Advice if poss -Las Vegas, San Francisco, Pacific Highway, LA and San Diego

[Southwest Dave]

Think my conversations going a little off point at this stage, maybe should start new thread on pros and cons of sedan vs suv vs convertible!!

Nope, that's fine. Keeping all questions here about this trip is the way to go.

I've looked at Ford Escape (or similar) over a car as i thought that the height of vehicle would help us get better views.

I doubt many of our American friends will understand this too well, [I have seen it before] as generally speaking you will not experience the narrow lanes surrounded by hedge rows like you do here in the UK, and a few inches in height will be of little consequence, if any.
Means of transport are a personal choice though, and if it's what you want and it comes within your budget needs then go for it.

I don't want to miss anything at all on this trip so experienced advice/suggestions/off the beaten track stuff will all be greatly appreciated

You wouldn't see it all if you had 3 months to spare, but you will see some of the best of it and more ! You need to get some dots on the map and start working out how you want to spend your time [for instance, how many day's with friends in SD etc] along the way. Once you have got the basics down we can offer suggestions and help to 'fine tune' your trip. Keep looking around the forums, the Roadtrip planning pages in the tool bars above and by scrolling down this page where you will find 'Similar threads' and you will keep finding new info.

Here are a few of our favourite threads to get you started.