The State of the 'Other Hybrids'

The media and car shoppers are going into hybrid hysteria. We reported last week that if you wanted a new Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid, you’d wait months to get your hands on one. Those are possibly the two most visible hybrids on the market. But what of the other hybrids out there? What others? Well, GM and Ford also sell hybrids, but just because you might not know much about them doesn’t mean they’re sitting around on lots collecting dust.

There are three very alluring hybrid SUVs on the market: The 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line, which for 2009 will just be called the Vue Hybrid; the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid, soon to be replaced by an even more efficient 2009 version; and the 2008 Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon hybrid.

The first two are compact SUVs that return mpg numbers that are better than most standard four-cylinder midsize sedans. The 2008 Escape FWD gets 34/30 mpg city/highway and the 2008 Vue — only available in FWD — gets 25/32 mpg city/highway. You pay for the hybrid with the Ford; it starts at $27,445 versus $21,685 for its four-cylinder gasoline counterpart. The hybrid Vue starts less at $25,645 versus $21,525 for the four-cylinder base model.

However, neither model is exactly easy to find.

Ch-Ch-Changes: 2009 Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner

The Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner were redesigned just last year for the 2008 model year. New exterior skins and a much improved interior made significant improvements on the aging models — we just hope it’s a stopgap before the import of Ford’s new Kuga SUV, which is just hitting European roads.

For 2009, Ford is diving into the compact SUVs’ engine bays and replacing the previous, paltry 153-hp, 2.3-liter base four-cylinder engine with a new 2.5-liter engine putting out 170 hp. The optional V-6 is also getting replaced, adding 40 more hp for a total of 240 hp. Both are obviously faster; Ford says they trim 1.7 seconds off the 0-60 times of the previous models.

Both models can also get a newly optional six-speed automatic transmission.

Friday Fleet Notes: 4.11.08

This week's fleet notes takes on two competing hybrids, the Honda Civic Hybrid and the current champ, the Toyota Prius. In addition the Ford Focus makes an appearance, so if you're interested in how our staff felt about the Sync system, this might be a Friday fleet note you don't want to miss.

Toyota Prius

• Having driven a rental Prius in Denver a few months back, I was dreading the worst: an uncomfortable ride, a whiny engine at freeway speeds, a brake pedal that felt like a steel rod pressing up against the tires. Boy, was I surprised. This non-rental Prius could not have been more different. It was a much smoother ride. The engine, even at 70 mph, purred quietly. The brakes still felt a little funky, but I wasn’t in any doubt about their abilities and I still managed to get around 50 mpg. This experience gets the Prius off my hit list. — Patrick Olsen, Editor-in-Chief

Ford Incentives Up, Include Specialty Models

April has begun, and Ford has updated its incentives for the rest of the month. There are some very interesting deals to be had. We’ll break down all the models soon enough, but the most interesting tidbit of information for car enthusiasts is that both the Ford Mustang Bullitt and the upcoming Ford F-150 Chip Foose Edition are getting cash back just like their plain-jane brethren. 

The 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt is already on sale, and the Bullitt package costs an additional $3,310 on top of the cost of a regular Ford Mustang GT. Rebates range from $1,000 to $1,500, with an additional $1,000 offered in some regions if you go with Ford Credit to purchase the vehicle.*

Depending on where you live, that means you could pay just a $810 premium to have the special edition, which adds horsepower and suspension tweaks.

The 2008 Ford F-150 Chip Foose Edition isn’t on sale yet, but the roughly $55,000 sport truck will come to market over the next few months with between $3,000 and $3,500 cash back (plus that potential $1,000 in financing cash) on the intricately detailed hood.

Other rebates are more pedestrian, but still noteworthy:

First Drive: Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid

In connection with the New York International Auto Show, in a city where Ford Escape Hybrid taxicabs are an increasingly common sight, Ford offered me a test drive in an experimental plug-in version of its compact SUV.

The philosophy behind this vehicle is similar to that of the Toyota Prius plug-in, on which I reported from Detroit: to increase the battery capacity and to charge that battery in the home with a common extension cord before hitting the road. This supplements the normal hybrid with power that's comparatively cheap and potentially cleaner than gasoline, and that comes from North American sources such as coal, natural gas, nuclear, and, in regrettably rare cases, renewable energy like hydroelectric and solar. All current hybrids generate their own electricity with their gas engines and through recapturing the energy of motion during braking, which improves efficiency over that of a larger gas engine alone but doesn't meet the full potential of electric power.

2008 Geneva Motor Show: Ford Kuga

• Competes with: Honda CR-V, Saturn Vue
• Looks like: Ford’s found a good replacement for the Escape
• Drivetrain: 2.0-liter turbo-diesel with six-speed automatic
• Hits Dealerships: 2008 for Europe, not planned for the U.S.

What you see here is a really good-looking compact SUV from Ford. It will go on sale in Europe this year, but there are no plans for it to come to the U.S. That’s really, really too bad because the Ford Kuga looks like it could replace the current Escape in Ford’s line-up pretty easily and with some style.

Don’t believe us? The Kuga is almost identical to the Escape’s length and weight and comes in either front- or all-wheel drive. What’s really different of course is that the Kuga will go on sale with just one engine, a diesel. The 2.0-liter turbo-diesel will put out just 136 hp but a whopping 236 lb.-ft of torque which should propel it just fine. Mileage using metric conversion would be roughly 37 mpg combined city and highway.

Ford would have to tackle the diesel issue before adapting it for American consumers but we see no reason why they shouldn’t try. Perhaps they could bring it over at the same time as the new Fiesta in 2010. The company has previously said that it will leverage its global products in its latest turn-around strategy for the U.S. and we don't think they'll stop at the Fiesta. Check out the photos below and tell us if you think this should be the next Escape.

Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner Get More-Efficient Engines

Today in Washington, D.C., Ford will announce that its recently redesigned — the changes came for the 2008 model year — Escape and Mercury Mariner compact SUVs will get new engines for 2009. This is an unusual move, but obviously the public desire for fuel efficiency influenced the upgrades. The 2009 base model will get a larger 2.5-liter four-cylinder that produces 170 hp — up 17 hp from 2008 — but an estimated 1 more mpg.

The improvements are thanks to the engine itself, which features more-advanced technology like variable cam timing. The fact that it’s teamed with a new standard six-speed automatic transmission doesn’t hurt, either. The V-6 engine also gets a big boost in power — up 30 hp to 230 hp — and it too will get an estimated 1 mpg better fuel economy.

2008 Detroit Auto Show: Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid

• Looks like: A regular Escape with an electric outlet on the front fender
• Defining characteristics: It plugs into your wall for a charge and gets the equivalent of 100 mpg
• Ridiculous features: We still have to wait to buy one
• Chance of being mass-produced: Mass is a relative term; this is a prototype, and maybe someday before the end of the decade we’ll see it at a dealership

Ford is showcasing the prototype for its plug-in hybrid program in Detroit. It’s not really a concept and it’s not really production-ready. Instead, it’s one of the vehicles being tested by utility company Southern California Edison. We talked to Greg Frenette, the chief engineer of the Escape Plug-In, and he said this is indeed one of several Escape plug-ins being tested on real roads in the program. The full program will involve 20 Escapes.

The prototypes are basically the same vehicle as a standard 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid — the interiors are completely finished as well — but with a few differences. An outlet over the driver’s-side fender accepts a common 110- or 220-volt household plug that charges the SUV’s lithium-ion battery over six hours to deliver a 30-mile range on electric power alone. Then, a gas engine kicks in to charge the electric motor, producing an equivalent 100 mpg. Frenette said they’ve been testing the prototypes since early December, and so far they're returning 120 mpg in stop-and-go driving and roughly 70-80 mpg in highway driving.

Cars.com Reviews the 2008 Ford Escape

Joe Wiesenfelder takes his turn at the restyled, sort-of-redesigned 2008 Ford Escape. He’s happy with the new interior and quieter cabin, but is that enough to win him over? You’ll have to check out the review to find out, and hey, the Escape can be had with Sync!

2008 Ford Escape Expert Review

Ford Lends Hybrid, Chicago Buys Toyotas

Guess the city of Chicago had a better idea.

Ford Motor Co. donated an Escape Hybrid SUV to the city of Chicago a year ago so the city could evaluate the performance of hybrids as fleet vehicles.

Ford doesn't build the Escape Hybrid in Chicago, but it does employ Chicagoans who assemble the midsize Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable there, along with the Taurus X crossover. So donating the Escape Hybrid was being neighborly

"Thanks to Ford Motor Co., we're well on our way to understanding the benefits of using low emission hybrid vehicles in fleets,” said Norma Reyes, then-commissioner of Chicago's Department of Consumer Services.

The city must have been impressed, because the Associated Press is now reporting that Chicago has agreed to purchase up to 300 hybrid vehicles for use by its police and fire departments — from a Toyota dealer: 100 Prius hybrids, 100 Camry Hybrids and 100 Highlander Hybrid SUVs.