Testdriver

Does your otd price include your trade-in?

Is there a way to see the number of miles that the aforementioned avg MPG is based on?

The lack of MPG complaints from recent buyers is telling. I think we'll know this winter whether the car or the weather/fuel is the reason us new C-Maxers are getting good millage. If we're struggling to get 40 MPG come December, then we'll know it's just the weather.

A lot of people will point to fuelly and say that most Prius drivers are getting around the EPA MPG. The big difference with the Prius, I think, is that it's hard not to drive a Prius gently. You practically have to floor it to get it to really move, and you have to withstand excessive engine noise if you want to drive above highway speed limits. The C-Max gives you the option to either drive it gently and get near the EPA estimate or don't and get much below the EPA estimate. Frankly, having that option is the biggest reason I am not a Prius owner right now. I usually drive it gently, but it's nice to know that if I'm in a hurry, I don't need to floor it or put up with excessive engine noise to get it to move nimbly.

I just discovered the "hidden" cupholders on top of the folding armrest in the backseat. My 3 year old was pumped!

The C-Max has over a cubic foot more passenger space than the Escape. It's a fact. Of course, the Escape has almost 50% more rear cargo capacity. Still it's just maybe a half foot longer, an inch wider and has an angrier front fascia than the C-Max. While I was waiting at the dealership for my salesman I sat in an Escape SE. The interior is identical to the C-Max SE, with the exception of less headroom in the Escape. The materials and everything else are pretty much the same.

I'm getting good mileage out of the gate too (42 MPG). It does make me wonder about some of these reviews that made it sound like you had to really hypermile just to scratch 40 MPG. Maybe it's a job #1 vs #2 issue?? The 2 really obvious issues affecting mileage are cold weather and speed. Terrain too, but that generally "evens out" in the long run. As long as I keep it below 70 MPH and it's 60+ degrees out, I can get 40+ MPGs on even short trips pretty easily.

They just had a handful of them delivered, and it looks like they're showcasing them along Jackson Rd for everyone to see. Kinda neat.

I see 1 or 2 C-Max's almost daily in Ann Arbor. Not too surprising considering the local dealership is currently stocking 28 C-Max's, including 9 Energi's! http://apps.dealerconnection.com/dealers/varsityfordsales/new-inventory?lang=en#modelid=285&filters=All/All/All/All//10/BodyDesc/1/0&fps=true

One thing I forgot to mention, it was strangely very satisfying being able to open and shut the rear gate as quickly as I liked. On our test drives, the models all had the power liftgate, which is dirt slow. I'm guessing it takes at least 5 seconds to shut. I would've paid $1000 to have that option remove. Well, not quite, but it was annoying :)

We picked up our new C-Max on Saturday. We actually had the dealer get a vehicle on a lot 200 miles away with the color and options we wanted -- 202a (MFT) and the winter package -- so it already had 450 miles when I picked it up. I actually saw that the dealer in Ohio listed the car with 290 miles on the car, which I naturally freaked out about and paid for a carfax on the VIN. Turns out they did a dealer trade for the car in Michigan prior to sending it back to Michigan for my purchase. That was OK with me -- I was mostly just worried about it being a buyback, and looking at the carfax, it almost certainly was not the case. I'm real happy with the car so far. I love the spaciousness with the high ceilings. I'm glad we sprung for the MFT, not so much because it's an awesome device -- it's OK -- but it looks WAY better than the dash-o-zillion-buttons that it replaces in models without MFT. After about 50 miles (60% highway), we're averaging 41.6 MPG, and that's including a bunch of less than 5 mile trips. 70 degree weather has helped. It got down to 35 degrees this morning, and I only got about 33 MPG on the 3-mile drive into work. I noticed that the motor ran until the battery filled up completely, so it definitely will use the engine to heat up the battery on cold days, and poor MPG performance is to be expected on cold short trips. We're taking a big trip in a few weeks to the Carolinas. It will be interesting how it performs on that trip. Anything over 40 MPG will be a major bonus, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep myself from staying under 70 MPH the whole time ;)

I just bought the car today and experienced the "car in reverse goes forward" problem.Turned car off and back on and it works fine. I had the car on for 3 or 4 minutes prior to moving. Maybe the car put itself in "neutral mode"? Regardless, it seems like a software issue.

I got about 40 mpg. 50% freeway. Only drove the C-Max about 5 miles though, so I'd take that with a grain of salt. I hear ya about the SEL. I just don't really highly value most of the options in that trim though. I'm fine with the cloth seats, and actually prefer some of the non-power options (lift gate and seat adjustments are quicker without power). I don't care about the touch screen, would rather just use my tablet anyway, etc. If I wasn't looking at a short term lease I'd consider going for the nicer materials, but since I'm only planning on having the car for 2 years, I'd rather save a couple bucks. I'm not a fan of the super soft brakes either, and I think they're just flat out bad brakes on my Intrigue. With that said, I do think the C-Max brakes were touchier than the JSW and Prius. I'm sure it's something that I'll quickly adjust to though.

I imagine a lot of other people are looking at these three cars and I thought this would be a good place to share my impressions. Prius - Test drove a base model. Cheap, distracting interior. Drives like crap. You have to push the gas in half way before you get a decent response. The engine gets LOUD above 70 MPH. The center console was constantly doing stupid, pointless animations that took my eye off the road.Even without the animations, the center console is poorly placed, not to mention the weird center panel space eating thing. But it does get 50 MPG, so why wouldn't you want it...lol. C-Max - Drove the SE. Nice roomy interior. I've seen reviews state that the CMax uses high quality materials, that may be true relative to the Prius, but there is still some flimsy looking plastic in places. The center console wasn't as distracting as the Prius, but it does have a zillion buttons and could be better designed. The driver side console is pretty nice though. I thought it drove really well. Gets off the line quickly, and otherwise drives as good or better than most other cars I've driven. The brakes are a little touchy, especially compared to my uber-soft Intrigue brakes. Definitely a nice car. Jetta Sportwagen TDI - Drove the base TDI, which is a pretty high trim. I think the base MSRP is 2k higher than the C-Max. This is, all around, the best car out of three, even coming from a green-ish mindset. The interior is nice and has simple, intuitive controls. It has more cargo room and on my test drive achieved 45mpg over 20 miles of maybe 75% highway & back road driving. It has a weird automatic transmission, so it drives a little bit different, but has plenty of power. My verdict? Well, we have the A-plan, so the cost savings on a C-Max lease will probably be too good to pass up. Will I regret not getting the JSW? I doubt it. The C-Max seems like a great car.