The price of a barrel of oil dropped slightly this week, but as it’s still well over $50, indications are that, by summer, expensive gasoline might become the next story to dominate the airwaves.

Of course, given the times, other luridly logo-ed events could eclipse news of a big gas hike. Even so, the driving public might not adapt to a spike in pump prices with the same equanimity as it did last season. On talk radio, callers might demand a September 11-style commission on the soaring price a gallon. How did the government allow this to happen, inquiring readers will want to know. And how in good conscience can we escape it?

Part of the answer would be to escape it in an Escape – or rather, in a Ford Escape Hybrid. This compact truck is America’s only nationally available high-tech automotive answer to the price of gas. With it, an oxymoron confronts the warming world both as a rugged sport-ute ready to make a hash of backcountry roads, and as an adorable conservationist boasting negligible environmental impact.

Think of it as parked at the intersection of the Sierra Club and the country club.

Available with front- and all-wheel drive (with no low-range gearing), the Hybrid arrives at the costlier end of the Escape lineup. As with all Escapes, it is a four-door sport-ute capable of carrying five passengers; and like the rest, it comes with a standard antilock braking system and newly optional head-protecting curtain-side airbags front and rear.

What naturally sets the Hybrid apart from its Escape siblings is the engine motivating it. This consists of a four cylinder gas motor that works in tandem with an electric one to produce 155 horsepower. As must now be tedious to read for all those familiar with hybrids, there’s never a need to plug in the semielectric Escape, as its system will recharge the motor’s batteries whenever the ute brakes or decelerates. In addition, the Hybrid shifts by means of a continuously variable transmission, or CVT, which uses its near-infinite range of gear ratios to function like a seamless automatic. Had they their own hybrids, you might say that the Honda CR-V and Jeep Liberty compete against the Escape; but, as it is, they’re still stuck in the gas-n-go age. The Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner are built on similar platforms, but the notion of providing a hybrid model has thus far escaped them as well.

The test Escape Hybrid was a titanium-green front-driver with a pair of fog lamps and a set of 16-inch aluminum wheels. As is the case with all the new Escapes, Ford’s stylists freshened their sport-ute’s friendly, familiar, and Ford-like lines by having them look smartly machined with a router. An optional “Appearance Package,” including specially painted cladding, helped bring the test truck’s price to nearly $31,000.

Although we drove the Escape beyond misted moors, high gas prices remained our doggedly pursuing Moriarty. We took comfort in the Hybrid’s airy cabin, where instruments were legible and properly arranged, and seat comfort exceeded that generally found in this class of vehicle, even though the quality of materials used was only standard. The Escape’s cargo room was generous once accessed beyond the tailgate and its independently opening rear glass portion.

Moor-bound, the Hybrid started out with far less of the electric ‘golf cart’ sense of immediacy we’ve experienced in other hybrids. Acceleration, while likely less spirited than in an Escape V6, nonetheless provided us with no sense of deprivation as it built to and maintained speed (we invite doubters to research Maryland Uniform Complaint and Citation # DC56416). Under hard acceleration, however, a rasping engine noise intruded to accompany the loud wind rush that the Escape produces at highway speeds while some rugged road surfaces caused the Hybrid to wallow unpleasantly as it recovered.

Throughout all this, our Hybrid averaged about 30 miles a gallon. While this is a rate of fuel consumption falling below that of a Prius, it must be seen as something measured against the Hybrid’s hauling and cargo capacity and all-wheel drive capability.

The conversion of gas into a $3-plus commodity might also convert some of the smash-and-grab types believed by many to have underpinned the SUV market. These may not be moved to become patchouli-wearing waifs genuflecting towards Gaia in the silence provided whenever their Hybrid stops its engine while pausing for a light to change (difficult anyway, as, like, Gaia is everywhere), but perhaps they’ll consider the purchase of this modest, comfortable, and relatively economical compact SUV nonetheless.