I am in the market for a new car and considering a hybrid.

My concern is that I live in the mountains ( vail colorado) and most of my driving is on the highway ( I-70) and up and down passes. I also have to deal with snow all winter.

So I am wondering how this car handles mountain highway driving, and snow. I read it is slow on the uphills - how slow is slow? I hate being the slowest one, but I can put up with it for the benefits.

Thanks

I own a 2005 Escape Hybrid and love it.
I got some of my best gas mileage during mountain trips.
( I live north of Denver )

If you take it easy, and by easy, I mean stay in the right lane except to pass semis, you will be fine. I can get 24 MPG going up hill from Denver all the way to 'The Tunnel' on I70. Going back down to Denver, I got 126 MPG last time I checked. That's not a typo. I said "one hundred twenty six miles per gallon" going downhill.

Say it is a 50 mile stretch each way.

50 miles at 24 mpg = 2.08 gallons of fuel used
50 miles at 126 mpg = .396 gallons of fuel used
100 miles round trip / 2.476 gallons of fuel used.

This is 40.39 mpg over the entire trip, in a 4,000 pound SUV.

This past year you know the Front Range of Colorado had the worst winter snow wise, in about 25 years. I had absolutely no trouble all winter. It will not, however pull out another stuck vehicle. If you press the gas pedal, and the wheels don't turn after 1 second, the computer cuts the power, since most, if not all power at slow speed comes from the battery, and not the engine. There's no way to "floor it" when you are standing still. It's just sooo dang fuel efficient it won't let you! Oh, I do have a FWD only, and it never got me stuck in the snow!

You will like it. Or I'll give you your money back. Or my name isn't Joe Isuzu.
-John

I'm living in the Boulder area now and, like gpsman1, haven't had any problems with the hills. I blend into traffic fine. That said, there are times I choose to go slower because the CVT wants to rev the engine higher than I want it to go.

I have the 4wd, and it has served me well. I doubt I have actually needed it, but like the extra traction I get.

What I recommend is to find a dealer with one, and test drive it up some good hills.

For me, it's all been positive, and that's after 43,000 miles.

2005 Ford Escape Hybrid - Titanium Green, 4WD, Appearance Pkg, Leather, Nav System

If you are still looking & don't mind a long drive from Vail, Landmark Lincon/Mercury on 5000 S. Broadway (appx Bellview) in Englewood currently has a AWD demo. I don't think anyone else has one in stock.

Lakewood Fordland says they have 5 on order for their stock when I talked to them over the weekend, but they could not tell me what was on order as the lady that does this was off on Saturday.

You will not be the slowest one unless you choose to be.

I live in Denver and go that way occasionally in my 08 4WD. Fully laden it may struggle a bit on high passes, but no more than other vehicles.

Engine roar happens at 5500+ RPM, but again no worse than other small engined vehicles. You can let the computer run things or back off/slow down, your choice. As the other posting said, get one for a test drive in the mountains. You'll know pretty quickly if it's going to be an issue.

I did not test drive one in the mountains and was expecting a struggle like I had with my old Prius. To my relief, the struggle never materialized.

The most extreme drive I've done was I-70 from Denver to the Western Slope with 3 men + 3 mtn bikes on the roof + biking/camping gear. We probably exceeded the max recommended load. Westbound to Fruita was no big deal. Eastbound, as you know, the hills are steeper. I remember it was floored for a mile or two climbing Vail Pass coming that way. IIRC it went down to about 50-55 miles per hour for a mile or so. But, again, that was loaded to the gills.

With that load, 24.9 MPG round trip. Same trip and speeds, but a lighter load and only one bike on the roof, 29.2 MPG. If I slow down a little, I'll probably do way better on fuel.

As for snow, I got it in early March and only got into snow and ice a few times. It was never a problem and seemed similar to my previous Subaru. I believe both axles are open on the FEH and a locking rear diff is not available.

I live in downtown Denver and got my 06 AWD FEH in Jan 06. In driving it to Copper and Vail every weekend each winter and around Denver this past winter I have to say I can't complain one bit. Before this I had a WRX sedan and thought that it handled well and got good mileage, however the FEH has consistently averaged 29-30mpg round trip (except for those handful of days when I had 4 passengers and 4 boards on the roof in 60+ miles per hour head winds).

As for speed/power, again I've had no issues climbing the Vail pass or to the tunnel east or west bound. Obviously I'm not able to go as fast as I did in my WRX with the turbo, but I can easily maintain 70 or so going EB up vail pass and to the tunnel and higher than that going westbound. However, I try not to push it too hard to get better mileage.

My recommendation if you can find one on a lot or a dealer to order it is to go for it. With the 2200 credit from the feds and 2500 from the state, it more than makes up for the hybrid premium and the savings on gas helps even more.