[NOS2Go4Me]

Drivesthebeast,Sep 7 2008, 09:02 AM Wrote:Fuel went as low as 119.0 here in Ottawa's Midtown...that should help my fuel economy for at least this week if I fill it today...lol

If I wanted an fuel efficient Escape, I would have bought the Hybrid, but I can't stand the colour choices of them, and well...I'm sure you'll lose your shirt fixing one if things start going wrong with the drivetrain...
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Ian!

My main reason for not getting a Hybrid is that I really don't believe that they'll withstand North Bay-ish winters (and colder if we go north during the winter).

The big upshot to a Hybrid would have been my 90%+ city driving (which is where hybrids excel), but again... survivability and offroading were also considerations. I'm not sold on the off-road prowess of a CVT, although technically it should be as good or better than the 4AT of the Limited.

So I figured, why not try and make the truck more fuel efficient around town? The vast majority of Escapes sold have V6s and if a few other owners get to benefit from my tuning experiences, then I'm happy to help out. :)

Plus, I swear... it's also quicker! I flogged it across the bypass coming back home during the last leg of my testing loop... and it felt stronger merging with 80+ KM/H traffic than stock.

Now all that's left is a K+N panel filter (maybe before winter) and a new exhaust (next spring). Well, that and the larger tires (a definite possibility now that I can adjust for tire revs / mile again). The tires will hurt fuel economy some, so actually I'm in the middle of rethinking that idea. The ground clearance would be nice, but now I'm not so sure I want to throw away the fuel economy percentage.

So, with a more fuel-efficient Limited... I get the best of both worlds. I'm shooting for the same city fuel economy as the 4-cyl 4WD Escape. I think I can get there :)