I am considering buying a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid with 140k miles. Any comments on long term performance of this model?
That’s a lot of miles for any truck, especially one that is 3 years old. Are you sure the previous owner kept up on all maintenance items? At least it doesn’t have a timing belt. Expect to pay about 18% more than a Highlander Hybrid with comparable mileage. One more thing: the mileage should reduce the cost of the truck by about $2000 since it’s so high. If the options are the usual (air bags) then you should pay no more than $15,000 in a private sale.
Thanks - it is a lot of miles but a lot is freeway (so they tell me) and has been reduced to $10,000. It was purchased and traded in at same dealer and has been certified there. Comes with a warranty but still need to check what all it covers. Was wondering if any other Ford Escapes out there have been happy with their high mileage models.
One way to look at it is that there are $7000 in repairs before the price is equal to a lower mileage one in excellent shape. Reasonable mileage fore a 3 year old car is about 40,000.
I would not make the purchase. Too many miles on an unproven vehicle for long term reliability. Please check CR.
Don’t stop with Consumer Reports. Edmunds, J. D. Power, and MSN Autos should be consulted, too. CR provides an extremely conservative view. Any car with worse than 3% repairs is much worse than average; 2% is worse than average, 1% is better than average, and less than 1% is much better than average. But you never know from their ratings how much worse than 3% a car is. MSN Autos provides similar information to CR, but it appears that they are not quite as severe in their ratings. They do tell you why a lower rating is given and estimate the cost of repairs. J. D. Power will give you the number of times a vehicle goes into the shop, but only on cars 4 years old and older. Edmunds attempts to provide a cost for all major expenses, including insurance, financing, repairs, fuel, and maintenance. Edmunds and CR can have fairly current information.
Owner satisfaction ratings are important as well and not just repair records. Thousands of us who do subscribe, conscientiously fill out their forms yearly to provide some insight and should be used as “jtsanders” says with a variety of other sources. If they conflict, I would still err on the side of the public surveys of CR. JMO
How much for a battery replacement?? It’s only a matter of time…
Since hybrids get their best mpg over a standard model in urban stop and go driving, I don’t get putting 140K miles on a hybrid in a little over 2 years of highway miles. The mpg difference between a regular Escape wouldn’t save enough dollars to justify the additional cost of the hybrid.
Anyway if this is a 4WD Escape Hybrid then I’d be concerned about all the miles on the 2 differentials and the transfer case. If you buy it you need to change ALL the fluids everywhere in the vehicle with the possible exception of power steering fluid.
It’s a bit of a gamble since the hybrid systems in the Escape aren’t as time tested as the Prius. You could have one of the highest mileage Escape Hybrids on the road outside of those doing duty as Taxi’s.