OT: Opinion on Mercury Mariner Hybrid

[Thomas Rogers]

Anyone have one? We have less than a year to go on the lease of my wife's Mountaineer, which she LOVES. All we know is that her next vehicle will also be AWD, and we are considering the Mariner Hybrid for that reason and for fuel economy.



Thoughts, opinions? We currently get about 13.4mpg with the Mountaineer. Getting over twice that with the hybrid would be GREAT.



Only downside on that class vehicle, and its a biggie, we have three kids, and the two boys are getting bigger, and bigger.



TJR

 

[Deleted deleted]

You might want to scan on google... I've read a number of folks with Escape Hybrids (the same vehicle) having problems with the battery packs and electric motors.



Buy a V6 Escape, Mariner, or Tribute instead. My wife owns a '06 with the 3.0L V6 and we get 23 mpg in city driving and over 25 mpg on hwy. The V6 will easily out-accelerate the Hybrid, too. Far less things to go wrong as well, and $3000 cheaper to boot.

 

[Frank Marano]

my cousin has one that isnt a hybrid and she loves it.

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

We own a 05 Escape hybrid. Getting 32 mpg in summer and 27 in winter because of battery needs. When you're stopped in traffic and car is in in battery mode, you have no A/C because the engine is not running. Maybe the new ones address this issue. Other than that, it's a very good car. No problems with it.



Gary D.

 

[user 62394]

Personally, I am not sold on hybrids. I would suggest you look at some of the stats relating to cost of ownership. Most hybrids are actually more expensive to own over the life of the vehicle than a comparable regular gas powered vehicle. The reason is that on top of the additional initial costs (which can be substantial), insurance and routine maintenance costs are also much higher. And any repairs to the hybrid system will be more expensive because you will be forced to go to a dealer -- a typical smaller mechanic will not be qualified to work on it.



I think if you actually look into it, you will find that, at least financially, a hybrid makes no sense.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Thanks all...yes when considering TCO it seems that the hybrid version of a vehicle isn't going to save you much, if any.



But, one concern that I have is vehicle size. It would be a tight squeeze for the three kids in the back seat of an Escape or Mariner (or Highlander or other compact suv); for me that's a big sacrifice for an increase of "only" a 9 MPG improvement.



However, let's do the math:



At $3.50/gallon (a realistic future average price) and 12,000 miles per year a 14MPG vehicle (like our current Mountaineer) costs $3000 in fuel. The 23MPG Mini-SUV vehicle costs $1826. That's ALMOST $100 more a month in gas for a bigger car. That's real money!...but is the bigger car worth that much more to drive; especially considering the bigger SUVs cost more anyways.



I see several test drives with our entire family in our future the next few months, moreso next spring, as we try to find a vehicle that FITS.



Thanks all!



TJR

 

[Bill Ellis]

I'll just chime in with this......all the economic analysis in the world won't mean anything if you're not happy with the vehicle that gets better mpg.