RaPieR

I've always used the AC on manual fan at a temperature set at 73F. Prior to the update it would get pretty cold that I would have to adjust or shut off AC. After the update, it seems to cut the temperature more often because it doesn't get as cold and varies load visibly on the power drawn screen.

If you go to the NAV menu you can select a detour or I think use the voice command "Navigation - Detour" then a prompt will come up to asking how many miles do you want to avoid on the current route. Then it'll route you around the current road you are on. I've used it several times to avoid traffic on the 401.

Don't know if this has been posted here already, but some very cool technology that's being used at Ford to improve paint appearance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HroEU8XsaTU

I was thinking more the speed limits in Texas highways are among the highest in the US affecting mileage.

It was around the 2 minute mark and also around the 9 minute mark. My avg mileage isn't changing because that's my lifetime mileage on the onboard.

Hehe, you were well aware and didn't care about mileage at that point. I took a trip back home to Texas last year when I first bought the C-Max. Those high highway speed limits really killed my overall mileage. Add winter gas to the mix and I was averaging low thirties during my week in Texas.

The only thing I've noticed is it is easier to get into this mode at lower speed if the road is level enough to keep load from dipping and starting ev.

Do you drive a gray C-Max by any chance? I pulled up behind one when I crossed back into the US at the Ambassador bridge.

It depends on the conditions. I could never get the double tap ECO button to enable high ICE to work prior to the update but if the battery gets charged enough the instant MPG will jump to 50 or 60MPG. This works pre and post update. This is really dependent on road conditions. What's shown in the video is a segment of my return trip from Toronto to Detroit on the 401. It must be more uphill back to Detroit because I only managed 44 mpg when I got home but on the drive up to Toronto I averaged 48 on the dashboard. The total round trip was 46MPG overall. FE was hurt a bit by my fiance driving in Toronto ;-)

It's pretty easy to get sub 30s if the driver isn't aware/paying attention or cares about mileage. For example, I let my fiance drive in downtown Toronto this weekend. On two seperate trips she averaged 28MPG and 29MPG. Accelerating hard from stops. She keeped ICE going to speed to the next light even though there was no way she was making the next light. The C-Max really needs an ECO button to prevent wasting fuel like that.

You hit the nail right on the head. The main goal is to not let EV drain the battery so when load increases again you tap the accelerator lightly to push load out of EV and start ICE again. I've made a video trying to show this. Unfortunately, I conditions weren't right and it only reached 50MPG or so. I think the end of the video around the 2 minute and 9 minute mark shows this pretty much after I cancel out EV mode by blipping the throttle. I've been letting EV run as long as possible as long as load doesn't pass 1 bar because it doesn't drain the battery too quickly. http://youtu.be/j6kIhU5lD2w Oh, also completed another leg of driving up to Toronto, Ontario and back to Detroit. Post Update 1788.5 Total Miles 80% Highway - 45.6MPG Pre-Update 4554 Total Miles 80% Highway - 44.2MPG

Yeah, with the higher EV speed after the update you can't "tap down" because it'll just go into EV mode. You just have to let it run on ICE and if conditions are right it'll slowly charge the battery then MPGs will go up. Plus if load drops and it goes back into EV, I usually wait until load increases again then blip the throttle to go out of EV mode and let the battery build up into high ice again.

Maybe because the national average gas price in Canada is higher? I know I try to avoid getting gas in Ontario as much as I can and I've beem able to do that with the cmax.

It doesn't because of the general rule that ford used. I read it somewhere but unfortunately don't have the link. With the same drive train weight class, etc, the test results of the highest volume variant vehicle in a family class can be used for all variants in that family class. The C-max energi and fusion energy use the drive train components and are not in the same family as the hybrid variant. In the energi case, the c-max energi was used to derive the fusion numbers because it is the higher volume variant. This really doesn't make since to me why they would do this and not perform each of the tests on each vehicle line. What or how much Ford is saving by not doing the individual tests?

I don't think it was just gaming the system. The technical differences that allow Ford to run EV at higher EV is something that the EPA test doesn't account for. If you looked at what happened with the Toyota Prius prior to the EPA update, there was some controversy because of differences between the actual and EPA estimates. I don't understand why Ford didn't just do the individual tests and saying anything about it would just be speculation. But moving forward I hope they learn from this and perform all the individual tests for their vehicles to avoid any problems in the future.

They didn't break any rules. This was posted elsewhere, here's a release by the EPA: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/documents/fueleconomy/420f13044.pdf They didn't run the tests on the C-Max, Ford pulled used the Fusion numbers because of drivetrain, weight class, etc it was in the same vehicle family which is legal by the EPA. However, I think it was a silly decision to do that because of the aerodynamic differences between the C-Max and Fusion.

You beat me to it. Interesting read, the C-Max mileage was just derived from the Fusion due to a general rule that is allowed by the EPA. Also interesting is that the C-Max was only rated 41 combined before the PCM update. The new 45/40/43 rating seems a lot more realistic for everyday driving but like you I'm seeing different numbers. I'm seeing closer to 50 city and 43 highway of course it'll probably drop again when winter hits. My fuelly mileage is being dragged down by my winter numbers from last year.

This only applies when driving on the highway for extended periods. Using high ice is more efficient than using ev then charging with ice when the battery drains and repeating. I haven't tried using drain and recharge method on the highway since learning about high ice, but with the increased ev speed I do let ev come on for short periods if the load is below 1 bar.

It still to do a minimum warm up time when you first activate the engine and it is still cold. So the engine won't be completely cold when you run at higher speed. The only difference is they seem to have shortened the cycle vs before the update

After driving a bit after reading your comment, yes you are right it is behaving the same as before. The difference now after the update is if you reduce load and enter EV mode, you have to blip the throttle to go back into negative split mode. This is up to the 85MPH limit. It is not like before where you can set eco and never worry about dropping into EV if you were driving above 64MPH.

Before the update I had to manually feather the throttle to use high ice if I was driving below 63/64mph. If I used eco cruise it would immediately kick into ev mode. Maybe the roads I was driving was downhill but recently I used eco cruise to hold ice at 60 mph where before it would switch to ev automatically.

No I just set my speed in eco mode and if it drops into EV i blip the throttle to start ICE. The cmax will only hold ICE if the engine load is above 1 bar. If you drop below 1 bar you hit the EV threshold and you'll enter EV mode. On a flat road I think 60mph is the mininum speed to use high ice mode. If conditions are right the car will charge the battery and mpg will climb up similar to the picture I posted. I'll try to get a video this weekend.

It is still possible to use high ICE/negative split mode. As long as engine load is near of above 1 bar, you can blip the throttle to kick ICE on and as long as load doesn't drop below the 1 bar threshold it'll hold ICE. Before the PCM update you could only do high ice above 63/64MPH because it would kick back into EV mode. After the update you can use high ICE at ~60MPH or so as long as load is above 1 bar.

Drove again to Toronto this weekend. Did a lot better compared to my first trip after the update. It looks like 65MPH is the new sweet spot for my C-Max, I was able to drive at 65MPH with no drafting and average 46.9MPG over 40 miles, I don't know what the elevations were though. Pre-update: 4554 miles - 44.1MPG Post Update: 1231.4 miles - 45.25MPG actual (47.3MPG Dashboard)

Did you use winter tires with your PT cruiser? Since C-MAX is FWD like the PT cruiser they probably won't be too different in terms of handling in snow. That said I've had the C-MAX with winter tires last year and had no problems. This included driving through a blizzard in Collingwood Ontario .