The…new 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid is a four-door, five-passenger sport utility that offers a solid ride with good looks on the outside and quality inside
By: Mike Blake
On a recent episode of the irreverent TV show "South Park," the characters addressed the smugness of those who drive hybrids while the rest of America drives around in vehicles not quite so green friendly. Well, when you drive a vehicle that combines the fuel economy and avant-garde environmentally beneficial aspects of hybrid engines with the solid ride of a Ford SUV, there’s every reason to be smug.
The Blue Oval company’s new 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid is a four-door, five-passenger sport utility that offers a solid ride with good looks on the outside and quality inside. And the Escape is available in two trims, the FWD and the 4WD.
The Escape, which is essentially the same car-based SUV as its siblings, the Mercury Mariner and Mazda Tribute, is Ford tough in a small SUV package.
Cutting to the economy chase, the press fleet test Escape I examined for a week was sticker priced at $31,080, about $4,000 above a nonhybrid version. As the hybrid engine system a 2.3-liter in-line four-stroke Atkinson cycle engine and a permanent-magnet traction motor picks you up about 5 miles per gallon to an EPA rating of 36/city and 31/highway, you can save about $500 a year in fuel charges. And by purchasing a hybrid vehicle, you can still apply for a $500 rebate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You can also claim a tax credit of about $2,000 that’s better than a tax deduction as this credit comes directly off of what you pay into Uncle Sam.
But buying hybrid is more than strictly dollars and cents to conservationists it’s dollars and sense. It’s the feeling you get when you can’t hear the engine and you KNOW you’re doing something to help out Mother Earth. There’s also the feel-good air you get when you know you have just bought cutting-edge science; and there’s the intangible of knowing that you are one of the advance guard that has invested in the technology so that the major manufacturers will see interest in the genre and will continue to advance the research to create more efficient, more economical generations of the discipline.
Assembled in Kansas City, my 3,610-pound front-wheel-drive Escape was powered by the Atkinson engine that produces about 153 horsepower and 152 pounds/feet of torque. Low-end torque is sparse, though, and that is a common occurrence in Atkinsons. Pickup is generous, however, in higher gears. The in-line four is mated to a 70-kilowatt (the equivalent of 94 horsepower) electric motor and the combination of the two is about 4 percent more efficient than a conventional 2.3-liter plant.
The Atkinson cycle engine was invented by James Atkinson in 1882 and was conceived to work more efficiently than similar plants, sacrificing power for that efficiency. The Escape’s Atkinson worked in textbook fashion. And its partner, the electric motor, is powered up by a 330-volt hybrid battery. The motor and engine work in parallel when the driver puts the pedal to the metal, creating power similar to that of a hefty V-6. The system chooses the best scenario, and can run on the electric motor alone, gas engine alone or use the two in concert for best performance and power.
Rewarded by driving with finesse, my tests still only garnered about 31 mpg, including 28.5 on the highway, but that still beats what most SUVs will get out there. And it enables the vehicle to cover from 450 to 500 miles in city driving on a single tank of gasoline.
On the exterior the Escape Hybrid looks like your average top-selling compact sport ute. But you can see the unique badging that uses the Ford road-and-leaf insignia, as well as standard 16-inch wheels covered with Continental ContiTrace P235/70R16 all-season tires. And there’s a discreet battery-cooling vent in the driver’s-side rear quarter window.
In the cabin the Escape is not gaudy, but hardly Spartan. With premium cloth seats, you get seating for five, 65 cubic feet of cargo space 27.6 cubic feet behind the second row and lots of small niceties. The info center shows you when you are operating on battery power and levels of charge and assist for the battery pack.The optional navigation system employs a small DVD screen and operates with a toggle and button, but is adequate for most trips. You also get a power six-way driver seat, AM/FM/stereo in-dash six CD Energy Audiophile entertainment system, power windows locks and mirrors, lift-gate with flip-up glass, rear defroster with two-speed wiper and air conditioning.
The Escape says safety with four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, regenerative braking assist, electric power assist steering, four-wheel independent front suspension, MacPherson struts, four-wheel disc brakes, driver and passenger air bags and side impact door beams,
Handling is good, with little yaw, and while I wouldn’t tax the little Escape with extreme off-road experiences, it CAN handle ruts, mud, uneven terrain and many off-road situations.
The 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid gives you class, versatility, a solid ride, improved fuel economy and fewer pollutants than a conventional SUV. It’s OK to be smug.
Visit www.carsatcarlisle.com for more on the automotive hobby. Mike Blake, former editor of KIT CAR magazine, joined Carlisle Events as senior automotive journalist in 2004. He’s been a "car guy" since the 1960s and has been writing professionally for about 30 years.