Hi Sdcatcher:

___The following is the first barrage in response to these types of articles …

USA Today article

___The second barrage is aimed at today’s drivers in today’s automobiles. I don’t know where there are 75 miles per hour speed limits but if a consumer is *****ing because he or she is driving from 0 - 60 in < 13 seconds from each and every stop sign/light, passing like he or she is in a Beemer on the Autobahn, or driving well beyond the speed limits no matter where that is, it is the drivers problem, not the EPA or the automobile manufacturer.

___Let me rant here for a bit … I do not know where the answer lye’s but every time I look over the Real Hybrid Mileage Database and I see the 4 Escape HEV’s, I also cringe. Give me a 2WD Escape HEV for a month in warmer weather and I will shoot that SOB’s FE into the heart of the Prius II averages. Well, at least into the lower 30% anyway. I am not blaming you, FMC, or the Escape HEV itself but if you have followed my postings around Greenhybrid or around the web, I get a bit peeved when these marvels (all of today’s automobiles, not just hybrid’s) are not driven to their potentials in order to tell the world that not only can a hybrid make a difference but the driver can make a difference in whatever we all drive today. Give me a video camera in a multitude of automobiles with either an instantaneous game gauge or the rudimentary average FCD’s many come with today and I can show every drivers Ed instructor in the country in real time what fast and slow acceleration, fast and slow decelerations, automobile setups, the 4 types of drafts, driving with load, and simple speed costs in real $’s and real gallons of gasoline. This knowledge is simply too important to let sit in the Hybrid forums imho. To go along with this, I even have to defend my own FE posts in Insight Hybrid forums of all things because some opposites refuse to learn, listen, read, or believe what is posted including pics of our dash’s and corroborating evidence supporting our actuals. Then again, maybe I don’t want a video camera in the car as many simply won’t drive like us hypermilers given we do tend to push the envelope just as hard as those driving way over the limits in heavy traffic conditions as an example … sometimes

___Unfortunately, the most popular hybrid right now is the Prius II and for whatever reason, it is the hardest Hybrid to hit its combined. I have done it from cold in 32 degree F temps during a 5 mile test drive but it wasn’t nearly as easy to accomplish as in the 4WD Acura MDX, the 2WD Ford Ranger P/U, the Honda Insight 5-speed, the Corolla LE w/ Auto, the 2WD Mercury Mountaineer, the Buick LeSabre, and the Honda Accord. More then likely this is because the way the Prius II rides its pack in the 68 - 75 degree test chamber of the EPA …

___Sorry for the rant but there is quite a bit bigger fish to fry then just Hybrid’s not meeting EPA estimates in articles that pop up every once in a while.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net