Presented with a difficult buying decision '05 or '09+ (and/or wait). Right now I'm considering a 2005 4WD FEH with 37,837 miles for $14,985 on a local Ford dealer lot. It does have the 1st Gen. NAV, appears to have new Goodyear Fortera tires, leather interior w/ power seat (drivers only I believe), and side airbags. From the story I heard this car was garage kept and had 1 non-smoking previous owner who hardly drove it as they had another car. Have yet to test drive.

The '09's are slightly out of where I'd like to be price wise at $23k-25k with similar miles but all the 4WD FEH locally on Ford lots do not have the Nav....

I'm skeptical about the '05 as I've read of continual steering U joint failure, wheel bearing failure, coolant pump as well I think, in addition to the lack of traction control/stability control and EV up to 25mph vs the newer. Overall being that it is the first generation and model of the FEH I'm wondering if it worth consideration in 2010/2011. Help! My story is below but my question is should I go with the loaded '05 or hold on for an '09 down the line with a Nav. and/or try to fit the '09 w/o Nav into my budget?

Basically my story is that I live in South Eastern PA where we get some moderate to harsh winters depending if this year will be like last or not. Snow and ice w/ hills and winds involved. I'm a volunteer firefighter and an driver/EMT for a local ambulance service. In addition to commuting to college for the next year then graduate school 4WD makes sense for my needs. I currently own a '05 Volkswagen Golf GLS w/ 2.0L 4 cylinder engine. I average 21-25mpg overall (I'm sure I could do better). So looking at an SUV it would be great to get better millage than what I have. The last semi-requirement is that unfortunately the bypass that I sometimes use has short on ramps so a more powerful vehicle than I have now would be nice. Driving the paramedic Chevy Envoy vehicles back to the hospitals is where the greater power realization occurred. 4WD and mpg take priority though.

Roads: US-30 is a major anchor for civilization, travel, etc. the speed ranges from 25-45mph over the 10 mile span I travel. The bypass is a 55mph highway that avoids the traffic and stoplights I commonly travel. Could utilize US-30 if I allotted extra time for it. I go to school in a medium size town a 30 minute drive from home with many stop signs, traffic lights, and moderate topography speeds of 25-35mph in town where the university is. Overall it is a mixed setting with current travel of 40% Hwy and 60% City but speeds of 25-45mph.


I could use some convincing and advising. Spent numerous hours over the past week looking at everything I could find about the Escape Hybrids but really need some personal opinions. Maybe Gary G will chime in as I've read he has (had?) a '05 and '09.

Thanks!

 

There is no comparison of those two units because the '09 FEH is so much better. the '09 has twice the power and double the gas mileage on E10. The Nav system in the '09 has Sync, 10 gig hard drive for downloading music and pictures, USB, touch screen, programming can be upgraded and the system cost less new. The console has enough room for a laptop and comes standard with a 110V 150W plug. The '09 will go EV at a solid 40mph and below just by letting off the gas pedal. You have to know all the tricks to go EV below 40mph in the '05 and it's hard to set the CC in EV above 30mph. I can set the CC in EV in my '09 at 40mph even in a 10mph headwind. Also, the '05 will not let you set the CC below 30mph and the '09 will set at 25mph. The '09 has aggressive fuel-cut which is just like EV at any speed above 40mph when you let off the gas pedal. The '09 is a few hundred pounds heavier than the '05, but the ride is so much smoother with a much better suspension and less cabin road noise. The '09 has a bigger engine, capless fuel tank, improved programming, better exhaust system, broadband O2 sensors, better safety systems and crash test and a larger pin PCM.

The best tank in my '05 on E10 is ~44mpg and I think the '09 tank I'm on now with ~600 miles so far will be ~64mpg. The '09 Nav tank reads 67.7mpg but I have another 300 miles to go till empty. That would be impossible for me to do in my '05, even with straight gas.

The problem with the '10 and '11 FEH is Ford eliminated the aux battery A/C
and the battery becomes less efficient in temperatures above 76F. Also, Ford went to an electric cabin A/C compressor which drains the battery too much for me in city driving.

GaryG

 

Also consider that much of the hybrid fuel effiency will be lost in the cold weather.
Also it's not really the NAV system that you are probably interesedt in but the
energy management display. you could get a non graphical interface with the
Scangage and any modern NAV system is better than the factory unit. In addition the maps
are old which may or not concern you,

 

I'm in Southwestern Pa. and have a 05 with everything but the navigational/hybrid headunit. The navigational unit is not good on the 05 models and you want to use a portable GPS unit instead. I use the exact same tires during the winter months as what you posted and found them fantastic for true winter conditions. You need to see if this 05 vehicle has an engine block heater--option 41H--that also has a connection to the hybrid battery heater. You can have this installed and/or use it as leverage on a possible purchase. This option is worth its cost for those of us in true winter conditions and I would not be surprised if the 05 vehicle plugged in got better mileage for the first 12 miles than a cold, 09 vehicle in "true cold winter conditions". The 09 vehicle does NOT have this capability as it does not have a wire running to the hybrid battery heater.

"continual steering U joint failure, wheel bearing failure, coolant pump"--I am not aware of the 05 hybrid vehicles having frequent issues with the first two items. The third, yes there have been reports yet I have no issues at all and I had mine checked out last month at the Ford dealership.

I have also gone thru and completed EMT schooling at BCC. This vehicle works well in winter conditions regardless of its lack of TC or electronic stability. I spend many weekends nordic skiing in Western Pa in various conditons withou issues. That said, driving in freezing rain, or on iced over roads is crazy regardless of what consumer vehicle you are using.

You can quiet the cabin area of the 05 vehicle by adding a sound reducing material to the floor board/doors/cabin area and under the hood of the vehicle. I have done this and noted a difference. If you do it yourself, the cost is in two figures.


The blend door issue and sometimes the coolant tubing to the hybrid battery develop problems. Good luck.

 

I'd second the vote for an '09. The nav CDs for that '05 went out of production back in '07 or so. The 2012 Escape due out later next year should be an all-new design. That '05 will be 2 body styles old (actually, it dates back ten years to the 2001 model year) and will likely really take a beating in value.

 

I got a chance to see the new Escape styleN... It's really cool!

 

Good feedback I appreciate it. I’m thinking the ’09 would have better mpg with the nature of the roads I drive as it can go EV to 40mph. This is as even where the speed limit is 25 and 35 lets be honest that 5mph over is like the min or you get tail gaters inhibit traffic flow. Sounds like the ’05 in EV would be more limiting. I would try to get better gas mileage by adjusting my driving habit but I don’t want to constantly focus on it and rather just drive than performing little tricks to get the ’05 to go EV as Gary described. It seems the ’09 so far is the best model of all the past and present FEH’s!

The thoughts about the ‘05’s engine block heater make me think though as the commute to the university is about 30 mintues 16-19 miles depending on the route. If it takes the first 12 miles in a ’09 to heat up at 32 degrees F ambient or lower as it commonly will be in the weeks to come fuel econ will def drop off in the winter as commented…

Interesting photo on the dealers website of a ’09 instrument cluster. It appears the fuel is between 1/2 and 1/4 of a tank with the top line of the odometer reading 132 miles to empty. That would put the vehicle around 23-25mpg for that tank or at least recent driving. I suppose this just reflects hard and or hwy driving not gradually accelerating and taking advantage of EV?

Currently the ’09 I am eyeing does not have the NAV. I’d be up for getting a scangauge II. Depending on my finance summary and if I can get down the dealer from the $24,855 asking I may wait and look for other ‘09’s in the future 6-18 months that would have a nav. I do have a garmin gps so when I say nav I would get it for the powertrain monitoring and battery etc. I know where I drive anyway, not much foreign territory.

The latest development came from a phone call to a dealer today who said for the area and roads even the flat business route 30 with speed limit ranging from 25-45mph he thinks the regular gas 4 cylinder escape would be the same mpg… I wanted to not believe him but I’m not sure. Now the consideration is the used ’09 hybrid with a partially expired warranty or a 4 cylinder xls or xlt new w/ the 0 or 1.9% APR depending on the loan term….

 

This comment from a saleman surprised me to. "I've driven it and even at low speeds the gas engine kicks in to supplement the electric around 25mph despite what is advertised, the 44mph."

 

Good day Mr Injenkins
I was in the same situation last year. Should I get an Hybrid or not. The hybrid is a new world and a new way of driving if you want economy. Things I found out so far with the hybrid is:
1-in city driving traffic bumper to bumper is excellent.
2-In city regular traffic is good.
3-Hiway is a 4 cylinder doing about 7.5Ll/100km (31mpg)
4-In winter you have 2 choices be electric and freeze or comfi and be less economic(I am loosing about 2L/100km in winter with the heating and the winter tires).
5-Same in summer under heavy heat even if I have a 2010 with the electric A/C when that compressor kicks in you can see on a scangauge the SOC going down by about 0.1% per second
I am doing mostly city driving and in the summer I am averaging about 6.5L/100KM
in spring and fall I am doing 6L/100km and in winter 8L/100km (that is all city).
I live in Montreal Quebec Canada and we have cold winter with snow and everything else.

You will not always be in electric mode below 44mpg the motor will kick in when the SOC is about 40% and I was not able to get above 63% . The average SOC is 51% .
I use to have a Montana SV6 before and it is a geat improvement on gas. It is only a 4cylinder but going up long hills and with the cruise on it is doing better than my SV6 where the mph was going down and the kick down goes in to keep up 3 times until I get at the top, this one does not even slow down but the SOC is low at the top.
In short I like this car so far (the SV6 was costing me around $55 per week and this one cost me about $40 every 2 weeks)
This is my story and hope it will help you make your decision

 

If you want lots of Ford warranty, that's not a problem for the '09. There are lots of Ford dealers online that will sell genuine Ford extended warranties (i.e. PremiumCare) for big discounts that most local dealers will not match. I think the cutoff to buy one is about 36,000 miles.
As oil prices creep up again, there will be more interest in hybrids and less in conventional ones, which may explain your dealer's motivation to get you in the XLT.
Demand for 4WD hybrids seems to be concentrated in snow belt areas. If you look southward you might be able to find one that has been collecting a lot of dust and get a nice deal. I'm also thinking since the FEH is popular with feds there are probably a lot to be found around DC.
Once you get used to driving the hybrid the extra gauges probably won't mean as much. You could think of them as learning tools.