Fuel saver revs up in city jams
I drove it hard. It mattered not to me that the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid is the world’s first gas-electric sport utility vehicle, designed to get better mileage with lower emissions than any comparable compact SUV.
The world is governed by hypocrisy. It preaches virtue during the day but sins at night. Sin usually brings higher profit.
And so it goes with notions of environmental worthiness. People want the cleanest, most economical cars and trucks, consumer surveys say. But I study sales numbers. Those numbers say that in good times and bad, Americans buy as much horsepower and road performance as they think they can afford.
Horsepower sells. Performance sells. Clean and green without horsepower and performance sit on the shelf until there is a crisis in gasoline pricing or supply. The crisis comes. Green-car sales soar. The crisis ends. Green-car sales dry up and die.
Thus, I was intrigued by Ford’s claim that the Escape Hybrid could deliver up to 35 miles per gallon in the city and nearly 25 miles per gallon on the highway -- urban fuel economy is better in hybrids -- without sacrificing any of the get-up-and-go offered by conventional SUVs.
Ford’s ability to deliver on that “no compromise” promise will determine its ability to build and sustain Escape Hybrid gas-electric sales.
The tested Escape Hybrid delivered.
It came straight from a factory car carrier with scant preparation by Ford’s spiff-and-polish, fix-and-fine-tune intermediaries. I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to pamper it. I didn’t.
The Escape arrived at my northern Virginia driveway at noon on a weekday. With the exception of a brief meal break, I drove it from 12:30 to 5:45 p.m. -- round trip from Arlington to Strasburg, Va., back up Interstate 66 into Washington, D.C.’s hellish rush-hour traffic, back across the Potomac River and finally back to Arlington.
In all, I drove 220 miles -- all with the air conditioner running on “normal” and the radio tuned to my favorite station. I drove the real-world median speed on interstates 66 and 81, which often meant driving a bit above the posted speed limit of 65 mph.
On those highways, at posted speeds, other drivers ride your tail. You need a vehicle that can get out of the way. The Escape Hybrid did a good job of that, while averaging 23 miles per gallon on an 89-degree day with the air conditioner running.
Compare that with an Environmental Protection Agency mileage of 21 miles per gallon on the highway for a comparable Hyundai Santa Fe SUV. Keep in mind that real-world mileage almost always is about 5 miles per gallon less than the EPA’s stated mileage. I was impressed.
But I was more impressed with the Escape Hybrid’s mileage in brutal stop-and-go city driving. Most gasoline-powered vehicles waste gasoline idling on urban streets. The Escape Hybrid saves fuel in the city.
Its 2.3-liter, 133-horsepower gasoline engine works less in city driving. The engine shuts off at traffic stops. The Escape Hybrid’s 70-kilowatt (94-horsepower-equivalent) electric motor takes over for urban duty.
I averaged 30 miles per gallon in the city with almost all systems running. When the engine shuts down, the normal setting air conditioner stops too. Switching the AC to “maximum” in city traffic keeps the engine and air conditioner going; but that uses more fuel.
The Escape Hybrid ran beautifully under a full load. Fuel savings were substantial. Supposedly, it emitted few pollutants -- probably less than some drivers who were blowing cigarette smoke out their open windows.
