2005 FORD ESCAPE HYBRID
DATE IN FLEET: Aug. 19-26
AS-TESTED PRICE: $30,250
POWERTRAIN: 2.3-liter I4/permanent magnet electric traction motor; fwd, CVT
OUTPUT: 133 hp @ 6000 rpm/94 hp @ 3000-5000 rpm (electric motor), 129 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm
CURB WEIGHT: 3620 pounds
MPG (EPA COMBINED/AW OBSERVED): 33.6/27.7
GRITZINGER: This may have been the ultimate Woodward Dream Cruiser. Before you start holding your belly and rolling on the floor laughing, consider this: Most of the time I spent stuck in the world’s most glorious traffic jam, the gasoline engine was never running. Over the course of two visits to the cruise, the gas gauge never appeared to move. Try that with whatever heap of polished ’60s scrap iron you want.
Yeah, yeah, I know, that’s not the point of the cruise, but it is the point of the Escape Hybrid, which provides ample performance and decent economy in what used to pass for a reasonably sized SUV. The paint job is beautiful, the interior pleasant and functional for all occupants, the ride not too choppy and the handling downright sprightly—for a battery-laden tall ute, that is.
The best part: Aside from the badging and the battery vent built in the rear-quarter window, nobody would even notice this is a hybrid vehicle. For most people, including that buddy or relative whom you loan it to, the Escape Hybrid starts, drives and functions just like its gasoline-powered siblings.
If I could change anything in the Escape Hybrid, however, it would be to swap out the continuously variable transmission for a run-of-the-mill automatic box. This tranny, devoid of shift points and with an annoying tendency to sustain very high engine revs, is the only odd thing about this trucklet. That says quite a bit about what Ford has accomplished with this technology.
RAYNAL: I liked the Escape Hybrid. I wouldn’t even bother swapping out the CVT as Gritzinger suggests. I think it is fine in the stop-and-go traffic and I didn’t have any problems with it on the freeway, so no worries. The only time I even noticed it was in pretty hard acceleration off the line, but how often do you need to do that?
An Escape is not the best small SUV, but the hybridization of it adds brownie points in my book. According to the little gizmo on the dash, I averaged 32 mpg coming to work today, as opposed to a friend of mine who drives a regular Escape daily and gets 18 mpg in the city. So it’s got that going for it.
Otherwise it drives pretty much like an Escape, which means it is not a performance car. You don’t fling it into corners or anything, and it does indeed feel like it weighs 3600 pounds.
The over-thirty-grand sticker is high. But I could easily whack $2,400 off it by eliminating the $1,850 "Hybrid energy Audiophile and navigation system" and the $600 body cladding.
-Autoweek
2005 Ford Escape Hybrid
Linear Mode
