2005 SUV Engines, Prices, Gas Mileage & Interior

This test throws away the vagaries of U.S. EPA versus European fuel-mileage cycles, because these three players were driven the way you drive. For the highway loop, roughly 280 miles were covered to and from an off-road course. Highway miles were broken up by a short foray into the off-road park in wet sand following rain and 40-something-degree weather. Off-roading totaled no more than five miles. Traffic flow on Michigan highways runs 70 to 80 mph consistently, which is the speed maintained for the loop. The EPA highway test averages 48 mph and peaks at 59.9 mph. Because aerodynamic drag force rises with the square of speed, the results are understandably (and fairly consistently) below each SUV's EPA rating.

Two half days were spent in the city in more day-to-day-driving conditions. Imagine covering your commute, running errands, picking up the kids from practice, meeting clients for lunch, and such. The 200-mile route wound through Detroit and its near suburbs, once again at speeds to keep up with 25-to-40-mph traffic. There were no drag-racing-style starts, but this was no Sunday drive, either.

Expectations were high for the Liberty CDI. While America still has a bad taste in its mouth from the fumes of late-1970s Oldsmobile diesels, in Europe, modern diesels are scent-free, smooth, quiet models of good NVH and refinement, and with turbocharged loads of low-end torque and decent performance. The prospect of driving a truck with a truck engine and getting economy-car mileage is irresistible. Europeans, who pay upward of five-dollars per gallon to keep these things on the road, must know a lot about economy. If you've driven hybrids, you're aware they rarely reach their ultra-high EPA estimates in the real world.

Not so fast. In city driving, where it was expected to do well, the Escape Hybrid trounced the Liberty CDI, 34.0 mpg to 21.7 mpg, and even the RAV4 topped the Jeep, with 26.7 mpg. Credit the Ford's ability to run on pure electric at stoplights and from a stop up to about 20 mph before its gas engine kicks in. Use the heater, defroster, or air-conditioning continually, and your mileage will drop, because the engine must keep running at stoplights. But the Escape Hybrid also won the highway contest, although not as handily, with 25.7 mpg versus 22.8 mpg for the Liberty CDI. The RAV again split the two, with 23.8 mpg.

Overall, the Escape scored best again at 27.5 mpg on the combined loop, with the RAV4 at 24.5 mpg (slightly trumping its EPA rating) and the Liberty CDI at 21.7 mpg (see chart). You pay a price for such economy; the Escape, as equipped, is a hefty $7K more than the Liberty Sport CDI. The Jeep's Italian-built turbodiesel is but a $1950 option on the Liberty Sport's $21,385 base, plus $1220 for that required five-speed automatic transmission. At $32,450 as-tested, the Escape Hybrid costs about as much as some people have paid to get a Toyota Prius, because they're willing to pay a premium not to wait. If you buy the hybrid this year, you can cut into the Escape's seven-grand premium with a $2000 tax credit, still not enough to drop it below $30K with the optional in-dash fuel-mileage monitor. The credit was to be phased out, dropping to $1000 in 2005, $500 in 2006, and zero in 2007, but it was extended as part of last year's federal tax-cut bill.