Oldsguy

The idea of checking at Carmax for your trade is a good one. I love to haggle, but I found that I could save much more by just going to Consumer Reports. I joined their buying service for about $15 for the year. I chose exactly what I wanted, and submitted it. Three Ford dealers in the area sent me their best price. It was much better than any X-plan or Y-plan stuff. Two of their prices were nearly identical. I paid about 10% off the sticker price, and less than the "dealer invoice". This included the $1000 incentive now being offered. The dealers were great at finding a car with the options and colors I wanted. By trading with the dealer (an $8000 trade, which is what Carmax offered me), I saved an additional $560 (7% of the trade-in) in sales tax I did not have to pay. The dealing was painless, and I felt I got a much better price than that offered by local small dealers (who did not even have a C-Max in stock) and could not tell me when one would arrive. Carwoo offered a similar plan, but required a back and forth a haggling with the dealers. I just got the best price. I paid 26,968 after rebate for an SEL that listed for 28,995.

Same thought process for me too. Extra up front cost didn't really justify the cost savings. And the Energi wieghs 250 pounds more which is a factor since I plan to tow behind a motorhome. Then when I discovered the huge loss of storage space that was the final straw. I haven't seen what it looks like with the rear seat folded down, but I suspect that is a mess too.

 

And, to finish it off, I discovered that only "EV Certified" dealers could sell the Energi. The Ford website listed several dealers in the Dayton-Cincinnati area but when I called around, none of them really were. They all said it would cost them about $30,000 to get the certification and it just wasn't worth it. Never did find one who was actually certified.

 

And, to make it worse several of them said the Energi wouldn't be available for a year anyway (this was late October 2012). A couple of the dealers actually followed up on my inquiries. One of them was pretty persistent so I fired off an email telling him that either his guy was lying about Energi availability (by then I had seen one on the lot in Michigan) or was uninformed - either way I wasn't going to do business there.

Joe Rizza Ford in Orland Park. IL , has a red Energi. Said they could not sell it yet (but could demo it) as they need 2 in from Ford before tey could sell one (according to the salsperson).

It makes me laught how the auto journalists don't know what to call the C-Max. I've seen it referred to as a tall Focus, high roofed sedan, micro-van, van, wagon, cross over wagon, cross over suv, etc. Though I am shocked that Consumer Reports gave it an overall positive review. They've always been very critical of Ford and particularly the MyFord Touch system. All I know is that after almost two months and 2600 miles I still love this car! Gas mileage has been creeping up and is now averaging 41.5mpg.

Glad to hear mileage is going up. I have about 750 miles on only my first tank of gas (Dealer filled it when I got it. Delivery of about 350 miles for a dealer swap to get my SEL without any other options.) I head from Chicago to Boston for a week and we will see how the mileage does. Learned to easily get 30 to 32 on my 2008 Mariner Hybrid. Hope this one gets close to the EPA ratings.

Got the new C-Max last week, ready to travel from Chicago area to Boston for Thanksgiving. Got the SEL so the wife would get the power seats (and I could have the other goodies that come along). My dealer searched to find an SEL with no other options. I did not want to pay for things I did not want or feel I needed. The SYNC nav package will still give turn by turn directions. Love the EV+ mode when I get close to home, and the ECO mode in cruise. I wish there was a switch to keep it in EV mode longer, seems like that would help with mileage. My other car is a 2008 Mercury Mariner with 99,000 miles. Love it, but I think this car will be better. C-MAx seems to have more luggage room for travel with the rear seats down than the Mariner.