We're quite happy with our Escape Hybrid. It has handled rutted mountain "roads" well, and with a cargo carrier mounted in the hitch, taken an outrageous amount of stuff to and from Burning Man and various other festivals and camping trips.

We get about 29 mpg with the 4WD, which isn't bad living in the mountains. The RAV4 it replaced was only getting about 22 and it's a MUCH smaller vehicle.

We also have a Prius now and it's getting about 44. Maybe it will get better when fully broken-in. The Escape certainly improved after break-in.

The Escape seems to have better acceleration than the Prius at highway speeds despite the Prius's aero design and the Escape having the aerodynamics of a brick.

It is the only hybrid made in the USA (the Mariner Hybrid being essentially the same car from the same factory).