[jmorton10]

I have owned two Escape Hybrid's. I had an 05 that was fairly basic & now I have an 06 that is loaded (I LOVE this truck).

My Mother also drives a Toyota Prius also. I have done a ton of study/research etc on Hybrids, so I will attempt to answer any questions people may come up with.

~John

 

[Surfscape]

Hay JM,

I have a question... How would you compare performance of the Hybrid and a V6 Escape? Have you driven both?

 

[PupsterDO]

I have a question: Who is going to buy a 5 or 6 year old used Hybrid when no one knows how long the battery has to left to live or how much it will cost to replace/fix it. It may be a money pit... :stifle:

 

[Dasha]

I have a question too (we're gonna keep you busy, john). :smile:
Can you explain about the A/C in hybrids? Does it shut off in certain modes??
TIA!!

 

[jmorton10]

Hay JM,

I have a question... How would you compare performance of the Hybrid and a V6 Escape? Have you driven both?

Yes, I have driven both. I work at a car dealer & I drive V6 Escapes all the time.

The performance of the two is very comparable. Here is a comparison of the two:

http://www.pbase.com/jmorton10/image/81137311

In this particular test, the V6 was faster 0-60, but the Hybrid was actually slightly faster to 100 mph.

In actual everday driving, I find the Hybrid gives about the same performance as the V6 while getting about twice the mpg.

~John

 

[jmorton10]

I have a question: Who is going to buy a 5 or 6 year old used Hybrid when no one knows how long the battery has to left to live or how much it will cost to replace/fix it. It may be a money pit... :stifle:

The battery has an 8 year/75,000 warranty on it here (in some states it is 10 year/100,000). Ford claims they have yet to wear out a battery in extensive testing & in NYC the Hybrid cab fleet is running them over 200,000 miles with no reports of any failures.

~John

 

[Kiki]

That makes the hybrid all the more attractive. Do you have any insight on what the used market is like for the hybrid?

 

[jmorton10]

I have a question too (we're gonna keep you busy, john). :smile:
Can you explain about the A/C in hybrids? Does it shut off in certain modes??
TIA!!

It depends on your heat-A/C settings. If you have it set to MAX A/C, it keeps the A/C on constantly but it affects the mpg as the gas engine runs constantly in that mode instead of cycling on/off.

There is an economy A/C setting that allows the both the A/C & the engine to cycle on/off. That setting doesn't hurt the mpg much, but if it's 95º out & you get stuck at a five minute red light it isn't really useable.

~John

 

[jmorton10]

That makes the hybrid all the more attractive. Do you have any insight on what the used market is like for the hybrid?

There are very few used Hybrids around although you can get a pretty good deal on one if you can find one. My 06 had a sticker price of over $30,000 on it & I paid right around $20,000 for it with less than 4000 miles on it over a year ago.

~John

 

[Kiki]

That makes the hybrid all the more attractive. Do you have any insight on what the used market is like for the hybrid?

There are very few used Hybrids around although you can get a pretty good deal on one if you can find one. My 06 had a sticker price of over $30,000 on it & I paid right around $20,000 for it with less than 4000 miles on it over a year ago.

~John

I would be all over a deal like that!

 

[jmorton10]

I would be all over a deal like that!

Yea, I got really lucky on this deal. We buy most of our vehicles at the wholesale auctions. They are really nice vehicles, but finding EXACTLY what you want (in terms of color/options etc) can be tough at times.

This Hybrid did not come from auction but was actually traded in at a local Cadillac dealership by an old man who was moving to Florida. He decided he would rather have a big Caddy than a 4WD SUV for his new lifestyle. I know the wholesale manager at the Caddy dealer & he called me & offered me the truck since it was not something that would sell real quick off a Caddy lot.

When I saw the truck I couldn't believe it as it was just EXACTLY what I would have ordered if I had ordered it myself brand new (I have never seen another one like it) . I bought it on the spot & sold the 05 Hybrid I was driving a few days later to a woman who had come into my dealership looking for a used Hybrid.

~John

 

[weebee]

I can also vouche for the power difference between a V-6 and a Hybrid since I've owned both. The Hybrid is almost the same as the V-6. The only difference is cabin noise when you stomp on the gas you will get the busy 4 cyclinder engine moan. The acceleration after about 50 mph is pretty unexpected, it's quick.

 

[jmorton10]

I can tell you what quieted down my Hybrid considerably was replacing the tires.

When I took off the Conti ECO Plus tired & replaced them with my current 18" Bridgestone Alenza's it turned it into a whole different truck. It rides & handles better (especially in snow) & the difference in road noise is night & day.

~John

 

[weebee]

I got the cooper ATR's on for the winter so I don't have the quietest Escape right now!

 

[Dasha]

Any special "dos" and "don'ts" when owning a hybrid vehicle??

 

[jmorton10]

Any special "dos" and "don'ts" when owning a hybrid vehicle??

I can't think of any really. Driving a Hybrid Escape is pretty similar to driving a V6, it just gets twice the gas mileage.

There are certain tricks that the "hypermiling" crowd use to get ridiculously high mpg from these things, but normal drivers will not want to bother with most of them (& some are downright dangerous).

~John

 

[weebee]

The only thing I noticed was the braking is different. You have to be a little lighter on the foot when braking below 20 MPH.

 

[jmorton10]

The only thing I noticed was the braking is different. You have to be a little lighter on the foot when braking below 20 MPH.

True. That's because of the regen braking, half the time the brake pads aren't doing anything & last a very long time because of that.

Before I had this 06, I had an 05 FEH. I checked the front brake pads at 36,000 miles & they looked almost new.

~John

 

[Dasha]

Here's another question....

Can you run the battery down in a hybrid? Like if you left your lights on or something like that, a regular car's battery will die. What happens w/a hybrid?

 

[Kiki]

Here's another question....

Can you run the battery down in a hybrid? Like if you left your lights on or something like that, a regular car's battery will die. What happens w/a hybrid?

That's a great question...I've wondered about that myself.