Hybrid SUV Information

Last month we offered a bumper to bumper hybrid Ford Escape versus hybrid Toyota Highlander comparison and quickly learned that an equally large number of people are interested in the differences between same model gas vs. hybrid sport utilities.

For example, if you’ve decided to buy a new Ford Escape, but now you are also considering the hybrid model, you’re probably asking yourself if escaping to the green side is worth the extra, well, green. While both SUVs look nearly identical when you are more than about 15 feet away, a closer look reveals their hidden differences.

There comes a time during the research process when you’ve narrowed your options to two or three hybrid vehicles and you simply want to see them in a side-by-side comparison. Whether you are comparing price, gas mileage, towing capacity, seating options, or any number of specifications - it’s most helpful when you don’t have to switch back and forth between 2 or more reviews or test drives.

Hybrid sport utility vehicles may be the best overall choice for consumers and auto manufacturers alike. While there are plenty of groups and individuals who would profess quite the opposite opinion, each time I go looking for a new vehicle (or a new, used vehicle) I come to the same conclusion. Hybrid SUVs end up at the top of my list.

With the recent spike in gas prices, the number of people visiting our hybrid vehicle websites is also on the rise - up nearly 25% over last month. One trend we’ve seen on our hybrid cars blog as well as this site is the number of people trying to compare two or more vehicles, either via a search engine query or by searching within the website itself.

In March of 2008 we announced that the upcoming 2009 Saturn Vue hybrid, the one that would be built with GM’s 2-mode hybrid system, might possibly end up being the most popular hybrid SUV yet. What we were most excited about was the chance to finally see how the two mode hybrid technology would perform in a smaller, front wheel drive sport utility, rather than the much larger hybrid Yukon, Tahoe, or Escalade.

Quick! What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a Hummer sport utility? For me it is “gas hog” but undoubtedly there are many others such as “environmental nightmare” - and few are positive. You can imagine my disbelief then when I started hearing rumors last month about a Hummer that was capable of getting 100 miles per gallon. In fact, with all the “fake news” sources on the Internet, I assumed this was simply another fabricated story to discredit SUVs in favor of smaller vehicles (or possibly the next hybrid video idea from Gary Busey).

Call it a cute-ute or a small crossover, the Rav4 (rav four) from Toyota remains one the the most popular SUVs on the road today. Originally introduced in the United States in 1996, the ”Recreational Active Vehicle with 4 wheel drive” has undergone three complete makeovers and a couple of mid-cycle refreshes and facelifts to get where it is today. Now, the sport utility that always seems to be reinventing itself might be in for its biggest change yet.

I had the opportunity to test drive a 2009 GMC Yukon hybrid SUV last week, and I learned first hand how incredible the Two Mode hybrid transmission really operates. While I won’t go into all of the technical details of this hybrid system here, those of you who are interested can learn more at Wikipedia. Bottom line - had I not known I was driving a hybrid vehicle, with the exception of the engine shutting off at or near stops and the 50% improvement in gas mileage, I really couldn’t tell much difference between this version and the gas-only model. Previous hybrids I’ve driven made it much more obvious with their spongy braking, clunky transition between electric and gas power, and annoying hybrid noises.

At the 2009 auto show in New York this spring, Hyundai rolled out the latest incarnation of the hybrid SUV crossover, the Nuvis. Sleek and futuristic, the Nuvis combines the spaciousness of a large sedan with the wide-bodied handling of a sporty SUV. Motortrend’s review of the Nuvis also claims that the hybrid SUV gets four miles more per gallon than the Ford Escape hybrid SUV, which is about 34-35 miles per gallon (the Escape gets about 30 MPG).

Since adding Google Analytics to our most popular hybrid blogs and websites about 18 months ago, it has been interesting to gain some insight into our visitor traffic. Now, with several million page views of data, we are taking a closer look at how people find us, what countries, cities, and states they come from, which hybrid vehicles and articles are searched for and viewed the most, and so much more.