Given a choice
- Thread starter LarryL
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Highway or City? Highway diesel, city hybrid. The Escape hybrid and the regular 4cyl Escape would get the same on the highway.
Probably diesel, but I'd have to see the specs to say for sure.
Jeep Liberty CRD: 5K tow rating
Escape Hybrid: 1K tow rating
Once you are giving up any kind of reasonable tow rating, you have to seriously evaluate why you are even looking at a SUV. If you are considering the Escape Hybrid 2wd you might as well finish the job and just get a nice station wagon. Small or mid-size wagons would provide pretty much the same capability as a 2wd hybrid Escape for less price and equal or superior real life fuel economy.
One of the issues that I see with hybrid technology is that many of them aren't turning in maximum mileage. The hybrids require a little more nuanced driving to show their true potential, and not everyone is willing or knows how to do that.
My wife for example drives like the gas pedal is an on-off switch in town and doesn't anticipate traffic flow on the freeway. Magically, whenever I drive her car I get 2-7 MPG better!
There is no way that she would be able to even remotely achieve good economy with a hybrid.
DIESEL
Yeah but are you guys reading the first post? His only qualifications were a small SUV to commute in. Sure there are viable and better diesel options. I'd give my right arm for a Jetta TDI right now but as far as
"a vehicle the size of a Ford Escape, a small 4-door suv" for daily commuting, there aren't many good diesel options. Now a Jetta TDI wagon would be a great sub, but....
"a vehicle the size of a Ford Escape, a small 4-door suv" for daily commuting, there aren't many good diesel options. Now a Jetta TDI wagon would be a great sub, but....
Right on BrianWC, my 1991 Caprice wagon is more a UV than most SUV's. (gets better mileage too)
The reason I asked the question is because people will buy a small SUV, use it as an SUV once in a while and commute with it most of the time. Because of that, it makes a small SUV a good candidate for some help. I know the pure of heart would only consider a small sedan, but for the convience of having a small SUV, sort of a pickup with a camper shell that can not be removed, and for the fashion statement, they will buy the SUV. All this talk about the best mileage for the small sedans should be extended to small SUV's. There is too much talk about the best mileage an ideal sized sedan can get. This hybrid and diesel stuff should be extended to all SUV's and pickups. You should not have to buy an earth mover sized pickup to get a diesel engine. There would be more savings in fuel if solutions would be applied to the middle of the road vehicles. No matter what you did, they would never become the best, but better is good.
The point that I was making is that a Hybrid Escape is lacking one of the major features that give an SUV "utility." That is an ability to tow more than a standard passenger car.
I am making an assumption (perhaps falsely) that
if the vehicle is required to be both A)a commuter and B)a SUV, there is a logical reason for the compromise. These are two vehicle categories that are darn near mutually exclusive for the most part, and I think most reasonable people understand that there are far better choices for a pure commuter than a small SUV.
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