The Urban Fisherman Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Hey Guys, Starting to get sick of spending hundreds of dollars a month on fuel for the 5.7L Dodge Durango. I love driving it but the fuel economy is beyond terrible at around 12MPG lol. We purchased it mainly because at the time we needed 3 big bulky car seats to fit side by side and I'm not into driving a mini van. Now my oldest is in a booster seat which takes up no room, and the boy is in a smaller 5 point booster so I can easily down-size to any SUV out there. Living out in the country means I want 4WD or at the very least AWD and I want to get the most cost effective SUV out there with regards to fuel consumption. I put in a fair amount of mileage every summer. I like the look and size of the Ford Escape Hybrids and can afford 2008's with under 100,000K. My budget maxes out at about $13,000.00 or so. I'm just wondering if anone here has experience with the Hybrid version of this vehicle. My boat is small and light so launching and towing with a smaller 4cyl SUV isn't really a problem for me. Thanks folks - Much appreciated! Cheers, Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookinforwalleye Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Don't know anything about the hybrid escape but I have a couple buddies who have the regular version and they like them, the 4 banger has a tow rating of zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Calculate the fuel burn dollars vs the monthly payment dollars Ryan and you may find that you should keep driving old faithful ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Urban Fisherman Posted April 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Don't know anything about the hybrid escape but I have a couple buddies who have the regular version and they like them, the 4 banger has a tow rating of zero. thanks dude - yeah I know the 4 bangers don't have a lot of "pulling power" but the boat launch is about 5 minutes from my door step and my boat is just a 15 foot jon boat which weighs next to nothing... Calculate the fuel burn dollars vs the monthly payment dollars Ryan and you may find that you should keep driving old faithful ! Yep - ginny's working on that Wayne... she's the money cruncher of the family. Problem is that my employer's house is 3 hours from my door step and we usually leave for shoots from his place so that gets costly. Also, Ginny drives 30 minutes to the nearst larger towns for groceries, canadian tire stuff like that. Lastly, I think we're going to get enough money out of selling the Durango and the house sale to cover the $13,000 budget for the vehicle.... I spent $325 in gas in 4 days last week... it was brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookinforwalleye Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 You should get your wonderful employer to supply you with company gas card or better yet a limousine given how good you make him look!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raf Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 (edited) sounds like you need two vehicles. i commute 100kms daily and even paying double the insurance for the two i come out ahead with a 2nd econo-box for commuting/grocery runs. the payback for buying the 2nd vehicle with the fuel savings is something like 18-24 months - after that its like it was free. mind you my econo box budget was 2.5k. Edited April 20, 2013 by Raf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raf Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 (edited) ...and i'd consider selling the durango and look at something like an explorer or grand cherokee or (gulp) a minivan in addition to the econobox of choice if you need space - durangos are waay thirsty. 13000 can get you a very nice SUV + a 4 banger in the 01-03 range to beat on. Edited April 20, 2013 by Raf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Urban Fisherman Posted April 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 You should get your wonderful employer to supply you with company gas card or better yet a limousine given how good you make him look!!! haha thanks - Dave is good to me though and it's my choice to live 3 hours away. It'd be more convinient for him if I lived closer, but we like it out here, my wife would prefer to be close to her family and for the prices of houses out that way I can get WWWAAAAYYYYYYY more for my money here... ie: I'm building a 4 bedroom house for $210,000 sounds like you need two vehicles. i commute 100kms daily and even paying double the insurance for the two i come out ahead with a 2nd econo-box for commuting/grocery runs. the payback for buying the 2nd vehicle with the fuel savings is something like 18-24 months. mind you my econo box budget was 2.5k. I thought about the two vehicle deal, but I don't want to chance buying a budget car and not make it to shoots because of break downs and such or if I have to make it to the airport in the middle of winter type thing I want the confidence of driving a 4WD vehicle in the snow out in the country. I load a fair bit of equipment into it as well so it has to be spacious enough for all my camera equipment. Also - my wife got into a fairly bad accident that's still on her insurance record so our insurance for 2 drivers on 2 vehicles (her being a primary on one) would be expensive for us. ...and i'd consider selling the durango and look at something like an explorer or grand cherokee or (gulp) a minivan in addition to the econobox of choice if you need space - durangos are waay thirsty. yep thirsty is an understatement to say the least lol I don't care for hte look of the explorer and the cherokee isn't much better on fuel.... I don't want to drive a minivan because I just don't want to drive a minivan haha and because I want 4WD - we live 30 minutes to the nearest large town and over an hour to the nearest cities. Sometimes we drive to Sudbury to visit family in the winter and I want 4WD or AWD for those occasions as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Lk Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 My daily driver is an Escape AWD with V6,I average +- 25 MPG,this is my 1rst awd & I was a little skeptical about how it would handle winter driving in this area ( a lot of snow covered side roads),2 winters now & I love this vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Urban Fisherman Posted April 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 My daily driver is an Escape AWD with V6,I average +- 25 MPG,this is my 1rst awd & I was a little skeptical about how it would handle winter driving in this area ( a lot of snow covered side roads),2 winters now & I love this vehicle. really? You get an average of 25MPG out of that baby? That's amazing compared to my average of 12 to 13 mpg lol Do you mind me asking what year it is? I'm looking at 2008/2009's Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Lk Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 really? You get an average of 25MPG out of that baby? That's amazing compared to my average of 12 to 13 mpg lol Do you mind me asking what year it is? I'm looking at 2008/2009's Thanks! 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 You need a subaru forester dude! S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigdritchie Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 (edited) Don't know about the hybrid, but I drive a 2008 Escape 4x4 with the 3.0L gas V6 and just love it. It costs about $65 - $70 to fill it from empty, and that will take me 450 to 475 km in the city. On the highway, I'll get another 80 to 100 km to the tank before I have to refuel. It's been dealer serviced since new, and I haven't spent a penny on it in 160,000 km, apart from tires, wiper blades and one set of brake pads. Everything else is original. I've never had any problems getting stuck in mud or snow. Mine's rated to tow 3,500 pounds. One of my friends is on his second Escape, and he loves it too. Wonderful vehicles - I would buy another one without a second thought. Edited April 20, 2013 by Craig_Ritchie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Urban Fisherman Posted April 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Don't know about the hybrid, but I drive a 2008 Escape 4x4 with the 3.0L gas V6 and just love it. It costs about $65 - $70 to fill it from empty, and that will take me 450 to 475 km in the city. On the highway, I'll get another 80 to 100 km to the tank before I have to refuel. It's been dealer serviced since new, and I haven't spent a penny on it in 160,000 km, apart from tires, wiper blades and one set of brake pads. Everything else is original. I've never had any problems getting stuck in mud or snow. Mine's rated to tow 3,500 pounds. One of my friends is on his second Escape, and he loves it too. Wonderful vehicles - I would buy another one without a second thought. awesome - maybe the hybrid isn't really necessary. I was looking up the specs and it really shines in the "city" but the HWY KMS are virtually the same on the hybrid and regular Escape. I live out in the country so %90 of my driving is 80 KM/h +. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gino Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 (edited) and don't forget..a light foot on the gas pedal counts a lot...I'm commuting for the last 5 years and i totally changer my driving style, the return was more money in my pocket and less problems with the cops... Edited April 20, 2013 by gino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxie Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 I like to park my 8 cyl powered truck in the spots reserved for HypeBrids but other than that don't know or give a tinkers damn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ainsley Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 I was in a similar situation a bit over a year ago and decided on a Subaru forester. I preferred it to the escape. I ended up with a 2004 with around 130k km. I have snowies on it in the winter and it handles great! Towing capacity on the auto is 2000lbs so it should handle a short run with a light boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cram Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 +1 on the Forester. Great cars. Escapes are nice as well, but you may want to check out the safety/crash scores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Just giving this some thought Ryan.. I haven't reset the computer in my F150 x 5.0 Litre in a long time. It's sitting at a 13.4 litres/100km average from city/hwy/towing trailer etc for probably the last year. That is 20.9 Miles per Imperial Gallon and you could tow Dave's boat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbouck Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 I like to park my 8 cyl powered truck in the spots reserved for HypeBrids but other than that don't know or give a tinkers damn. That response sure helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbouck Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Just giving this some thought Ryan.. I haven't reset the computer in my F150 x 5.0 Litre in a long time. It's sitting at a 13.4 litres/100km average from city/hwy/towing trailer etc for probably the last year. That is 20.9 Miles per Imperial Gallon and you could tow Dave's boat! Mine is at 17L/100km But I can get it down to 10 if I try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookinforwalleye Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Love my jeep liberty, you should do 25 plus mpg on the hiway, tows great and is a pretty comfortable ride. You should be able to get a 08 or 09 for your budget number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Mine is at 17L/100km But I can get it down to 10 if I try I had a customer borrow it and go to Barrie and back... he was amazed at 10.8 litre / 100km compared to his 18 / 100km in his Ram. I can get it down to 11.7 behaving myself, but like I said that's mine and Daughter Kristal's average over a fair amount of time @ 13.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxie Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 (edited) That response sure helps You're right Mr Bouck. Let me rephrase that. If you're going to retire the Durango you could look at the complete v6 SUV line up across the spectrum as they'd consume a fraction of what an eight will and still allow for ample towing capacity for your needs. That better Mr Bouck? ps. I still love parking in those spots with my V8. hehehe Edited April 20, 2013 by moxie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkbait22 Posted April 21, 2013 Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 I have a 2007 3L AWD 145k. I pulled a 16.9 ft Legend and skidoo skandic without issue. The Subs can't pull, didn't have as many features, and suck about the same gas. The car has been great. Tires wipers etc. replaced but nothing close to major has gone wrong. Makes me think Ford is alright. Got stuck twice in deep snow but able to get out both times. I have driven a 2010 hybrid version from Kawarthas to Ann Arbor MI and was impressed with the gas mileage and peppiness. I drive a 2012 F150 at work and I'm impressed with the mileage for such a big and capable vehicle. That's some great technology and wish it was in my current Escape. For my next ride I hope Toyota comes out with a diesel 4Runner and downsizes it back to the pre-2003 model. Is Ford doing anything with the Ranger? Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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