The article should have given two examples, not just the expensive hybrid Escape....maybe a good used car also.
Some people are considering a more reasonable purchase, maybe a used Corolla or used Ford Focus. Can get these cars for around $8,000 or so, depending on model and year.
Still may not be as economical as keeping the old SUV that’s already paid for, but having to pay $90 to fill up at the gas station is almost robbery.
Here’s another way to look at the math.
If you have paid for your old SUV, you are likely ready to trade it in for something else anyway. The average American does not keep their vehicle for more than 4 or five years.
Most people that buy SUVs would probably buy a 6 cylinder Escape rather than the 4. A similarly equiped Escape hybrid is priced within a few hundred dollars of a V6 Escape. The acceleration is very similar between the two vehicles the only thing you really give up is towing capacity.
Now you are comparing two vehicles that cost about the same with one getting about 25% better miliage. In our case, my wife was trading in a 4 year old Trailblazer that got 14 mpg that we bought used two years before. It had a 6 year loan, financing was about 3%, we had 4 years left to pay on it. We financed the new vehicle for 4 years. Figuring savings with gas priced at $2.50 we figured that were getting a new vehicle that would be paid off at the same time our old one would have been at no additional expense. With gas at $4.00 we are actually spending less money on the new car than we would have been keeping the old car.
The Escape is 4wd, handles the mud, ice and snow with aplumb. It is big enough to protect my family and gets an honest 32 mpg bumping round our semimaintained gravel roads as well as in town and cruising down the highway.
I never thought I would buy a hybrid but the Ford is priced very well for what it does and does a terrific job with the effiency.