Hybrids are still slow and heavy slugs.
The 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid, for example, weighs 300 lbs. more than the traditional model and gives up 45 horsepower. Performance, as a result, suffers, and does so dramatically: What was once an SUV rated to haul around 3000 lbs. is now a hybrid SUV that can only pull 1,000 lbs. For that, you get to pay in the neighborhood of $3,000 more.