I think the 2008+ Ford Escapes are a very pleasant, clean shape. I enjoyed mine.
Look for Mercury Mariner too but manual trans was never offered on the Mercury.
In either, I think holding out for a 2.5L is worth it.
I think the 2008+ Ford Escapes are a very pleasant, clean shape. I enjoyed mine.
Look for Mercury Mariner too but manual trans was never offered on the Mercury.
In either, I think holding out for a 2.5L is worth it.
Thats the color I want, but its unlikely. White seems to be an option though.
I keep finding some that work really well, but they have a sunroof. Not turning one down because of a sunroof but in general I try to avoid them
In reply to ProDarwin :
My wife has a 2013 Sorento V6 AWD. Its actually not much longer than my old Civic was, gets 25ish MPG when I drive downtown. Its been reliable so far, and maintenance is DIY friendly, and has a 3500lb hitch. Maybe worth taking a look at if you see one in budget.
RE: Sorento - I don't think its a bad car, just bigger than I am looking for. Its 10" longer than the Escape, 13" longer than the Sportage and 18" longer than my car. Harder to parallel park (and park in general as it is wider), as well as taking up more garage space.
Like the VUE, if one fell in my lap for super cheap I'd go for it, but I'm not going to look for one.
Also the more I think about this, the more I want to stay away from V6s in general. I've only had one FWD V6 and I really disliked that vehicle. 4 Cyl packaging in an CUV engine bay is usually pretty nice to work around. In the VUE I think I could stand in there next to the engine.
Reasonable looking options:
In reply to ProDarwin :
Check these out- my parents have a 4cyl Auto and it's actually a surprisingly capable little SUV.
The correct answer is the Element. I just bought on with 127k miles for $3800. It is by far the most practical SUV I have ever been in.
Isn't the escape hybrid a licensed toyota system?
Fueled by Caffeine said:Isn't the escape hybrid a licensed toyota system?
I think the tech is licensed, but not sure if its the same physical parts.
ProDarwin said:Reasonable looking options:
$4,4k clean via dealer. Is that a Pennsylvania inspection sticker in the front window? Rust?
$6k Private seller, I like. Been hauling two kids, 3rd on the way. Looks cleanish but could be lots of kid-goo. Air fresheners always scare me. Yes, a fresh sent is nice but too many airfresheners and I suspect the owner might be a smoker.
$3.9k via dealer. Manheim floor mat...straight from auction. Non factory radio. Could be good if that adds BT or AppleCar, etc. Roof rack cross bars are present. Again, is that a PA inspection sticker? Dirtiest seat in tan. Steering wheel leather crack?
$5k via dealer. I like the darker interior. Seems to hide wear better. I see a roof rack but the cross bars may have been optional and seem to not be present.
$4.9k Private sale. No interior pics
Not a real bad one in the bunch. I would try to see them all and scrutinize things like tires. Needing tires is a $500 proposition so that could have a real bearing on my decision. But, they are easy to get replaced.
I like private sales because you can assess the owner and get a feeling for how he cares for cars, etc. I think of the bunch, my favorite is the blue/gray '10 w/108k. Mostly because I like the interior color.
I agree with the assessments. I think VA and PA inspections stickers look very similar. I can Carfax them to find out.
I agree that the 2010 w/ 108k is probably the best option.
Honestly, there is no way I will see all of these. They are all 1-2 hours away in many different directions. I will try to narrow them down more with Carfax, as well as calls to the dealer to find out how much they are going to add in fees.
I'm happy to view the ones I have narrowed down, but in general I'd like to get to a top pick and if it looks good just go and get it. The last time I went through this crap with the VUE I learned my lesson - its easier to pay a little bit more for the first good thing then waste several weekends driving all around to cross shop.
And then once I do buy one, I need to figure out how to bring it home! Hopefully I can convince the dealer to deliver, but I imagine on cheap sales like this they aren't going to be excited about that.
Should you get the 2010 with 98k, I believe you are obligated to keep the shagtabulous steering wheel cover...
In reply to ProDarwin :
Bring home...
AAA Plus is like $100 per year and will give you 4 tow of up to 100 miles each.
Out of pocket, one tow would cost you more than $100. This ends up being more like $25 considering 3 tows left.
Once the purchase is complete, call AAA and 30 minutes later your cars will be heading home with you driving whichever one you want to drive.
Doesn’t the Element have the K24? When i was looking for a sedan (Accord), my research indicated these may have oil consumption issues. I also find the prices to be really high too. Honda tax + Element tax due to outdoors people liking them.
The sad truth is there don’t seem to be a lot of great options in this category.
I agree that the CMax is worthy of discussion here. It's kind of the middle ground between the Escape and the Prius V that are being considered. They depreciate like crazy. They won't have quite as much cargo space as the Escape, but they'll get far better fuel economy and will be newer and are supposedly less prone to catastrophic rust issues.
Oh man, I’d be all over that C-max!
Ive never driven one but the mpg space combo really appeals to me.
I didn’t realize they were getting that cheap! That’s the beauty of it not being Honda or Toyota made.
STM317 said:I agree that the CMax is worthy of discussion here. It's kind of the middle ground between the Escape and the Prius V that are being considered. They depreciate like crazy. They won't have quite as much cargo space as the Escape, but they'll get far better fuel economy and will be newer and are supposedly less prone to catastrophic rust issues.
What's their reliability like? As robust as the Prius?
Their interior volume is definitely a step down. As is their utility in general (shorter roof rack area, low hanging trailer hitch). But 40mpg would be pretty nice.
Doing some reading on the C-max, it has a CVT. Wasn’t that a major problem in the Focus? Is it the same unit?
Sounds like the real world MPG isn’t as good as EPA estimates.
CyberEric said:Doing some reading on the C-max, it has a CVT. Wasn’t that a major problem in the Focus? Is it the same unit?
Sounds like the real world MPG isn’t as good as EPA estimates.
Its a Prius style CVT, unrelated to the Focus. Not sure if its an actual prius unit though. I would imagine its shared with the Fusion? Or maybe even Escape hybrid.
Gotcha. I’m remembering now the problematic AT in the Focus was a DCT.
C&D liked the way it drove due to the Focus underpinnings. 0-60 was 7.9 ticks. Not too shabby.
How about a Chevy HHR?
ProDarwin said:STM317 said:I agree that the CMax is worthy of discussion here. It's kind of the middle ground between the Escape and the Prius V that are being considered. They depreciate like crazy. They won't have quite as much cargo space as the Escape, but they'll get far better fuel economy and will be newer and are supposedly less prone to catastrophic rust issues.
What's their reliability like? As robust as the Prius?
Their interior volume is definitely a step down. As is their utility in general (shorter roof rack area, low hanging trailer hitch). But 40mpg would be pretty nice.
Probably not quite Prius level, but it's not a Fiat or anything. I haven't done tons of research on them but I'm not aware of many common issues. I think I've heard about some 12v battery issues but that's it. I have a Fusion Energi with the same drivetrain that's been dead nuts. However, I bought it with 23k miles so lower than the ones you're looking at, and I take full advantage of the larger electric range. In the 22k miles that I've put on it, I've done nothing but 1 oil change and filling it with gas about once per month. I've dragged the lifetime fuel economy average from low 40s when I bought it up to 87.2 mpg when I parked it today. You'd also get the advantage of regen braking which should reduce maintenance costs.
Just so you know, Ford does cover the hybrid components (I'm assuming that the transmission is considered a hybrid component since its critical and unique to the hybrid models) for 8 years and 100k. So the cars in the $5-7k bracket that I saw are right on the edge of that warranty.
Also, there are some good Ford hybrid CVT transmission breakdowns on YouTube if you're serious about the cars or just curious. The oldest ones had the most in common with Toyota's tech and look nearly identical. Newer ones employ the same general idea, but have some subtle differences that I believe Toyota has now copied. They're not a Toyota part in a Ford chassis as far as I can tell.
Im pretty sure Duke has a regular hybrid CMax in the family. Perhaps he'll chime in.
Question about roof racks:
On the roof of the Cmax there are 2 black stripes running front to rear. I was assuming that was some sort of mounting system for a roof rack. But when I look up roof racks for it, I only see the style that go over the door frame (car side, not door side), which drive me nuts*
*admittedly my hatred of this style is odd.
RE: the PHEV, that is cool. I never understood why the Volt got so much love for being PHEV, but the Fusion, Prius PHEV, CMAX Energi, etc. didn't. 87mpg is pretty damn impressive. There is a good chance with a PHEV model I would rarely use gasoline (I'm basing this on the range estimates... not sure if the ICE kicks in under heavy accel).
Seems like a Subaru Forester checks all your boxes.
ProDarwin said:Question about roof racks:
On the roof of the Cmax there are 2 black stripes running front to rear. I was assuming that was some sort of mounting system for a roof rack. But when I look up roof racks for it, I only see the style that go over the door frame (car side, not door side), which drive me nuts*
*admittedly my hatred of this style is odd.
RE: the PHEV, that is cool. I never understood why the Volt got so much love for being PHEV, but the Fusion, Prius PHEV, CMAX Energi, etc. didn't. 87mpg is pretty damn impressive. There is a good chance with a PHEV model I would rarely use gasoline (I'm basing this on the range estimates... not sure if the ICE kicks in under heavy accel).
Roof racks kill aerodynamic efficiency over the car and reduce mileage. So I'd be surprised if many dedicated hybrids are designed for them up front. That's one area where a CUV hybrid (Ecsape, Rav 4, is there a hybrid Kia Soul?) probably makes more sense since it's based on a more utilitarian vehicle.
RE the PHEV ICE, most PHEVs will default to using the EV range first while supplementing with the ICE in cases like heavy acceleration. However, most of them also have options to "hold" or "save" the EV mode for later. I drive into work in regular hybrid mode as if it doesn't have any PHEV capability. I usually still get 2-3 miles of all electric driving and 1-2 miles of regen (flat terrain means light throttle input) which gets me 50-60mpg. My drive home occurs with more traffic and often more stopping so I engage the "EV" mode and often complete the evening commute solely on electrons.
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