The Ford Escape Hybrid is the best car I have ever owned or driven in my life.
20,000+ miles and not a hint of trouble.

I'm getting 35 MPG in winter and 45 MPG in spring.

You only need 1 oil change per year, and my tires look like new with 20,000 miles on them. The Ford Escape Hybrid tires may last 100,000 miles, and the brake pads may last the life of the vehicle.

The battery and a few other Hybrid parts have either an 8 year or 10 year warranty depending on the state you live in. The Ford Escape Hybrid Battery is the best built, best managed ( charge wise ) and has the longest estimated life expectancy of ANY hybrid model on the road today. Insiders at Ford expect most Escape Hybrid batteries to last 15 years... longer than most customers will keep the car.

It really does perform like a V6 and at speeds 0-50 miles per hour it will out perform a V6.
In winter you have hot air to the cabin in 30-60 seconds after start up ( faster than any car I've ever been in ) but the A/C takes a while longer to cool down.

The Ford Hybrid will shut the engine off at every stop, regardless of battery state of charge. This saves gas. The Toyotas ( not sure about Hondas ) must run the gas engine at stoplights if the battery pack is too low. This wastes more gas.

With proper technique and practice ( ok, a lot of practice ) the Ford Escape Hybrid can match the gas mileage of the average Prius driver, and this is an SUV that is larger, 30% heavier, has the wind drag of a brick, and can be 4x4. This tells me Ford has a more efficient design.

The Kelly Blue Book Value of my 2005 FEH with 20,000 miles and one year old is $1000 less than what I paid for it. Now a dealer trade-in won't yeild KBB for you, but no car will. A private person to person sale may come close.

I've been reading Escape Hybrid web sites and 1000's of postings for over 1 year now, and all the complaints / problems have been very minor, with 2 or 3 major problems. 3 major break downs out of 30,000 cars sold sounds pretty darn reliable to me... more reliable than most traditional cars I would say.
Hope that helps!
-John
Oh, the Escape Hybrid has one of the larger tax breaks out there also!