This second part of our review of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid is more than a little overdue. So why has it taken so long? Well, to be honest, we’ve driven some pretty exciting machines over the past month and I’m just not feeling fired up about the Escape. That’s really not being fair to Ford’s little green machine though, as it performed flawlessly during it’s time in The Garage. It’s just that I get inspired by vehicles that offer up some sort of exhilarating performance, be it on or off road performance and exhilaration just isn’t the Escape Hybrid’s forte. Or is it?
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Part of the fun of writing about publishing The Garage is that I get to refuel all that automotive passion from driving all sorts of exciting cars. It really is all about the passion, so what the heck are we doing in a Hybrid? After all, Hybrid vehicles aren’t exactly known for their stirring performance. Or are they? Early Hybrid vehicles were generally bought by back to the earth, Jerry Garcia disciples who generally had the social skills of someone who had consumed just a few too many bags of grass in the early days. The cars were untried, had oddball styling and don’t even think about taking your clubs away for the weekend.

With the price of gas in today’s world, something had to be done to bring the cost benefits of the Hybrid vehicle to the masses. For Ford, that means offering the consumer a range of Hybrid vehicles, including our tester last week, the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. Now the Hybrid vehicle technology isn’t the only part of the vehicle to make the socially conscious happy. The Escape’s seats are covered in a rugged looking fabric that is constructed of 100% recycled materials, which likely means you’ll be sitting on last month’s pop bottles and Twinkie wrappers. The end result is a comfortable fabric that gives the appearance of being quite durable and is likely easy to keep clean. Fortunately, the kids didn’t manage to spill anything this time around so we didn’t have to test out the stain resistance factor.
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The earliest gas/electric Hybrid vehicles released to the consumer were small, futuristic 2 doors that really didn’t offer much in the way of practicality. Two doors, two seats, not much room for more than an overnight bag in the back. Hybrid offerings have come a long way from those early days and now we see all manner of sedans and even small SUV’s sporting Hybrid technology.

For the next week, we’ll be putting a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid through it’s paces, seeing how modern tech fares in the real world. I can’t wait to see what sort of fuel mileage we can get in the stop and go traffic that makes up most of our driving here in the Toronto area.