Thinking about buying a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid

As a fairly new Prius owner, I would still say go for it. I think the general thinking on this site is that we would prefer for the general public to consider the hybrid option if it would work well for them. I don't know of any "militant" Prius owners that would say everyone must drive the Prius. Plus, in a round about manner you're still investing in Toyota since Ford gets the hybrid units from Toyota anyway. I applaud Ford for being the only American car company willing to go with what is available now and yet still look toward the future. Reminds me of the whole fuel injection argument where it was proven (through aircraft) that fuel injection gave more power, higher reliability, and a cleaner running engine yet it took the automotive industry until the 80's to really start adopting it across the industry.

 

Funny that your post was about the same thing as a friend of mine was asking last week, He however ended up buying the Ford Escape Hybrid over the Prius, He told me today he can run on " Electric " only up to 30 mph for 10 miles. I told him the motor is just very quiet and it shuts off at the stop lights, he still says it goes about 10 miles EV mode.

I don't believe that but I told him to bring it by and we will go for a ride to show me as being from Missouri the SHow-Me state.

He is to come over for the 4th , so we will find out then.

Again either way it will save some oil and enviroment issues.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Jul 2 2007, 03:36 PM) [snapback]471689[/snapback]</div>

Shoot, the interior plastics can't be any worse than the 2005 Prius interior plastics.

 

I have no idea.

What does it cost? What can it haul? Gas mileage does not seem so great.

Does it have a resale value?

 

Agree with Tideland post, a good effort on the part of Ford. They are also starting to introduce Flex Fuel cars. Licensed parts of technology from Toyota although they claim most was developed on their own. Many cities and municipalities are now employing the FEH for Taxi and utility vehicles. Reliability seems sound, and drivers are happy. Check out "Other Cars-Ford Escape Hybrid Forum" for Car Mag reviews. If you have to get a compact SUV, the FEH is the one to get.

 

Do you really need what the Escape SUV can do over what the Prius does? I.E. you need to offroad or it hauls bigger, heavier cargo than Prius or something?

Or is it just guilt? I don't really think buying one Ford is going to help.

I can see if you are replacing a current SUV with the Ford, but to trade in your Prius for the Escape hybrid? As you said you'll take a big MPG hit.

 

Jack, I don't know anything about the Escape. If the Prius can't carry the payload, 50mpg doesn't help. If the Escape carries what you want then 30mpg sounds good. My Intrigue carries as much as the Prius and gets 25mpg (30mpg only on long open road trips).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JackDodge @ Jul 2 2007, 03:58 PM) [snapback]471765[/snapback]</div>

My opinion but you should NEVER trade in a car. Always sell the car privately. You will come out thousands ahead. 2005's seem to be selling for between $16K to $20K on Ebay, Edmunds Trade-In is $15,5K.

 

USA Today likes it more than the ICE version:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/review...rd-escape_N.htm

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Jul 3 2007, 12:47 AM) [snapback]472101[/snapback]</div>

Not true, most states' new car tax is based on MSRP, independent of actual selling price, trade-in, etc.

 

I am all for hybrids or other LEVs. As part of my decision making process in buying a new vehicle, I always check the manufacturer's record for vehicle reliability. I use Consumer Reports for this. I have always been a great believer in their testing, etc.

Checking the current ratings, you can see the Ford Escape Hybrid is 22nd out of 27 SUVs in it's class in terms of predicted reliability. Toyota has the number one and number three spot with the FJ Cruiser and the RAV4. Honda holds number2 and 4 with the CR-V. The highest rated Ford is also an Escape - the V6 model is rated 13th.

Switching up a class, into the mid-sized SUVs, we see Toyota's hybrid offering. It is rated at number 3, out of 48 in the field. Oh, and number one, 3 and 4 are also Toyota. The highest rated Ford is the front wheel drive Freestyle, at 15th - but it's 4wd cousin drops to 25th.

I cannot in good conscience advise you to buy the Escape Hybrid. I personally have had mixed results with Ford vehicles. I drove an F150 with a straight 6 engine for 280000 miles. I also drove the worst car of my life - a 1986 Taurus. It came complete with a defective TFI ignition module which would cause the engine to suddenly stop running when the temperature in the engine compartment got too high. I can't express how exciting it was to suddenly stall in a busy intersection, have the damn rolling pile of crap towed to the dealer, and be told "we can't duplicate the problem". This was a particularly good one because Ford knew about the problem and covered it up for years - there was a huge class action lawsuit about it.

The lesson I took away from these two cars is that Ford can make simple, reliable vehicles, yet their reliability is terrible in vehicles which are more complicated.

Just my 2 cents.

 

In Arizona, the state sales tax is based upon the price of the vehicle less trade-in. So if you get $10K for your trade, you save roughly $850 in taxes (depending upon the city you buy your vehicle in). So if the difference between what the dealer will give you and what the private resale value is doesn't exceed this amount, it can make more sense to trade it in.

On our last vehicle, the private party estimate from KBB and the trade-in value our dealer quoted us were about $1000 apart. Considering that we saved about $950 in sales tax by trading the vehicle, I feel we came out ahead. We certainly would have spent $50 in time and advertising if we had sold our vehicle to a private party.

Of course, this may not be true in every (or even many) instances. But it is something to consider.

The license/registration tax IS based upon the MSRP of the car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(M. Oiseau @ Jul 3 2007, 02:07 PM) [snapback]472378[/snapback]</div>

In NJ sales tax is calculated on the selling price of the new car less the trade in value. The registration fee is fixed for the vehicle class. Doesn't matter how much or little you pay for the car.

 

Before the Pinto ever went onto the car lots, Ford knew it would explode and kill people. They calculated it would cost less to let people die and settle the lawsuits than to correct the problem before selling them.

How anyone can buy a Ford after that is something I cannot understand. There are two issues:

1. Knowing that if there is a serious safety issue, Ford will sell you a car it knows will kill you. Why would you buy from such a company?

2. Ford killed people for money. Why would you buy from murderers?

Of course it's a free country and the choice is yours. But this is not a company I would do business with.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Jul 3 2007, 11:52 PM) [snapback]472741[/snapback]</div>

Dude, it was 30 years ago.

Now replace Ford with Toyota. Replace 'explode' with 'collapsable steering column' and adjust for grammar. And the exact same statement is true.

And that was just 3 years ago.

Yet, somehow, Ford is still getting slammed today... and Toyota walks away without any damage to their rep (altho with some execs doing jail time).