye to those awesome 55 mpg tanks. My Prius sold me forever on hybrid technology. I will never again own a non hybrid car, and I will always be a Prius fan. B)

About a week ago, I put my Dodge truck up for sale on Ebay. It sold for my minimum asking of $8,000 on the 26th. It was a great truck, but too nice to continue to allow to sit under the trees, catching sap and dirt. I simply haven't had the need to drive it, and with diesel fuel prices being what they are, no desire to feed it, never mind that I was now running 6 months between fillups on it. I've decided that I can rent a truck cheaper than keeping it up, so away it went. After I picked up the buyer from the airport, and we took care of business, that money, and my Prius went to Bob Tome Ford in McKinney, TX., where I picked up my brand spanking new 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid FWD for $915 below MSRP. I have the optional NAV/Audiophile/hybrid computer, the "appearance" package, and the "optional" rear floor mats. The FEH is also equipped with 4 wheel disk brakes, power everything (of course), alloy wheels, and fog lamps. Thankfully, I was able to find one without the unwanted leather interior. It's just too hot for that in Texas. I picked up my FEH with 120 miles on the odometer, and by the time I got home, was already 2.3 mpg over the EPA regs of 31 highway. Not bad on a totally green drivetrain. After one round trip to and from work, I'm now sitting at 34.8 mpg - 1.2 mpg away from the vehicles city rating. I've read of people getting as much as 40 mpg with reasonable driving tactics, so my hopes are high that I'll be able to toutch that figure.

I plan on sticking around, as I have plenty of experience with the Classic Prius to share with those who may have purchased a used one. I don't think I could walk away from a collection of people who have not only raised the bar on the quality of the membership, but simply obliterated any hope of any other site ever coming close to matching it. I've never seen a group get along as well as this one has.

I wholeheartedly thank Toyota for having the foresight and courage to stand the automobile industry on it's ear with the THS and HSD hybrid systems. Without it, the Ford Escape Hybrid would simply not exist, and the industry would still be plodding along with the same old tired and obsolete designs.

Here is a pic of my new baby. It has some mighty big shoes to fill, with as well as the Prius served me in it's tenure. I hope it's up to the task.

 

Thanx guys. I'm definitely not gonna be goin' anywhere. This is a great community. I am not sorry that I bought a Ford. I want the domestic car companies to succeed, especially those that pay attention to the market, and design hybrid cars. Buying the Escape was the best way possible to show support for Ford's efforts, not to mention that it keeps our neighbours employed, and keeps my money right here in the good ol' US of A. Looking at Consumer Reports Online, the Escape has proven to be a very well built vehicle, after the bugs were shaken out over the first two model years.

As for driving style, I've been utilizing pretty much everything I learned with the Prius. The FEH does like to use stealth at low speeds, and it's quite easy to keep it there. I've also read that using the "L" selection on the shifter when coasting really bumps up the regen back to the batteries, so I've been utilizing this recommendation as well. We'll see what the vehicle does once I get Mobil 1 into the crankcase. Ford has a 10,000 mile service interval for the FEH, and that includes oil. I'm going to make sure that it gets the good stuff with that long of a service interval. With the rate that I pile miles onto a vehicle, the extended service intervals will be a welcome item.

This reminds me. When my neighbour was driving my Prius the other day in our vehicle selling and trading spree, he was using the "B" to coast, and got the MFD to show a .4 mpg increase to 55.9 mpg by the time I got the keys back. This may be a good experiment to try with the Prius to see how it responds.

I'm going to post some other pics of my FEH in the other cars area for those that are interested. I just took several macro pictures of the various screens in the hybrid/NAV/audio system.

 

Yup, just updated the sig.

 

Hmm, I think setting up a poll in this site would yield a heavily lopsided, and favorable result.

 

We need to set up some kind of a Priuschat DFW meet, and have it early enough so that I can show up before work. I haven't been able to attend any of the others that had been held in the area in the past.

 

Well, as of today, I'm up to 35.4 mpg. As for a Saturday meet, I'd be all over it. If we can plan it for 3 weeks from now to get maximum notice out. I'm all ears for a meeting location, preferrably in the DFW metromess.