Posts tagged ford
2022 Ford Escape Hybrid
Aug 23rd
You are starting to see more Ford Escape Hybrids abound Boulder County now because they are available and can be purchased same day or with a very short wait at your dealership. Boulder is a hyper EV and hybrid conscious community and we want anything that smacks of electric now.
The Ford Escape Electric Hybrid was one of the first small SUVs to come out back in the early 2000s. I owned a 2006 Escape hybrid during the last gasoline crisis. Then congressman Polis bought one of the first 2005 Escape hybrids and drove it for years. The early models would run electric for 20 miles at less than 30 mph and got overall 30mpg or 420 miles per tank.
The new redesigned 2020 to 2022 Escape Hybrid gets 44/37 mpg. The hybrid is powered by a 2.5-liter four-cylinder paired with an electric motor and battery; total system output amounts to 200 hp. Zero to 60 in 8.7 seconds. Not bad.
It earns a 5 star NHTSA safety rating which is excellent. It has the most front leg room in its class. I like the non plug-in version for around town , but the plug-in for commutes to Denver . The plug-in, adds a larger 14.4-kWh battery pack and delivers 221 hp. It is also capable of up to 37 miles of electric range, and 105 mpg-e combined driving on gas and electricity or 520 miles on one tank of gas. That’s driving from here to SanteFe for the weekend with fuel to spare.
Prices Range from $31,000 to $41,000 depending on trim levels, powertrains, plugin and dealer markup. I was able to purchase one without much trouble.
Tesla Motors should find a new spokes person : Elon Musk sucks Jann Scotts Journal
Apr 3rd
Betty Lu on Bloomberg news today. He said you can lease a new Tesla for $500 dollars a month for a three year lease. That is completely false as it turns out. Tesla does not have a payment plan for $500 dollars a month. The closest plan Bloomberg could find was closer to $1000 a month.
According to Bloomberg , “Musk dodged questions, refused to answer questions, was not straight in his answers” and he basically lied through his teeth about Teslas new lease program. At best Musk was devious in his explanations. Musk also announced that the Tesla electric car was the best manufactured car in the world. Well, that is according to him. Most reviewers would rank the car in the middle. Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Lexus are considered to be the best manufactured cars in the world. Even ford has come a long way. But Tesla ?? Well, Tesla is the darling of the Boulder and Palo Alto social media crowd, but nobody can afford one. You have to be a rich millionaire ap developer with a back up car.
Musk has had his run ins with the media too. Like every time he opens his mouth. He sued a British auto review TV show because they criticized Tesla. He went ballistic over a New York times reporter who accused Musk of lying about the Tesla performance.
He showed up on Bloomberg looking disheveled, acting unprepared and smug. Not confidence inspiring for CEO of the best auto manufacturer in the world. Hah. In fact Musk acts like the arrogant fat cats at GM who appeared before congress just before they collapsed.
Tesla couldn’t have a worse person to be the face of their boutique car company. I would recommend that they hire somebody like hip pr girl Erika Napoletano, but she is a foul mouthed wench who would probably sink the company.
There in lies the problem for Elon Musk and Tesla. He, like Erika come from the hip web developer world where marketing to mass appeal are of little interest. They live in their own narrow corridor and when they stick their heads in to the larger media culture they end up with people like me taking a swing at them. ( yep I live and work in popular culture if you think of being on tv 3 hours a day pop )
Is Tesla a worthwhile car? I have no idea. They didn’t have a display at the Denver Auto show which tells me they are not a player to the American car buying public. I sat in one a few years ago at their show room in Boulder, but I could hardly fit into it. It was built like a space capsule. Has the car improved since then. I dunno. I have never driven one. But since Elon Musk has huge Boulder connections, he’s in my beat to write about. Plus I am the car reviewer of record from these parts.
Anyway, Elon fire yourself as spokes person and put somebody up front who people will like and can relate to like Dennis Haysbert ( the all state actor)
OK That’ll be $10,000 for saving you from yourself.
Jann Scott
from a city with more therapists than electric cars
Boulder Colorado