I am a rural mail carrier currently using a 2001 Ford Escape and have been
admiring the FEH. While I have not test driven one yet I am wondering how this vehicle would perform on a 74 mile route with 350 stops per day.
I have read some of the FAQ's and am now not sure that the rigorous workout I give my car every day would be handled by the FEH

 

Not sure Ford would put a right hand streering wheel on it but the stop and go driving would help with gas & noise for sure. You would also go longer between fill ups.

If you could get USPS to buy into the program, I'm sure Ford would make a deal. Maybe we all could save a little on postage with that idea. I'm sure the resale would help with the extra cost up front, I say go for it.

GaryG

 

I don't need a right hand drive, I do just fine from the right seat with no dual controls. That's one of the reasons I'm so happy with my Escape right now. I hae 108000 miles logged just from delivering mail and it has held up very well. I am still wondering about the stop and go part of the FEH because I am on the gas, on the brakes etc.

 

Would you be able to drive it from the right side with the console in the middle?

I think the stop & go driving would be ideal for the FEH. You would go through brakes less often and as long as you don't accelerate hard you could spend quite a large portion of time in EV mode and get great milage.

 

Scott, if he's on the gas and the brake alot on the right hand side and doesn't have controls there, well, he needs more than a hybrid with that third leg! Must be from Arkcansaw!

GaryG

 

I have no doubt that the FEH would take the route with shining stars. You may not get fantastic milage, but you'd certainly be getting tanks that would put the conventional Escapes to shame.

Is there anything specific that you think it can't handle? Frankly, the more stop and go you do, and the less high speeds you do, the better off you are with the FEH.

 

Not sure if my limited experience helps or not, but I deliver a motor paper route with my FEH. I have been driving it about 6 weeks/2500 miles and am extremely pleased. Going over a week between fill ups instead of every 4 days has me ecstatic. I can get gas when it goes down in price and ride out the days when it is higher. I won't ever get Gary type numbers but I am hovering around 27-28 mpg at most fill ups. Certainly beats the 13 mpg I was getting with my old Chevy Cavalier. Nothing quite kills FE like traveling 25-30 miles in 2-3 hours.

I know this isn't quite the same as delivering mail where you have to stop dead at every mailbox. I also deliver a more urban area with 250-350 customers per day in a 25-30 mile span depending on the day.

I would think that the FEH would do extremely well on the route.

 

Boy do I miss the shifter on the column that my 2004 Escape had. That foolish console takes up so much space and all the storage the '04 had was lost. And the parking brake is at a weird angle and harder to pull up on.

The sad part is I *****ed about the "old-fashioned" column shifter when I had the '04.

Anyway, sworthen, if you can drive the FEH or any '05 and newer Escape from the right hand side, you need to be playing in the NBA, not delivering mail because you have some loooooong legs.

A shame too because I bet the FEH would be ideal for a rural mail route.....

 

Ray, sworthen had said he hadn't test driven the FEH. I forgot the mod they made on the '05 up with the concole shifter would be a change for him. Anyway, I guess he must have given up on that idea with your post. Here he had me going thinking he could drive the FEH from the right side without any problems. Too funny.

GaryG