andermusik

Based on fotomoto's idea I found the escape-city.com forum and did some reading up on Escape Hybrid history. It wasn't terribly comforting, but I understand people only go there to discuss their problems, not gush about excellent reliability. And it didn't seem that the problems were Hybrid-specific…so that's good.

Thanks, folks. These are all great responses. I like Plus 3 Golfer's idea of trying to find a great deal on a year lease - maybe with some kind of "option to buy" at the end. Do those kinds of deals still exist? That would let me enjoy the car and give me another year to monitor the reliability statistics. I haven't yet called my dealer about this possibility, but any of you experts out there know of such an arrangement?

I'm shopping for a hatchback hybrid and the C-Max SEL looks and drives the best by far. I'm totally sold on the car in every way, but like many I am squeamish about buying a model that is only in its second model year. I'm also concerned about long term reliability and repair cost of a Ford - which I have never owned. The decade of Prius ownership by friends and colleagues has convinced me of their reliability and low ownership cost, but I just like the C-Max way more. I've been reading this forum for the last week so I already know quite a bit about the short term issues/fixes. So, at the risk of asking a huge open-ended question... What are your opinions on the long term reliability and overall ownership costs of the C-Max Hybrid SEL?