Hello all and greetings from Seattle-

My wife and I are getting rid of our 2000 Honda Civic EX coupe since it's not really accommodating our 6 month old (in and out of the back seat with the car seat is killer on the back), nor does it leave room to take our greyhound along at the same time, PLUS we do mostly city driving so our mileage will be great. I've been searching for the Escape we want for over a month now-I'm sure I don't need to say how hard they are to come by. That, and trying to get a decent price from the invoice as opposed to the MSRP is going to be taxing I bet. Anyone have any advice in terms of bargaining? We're just looking to get the FWD with the safety package option, but there doesn't seem to be any out there with just that feature-it's looking more and more like we're going to have to accept the appearance package and 120V AC outlet (which doesn't really add THAT much in terms of monthly payments). Sorry to ramble on here, but I am really looking forward to this car and gathering as much info (and contributing as well) from here as possible.

I too am an enthusiast and feel your pain. But, we are doing our part for the environment so keep searching because it will be worth it! I think the appearance package is an option not to avoid. It's frustrating now , but think about how much gas $$$ you will save and how much mother nature will appreciate you. Good luck with the search fellow Escape Hybrid enthusiast and unlike Kermit says "It's easy being green!"

Check with your and your wife's employers to see if you qualify for the X-plan. That can knock a couple of thousand off of the price. Friends and relatives who qualify for the X-plan can also get you a deal. If you haven't already done this, go to Ford.com and check the dealer inventories in your general area to see if anyone has an FEH with the features you want. Most of the dealers are pretty good about swapping cars around if a customer is interested. You might also have to drive a couple of hours to get the package(s) that you want.

I wouldn't have bought one without the safety package, especially since they don't offer electronic stability control. I ended up buying from a dealer 50 miles away just to get the options that I wanted. I got the X-plan price plus a couple of incentives due to my wife's finishing a graduate degree.

Happy Hunting!

Finally found the '07 FEH we wanted-safety package, AC outlet-purchasing this Sunday-CAN HARDLY WAIT!

Congrats! You will love your FEH. We love ours and we've had it since early April '06. It's so much fun to drive we find ourselves volunteering to take family and friends places now, and we loooove when someone quips, "OMG, your engine just died!" "Naw, we're saving gas right now in electric mode... check out those MPGs!"

- Shannon (Geeky, Wild Texan)

Welcome to GH.

First 4WD Hypermiler

Have you read the FEH FAQ?

Live in Michigan? Let it be known in Michigan Roll Call

Read My Automotive Blog at Rich Rambles

Hi Shannon-

How long was your "break-in" time to where you were getting the mileage indicated on your signature?

Thanks,

Warren

You can see if you click on my sig (mine is clickable; not everyone has theirs setup so that it is)... That will take you to the list of all my tanks (16 so far; just shy of 6000 miles. S-weeeet!) I'm not a hypermiler by a long shot, so I don't claim to be a good model, although I am probably a good example of a median hybrid driver.... meaning middle of the possible ranges of MPGs, not meaning I drive in medians (heheh!)

Without "cheating" and looking at my log of all tanks, I remember noticing improvement after about 1500 miles and again around 3000 miles. How much of that was the vehicle and how much of that was me is debatable of course. We took the FEH on a couple long roadtrips early (<3000 miles) in her life, with lots of highway driving, so some of that lower mileage is due to hwy driving and hauling a full load of adults hundreds of miles, btw.

- Shannon (Geeky, Wild Texan)