Reading about Hybrid Escapes and Mariners for awhile now and have decided I want one.

I had a P.O.S. 2012 Hyundai Accent that I just sold and now I want back into a Ford as my DD, but don't want anything new. I've been looking at many vehicles over the last few weeks and I have decided, my next vehicle with be an Escape Hybrid.

Does anyone here have one they'd like to give me some insight into?

I'm looking at primarily 2004-2007 (old body style) as they have rear disk brakes and parts seem to be a little cheaper. I'm also only looking at AWD units with heated seats. I'm not particularly picky about the heated seats part.

I will be using this vehicle as a commuter for a 130 mile commute 5 days a week. I also need a place to take rests, and my Accent wasn't cutting it. I figure an escape will have plenty of room for breaks if I need to snooze or whatnot.

Lastly, I'm "mission essential personnel". Meaning that I must be where I need to be, no matter what the weather or road conditions. I will be installing a 2" lift on this unit with all/mud terrain tires. How does your escape/mariner hybrid react in snow and low flood areas?

 

I can't speak to the hybrid performance but I can say with all honesty that my '02 No Boundaries 3.0L has been able to navigate icy roads and hills our local police could not in their Blazers... and we don't have anything special for tires (Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max).
We also have a family story about a particular trip through PA in a snowstorm... We drove almost 2 hours without seeing anyone else on the highway (the snow was coming down hard and fast) and we were plowing with the bumper at times. We finally started getting out of the storm only to find out the highway had been closed. We had seen no troopers so we just kept driving.

We have never been stuck in our Escape. 14 years of wintry roads and the only sliding I did was intentional. The Ford engineers hit a home run with the division of power to the wheels in my opinion. I wouldn't think a 2" lift and really aggressive tires would hurt traction so you should be fine.

 

The 04 was still drum brakes. I was looking at the 2005 when I bought ours and noticed a few differences, this was the only one I would like to have on mine.

 

So, after much back and forth with various AWD cars and small SUVs, I've decided on a 2005-2007 Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD. I considered everything and the Hybrid is honestly the way to go IMHO.

However, I did find that tone rings, Hybrid battery blend doors and cooling fans can be an issue. I'm cool with that. I own a 6.0L, what could possibly go wrong more than that has?

Things I've found;

Front 2" lift coil springs from both manufacturers are NOT progressive, and will likely ride like S8!T. I'm going to install a 2" "strut spacer" for the small lift.

Rear springs are the same. I've went to a friends house and taken some measurements from his rear springs and it like Dodge Ram 1500 front coil spring spacers will likely work on the rear.

Now I just have to measure the rear shock travel and add 2" and order a set of rear shocks.