Kansas City, MO actually. My FEH passes within 1 mile of the factory every day on the way to and from work.

-- Rick

 

I do recommend the ordering process, it's about a 6 week lead time from my experience. However, if you come out here to SoCal black is a really popular color so you'll see lots of them in stock. Do test drive a 4WD and FWD to see if you like or dislike the ride/handling tradeoff.
I've driven my 4wd up and down the Sierras and found there to be adequate power. But if you like to drive aggressively and blast through traffic, I think you would enjoy the dual-motor HiHy or RXh much better.

 

I was in the market last week. I researched and looked up everything on the hybrids in my price range, which included the Highlander, Camry, Prius Touring, and FEH. Spent almost a whole day at the Toyota dealer and came to several conclusions. My other car is a Lexus GS430 getting about 16-21 mpg.

The Highlander is nice but doesnt look much like a SUV, but more like a slightly lifted stationwagon. It felt pretty powerful, but for some reason, didnt fit me just right, lots of leg room but felt a bit cramped. Fully loaded I was looking at about $41K.

The Camry I looked at was the 50th Anniversary Edition in pearl white. Very roomy and fit me just right, the anniversary edition comes loaded with leather, nav, and pretty much everything you can think of. Not as torquey as the Highlander but plenty of power, dealer said about 37/35 mpg. Reminds me of what my 50 yr old neighbor drives. Dealer quoted $32,500.

The Prius was great, nice little car. Key word being little, as I am 6'3 265. The power and torque curve was good for a car of its size and the touring model came with most of the options I wanted and suspension was a bit better than the standard version. It drives very much like a Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, and Toyota's own Corolla. According to my research, the Prius II has the best overall mileage and qualified for the CA carpool sticker, except the DMV stopped giving these out, so besides the point. I would of bought one if anyone other than maybe my dog can sit behind me. I was quote $28,200.

I then walked down the street to the Ford dealer. They only had one in stock, a grey one with moon/tune only. I test drove it, up a hill and around town. Spent a good 45 minutes in it and realized that this was perfect for me. Just enough room all around, decent mpg, plenty of room for rear passengers and cargo, and overall looked just right. With some nice chrome upgraded wheels, it would be perfect. Although I lost the exact one to another couple, I was able to find a black fully loaded FWD within a day and got some great discounts. I paid a tad over $28K for the perfect one.

 

That's great!
I have found that the FEH has more head-room for tall people than just about any other car on the market. I think you will really like this SUV, and it will get you better gas mileage than nearly all non-hybrid cars out there. Enjoy!

 

Not sure if it''s to late, or to far, I drove 250 miles to McKinney TX to pick up mine, the dealer at the time had 15-18 on the lot and another 20 ion order. So basicly every color and a wide varity of options all ready available.
Here's their Ford online inventory. Sadly it appears what the salesman tood me came tru, it looks like they pulled all their listings due to # of calls they were getting for transfers, and they would not do that!

 

I just got a 2008 4WD FEH and I love it. I had a 2002 Rav4 which got around 22-25 mpg. I have less then 1000 mi on the FEH, the in car display says I'm getting 33.4 mpg, but when i calculate the last tank, it came out to 32.6 which is still great.

I love the mp3 player port. Takes all the hassle out of keeping my tunes with me. Next best "feature" is how quiet the FEH is in both EV and ICE modes.

 

So reading this thread I now know that the differences between the Escape and the Mariner are 'purely cosmetic' but how does that translate into the cabin? I think all of you guys are talking about the FEV, and all the mechanical discussion has benefited me greatly, but Im looking at the MMH and I'd like to know about things like comparisons of leg room, head room, etc.

I currently drive a 96 Explorer Limited and am excited about the prospect of more than doubling (!) my current MPG of ~!5.

If anyone has any insights into the structure, space, layout differences Id love to hear them.

 

The differences between the FEH and MMH are COSMETIC. Interior space will be identical. I also own a Ford Exploder as far as I am concerned the only real difference is the cargo space in the rear is quite abit shorter. Leg room is nearly the same maybe a tad better in the Escape/Mariner, though the shoulder room feels a little tighter. Mileage is double or better. IMHO the FEH/MMH feel quicker than my 4.0 L '94 Ford Exploder. Definately more fun to drive. Handles better and is MUCH quieter.

 

Thanks for the info, Mark. I appreciate it. Im going to go test drive the MMH (if theyve got one locally).

 

The transmission will be the hardest thing to get used to as there is no shift. RPM is NOT related to speed. So when you accelerate the rpms come up like a high stall converter. You can regulate the rpm with the throttle, thus the power output. (and fuel use) The gas pedal is not attached to the throttle as it is controled by the PCM. ( run the ICE in park and try to rev the motor)The shifter is not attached to the transmission. This is a drive by wire car with the exception of the steering, which is power assisted by an electric motor. Reverse is purely electric motor. The A/C system has 2 recirculate modes, the one marked in red or orange runs the ICE all the time, the other runs the A/C only when the ICE is running. Most people like the Nav system because it has the power flow graph and more info on gas mileage. So its really a hybrid info center, radio, cd player and Nav system.