Hello, strangers! Long time no see! Once upon a time I frequented this forum, waiting for my Maxine, my beloved 2013 C-Max Hybrid. I ended up keeping her for three years, but the "spirited driving" bug bit me and my wife, so we traded in her Focus and poor Maxine for his-n-hers Fiesta STs. It was fun...for a while. As the traffic in my area gets steadily worse, the daily slog with a manual transmission, even one as light and smooth as the FiST's, was getting to be too much. And while I loved the Recaro seats that kept you in place during, ahem, "spirited" maneuvers, the angle it forced my left leg into for the clutch was doing a real number on my knee. I finally had enough...and wandered to a local Ford dealer this weekend to test drive an Escape Hybrid.
And a few hours after that...I drove her home!
I've never been a fan of the new Escape's styling, but it's slowly growing on me. I fell in love with the Dark Persian Green color immediately - it always looks more teal or blue than green to me, but I'm red-green color-blind, so I'm not the best judge of colors anyway! I thought I'd prefer the lighter Sandstone material, and while it did make the cabin feel lighter and airier, it also highlighted the cheapness of the materials in the bottom half, especially around the HVAC controls, so I went with the Ebony. The driving position is perfect, and the extra acoustic quieting of the Titanium is greatly appreciated. I miss the details of the C-Max's displays, but the EV Coach is still very helpful in learning how to best recover 100% of the braking energy.
I'm happy to be back in a hybrid, and I'm looking forward to many years of relaxing and efficient commuting! As much fun as the FiST was to flail around corners, I find my commute to be much more relaxing and soothing now. I guess I'm just getting older!