One of my main reasons for buying the Escape was how it handled in the New England snow. I was able to stop shovelling my driveway. I thought when I moved to AZ, I was going to regret not getting a civic or a prius. But as it turns out, the Escape does pretty well out on the trails in Sedona. It's no Jeep, but it still does well.

 

We kept our Escape (regular) for the same reason. We have a place up north and got caught in the 3 feet of snow two weeks ago. I am sure glad we had the Escape. The Civic never would have made it out of the development and we would probably still be there.

 

I am also in Phx. At the 51 & Cactus. Work @ Rural & Elliot. Meeting sounds fun.

 

Howdy all,

I'm new to the forum and new to the Hybrids. The wife and I purchased a Highlander Hybrid LTD at the end of February 06. Bought it used from Orlando FL and got to know the vehicle over the 2200 mile trek home. We're located just off the 101 and 7th Ave in North Phoenix.

First impressions of the HiHy:

Tons of power to accelerate!
Really quiet driving car.
Don't go over 40mph with only the rear windows down. -Terrible wind buffet.
Less than advertised fuel mileage. (so far)
Can't take my eyes off the energy pages on the nav screen.
Very happy with Toyota's product so far.

2 Questions:
Has anybody bought and aftermarket warranty for a hybrid?
Does anybody do their own maintenance and are there any books, cd-roms available?

THANKS!
AZJet

 

Opps. I see you're already here. Were you at the last meetup?

 

Looking forward to our next meetup. It was a mostly a Honda lovefest so it will be nice to have some deversity. Enjoy your Highlander and don't give up on the mileage yet. Your driving technique will become accustom to the different needs of a hybrid.

 

If I recall correctly, it was one VW bio-diesel and the rest were Hondas. Not a single Prius showed up. Plenty of Insights (even a turbo-charged one!), a few HCHs (even an '06!), and one lonely HAH.