http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2008/07/diesel-ford-fi ...

No hybrid here either:

Lloyd: I get 70 miles to the gallon on this hog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYyo7dEPvwU

Ha-ha! :)

"Along with the diesel engine, the Fiesta Econetic has other tricks up its wheel well to achieve this fuel economy. Ford made aerodynamic changes to the standard Fiesta, such as adding rear air deflectors, lowering the suspensions, and putting the car on low rolling resistance tires. The engine uses low friction oil and the driver gets a shift light, indicating when its time to upshift for optimal fuel economy. The Econetic also keeps carbon dioxide emissions low, at 98 grams per kilometer. "

It also rates the car at 76 mpg.

In any case, the mileage is higer and the CO2 emissions lower than a Prius.

And the technology is simpler because it doesn't use two engines.

The only thing Ford needs to add is an option for an extra pair of cohones...so people won't say that you lost yours by driving a Ford Fiesta.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9999235-1.html

We need to know CO2 grams per kilometer.

It gets mid 30's in the city, beating a Toyota Yaris!!  And evaporative/sooty emission rating well beyond a Honda Civic.

The Escape is also a candidate for after-market plug-in conversion, unlike many other hybrids.

And it goes without saying that you can haul around a lot of stuff  in it.

Right now I'm getting 34mpg average in the city -- in a smallish  SUV.

Why no love?

"Film producer Ron Yerxa and wife Annette Ballester of Santa Monica took delivery of their Clarity on Friday from Honda of Santa Monica, one of three dealerships in Southern California that are part of the first fuel cell vehicle dealership network. Scott Robinson Honda in Torrance also is part of the Clarity FCX network."

http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_10000969

While Grist Ecologists will whine about the evils of hydrogen production, I can't see anything wrong with this natural gas powered combination home filling station and furnace:

http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/home-energy-stat ...

"Honda has operated an experimental Home Energy Station in Torrance, California, since 2003. The Home Energy Station, which generates hydrogen from natural gas, is designed to provide heat and electricity for the home through fuel cell cogeneration and to supply fuel for a hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle."

Many cars get that much nowdays, and it's highway mileage is still terrible.

Compare that to say a Prius or even a Civic Hybrid, which gets slightly better than the Escape Hybrid in the city, but gets alot better mileage than the Escape on the freeway.

Plus, it's more expensive than most hybrids, typically more expensive than even a Prius (which gets much better gas mileage as a whole).

Still, better than most SUV's, I suppose...

How many production vehicles with the weight of an Escape get average 34 in the city?  NONE.  I get the utility of an Escape and the milage of a very small Japanese car.  

If you are going to compare an SUV with a Prius, then yes it produces more CO2.  But its better than a Yaris or a Matrix.  Its  better  than an Accord or a regular Civic.

Lets compare it to another hybrid SUV, not even a big one.  How about the Toyota Highlander Hybrid?  The Ford gets 10 more MPG and cost 10 grand less.

I use it 90% in the city where I haul video equipment around.

 And on the highway I'm easily getting 34 - 35 MPG while going camping somewhere.  

No way is this perfect and in no way is this adequate for where we need to go.  The plug-in version will be coming out within the next 3 years.  If I save enough money, this current Esacpe can be converted to plug-in because, like the Prius and unlike the Honda, its a full hybrid, able to go completely into electric mode.

The main point is that I'm sitting in traffic here, looking at many, many folks in smaller SUV's and mid-sized sedans getting horrible city MPG, and I'm wondering where the campaign is to attract them to this version of the Escape?  A form factor they would obviously be comfortable with.

Now on to sooty/particulate/evaporative emissions.  I live in Los Angeles.  As a bonus, while I'm in traffic, my engine is completely turned off.  In fact, the engine doesnt run for 1/4 to 1/3 of the time I am driving.  In combination with that and the extraordinary evaporative controls, the Escape Hybrid is probably the cleanest production ICE every made in American history.  The ratings don't go any higher for a vehicle with an ICE engine inside.

So, yeah, in no way is this perfect.  But for 2007 to 2010 its my solution to reducing my carbon footprint (besides living close to work, CFLs, 3Rs, ect.)  And I KNOW that many average folks, if they knew about its stats, would jump on it and it would be like a bunch of Yaris' running around the city and not a bunch of Explorers!

As an example, I got one of my freinds in Houston to exchange her Explorer for an Escape Hybrid.  She is very happy and would not have bought a Prius I do not think.

As a meaningless footnote: Gore, Edwards, and Clinton all drive this vehicle.

With a world of hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of drivers impending, we are not likely to Escape the carbon trap unless public transit, bicycling, and walking supplant the private vehicle. Of course, if the private vehicle emits no GHGs, and the process with which we make and destroy the vehicles or the roads they travel on also produce no GHGs, then, okay, we might have a scant chance.

But that's just the thing.

Most people DON"T need the utility of an Escape.  Most people who have SUVs don't even need the utility of an SUV.

They have an SUV as a form of status symbol, kinda a "beat the Jonse's from across the street" mentality.  90% of the people who have SUVs don't have a family large enough to warrant 6 or 8 passenger seats, nor do they on a regular basis, carry 'round enough baggage or cargo to warrant even half the trunk/cab space.

And most SUVs and truck drivers never even go off-road.

But they got one anyway, 'cause it's what everyone else had and it's what was "in" at the moment.

In other words, for the vast majority of people, it was an excess fad.

But since they could afford it, and gas was cheap, they really didn't concern themselves with excess...at least until it actually started to hit 'em in the wallets.

Now on to sooty/particulate/evaporative emissions.  I live in Los Angeles.  As a bonus, while I'm in traffic, my engine is completely turned off.  In fact, the engine doesnt run for 1/4 to 1/3 of the time I am driving.

While that's very good, it's pretty much the same as all hybrids (which is why it's very good), hybrids don't run on gas engines while stopped or at slow speeds.

Lets compare it to another hybrid SUV, not even a big one.  How about the Toyota Highlander Hybrid?  The Ford gets 10 more MPG and cost 10 grand less.

Once again, that's all very good, but unlike yourself, most people never really needed an SUV to begin with.  It was more of a fad than a necessesity for everyday work.

So really, now that gas is costly, it benefits the majority to buy somethin' with the best overall efficiency available, which would usually be a hybrid car.

Still, hybrid SUVs are better than regular ones, 'specially for the few (such as yourself) who actually need one.