Brad, Willard can be a pain in the, well you know what. He can be found throught out this site in different areas with the same "tone of thought".

His comment in this thread can be rephased as "The Ford Escape Hybrid system is a rebadged older Toyota system". You are not going to get anywhere debating with Willard.

 

I ended up driving off the lot with tax, tags & title for $10,450, so I only paid about $9,900 for the vehicle its self. I love it!

 

I'd really rather have a 2009 FEH than a 2005, but $10,000 vs. $34,000 is really no contest.

 

30+ MPG only applies to downtown NYC during rush hours.

On the hwy you'll do better with an Escape 4 cylinder stick shift.

 

Proper rephrasing would be that the early Escape licensed the EARLY Toyota HSD hardware/firmware of that time. Time and Toyota have moved on.

 

City, stop and go, in mild weather, FEH will net 42 to 54 MPG. ( really trying hard to get 54 MPG )

Hwy you can expect 48 MPG at 48 MPH.
42 MPG at 55 MPH
38 MPG at 60 MPH
34 MPG at 65 MPH
30 MPG at 70 MPH
26 MPG at 75 MPH

* one passenger and little or no cargo weight

I really, really doubt the 4cyl manual car will beat that for MPG!
-John- 4 year owner, and 69,000 miles to prove the above...

Willard = not an owner

P.S. Ford did not use any hardware or software from Toyota.
Ford and Toyota reached an agreement of "in kind" trades of similar technology, to not involve any patent infringement issues. READ UP Willard... please.....

 

Willard, please don't spread false information.

I have a 32.5MPG average in my 2008 FEH with 28,657 miles over 15 months. I'd say that over 70% of my mileage is Hwy and I live in a relatively warm/humid climate that often requires A/C. I'd have even better FE numbers but my wife shares the driving and doesn't drive for FE. I've had 100% highway trips of over 200 miles with 41+MPG when I've driven with FE in mind.

My worst tank ever was 26MPG and was all mountains, during my break-in, and fully loaded with three adults and lots of luggage. My next worse tank was 28MPG with 100% highway @ 70MPH, 5 adults, a luggage bag on top of the car and 90deg heat. Both scenarios are far from best case, even for the 4cyl-manual model you referenced.

 

Yes, they have a patent cross-licensing contact but you can be sure, certain, it has a "parity" ("in kind") clause. Taking notice of all the technological improvements in the Prius HSD design with no indication of same, equal progress in the FEH/MMH/Tribute product line, one must assume that Ford has not been able to achieve parity and is therefore paying otherwise inordinate cross-licensing fees. Or would be if they adopted all of the Toyota HSD technological improvements for the FEH/MMH/Tribute.

But no, they have been too busy playing "catchup", designing/integrating, a modern day ABS/VSC/TC/EBD/BA/V-LSD system to put into the 2009 FEH/MMH/Tribute. Oh, forgot, that might also apply to the cross-licensing, code sharing deal. Or maybe a separate code-sharing deal.

 

The best thing to do is ignore Willard.

 

HAHA I wasn't trying to start an argument here.. I was just curious as to what the HECK he was talking about?

I will agree that a 4 cyl manual non-hybrid will probably produce more MPG at highway speeds (60+MPH) for an average driver... one 'not trained' in the FE ways of a hybrid. I know my FEH really seems to 'struggle' at speeds above 70MPH.. especially climbing hills... but I suspect that has more to do with the CVT than the hybrid part. Not that it doesn't have the power to do so, but that the RPMs climb so high in the process that it just doesn't seem efficient.

We average 30-32MPG in our 4WD FEH (2005).. about 70% city, 30% highway driving. I know the 4WD is a big part of the problem, but also because I only drive the car once in awhile (wife almost always uses it for work) and it's hard to establish consistent driving habit when you don't know exactly what the heck she does with it during the day