I am looking at an 05 Ford Escape Hybrid. I like everything about it except for the mileage- 88,000. Is this high for an FEH? Will I be looking at big repair bills in the next 10,000-20,000 miles or will it last way longer than that? For current high mile FEH owners- when did you start having problems, if any?
Thanks!

 

There have been very, very few 'Hybrid' related repairs needed on these cars over the past 4 years.

Typical things go wrong like the water pumps ( few $100 bucks ) and the fuel tank level senders seem to go bad ( most people can live with it by keeping track of miles.... 450 to 550 per tank ).

Other than that, not much has gone wrong.
There's not been any battery problems in the first 4 years.
The battery has a 100,000 mile warranty in all states.
The battery has a 150,000 mile warranty in CA and 7 other states ( East Coast ) that follow CA rules.
There's quite a lot of online help if you like to fix things yourself also.
Most owners know more technical data about the hybrid than dealers.

HTH.
No, I don't consider that a "high mileage" vehicle.
I'd pay up to $15,000. $12,500 would be a great deal.

-John

 

Depending on what state you are in, the hybrid components could be warrantied until 10 years and 150,000 miles. The standard is 8/100k.

The New York City taxis, from everything I have read, are enjoying very high mileage from their FEH's. Water pumps seem to go every now and then. Not sure what the cost is to replace but it doesn't sound like that big of a job.

What kind of price are they asking for the '05?

 

I'd be looking for a really low price on this one. Since gas prices have fallen dramatically, buyers will have short memories and FEHs will start collecting on dealer lots. I'd expect to see 0% financing and other incentives within a few months-Ford has done it before with FEHs. Plus, the '05-'07 models are not the current body style, which would keep their resale values down anyway.

 

I just rolled over 100K miles and still haven't changed the brake pads. Oil changes and a K&N airfilter is all. I'd be looking for a deal because of the state of the economy, but I wouldn't be afraid to buy the vehicle. Just check it out like you would any used vehicle you would buy.

 

Thanks to everyone who replied!

The dealer is asking $10,900 for this vehicle. It seems to be loaded- leather interior, heated seats, nav system. This price is quite a bit lower than the KBB value for a hybrid, but just about right for a non hybrid. So I'm thinking this car either has serious flaws or there is a pricing error. I'm going to test drive it today!

 

If you're really interested I'd see if there is there a Ford dealership nearby? Take it for an extended test drive and have a Ford tech connect to the computer and pull any codes.

Although, it could just be a price mistake, there's at least one poster here (or on a similar board) that got a used FEH at a very good price because the salesperson didn't catch the hybrid value add and priced it at regular Escape prices. So it's happened before.

 

So how did it go? did you get it.. you're right it sounds like a great deal!

hope all want well!!

 

You should give GREAT consideration to the fact that the firmware and possibly many other aspects of Toyota's '04 HSD design are quite totally OBSOLETE at this point in time.

 

Can you explain this post in a little more detail?