The Wheel Deal: November

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Hybrids, Hummers and a $390,000 Maybach

By Art Garcia

Linda Thompson, (not her real name) of Sacramento leases an ‘02 Ford SUV, the top-selling Escape, mainly to do just that — get away for hiking, mountain biking, back country skiing, ultrarunning and rock-climbing adventures, as well animal-rescue volunteer work.
    She leased the small-car chassis SUV for two years, remaining in a holding pattern to be a first buyer of the 2005 hybrid-engine Escape to be released later this year, one of the 20,000 Ford plans to produce for that model year. Production began in August at Ford’s Kansas City, Mo., plant.
    To reserve the purchase, Thompson eagerly placed a $500 deposit with the local Ford dealer through which she had arranged the lease. Shortly thereafter, the dealer’s fleet manager called to say he could no longer guarantee the nearly $27,000 sticker price and was taking no more deposits for the first Americanmade gas-electric hybrid, a V-6 engine made by Mazda (a Ford company) and the first hybrid SUV in the world.
    “Less than two weeks later, he called again to tell me the dealership was going to jack up the price $2,000 to $3,000 over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) and if I can get a better deal elsewhere, take it,” says Thompson.

Sticker Kickers
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