The world's first hybrid sport utility vehicle was unveiled in San Diego today, 10News reported.

The 2005 Ford Escape is scheduled to be bought at Pearson Ford at 1:30 p.m. At that time, executives from Ford Motor Company will sign the final papers and hand over the keys to the new owner of the hybrid SUV.

The SUV is powered by gas and a battery. It is a clean, fuel-efficient vehicle that gets about 36 miles to the gallon in the city and 31 on the highway.

View entire article here.

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To attest to its fuel effeciency, Autoweek recieved 30 miles per gallon in there time with it.
Cheers,
Steven

Hidden Views Photography

Hi Steve:

___Although I have to applaud Ford for their HEV, an automobile rated for just 36 City/31 Highway is not going to save much fuel if any over any efficient sedan. Then again, it will save those purchasing one a boatload at least

___Good Luck

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

For those who need SUV's, or at least want to purchase one, this is the best it's gonna get for them.

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Jason,
Not really, for most thats not really even an SUV. I think the Highlander will do better sales wise. Also, the RX400H has recieved more pre-orders than any other RX in history. Dont remember were i heard that, but i'm possitive i did hear it.
Cheers,
Steven

Hidden Views Photography

My Honda CRV got 25mpg.. That's only 5 mpg higher. Don't think I could justify the higher cost of the hybrid for 5 mpg..

http://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/car/1827/signature.png

I've brought up this argument here before...


Regular 4x2 Ford Escape: 300 miles / 22 mpg = 13.6 gallons burned
Hybrid Escape: 300 miles / 34.5 = 8.7 gallons burned
Savings: 4.9 gallons

Normal Civic: 300 miles / 36 mpg = 8.3 gallons burned
Hybrid Civic: 300 miles / 50.4 mpg = 5.9 gallons burned
Savings: 2.4 gallons

So as you can see, the hybrid Escape is actually saving TWICE as much as efficient sedan. Even more so if you can get an Escape Hybrid as a 4x4. Hybrid trucks and SUVs are where the auto industry SHOULD be focusing on gas savings right now, because it means a lot more there than it does in alreaddy efficient sedans. People alreaddy pay outrageous prices on some of these vehicles, $60 or $80 more/month isn't going to sway their decisions to much...they'll nearly save that much in gas anyway.

1999 Camaro Z28 6-Speed
2002 Honda Insight CVT Sold
AIM - PHeNoM Z28

Good points where the greater efficiency is concerned, but the price difference for the Escape Hybrids is going to eat up a lot of the benefit. I have seen articles mention as much as $5000 premium for the Hybrid Escape, which may or may not be accurate, but if they are, the higher monthly payment will eat into some of the gas savings.....

As a comparison, with the HCH I bought I paid only $1524 more than a comparable EX on the lot that night. Maybe the EX was overpriced, but I know for a fact that many HCH vs EX comparisons can easily be brought down to only a $2500 price difference.

JUST NOW TODAY 9-21-2004, I went to Edmunds and did a comparison of the Edmunds TMV price for an AWD Hybrid Escape and an AWD XLT, the otherwise "top of the line" Escape. I chose ALL AVAILABLE OPTIONS for both vehicles:

Hybrid = $33015
XLT = $27052

Diff is $5,963. Would take a heck of a lot of miles to make up the Hybrid gas savings premium on that baby !!! (182,400 miles to break even using the above numbers and $2 per gallon gas prices....) :ph34r:

Hi All:

___The thing that steams me the most is that given a decent SUV, you can receive some truly great numbers from them without any hybridization.

___The family and I took the Acura MDX to a church sponsored community service event called Sharefest 2004 last Saturday morning. She (the X) was loaded down with ladders, paint supplies, and the 4 of us. The wife had previously succeeded in a relatively lousy and slightly below average for her, 18.4 mpg over the first 35 miles since her last fill per the FCD. After the church function which was an all city drive to and from, we drove downtown (Chicago that is) to participate in the “Light the Night” walkathon. This is a nation wide fund raiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. 30 miles of this excursion into and out of Lincoln Park last Saturday was an absolute nightmare of stop and go crawling for 15 miles into and 15 miles out of the downtown Chicago area. With that, we arrived home late that night and the X had 24.9 mpg displayed on the FCD after 124 miles. This is getting really close to 27.49 mpg for my 91 miles of ½ deep inner city and ½ highway driving in an SUV half the size of a small bus and just as powerful too!

___What I am getting at is hopefully the average Escape HEV owner will achieve at least EPA combined estimates but these numbers are so far below what is possible from this type of vehicle it makes me cringe at the thought of the average hybrid driver purchasing one to save fuel and then proceeding to achieve the fuel economy anyone with a bit of game gauge training could achieve in just about anything let alone what someone could receive in a Honda CRV, Toyota Rav 4, or heaven forbid, the regular and much less expensive std. 4 cylinder Escape which Ford conveniently excluded the PZEV HW in

___Good Luck

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

Wayne, it's nice to dream, but you know the "average" SUV or sedan driver is nothing like we techno mileage freaks are.

Only if they catch the "hypermile" bug will they even attempt to modify their driving style at all.

I know a lot of intelligent, reasonable people who "care" about saving money and saving the environment but are just too stubborn or too busy or too set in their ways to modify their driving styles at ALL. :ph34r:

Laterz........