473 replies to this topic

[darrelld]

At least 1 owner seems to be exceeding EPA, 55.2mpg average in city driving;

https://www.fuelly.c...r/cmaximus/cmax

Edited by darrelld, 25 October 2012 - 11:57 AM.

[darrelld]

I agree, I am starting to think 41-42mpg will end up being my average. If it gets better than that, it won't have anything to do with the car breaking in, it will be a change in my driving habits. At least among the people I know, Toyota drivers (Prius and Camry Hybrid) seem to be getting at least as good or better than EPA mpg, but it seems to be a struggle for me to get within reach of the EPA numbers on the C-max. OTOH I don't think I'd be happy with a Prius.

Are you using ethanol mixed fuel? I can't find any stations near me that have straight gasoline.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ethanol.shtml

[CNCGeek]

Are you using ethanol mixed fuel? I can't find any stations near me that have straight gasoline.

http://www.fuelecono...g/ethanol.shtml

You are correct, I believe (but need to verify) that stations sell 10% ethanol around here - year round. The EPA tests are run with 100% gas (no ethanol). That's still only about 2mpg lost to e10, which moves things closer to 47mpg for me, but not quite within reach. Possibly winter blends could be a further hit on mpg, but I am not sure by how much.

[CNCGeek]

At least 1 owner seems to be exceeding EPA, 55.2mpg average in city driving;

https://www.fuelly.c...r/cmaximus/cmax

If you look at the comments there, he/she is using several Hypermiling techniques (which makes a lot of sense given the mpg figures). It is nice to see what the c-max is capable of, though that driver's numbers are probably going to be at the far right on the bell curve.

[NewMaxDriver]

Today I was about to turn into my parking garage and looked down to see I had hit the 47mpg mark on the lifetime guage.
(check the gallery for pics)

I also average 53.5mpg on this commute (yesterday I avg 59.3). I wasn't using any hyper-miling techniques but did try not to exceed the speed limit. During one segmet I was able to use the eco-cruise at 65mph. The temp this morning was about 60. I use regular e-10 gas because that is all you can get around here. My commute is 27 miles with one third suburban roads, one third highway, one third city traffic.

I have noticed that I get my best mileage when traffic is light and during the city segment there is no one behind me at stop lights. This allows me to ease through an intersection and gain momentum gradually. Other than that I drive pretty close to normal.

Edited by NewMaxDriver, 26 October 2012 - 02:16 PM.

[JayCo59]

I've had my car for just a few day's now (150 miles on the odometer) and I'm trying to learn how to drive the car for better fuel economy. Last nights commute home was pretty bad traffic (I-84 E\I-91 N in Hartford,Ct.) and I was "taking it easy" on the accelerator during start off (but on the highway I was doing 65-70 mph when I could, which wasn't very often) and I was able to get 48.5 MPG for the ~15 mile trip. I thought that was pretty good!
Now instead of cursing out the traffic jams I look forward to them so I can use more motor than engine and save gas! Crazy I know!
Jay

[scottfisher]

Here's a new one, did a 220 mile trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway thru mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, speed range was 35 to 50, elevations running around 3500 feet, of course up and down, had a rough start, first 20 miles or so was only around 20 MPG, but things equaled out and at the end, ended up with a 48 MPG average.

[Recumpence]

I just picked up my SEL last night. I have 40 miles on mine so far and here is my (admittedly short) experience with my mileage.

The car had 99 miles on it when I picked it up. The average showed 36mpg (lifetime) when I took delivery. I reset the lifetime mileage average and set the car for EV plus and Eco Cruise. With those settings, I have driven 3 separate times with the car and saw 42.4mpg on one trip, 46.4mpg on another, and finally a 53mpg trip! The 53mpg was done with no traffic (very early this morning) and I did everything I could to hyper-mile. However, I did drive it 50mph and stop and go through neighborhoods to get a feeling of mixed driving. I will say that, so far, the C-Max seems to be sensitive to driving style much more so than a Prius. That being said, this thing is quick, and very stout for an eco focussed car!

I bought this car for work (I do in-home appliance repair) and drive 28,000 miles per year. By my calculations, 1/2 of my $513 per month payment will be offset by gas savings alone, versus my Caravan I have been using.

Matt

I am totally thrilled!

[darrelld]

I have noticed various sites try to compare Prius mpg vs the C-Max even though they are in different EPA size classes?

https://www.fuelecon...=33010&id=31767

[C-MaxJaxon]

My average after a week of city and highway driving under 70 mph has stayed in the 47-49 mpg range. I've had trips as low as the 30s and some in the high 60s. It may depend a lot on whether the engine is fully warmed up, but seems to mainly depend on how much you can keep it in EV mode.

[GoBlue]

You are correct, I believe (but need to verify) that stations sell 10% ethanol around here - year round. The EPA tests are run with 100% gas (no ethanol). That's still only about 2mpg lost to e10, which moves things closer to 47mpg for me, but not quite within reach. Possibly winter blends could be a further hit on mpg, but I am not sure by how much.

Two other things to keep in mind include dropping mileage as the weather turns cold. In our old 2nd gen. Prius (great car) the mileage would drop by at least 5 miles per gallon in the Michigan winters. The other comment is for anyone in California. As a former long time resident I can tell you that your gas sucks. Move to most other states and your mpg will climb a bit (I am sure it varies from car to car but my experience was between 1-2 mpg. Now I just can't wait for my Impala (company car) to be replaced with the C-Max Energi currently on order so I can chime in with first hand C-Max experience.

(1st post, btw )

Edited by GoBlue, 28 October 2012 - 11:55 PM.

[JayCo59]

I've had my car for just a few day's now (150 miles on the odometer) and I'm trying to learn how to drive the car for better fuel economy. Last nights commute home was pretty bad traffic (I-84 E\I-91 N in Hartford,Ct.) and I was "taking it easy" on the accelerator during start off (but on the highway I was doing 65-70 mph when I could, which wasn't very often) and I was able to get 48.5 MPG for the ~15 mile trip. I thought that was pretty good!
Now instead of cursing out the traffic jams I look forward to them so I can use more motor than engine and save gas! Crazy I know!
Jay

Same Hartford commute last Friday and got 49.9 MPG.

Then on Sunday I had to go to the mall with the wife. Anyway we parked at one end of the mall and later decided to eat at a restaurant a few 100 feet away (not connected to the mall) it was rainy so we decided to drive the car the few hundred feet. After I shut off the car; which made the short trip on all battery power, the MPG read 999.9 MPG. Beat that!
Now if I only lived 300 feet from work I'd be all set!

[2AG]

I got my new C-Max last Saturday - today I drove it to work and back this is a 80 Miles round-trip about 50% Country Road and 40% Highway and 10% city road. The temperature was about 40 F to work and about 55 back home.

To work I got 44.3 mpg and back actually 48.5 mpg - I am confident I will get it over 50 mpg in a couple of days.

Since we drive another hybrid - Prius C - I am sure this helps since I allready wnet trough the learning curve on how to drive a hybrid.
Usually I manage about 55 - 65 mpg with my Prius for the same route.

[Mike]

My mileage has gone up substantially since my first report (last page), when my car had well under 1000 miles.

My mileage is great under 55MPH. I can choose to take the freeway to school, or the two-lane road that parallels the freeway. When on the freeway, at 65 MPH with ECO cruise and A/C off, my hour trip gets me, at most, 39 MPG so far. When taking the same trip on the adjacent two-lane road, through some small towns with a lot of stop lights, and no faster than 55 MPH in the other sections, I regularly achieve 48 to 49 MPG.

My car has about 1600 miles on it, so maybe I'll see a difference at 2000 - 3000 miles. So far I'm thrilled at the around-town MPG but disappointed with the highway MPG.

Also, I passed a couple radar-detector signs that show you how fast you are going. If they are correct, then the speedometer is off by several MPH. My speedometer said I was going 35 but the signs said 31 and 32. I'm going to take my hand-held GPS with me on my drive to school and see what the truth is. An artificially high speedometer/odometer would indicate higher MPG than we are really getting (and added mileage to the odometer). I really hope this isn't the case.

[Recumpence]

One thing I noticed today is the sensitivity this car has to drafting. In a normal gas car, I see around 2mpg better if I draft (that is about 10% improvement over the same route without drafting). However, my C-Max is extremely sensitive to drafting. If I draft off another vehicle (SUV or a truck), the mileage goes way up. I have not kept an exact track of it, but, I would say it is in the range of about 20% to 30% improvement in mileage.

Today I averaged 46.3mpg for 125 miles of mixed driving. This is with a full load of parts and tools for work (the seats were folded down and the car filled nearly to the headliner).

I am completely satisfied with my car.

Now, I hope it is reliable long term..........

Matt

[Laurel]

How close do you have to be to draft? I read that those hypermiling teams do that to get high stats. Glad to hear you are satisfied with your car. My dealer said Nov.26th for ETA of my C-Max, but that may be lip service to keep me from bugging him. I hope it is the truth.

[MSmith1915]

I've had my C-Max SEL for just about a week with almost 400 miles. Mostly around town driving I'm seeing consistently around 50+ MPG for trips under 10 miles. I do have to work at it being careful with the gas pedal, lightly applying the brake when I'm coming to a stop, and when no one is behind me I'll try to accelerate on electric only. If someone is behind I'll accelerate normally usually with the gas engine running. Overall impression - very happy so far. My overall average MPG is hovering around 44 MPG. That's with my wife driving it a few times and I think she just mashes the gas pedal and goes. I researched the EPA tesing procedures and I think it might be unrealistic to think we can consistently achieve those numbers based on the fact the tests are done in a controlled environment, in a lab, no wind resistance and no other traffic around. However, I'm seeing numbers very close to that and the car is still breaking in. Have fun with your car.

[Recumpence]

How close do you have to be to draft? I read that those hypermiling teams do that to get high stats. Glad to hear you are satisfied with your car. My dealer said Nov.26th for ETA of my C-Max, but that may be lip service to keep me from bugging him. I hope it is the truth.

I do not drive ultra close to draft. When I draft, I drive about 1 second behind the car ahead of me. That is close enough to feel the difference drafting and far enough to have a bit of a safety cusion.

Matt

[C-MaxJaxon]

I do have to work at it being careful with the gas pedal, lightly applying the brake when I'm coming to a stop, and when no one is behind me I'll try to accelerate on electric only. If someone is behind I'll accelerate normally usually with the gas engine running.

This has been my strategy. The Empower view on the left screen lets you see how much power you can draw before the gas engine starts. The threshold is a bit odd because it sometimes increases as you press the accelerator harder.

I can stay in EV mode for extended distances when doing this and often have short trips in the 50 to high 60 mpg range. My average is down to 47 after peaking above 49 briefly and staying around 48 for a while. The weather has been cold, so mileage suffers when the engine has to warm up.

[darrelld]

One thing I noticed today is the sensitivity this car has to drafting. In a normal gas car, I see around 2mpg better if I draft (that is about 10% improvement over the same route without drafting). However, my C-Max is extremely sensitive to drafting. If I draft off another vehicle (SUV or a truck), the mileage goes way up. I have not kept an exact track of it, but, I would say it is in the range of about 20% to 30% improvement in mileage.

Today I averaged 46.3mpg for 125 miles of mixed driving. This is with a full load of parts and tools for work (the seats were folded down and the car filled nearly to the headliner).

I am completely satisfied with my car.

Now, I hope it is reliable long term..........

Matt

Good info on drafting, will try that on my next highway trip.