Does Anyone Know much about Ford Escape Hybrids in 4WD?

Question

I need an all wheel drive utility vehicle. Subaru's are a little small but the Ford Escapes are the right size. I don't need it for deep off road but do for snow and travel in winter of trips less than 500 miles, am looking into a hybrid escape in 4WD or just a 4cyl AWD Escape. Anyone have any experience with these?

Answer 1

Ok, this is going to sound biased coming from a Ford Salesperson, but it's highly unlikely that I will be selling you the vehicle, so here goes. I commute 45 miles each way over a mountain pass and work at a Ford dealership across the street from a Subaru dealership. Many people in this community (including some of our employees) swear by the Subarus and they are good cars so we try to keep some on our used car lot. Because of this I have had the opportunity to drive both on all kinds of snowy / icy / slick roads and it is my opinion that Ford's Intelligent 4wd works better than the Subaru AWD. I think this is because the Escape has a front wheel bias and the Subaru's generally have a rear wheel bias (in power split), althogh either system can send nearly all of the power to one wheel. As you pointed out, neither system is great for real off-roading.

So do you want to purchase a hybrid? Well, they are very nice, more complex, and require less maintenance (since the engine is not running all the time and the brake pads are used less, with braking going through a 'generator' to produce power instead). As someone else pointed out, these really shine in CITY mileage, but the highway mileage is barely better than a 4 cyl Escape. In my experience the Hybrid can get about 28-29 hwy and the XLS (manual) 4 cylinder can get 27 for about $10,000 less. Of course the XLS comes with many less features, but you'll never save the $10,000 price difference on gas if you mainly do highway driving (even with tax credits), and you can add a few features or accessories with the money saved. So if most of your miles are city driving, buy the Hybrid. If most of your miles are highway driving, buy the XLS 4 cyl.

By the way, both are very reliable (better than the v6, which is a good engine!) and will not cost you much to maintain.

If you have more specific questions, contact the Ford employee (Joe) or myself, we're happy to give you the information you need.

Answer 2

I currently drive an AWD Escape Hybrid as a demo working for Ford. The vehicle is truly amazing and I could write an entire essay on positive attributes. The Hybrid has a 57 liter (15 U.S. gallons) gas tank and I do 99% in-city driving which results in about 640 kilometers (398 miles) to a tank. If I do only highway, I get about 470 kilometers (293 miles) to a tank driving at an average speed of 125 kph (78 mph). These are not vehicle ratings, but personal experience, and I am heavy footed.

I have had no issues with it whatsoever, you do not see them frequenting the service department, and it has been an overall perfect vehicle. If you are looking at specific information, please feel free to email me any questions you have and I will answer them from experience. My Hybrid is a 2006 that I am driving for one year now.

Answer 3

I have the regular Escape with the 4WD and if you get it, you'll love it. Actually, I think the 4WD in the Escape is better than the F-150 I used to own. The traction is awesome, and with the 'Smart-Trac' the 4WD kicks in if it feels the front wheels slipping. And it doesn't feel like 4WD, it actually feels the same as FWD. The only disadvantage is there is no 4-Low, but if you're going to be just regular driving, and in need of a 4WD driving gear, you'll be fine.

Answer 4

buy a different vehicle. hybrids are designed for city driving and get very poor fuel mileage on the highway. around 18 . also the escape 4wd is useless