The only way to eco-mod an Escape w/V6 is to get rid of it

[mechman600]

I just sold my wife's '02 Escape. 3.0L V6, automatic, AWD.
EPA's new rating is 18 mpg combined. That is exactly what we got, as pathetic as it is, with 50/50 highway/city. I drove it approximately 1/3 of the time and my wife the other 2/3, so active hypermiling attempts on my part barely affected mpg. I even purchased a performance tuner with an economy custom tune. Mpg went up to 19. Ridiculous. I wouldn't have minded so much if it was a large vehicle, but it wasn't.

I'm sure a 4-cyl Escape with a manual transmission has mpg potential. But the 3.0L automatic? If considering one please run the other way.

[euromodder]

Buying a fuel efficient vehicle is the most efficient mod.

What are you getting to replace it ?

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by mechman600

I'm sure a 4-cyl Escape with a manual transmission has mpg potential. But the 3.0L automatic? If considering one please run the other way.

The EPA Combined on the 4WD/V6 Escape is 22mpg, compared to 24mpg on the 4cyl/2WD with manual transmission. The Escape Hybrid, however is rated at 32mpg. The Escape Hybrid even beats the Focus' 28mpg rating.

Anyway, your thread title is an overstatement. The only way to get good fuel economy out of a non-hybrid Escape is to replace it with something thriftier. The Escape has plenty of room for improvement, so ecomods should save you plenty of fuel. However, looking in the EM garage, nobody's done it yet.

[Joenavy85]

I'm almost to 20% on my 3.7L V6 Jeep Liberty, and that is mostly with driving technique and a grill block. i believe that just about any vehicle can be ecomodded/hypermiled, you just have to be dedicated to it, as does anybody else who drives it. my girlfriend told me that she hypermiles without even realizing it because she subconsciously drives like i do. once i put the airdam on my jeep i'm confident that i'll get over 25 MPG average on the highway.

[UFO]

OTOH, unless you are stuck with the vehicle one chose before one had hypermiling and modding for economy in mind, there are far more efficient options on the same platform.

The Ford Escape has a hybrid option.
The Jeep Liberty has a diesel option.

Both are far superior options, and will return higher numbers when modded and hypermiled.

[mechman600]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

The EPA Combined on the 4WD/V6 Escape is 22mpg

For a 2002 Escape V6 AWD it is 18 mpg combined. The newer Escapes with higher tech transmissions (6-speed) are higher.

And this is what gets me angry. All along car makers have made vehicles just good enough so people will buy them with no concern about developing new technology for higher mpg. It took federal mpg legislation to wake the car makers up and give us things like variable valve timing, direct injection, high tech automatic transmissions, etc. - things they had the technology to make all along but refused to because it would eat into their profits.

The car I replaced the Escape with is a 2007 Toyota Matrix. EPA has it at 27 mpg combined (FWD, automatic), which is pretty close with our 50/50 city/hwy driving. As shoddy as Toyota has become in its manufacturing, it is a car that is fun to drive and gives us a surprising amount of interior space for the size of the car. Plus, it can tow 1500 lbs. The 2008+ Matrixes are even more shoddy in workmanship and smaller on the inside. No thanks.

[dennyt]

My girlfriend has a 2003 Mazda Tribute, V6, 2WD. EPA rating 17 city, 23 highway, 19 combined. She gets 19. We just took off the roof rack, but she drives like she's from Michigan & Boston, which she is...

I'm not going to attempt to change her habits, but we carpool in my car frequently, and she's getting jealous of my recent mileage.

She does complain that the radio cuts out when I restart...

[jtbo]

Today's high tech in car engines is 40 years old on ships, for example common rail injection, has been used in ships really long time before in cars.

Surely there is now more electronics, but it does not bring so much new or advantage, most of things can be done as well mechanically, just much more reliable and bit more expensive.

Only way to better economy of big motor is some way to shrink amount of cubic inches, when not all of that is not needed.

Saab had variable compression ratio motor near production before they did ran into problems, maybe we see some day variable displacement too.

Methanol injection might do some good, but it is not a miracle, also Espace(Escape in US?) weights so much, that any amount of city driving will kill the mpg, it is also so big that there is really lot of frontal area, it is really challenging to get any good mpg.

[War_Wagon]

I guess there are two ways to look at it. You can either work with what you have, and try to improve it. Or you can start with a better base to work with. Some people might be in a lease or owe more than the car is worth on it, so selling it might not be an option. But if you have the ability to get into a more F.E. friendly vehicle, especially once you start to get into hypermiling, then that is the way to go. Getting your mpg stats 25% higher than epa rating is fun, and the percentage looks impressive, but at the end of the day if your improved mileage is only 22 mpg, then you are still spending a lot of money on fuel that could be put towards a more efficient vehicle.

[notanarborist]

Wow, that's not very good mileage on the Escape for what it is. My wife and I are averaging 23.0 mpg on our 03 Town And Country with 3.8l with the occasional average going to 23.1(and this is with the odometer reading about 4% low).