I test drove a 2009 Hybrid and liked it quite a bit. The salesman, third week on the job, did not know squat (actually, I find that to be true of sales people who have been on the job for a while, some of them--I don't know how they ever make a sale). I could not find a MPG indicator like I have on my Prius. Is there one?

Also, is the only indicator that the handbrake is one is the message on top of the steering wheel column? Not a big deal, but a red light would be nice.

Thanks. I hope I am not wearing everyone out with my emails.

 

On my MMH, the only mpg indicator is on the Nav screen, but the non-nav version I test drove had an indicator on the odometer display. You get it to display by hitting the info button a few times. As I recall, that indicator was a graph looking thing and it was next to worthless. The one on the Nav screen is also worthless IMO, so I would suggest getting a Scan Gauge.

My '08 has a red light for the e-brake as well as the info screen--maybe the light was obscured by the steering wheel in the one you drove. If you drive off with the brake on, it will ding an alarm too, just in case (I've done this 2-3 times).

 

To summarize: If if has a NAV system, press the home button on the screen, or press the "i" hard button on the RH side of the screen, then press the HEV tab and press Fuel Economy. See the screen in 1st post this thread.

If no NAV system, keep pressing the "Info" button to the left of and below the steering wheel until the green readout in the instrument cluster scrolls to the MPG display.

 

I think it was discussed a long time ago, but the non-nav dash MPG display I believe is 5mpg blocks. ie 0-5 1 bar, 5-10, 2nd bar, 10-15 etc you get the point.
I got a SG and have instant and trip avg displayed.

 

What is involved in hooking up a Scanguage?

 

Depends how much alone time your looking for It can be a very long, tedious task, taking many hours, lots of sweat & scrapped knuckles, etc...

But actually takes 30 seconds. Plug the cat5 type connector from the cable into the gauge, plug the OBDII plug to the connector under the steering wheel

http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/SGMan5_1.pdf

There are some gauges on their site http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/XGAUGE.pdf But I'd look for Deset Dog's image on here someplace as it's better/more accurate.

I started a spread sheet and uploaded in a thread a while ago, just haven't had a chance to fill in all the blanks yet.

 

The biggest issue is coming up with the $140 to buy it...

 

On my non-Hybrid '09 Escape it has the average mpg readout in the Info menu or odometer section in the dash. There is also a bar graph thing that I've never used. A SG, I assume retrives that same info and displays it, so it's no more accurate than the dash readout. If I understand this correctly, a FEH only has a bar graph?

 

My FEH has an average mpg readout in the Information menu and a bar graph. This is a standard feature for the hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles.

 

Okay but how would the SG-II be any better since it uses the same PCM data?