Last Auto Reviews Blog: 2007 Detroit Auto Show: 2008 Mazda Tribute Hybrid

2007 Detroit Auto Show: 2008 Mazda Tribute Hybrid

Like the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner before it, the Mazda Tribute gets a much-needed face-lift inside and out for 2008, including its hybrid version shown here. The main attraction of the Tribute Hybrid is its pairing of a 2.3-liter four-cylinder gas engine with a 70-kilowatt electric motor. The combined horsepower is rated at 155, but the company says that’s more equivalent to a 200-hp gas engine. The small SUV can travel up to 25 mph on the electric motor alone.

Also adding to the gas savings is a continuously variable automatic transmission. All told, the company says it has improved city-driving fuel economy (over a V-6) by nearly 75%. Using the outgoing V-6 engine’s worst city mileage figure of 18 mpg for the all-wheel-drive model, that would mean the hybrid would get roughly 31 mpg in the city. That seems very high to us, but that’s what the company gets for making automotive journalists do the math without releasing EPA estimates.

The changes inside and out are welcome, but we would have preferred Mazda focus its hybrid efforts on the popular CX-7 SUV instead.

The gas-powered version of the Tribute won’t be shown at Detroit but will go on sale later this winter.