Ford Drive Experience Wrap-up

Ford Motor Company graciously allowed me to drive a Ford Escape Hybrid for a week. I was so excited to get the car. Then I wrote my initial thoughts about Ford and the Escape. Now it's time to summarize and conclude my experience.

Conclusion: I loved the Escape & didn't want to give it up!
I'm not going to make you read to the end of the article to get to the point. Besides, it's more fun to start with enthusiasm. I ended up falling in love with the Ford Escape Hybrid and didn't want to give it back. Interesting the one thing I disliked most about the Escape when I got it ended up being the thing I liked about it most - SIZE.

Size
For the past ten years, I've been driving a two-door Honda Civic. My husband drives a Mini Cooper. We like little cars. So when I first drove the Escape, I felt uncomfortable. It seemed huge. As some of your commented on the last post, that's just silliness! A car like the Escape isn't huge! It's a small SUV. Yes, you're right and in only a few days, I became very, very comfortable. In fact, I was thrilled how easily my bicycle fit and the groceries. I even had the opportunity to cart around a keg and a couple bikes (something I never could have done with the Civic). It seems the Escape was the perfect size for me.

Power
I was also extremely pleased with the power of the engine in the Escape. Somehow I had it in my mind that a hybrid wouldn't perform very well. Plus, I had a bad experience with an under-powered Ford Explorer almost ten years ago. Based on my week with the Escape, Ford has clearly done something right. The Escape had plenty of power and was quite fun to drive. (Just keep in mind that I'm not an aggressive driver, I leave that up to Chris with his race track experience.)

Miles Per Gallon
One of the things I was most curious about was how the hybrid would perform in terms of fuel efficiency. Thanks to the computer in the navigation system, it was easy for me to see at any time my average miles per gallon. At first, I was amazed that I got 42 - 45 mpg. Though I had to remind myself that it was only a little bit of driving around city streets. As expected, mpg settled down into a slightly lower number when I got onto the highway. My commute to work is 34 miles each way (68 miles total) and practically all of it is on the highway. So a huge part of the driving I did with the Escape was on the highway. By the end of the week, my average MPG in the Escape Hybrid was 32. Considering the size of the car & all the highway time, I'm very impressed by this number! My little Civic gets the same miles per gallon, which I think is quite good. I'd happily take a larger car and keep the same fuel efficiency.

Navigation System
Being a bit of a computer geek, I really liked the navigation system in the Escape. I found myself being completely fascinated with the fuel efficiency and power screens. It was fascinating to see the indicators show that when braking the batteries are being recharged. I was also thrilled with the TravelLink which showed me an incoming thunderstorm!

I really should have played more with the navigation system / computer, but I was the only one driving the car! Messing with the computer while driving is a quick way to an accident. The one time I did play with the navigation system to look up an address, I was totally disappointed. To me, the interface wasn't intuitive and I was easily frustrated. So I quickly resorted back to my iPhone which did the trick. I really didn't spend any time with the computer so my critique isn't fair. I also regrettably have to say that I did not make the time to try out the Microsoft Sync system.

Interior
My husband and I had differing perspectives on the interior of the Escape. He felt the interior was cheaply made and appeared as if it would fall apart in a few years. Personally, I didn't feel like the interior was cheaply made. However, once he commented, I did notice that the back seats seemed rather thin. They were fine to sit on so I think his comment might have been influencing me. Overall, I thought the interior was comfortable and appropriate for the vehicle.

The Negative
So there has to be something about the car that I didn't like, right? All this gushing can't possibly be real. The one thing that I didn't like is that to fold down the back seats, you have to take off the headrests. The manual clearly explains that you simply slide the headrests off and place them under the front seats before folding down the back seats. The process worked fine and was quite easy to do. But it did add a couple more steps that didn't thrill me. It's a pretty minor complaint and definitely something I could live with.

Surprise - No Gas Cap!
At the end of the week when it was time to put gas in the car, I was completely surprised to find there was no gas cap! SO COOL! A nice little touch to make me love the Escape just a bit more.

All in all, I was very impressed with the Ford Escape Hybrid after a week with it. It's given me a brand new perspective on Ford and the cars they make. When it's time to replace my Civic, I'll definitely be looking at Ford's offerings. Hopefully by then there will be hybrids galore and an electric vehicle or two!

Thanks, Ford, for the opportunity to get to know one of your products better. You've impressed me! I hope you make it out of this recession and go on to be a strong, successful company that Americans can be proud of.

#Ford #FordDrive

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