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I'm a newbie and I'm interested in an 08 FEH 4WD. I had a few questions for any owners out there, as well as any hybrid enthusiasts. I live in Colorado, which is why I'm considering an SUV hybrid.

1) The absence of AdvanceTrac Roll Stability Control on the 08 hybrid is a concern to me. My wife and I are wanting to start a family and safety is important to us (and our dog). With the FEH's smallish size compared to larger SUV's, how important is this feature? Of course the dealer we went to said it's not crucial (how convenient!) Are there plans to add stability control to the 2009 FEH? Also the 3-star driver frontal crash rating from NHTSA seems discouraging (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncap/cars/4296.html). Why did the rating drop from the 07? What does Ford think about this?

2) This is our second car (we need the 4WD) so the FEH could sit for months at a time during the summer. I read that the battery can lose its charge or its charge capacity if it's not run regularly. How frequently should it be run and is its charge capacity (battery life) decreased after a period of sitting? Also how does Ford's batteries compare to Toyota's and Honda's?

3) Has anyone driven the 08 FEH in the snow? Does it have enough power? Does it "stick" to the road? How much does cold weather affect performance? And I read some posts about the seat warmers being funky in the 08 (turn on super hot then feel like they've shut off). Any thoughts?

4) How good is the navigation system? How are the touchscreen's graphics and controls? From what I've seen they're not pretty. If I choose not to get it, I won't have the mpg display. I read that the scangauge is a good 3rd party mpg gauge. Any other recommendations or tips?

This forum is a great asset. I've been to two dealers now and felt like I knew way more about the car than they did! That's not a good sign! Thanks for any feedback.

Hi Sourpoodles:

___First off, welcome to CleanMPG!

___Let us get started ... I am by no means an expert on the 08 let alone the 05 – 07 but if you are to purchase a 4WD SUV, you cannot go wrong with the AWD FEH. I can say this only if you are in a financial position that the AMT will not nick your Hybrid purchase Tax Credit. You have probably already read the following? 08 Ford Escape Hybrid vs. 08 Ford Escape XLT w/ Auto - Cost and features analysis. (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4100)

___Now to your questions …

1) Ford says they will add RSC in the future but when that future arrives is anyone’s guess? Yes, it is important. I have taken GaryG’s FWD FEH into a turn at speeds most would not consider and she stayed on all 4’s. The item RSC can save your tail in however is one of those undulating side to side maneuvers in which she will roll on the correction, not the initial steering input. RSC is a life saver in that particular situation.

2) I do not know what Ford thinks about the drop? The Femur loads dropped from the 07 test but the higher G’s on the chest is where the 3 vs. 4 stars come to play :( I am sorry I cannot answer that question for you.

3) I have not driven the 08 in the snow but have the 07. It has more then enough power and will stick as good or better then just about any other SUV on the road. Have you ever seen a car on the road in Colorado (anywhere) when it snows? I think that alone should answer your question. If you are climbing into an unplowed fire trail, you could have serious problems but you would have serious problems doing that in anything but a snowmobile or Sno-Cat. I cannot comment directly on the 08 FEH’s seat heaters but I can on my other vehicles. I dislike them in the Accord and MDX even on low because they get to warm before I remember to turn them off. My wife loves them however!

4) The 05 - 07 NAVI was on the low end of all NAVI equipped automobiles out there. I hate to say it sucked but it sure was lacking given the Visteon manufacture, being CD based and the LCD was miniscule. The 08 FEH’s NAVI is an improvement but they are still not in the same league with the Honda/Acura Alpine setups even after the 08 refresh if that is what you were asking about? There is a basic aFCD in the non-NAVI equipped FEH’s from years past IIRC but I was not able to light up the electronics on the 08’s we have seen at the shows. The SG-II is a good tool but you really want to know the packs SoC and that unfortunately is not transmitted via OBD-II that we know of.

___I hope Rich or Gary stop in shortly as they have far more insight into the FEH then I do.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I'm a newbie and I'm interested in an 08 FEH 4WD. I had a few questions for any owners out there, as well as any hybrid enthusiasts. I live in Colorado, which is why I'm considering an SUV hybrid.


Hello, and welcome to the site. Glad to see you're looking at the FEH.


1) The absence of AdvanceTrac Roll Stability Control on the 08 hybrid is a concern to me. My wife and I are wanting to start a family and safety is important to us (and our dog). With the FEH's smallish size compared to larger SUV's, how important is this feature? Of course the dealer we went to said it's not crucial (how convenient!) Are there plans to add stability control to the 2009 FEH? Also the 3-star driver frontal crash rating from NHTSA seems discouraging (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncap/cars/4296.html). Why did the rating drop from the 07? What does Ford think about this?


There are some safety features at least on the older versions of the FEH that were the precurser to AdvanceTrac that are on it, but are for some reason hardly ever mentioned in most of the literature. The only reason I know about it was that during a real bad rainstorm I had to weave, and while the FEH stuck to the road like gum, I had some lights, uh, light up on the dash as I was doing so, as well as some ABS kicking in as well, so it's not like you're completely barren of any technologies to keep you on the road. There are no announcements about it being on upcoming features, so don't hold your breath for it.

As to the crash tests, I'm not really sure.


2) This is our second car (we need the 4WD) so the FEH could sit for months at a time during the summer. I read that the battery can lose its charge or its charge capacity if it's not run regularly. How frequently should it be run and is its charge capacity (battery life) decreased after a period of sitting? Also how does Ford's batteries compare to Toyota's and Honda's?


Really? Why would it just sit in the summer, you get better FE during the summer anyway!

Anyway, there's something in the manual about it, as I recall it's once a month, or once every other month for 5 minutes, or something like that.

As to the batteries, they're top notch batteries, they're designed to outlive the life of the FEH; they're very similar to Toyota's.


3) Has anyone driven the 08 FEH in the snow? Does it have enough power? Does it "stick" to the road? How much does cold weather affect performance? And I read some posts about the seat warmers being funky in the 08 (turn on super hot then feel like they've shut off). Any thoughts?


Sadly, I wasn't able to find what I was looking for. There had been a video on Youtube of a fellow MI FEH owner who had taken video of his vehicle plowing through snow. It stuck to the ground like a cat.

Anyway, I've been through 2 Michigan winters, and haven't had any issues at all, something I can't say the same about in my previous vehicle, a '95 Explorer with 4WD.


4) How good is the navigation system? How are the touchscreen's graphics and controls? From what I've seen they're not pretty. If I choose not to get it, I won't have the mpg display. I read that the scangauge is a good 3rd party mpg gauge. Any other recommendations or tips?


I can't help you here, I haven't had a chance to really test out the new system.


This forum is a great asset. I've been to two dealers now and felt like I knew way more about the car than they did! That's not a good sign! Thanks for any feedback.

You'll find that's every owners experience essentially. Even the person I got mine from freely admitted it the second time I met with him.

Hi,

I just got my 08 FEH yesterday. I will dig around the forums for tips and suggestions.
So far I am loving driving it.

Duncan

I have an 08 FEH but it is the front wheel drive. As far as stability control, Ford widened the wheel base on the 08's. Have you test driven one yet? I think the handling is excellent considering it is a SUV and the ride is good. I never drove an earlier version but with the wider wheel base, that should help with stability control. I would not let that stop you from getting one. They just came out in April so no I haven't driven in snow yet. There is a pretty big milage difference between the front wheel drive model and the 4 wheel drive one. I understand you live in Colorado and you get a lot of snow. I grew up in northern Wisconsin and live in Illinois now so I am used to snow as well. Front wheel drive can go through a lot unless it gets really deep. Maybe you should test drive both models to judge the difference. If you do mostly city driving, I would think the front wheel drive would meet your needs. If you live in a rural area, then maybe the 4 wheel drive. Wish I had more to offer in winter driving but I will experience that myself this winter with the 08 FEH.
Patrick

I live in Colorado, which is why I'm considering an SUV hybrid.
You may indeed have some extreme circumstances but just because you live in Colorado does not mean you need an SUV. Just because safety is a concern doesn't mean you need an SUV. There are very few people in the world that truly need an SUV. Lots of folks, myself included, were driving all over all parts of Colorado long before the evil SUV concept was spawned, and I never knew anyone, or even knew anyone that knew anyone, that died on the road.

As Escape1 said, it is a rare day indeed that AWD/4WD will do anything in the snow that FWD won't, and there are a slew of FWD compact and subcompact cars that have just as much, or nearly as much, cargo space as the FEH but much higher crash ratings. Additionally, going with a more properly designed vehicle with a logical center of gravity negates the need for expensive toys like RSC.

I encourage you to look for a smaller, cheaper, more efficient vehicle than the FEH.

I'm going to agree with BailOut and others that very few people actually need 4wd/AWD. It's mostly a marketing ploy designed to appeal to the fears of people who aren't very comfortable driving in snow.

Anyone who's done any amount of driving in snow knows two things:
1. 4wd/AWD only helps you go. It doesn't help you stop, and it doesn't help you turn.
2. Your tires are the only parts of your car that touch the ground. That's what determines grip.

You want to be safe in the snow? Get good tires. If you drive in snow daily, don't even THINK about trying to get away with "all season" tires year round, even if you do have AWD. You don't necessarily need studs -- the new generation of studless snow tires (Bridgestone Blizzak, Michelin Arctic Alpin/Pilot, many others) do quite well on ice. The Michelins qualify as low rolling resistance tires, to boot. For absolute ultimate traction you might consider a studded tire with a beefy tread, but the driver who really needs that much grip is rare indeed.

The rare times when 2wd and studless tires might not get you through are going to be days where (1) most everyone else chaining up, so you might as well too, or (2) it's snowing so hard the road is closed. I've been skiing in the Pacific NW (which gets wetter/slicker snow than CO, and a LOT more of it!) for enough years to remember when most people drive 2wd vehicles to the ski areas, and we all got up the mountain just fine. I cut my skiing teeth at Mt. Baker ski area, which gets 600 inches a year and requires chaining up at least every third day, and 2wd with good tires (and chains, when needed) worked just fine. I did have AWD for some of the years that I skied there. It was nice, but not necessary. Never got stuck with 2wd.

--

As for going long periods without driving your car: ALL cars with internal combustion engines (and that certainly includes the FEH) should be driven at least once a month. Otherwise seals dry out, fluids break down, etc. My first Subaru had sat on the back corner of a dealer's lot for 9 months before I bought it. 10 days later it blew a head gasket because of this neglect, and we had to replace the engine.

I'm a newbie and I'm interested in an 08 FEH 4WD. I had a few questions for any owners out there, as well as any hybrid enthusiasts. I live in Colorado, which is why I'm considering an SUV hybrid.

1) The absence of AdvanceTrac Roll Stability Control on the 08 hybrid is a concern to me. My wife and I are wanting to start a family and safety is important to us (and our dog). With the FEH's smallish size compared to larger SUV's, how important is this feature? Of course the dealer we went to said it's not crucial (how convenient!) Are there plans to add stability control to the 2009 FEH? Also the 3-star driver frontal crash rating from NHTSA seems discouraging (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncap/cars/4296.html). Why did the rating drop from the 07? What does Ford think about this?
The Mercury site is making a big to-do about the Mariner having AdvanceTrac. Did they explicitly yank it out of the Hybrid model, Or does MMH have it and FEH not?

11011011

Yikes found the *not available on Hybrids star. Guess they have to write the software to integrate that into the hybrid software. I agree it seems like the '08 SW redo would be a perfect time to do it.

Ohh well.

11011011

I've got ~1200 miles on my FEH and really enjoy it. It's put the fun back in driving for me as I've got a better tool to play the FE game.

To answer the OP's questions: (as best I can)

1) The last I heard on the ASC is that it will be integrated into the FEH,MMH,MTH at some point in the future but there was a delay in the integration of this technology and the hybrid drive and regenerative/ABS braking. I can see where there would be a few added variables in this scenario. There's no word if they will be able to retroactively add this to the '08s via a computer update. It would be nice if they could.

As for driving experience, I haven't put it into any high G or late brake situations (see Driving Without Bake) so I can't touch on the ABS/Stability. MY FEH feels as stable as any other generic car/truck that I've driven of the same/similar size. Maybe better than some.

2.) There is a section in the manual regarding long term storage, I too seem to remember a once a month drive is recommended. Depending on where you're driving (distance, route/speed, load) The FEH may be better MPG than your current vehicle. On a recent short run, city stop and go situation, I got 60+MPG (or MAX as the NAVI puts it, I think the SGII will give you numbers above 60MPG).

3.)Snow, I don't think my FEH will see much of that here on the Southeast coastline. Although, I usually don't have much trouble with snow. I recently lived in Boston, MA and drove a RWD Mustang year round. I've got pictures of digging out where the snow was up to the windows and I was driving the next day. Just get a good set of snow tires, they make ALL the difference (I still have the Blizzaks on as they refuse to wear out). I don't know of anyone that will have real-world '08 snow performance experience since the vehicle hasn't been out long.

As for power, there's plenty power. Don't let the dealer try to up-sell you to the V6. The FEH has MORE power than the V6 at low (snow) speed since both the electric and gas engines combine. I've been amazed at the acceleration the few times I've indulged myself with a quick start.

As for the seat heaters, I've never seen a use for them. My wife on the other hand used the passenger seat heater two weekends ago and didn't complain and fell rght asleep with it on. (I turned it off after a while (10 minutes) cause I'm playing the FE game and that's an extra load). She would have mentioned if it were too hot or otherwise.

4.)The NAVI - The sound, 6xCD/MP3, aux input, Sirius Satellite Radio (if equipped) work great. Good sound quality but not a high end experience. I'm not looking for that in a mid-price SUV anyway.

The '08 NAVI was upgraded over the previous FEH models. Most obvious is the larger screen. I've had no problem with the touch screen performance and the layout is pretty fluid. It does require a mix of touch screen and using the side mounted buttons to get from Sound to Maps to Destination screens. I would have liked to see that all integrated and put that space into a larger screen. As for the actual maps and navigation, I've been impressed with it finding every location/address I've needed as well as the on the fly Point of Interest (Gas, Food) capability. You can turn the voice assisted guidance on or off but there is no voice activated capability and no Bluetooth integration (I wish it had the BT more than the voice activation). This is my first in-car GPS but I have used several other dash-mounts in the past and I like the FEH better than any those.

If you're a heavy reader, the PDF version of the owners manual is at: http://www.motorcraftservice.com/?link=002&urlfile=/pubs/content/~WO8HEV/~MUS~LEN/41/08hevog1e.pdf

And the NAVI supliment guide at: http://www.motorcraftservice.com/pubs/content/~WO8HEV/~MUS~LEN/42/08pnosn1e.pdf

I highly recommend a test drive. Hopefully '08 FEH/MMH/MTHs are more available in your area than mine. To check for local availability on the FEH, go to http://www85.forddirect.fordvehicles.com/Dispatch.jsp?makeTransition=ToFilter&__action2=&.CurrentState=ModelShowroom&processModel=1&selectModel=2008+Escape+Hybrid&statetoken=

Similar sites exist for the MMH and MTH. I did hours of purchasing research on the FEH so feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

Best Wishes,
Chris