Want to know how far the domestic auto industry has come with its products?

There are plenty of examples: The Chevrolet Malibu. The Dodge Journey and Challenger. The Cadillac CTS. The upcoming 2010 Buick LaCrosse.

But no company has more examples of big improvements than Ford. Whether you look at the Fusion Hybrid, The Flex, or this week's test car -- the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid -- it's becoming increasingly clear to me that Ford is pulling away from not just the domestic crowd, but from the rest of the pack as well. The products are that good.

In fact, I've seen some recent third-party studies that show Ford quality, as a whole, now surpasses Toyota products.

That's a big claim considering that Ford products used to have quality control issues, austere interiors and were seriously unexciting to look at, much less drive.

But the new Escape tosses all of that out the window. Ford's turnaround happened through a series of steady improvements, not razzle-dazzle sudden upgrades. Signs are that somebody's been doing slow, diligent homework.

Our test car was an Escape Limited, with a base price of $30,635. Standard equipment included a full complement of power accessories, cruise control, tilt steering wheel, air conditioning, ambient lighting for hybrid gauges and side airbags. The only option was a navigation system, which brought the final price to $33,725.

Let's start with a look at the interior. In the past, I never would have used the terms "luxurious" or "interesting" to describe the dull-looking, hard plastic-adorned interiors of the Escape. But this one is different. It's so beautiful that people who rode in it thought it cost much more than it did. There were several shades of gray, a mix of textures that worked well together, and it was all set off spectacularly by piano black and the chrome accents. The dash had soft-touch materials and the knobs had chrome accents, as did the shifter.

The Escape stepped up its game at the right time, because Chevy's all-new 2010 Equinox is pretty terrific, too.

Still, there were some areas that needed improvement.

I noticed that the seat pocket on the rear of the passenger seat had begun to sag and curl, leaving me to wonder what it will look in a year? That alone cheapens the overall effect to some degree. There also was some sharp-edged plastic in other parts of the car.

And there was another, much bigger, issue: The back seat doesn't fold flat. That limits what you can comfortably haul in the Escape -- unless you remove the headrests, and that seems like a lot of work when a number of Escape's competitors have seats that fold flat.

Unfortunately, I don't expect this to be addressed until the current model is replaced; it would likely be quite costly to do much about the lack of a fold-flat seat in a car that probably doesn't have more than a year or so before it's replaced.

Another niggle for me was the rear hatch door. The key fob suggests you hit the button twice to open it, but when you do, the glass opens first before the rest of the unit.

Handling and fuel economy were definitely the Escape's strong points. The 2.5-liter engine and the hybrid system work beautifully, proving strong mileage rated at 34 mpg in the city and 31 on the highway.

The Escape hybrid is no slug, either. There's strong acceleration, plenty of pep and lively performance for city driving.