What makes you feel the Escape has “inferior hybrid technology.” It gets better gas mileage than any Toyota or Lexus hybrid SUV. It’s also getting great reviews— Check out last weekend’s USA Today auto section review. The Prius is an unreliable car and was blamed for Toyota’s drop in the 2007 model year new car reliability surveys. (Reliability Article)
Personally, I would not buy any hybrid— Too much technology going on there. All I can see are maintenance bills five or six years down the road. A nice hatchback or station wagon with the base engine and a manual transmission (if available) will get comparable gas mileage, be simpler and less expensive to maintain, and be much cheaper to buy.
-Marc
My wife has a Prius and it’s an amazing car. Not only do we average 45 - 48 mpg week in and week out, but it’s fun to drive, roomier than it looks, very low emissions, a technological marvel, and generally just a great car. I have a Lexus GX and drive the Prius every chance I get. I don’t understand the rationale behind buying an Escape hybrid with inferior hybrid technology that only gets 28 - 30 real world mpg when you can get almost 20 mpg more with a Prius and not really lose much in terms of space, functionality, etc. Strap on a roof rack and you can carry just about whatever you want and still get great fuel economy. It’s a great all purpose car that I would recommend to anyone…I’m even considering trading in the Lexus for the next generation Prius due out in late '08 or '09 (http://www.soultek.com/...ta_prius_in_2008.htm)