Some of us think a hybrid is the "right" thing to do and need better winter traction than a Prius provides. There isn't a lot of choices for AWD hybrids. I spend waaay too many miles on the highway for a break-even, but would still do it again. With my wife's condition I might easily go from 1400 miles a month (mostly highway) to 200 mostly city miles, but we'll see.

 

My '09 FEH MPG puts my '05 to shame because of the E10 mandate here in Florida. I wouldn't buy an older or newer FEH than the '09 myself again because of the loss of power with E10 on older models and the battery being to small for the electric A/C compressor on newer models. I would however buy a plug-in Ford Hybrid or kit if programming could be changed on the older models to provide stronger Assist for the 2.3L on E10. I know MG2 is capable of a lot more Assist from when I get a battery recal.

All and all, my '05 got me through the days of $4 a gallon quite well and it may serve my son (me) in the future if gas prices go up again. The long term saving doesn't matter much when gas jumps up 50% in a few months like it did in '08. That kind of jump can damage a budget and the economy in a heartbeat. For example, my '02 Explorer with my wife driving "normal" went from $45 a week to $80 a week. Back then I had the choice of parking my Explorer and giving her a ride to work in my FEH much cheaper even with the A/C running as her requirement.

I want to be prepared for a jump to $5 a gallon at anytime so I feel real safe where I'm at right now. The original reason I wanted the '05 FEH was so gas would last me long enough after a hurricane when gas stations had no power to pump gas. What will happen when gas stations have power but no gas to pump? At least I can now get 60mpg in my '09 FEH and I have a 60 gallon reserve in my boat in the garage. I've been in gas station lines blocks long before and seen people pushing their cars up the line for a refill. Not for me anymore!

GaryG

 

Our wives are too much alike.

I can hold out until low 90's with the sunroof open.

 

Are you buying something to tow behind the RV? A hybrid can be flat towed in N vs droping a shaft/trailering standard vehicles.
I'm a short haul driver. 10min commutes, still avg about 29-33mpg in my FWD. Better than my 12mpg Expedition and the 15mpg minivan I traded in. Fear of raising gas prices makes me feel it was a good decision almost 4 yrs ago, glad I have it now. But minus the tax credits it'd be a harder decision today; but that can be off set with a used purchase I suppose.
Like most things, you only hear/read about the bad/expensive things; not many posts about hey I just kit 100k with no major probs, it's always this blew or that's a $5k headlight bulb, etc. SFO & NYC have been using them for taxi's for years, and unless somethings changed, no major complaints/repairs have been reported from them.

 

I do plan on flat-towing it behind my RV, and the hybrid is good for that, but they also approve the '09-11 with some caveats. There were issues of burned trannys until they issued a TSB ( 09-20-13) to lower the fluid a bit and I also read that they put in an extra baffle after Feb of 2010 that fixes the problem. I'm leaning toward a used '10 with the V6, made after that date.

 

Some have still burned up the transmission even after running the lower ATF level and the baffle is more of a rumor. Best bet is to check at popular RV sites for the most current info on flat towing the Escape.

 

I'm still planning to sell my FEH if the value goes up significantly when gas prices rise again. I got a great deal on it - "A" plan less $3500 rebate less $2600 tax incentive. I'll look for a regular Escape with an I4 and maybe a manual transmission. It is has been pretty reliable so far, but I keep waiting for the expensive failure. This takes a lot of the fun out of owning it, for me.

 

We bought our FEH when we still lived in the Tampa Bay area. It's 4WD which is kinda of a white elephant in Florida. Then main reason we bought it was the price, dealer took almost 11K off and also the tax incentive plus 0% interest from Ford credit.

We moved to Salt Lake City and were still getting decent mileage since we lived in the city and drove mostly around town.

In June of '08 we moved to Roosevelt UT which is rural to say the least. We drive 30 miles one way, all highway, just to get groceries. We drive 150 miles one way, again all highway and through the Uintah Mountains to get to Salt Lake City. Needless to say our mileage in the last 2+ years is mostly highway and our MPG has gone way down. The FEH is a slug going up 6% grades. The most time I spend now in EV mode is when I take it off road.

That being said it is time for the Escape to be sold. It has been a great vehicle and we have enjoyed our ownership. We take stock in the fact that we supported the technology.

 

I wanted to share some thoughts on that.
You may be waiting a very long time IMO
and that's only based on what little research
I've done. Also do note the only folks who
really know the MTBF ( Mean Time Between Failure )
of the FEH ( Sorry the old engineer in me coming out )
are the folks at Ford. I've seen some complaints about
the ABS system failures and the horribly expensive
repair that is. I've also read that the brake "master
cylinder" is back ordered 800 pieces or more so it's
a very long wait to get your FEH repaired. And I
agree that the "Stop Safely Now" shut down is a
design problem. So here are my thoughts:

1. according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escape_Hybrid
the population of FEH is about 100,000. Present build rate
I would estimate at no better then 500 ->700 per mo at best.

2. As stated the "Stop Safely Now" thing is a
design error but taken for what it is I may
have designed it that way myself. That because
the computer(s) are monitoring some pretty
complex systems and trying to display that in
a meaningful way on the dashboard would be even
more confusing. And what else would you do when
there is a major ( electronic ) system failure?

3. I think the "800" number of back ordered
ABS master brake cylinders includes orders
for new build.

4. I think that by in large the MTBF of the FEH
is so low that Ford is challenged to supply parts
for those that do have a ( major ) problem.

If there were really 800 FEH's out there sitting
in dealer parking lots waiting for master brake
cylinders that would cause a major problem. This
forum would be flooded with complaints about it.

Just about everyone I have talked to who owns a
FEH speaks highly of it. The dealer I took mine
to said they never have gotten one back for a
major repair. Not to say this thing isn't gonna
bite me in the behind someday.

I took a brief look at http://www.safercar.gov/
and using that looked at the number of complaints
about the Toyota Prius regenerative braking system
and sure enough I found at least 50 complaints.

 

This kind of the way I feel, too. Hybrids were a new technology that needed someone to believe in them and to show that they could be sold profitably. I think that hurdle has been overcome.

Similarly, I signed up for "green electricity" by paying a premium for electricity produced from green sources. Now my state has mandated that a percentage of future power come from green sources, so I bailed out feeling that I had done my part.