I live in NW PA and I am looking at the Ford Escape AWD Hybrid and the Saturn Vue FWD. They are pretty close in price and capabilities, except the AWD vs. FWD (which is a concern given our 100+ inches of snow each year. I know the SUV hybrid is not the preferred route, but I am in sales and have to haul boxes pretty often. I drive 70% in the city and suburbs, mostly 10-20 minute trips.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

I'm in Western Pa and drive the AWD Escape Hybrid. I have had excellent results in the snow with my Goodyear Triple Tread tires. The stock Conti EcoPlus tires did not impress me during an early December 2007 wet snowfall. Ford is dropping the Conti tires for Michellin tires as OEM for 2009. Regardless of snowfall amounts or AWD vehicle capabilities, you have to drive within your limits.

2005 AWD Escape Hybrid
Best Interstate tank trip MPG 39.02 (scangauge II) for 402 miles on I-70, 10.3 gallons used over mostly flat terrain.

Best Interstate tank trip E30 MPG 34.6 for 271 miles along I-80 in Indiana and Ohio.

Best multiple road tank trip E30 MPG 36.2 for 202 miles in Southwestern Pa.

We have both the GM & Ford employee discount (want to talk about family conflict?) so both the Escape and VUE were considerations. From our test drive, the Escpae handled better.

Driving the FEH through the winter our biggest gripe is that the heating controls and the radio were not intuitive. Jumping back and forth between our car (Saturn Ion) and FEH, we could always readjust to the Ion, but the we constantly grab the wrong knob in the Escape. Probably not a big deal if you only drive one car, but it is a nit.

As for big boxes, we were buying everything for the nursery when we first picked up the FEH and it swallowed lots of furniture boxes. Very useful.

Are you stealing my life story? My first car was an 84 Topaz followed by a 94 Tempo. Pure junk, but I was a new driver and didn't realize it.

My next car was a 98 SL2. By comparison, it was fabulous. Still, a self-imploding engine isn't a good thing. Worse when you find out it was a design flaw found in the early 90's that they never bothered to fix because it would require an expensive change to the plant and most engines died outside of warranty.

Compared to those two cars, either the FEH or the VUE are huge improvements.

Maybe we are just on the same track in life.

The 1984 Tempo was first car I got back in 1988 from Avis car sales. It was all I could afford. The 1995 SL2 was handed down from a relative with 60,000 miles on it. I put on another 100,000 before it blew a cylinder. Did yours eat a quart of oil even 800 miles or so to?

You are right, either the FEH or SVH is an improvement over the others.

Absolutely no way there was a $7000 price difference, unless you were comparing a base Vue with a loaded AWD FEH. I know, I looked at both last year. The FWD FEH had a $3000 rebate which made it very slightly more expensive than the Vue I looked at. I ended up passing on both; the Vue primarily because Saturn wouldn't honor my GM card earnings. They will now, and I am waiting for the plug-in dual-mode Vue, but I suspect it will be more expensive than the FEH. If, in fact, it ever appears at all.

When I looked back in Dec of 2006 - the Saturn Vue Hybrid was $24,000 and the Ford Escape Hybrid was $31,000. There were no dealer rebates on either side. As for the Fed rebates I am not sure what FEH had as the SVH was $650. Maybe here in Maryland prices were different but 31K - 24k = 7,000 difference.

I assume that is what the dealers were asking, because the MSRP was $2700.

The base price on the 2007 FWD FEH was 25,800. Almost all I looked at had the 110V outlet, safety package, and appearance package to get to ~27,500. 31,000 for a FWD would have been with navigation, leather, moonroof, etc. I was looking in February/March 2007. 3000 rebate, 2600 tax credit (which I couldn't take.) There were dozens and dozens in SoCal at the time.