Go for the regular Escape because you get more horse power and it's better for getting through the mountains. The Ford Escape gets great mileage even without being a hybrid, so no worries about harming the environment much with the regular Escape. The Escape really is a great car. It got great...
It could be a few things. One would be the fuel pump switch. Or, what my neighbor did was blow out his transmission, which could be the answer to your resistance problem.