Buying Escape or Tribute... Please Help!

My wife and I are planning on getting an Escape or Tribute within the next month or two. We've test driven them and prefer the Tribute slightly more, but basically it will come down to the price. We're basically looking at the mid-ranged ones but with a moon roof on them. So say it will be around $24K, the way the dealer and Ford/Mazda web-pages say. My question is, what types of things can I try to deal on? On a car that they say is $24K how much should I be able to get them down? A review in Kiplinger's showed that retail prices on this class should be 90-95% of MSRP price. Also, I'm trying to convince my wife that I should deal for a free towing package. Is that wishful thinking? So I would appreciate anyone who has one of these to share your experiences, or anyone who would like to enlighten me about how much wiggle room there is and how to maximize that.
Thanks!

don't suv=evil

don't suv=evil

aren't the tribute and the escape basically the same thing? Id go with the mazda i prefer the way japanese cars are laid out but i doubt theres many differences.