I was at the dentist office looking through the Consumer Reports annual car issues and was unable to find any mention of the FEH in it. They have disparaging things to say about the regular Escape (cheap interior -- takes too long to stop) but they gush all over the Lexus and the Toyota but ignore the Escape Hybrid altogether. You won't find it in the "Best Of/Worst Of" summaries.

Maybe my FEH 08 is going to spring leaks and have the wheels come off a year or so from now, but as it is I can't think of a better small SUV I have ever driven. If I was buying again I would buy it over a Mercedes M class at the same price -- and the M class is $5K-10K more usually.

Anyone know what's the deal with CR here?

 

CR continues to rate all domestic companies as just higher than S*** and thats being generous. Its the nature of the beast. Last year Toyota a ton of recalls but it doesn't seem to hurt them in CR's estimation.

 

it's all in the $$ for CR.... don't let anyone tell you any different.

 

CR isn't much different from any other reviewer. They all have their biases and none take the time to get to know every car in a category.

My only issue with CR is their tendency to comment on vehicle defects as if they tested several of a particular model. So instead of writing "our test vehicle had a problem with the automatic locks" they say "problems with the automatic locks". Suddenly an isolated problem becomes a fleet wide issue.

 

Before recycling my annual auto issue yesterday I looked intently for any mentions of FEHs. Somewhere in the middle of the mag was a small box that had a list of cars not rated. Of the 15 or so models, the FEH was one. The '08 redesign hadn't been fully evaluated yet so it wasn't included in many articles.

The used vehicle report towards the back of the mag showed very few problems with 05-07s. If I recall, electronics and audio were the only trouble spots.

 

I haven't read the issue but I was under the impression that the "best of" category now requires stability and traction control as an option on a majority of the models. If that's the case then the '09 should be back near the top of the list and with Sync, more power and better FE.

I can tell you for a fact that my '08 FEH stops very well! I can see where the non-FEH might seem lacking in some braking appeal with it's rear drum brakes.

 

As I posted in a different thread, in last year's April issue CR reported the FEH as a rollover risk because of a test the NHTSA ran on an '04 (regular) Escape. Even the NHTSA would not extrapolate the results of a regular Escape to those of the hybrid......but CR did, very sloppy journalism.....which just adds to the perception of bias. After 20 years, I not going to renew my subscription.

I think I read that they were not reviewing the FEH in detail because of the impending model change in '09. Bet they find something wrong when next year's issue comes out.

 

My issue with the issue is that they don't list the FEH anywhere at all. Not best of not worst of. They ignored it, and the Mercury variant.

 

Its also entertaining how poorly both CR and Car and Driver rate the MPG on them. I read in one of the reviews that the MPG improvment over the V6 was dissappointing.

I just had a loaner V6 4WD.... I managed 18.9 MPG traveling to my fiancees house on several trips. Thats a trip that even NOW in the winter I manage 28-29 in my 4WD FEH and usually get 32 in the summer without trying.

Not sure who's driving their vehicles for the MPG ratings but I think I can get a trained monkey to do better. They must be flooring the thing at every intersection or something.

 

CR did review and rate the 2005 Escape Hybrid. You can find it the "on-line" CR edition. At the time, CR documented a 141 foot braking distance from 60mph. CR documents the 2008 Escape (non-hybrid) at 208 feet! Do disc brakes stop that much sooner? Did the 2008 Escape change that much over the 2005-07 edition?

Many of us have heard the saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket". It is best to obtain information from a variety of sources and those folks who only rely upon the CR experts opinons, are making a mistake. I get more out of CR via the owner reports/forums then the CR expert reports.

As for mileage, I just completed a long trip to a out of state family member. I was obtaining around 31.5 mpg on the Pa. and Ohio turnpike. I gased up in Michigan and presto, my mileage dropped to 30 mpg using 10% ethanol winter formula.