I would not get a Ford Escape Hybrid ever, it's very slow and it's small. The Toyota Highlander has so much more power and only gets a few less mpgs. The Highlander is much more safer than the Escape also. The Escape was also not recomended by Consumer Reports because of safety in it's tip over rating. See Ford does no even offer electronic stability control as a feature on the Escape hybrid and side curtain airbags are only an option. The Toyota Highlander Hybrid has something called VDIM standard on all Highlander Hybrids, VDIM includes the eletronic stability control in it and in the government safety test the Highlander did not tip up in their test, the escape did because it did not have stability control. With the Highlander you have almost no chance of flipping because you are swerving.