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2020 Ford Escape hybrids vs other crossover fuel sippers: How they compare on paper

Along with a new generation of Escape, Ford also reintroduced the world to the 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid. And if that weren't enough, Ford is adding a plug-in hybrid version. This is a sign of the times: people are more crossover crazy than ever, but are also seeking ways to use less fuel, whether it's for environmental or purely money-motivated reasons. The Ford hybrids aren't the only fuel-efficient compact crossovers on the market. They will be going head-to-head with conventional hybrids including the 2019 Kia Niro, 2019 Nissan Rogue Hybrid and 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. There are other plug-in hybrids including the 2019 Subaru Crosstrek PHEV, 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and the plug-in version of the 2019 Kia Niro. There are even a couple diesels in the form of the 2019 Chevy Equinox and 2019 GMC Terrain. So we've rounded up the details on all these crossovers to see who leads and lags in criteria such as power, fuel efficiency, space and price. Check out all their details below. 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid View 68 Photos How do their engines and fuel economy compare? Conventional Hybrids and Diesels Let's face it, if you're buying one of these crossovers, one of the things that matters most to you is just how frugal with fuel they are. We'll start off with the conventional hybrids and diesels, and the clear victor is the Kia Niro, which in base FE trim, manages to hit 50 mpg combined. This is thanks to it sharing its powertrain with the Hyundai Ioniq, the Hyundai equivalent of the Toyota Prius. Buyers should take note that only the FE returns such high fuel economy. The LX and EX drop to 49 mpg, and the S Touring and Touring get 43. Even then, the least efficient Niro is the most efficient of the normal hybrids and diesels. It is nearly the least powerful, though, with 139 horsepower. Just behind it is the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. It delivers 40 mpg combined, and it has an ace up its sleeve: it comes standard with all-wheel drive. Every other vehicle in this powertrain group has front drive standard, and the Niro isn't available with all-wheel drive at all. If that weren't enough, the RAV4 Hybrid also boasts the most power at 219 horses. While we can't say anything about Escape Hybrid fuel economy, we do know that it will make 198 horsepower, which is close to the class-leading RAV4. The least powerful of these is the Equinox and Terrain, and they return the worst fuel economy at 32 mpg.

Toyota Sienna Swagger Wagon rides again with Busta Rhymes

Let's face it: there are few things less "gangsta" than a minivan (which goes a long way towards explaining why crossovers have been gradually taking their place as the family-hauler of choice across America, but we digress). The point here is not lost on Toyota, which has embraced the uncool image of the minivan with the Swagger Wagon campaign.
We first saw the suburban-goes-urban campaign pop up with the introduction of the new Sienna back in 2010. And now that the Sienna's been updated for 2015, the campaign is back again, featuring none other than Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr. himself... better known to most as Busta Rhymes. The decidedly white-bread video spot that follows may make you cringe, but you've got to admit that it's well done, even if it doesn't have the charm and freshness of the original.

Mazda-Toyota partnership has us dreaming of a rotary hybrid

As you may have seen, Mazda and Toyota are going to be working a little more closely with each other. In their announcement, the two companies said they'd be building an American assembly plant together, and working on electric vehicle technology. But one of the companies' goals got our mental gears turning: It's listed as "Expand complementary products," and it's left very open-ended. The companies say they "will further explore the possibilities of other complementary products on a global level." These are in addition to Mazda providing the Mazda2 to Toyota as the Yaris iA, and Toyota providing Mazda a commercial van to sell in Japan. So what could these future complementary products be? We have a couple of ideas, one that's ludicrous but awesome (and, sadly, probably won't ever happen), and the other grounded in reality. Let's start with the fun one. What's the one thing Mazda fan has been wanting for years? A rotary sports car, of course! And while Mazda has repeatedly said that it has a small band of engineers plugging away at the spinning triangle problem, the odds of Mazda putting it into production have been slim. The inherent thirst of the rotary would make it tough to introduce when fuel economy regulations have been tightening. Plus, Mazda is a small company that needs to stretch every dollar, and having a one-off engine not based on anything else would be expensive. How could Mazda get around these obstacles? This is where the partnership with Toyota comes in, in our long-shot fantasy. Aside from having deep pockets, Toyota has a wealth of knowledge in the realm of hybrids. Thus, why not a rotary hybrid? Electrifying their oddball motor would fix two issues. One is obviously the fuel economy, since the gas engine wouldn't have to run all the time. The other is in providing torque. Rotaries infamously have little torque, especially down low, so adding an electric motor would allow this hypothetical rotary sports car to have a grunty low end, while still providing the Everest-high redline rotary fans like. The idea would be sweetened with the solid-state batteries that Toyota is developing, which could provide lots of electricity without weighing a ton. The rotary-electric mashup notion isn't totally alien to Mazda, either, since the company created an electric Mazda2 with a rotary engine for a range extender — albeit for different reasons. The company even filed a patent for the rotary range extender recently.