Noah Harbinger

That's CAFE MPG, though: Firstly, it's based on the fuel economy tests developed in the 80s, so for example the C-Max would dial in at something like 60MPG. Secondly, credits are available for E85-capable vehicles. Between those two, 55MPG is pretty achievable. Ford's at 35MPG for cars already. Secondly, the CAFE now has a built-in adjustment for fuel economy vs. vehicle footprint size - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CAFE_Fuel_Economy_vs_Model_Year_and_Footprint_with_2017-2022_Proposals.png - so Ford won't be particularly adversely affected by the standards just because it manufactures better trucks than Toyota.

By definition, paranoia can only be based on misunderstanding. The difference is what compels a person to hold a particular misunderstanding.

MyFordMobile is a special case. Such vehicles are equipped with GSM (cell phone) modules to talk to Ford's central forums. You'll notice that only Energi models have this feature available - it is because those GSM modules are not installed in other vehicles. So that information is not available for other vehicles.

You are an avowed hypermiler, though. Not everyone can or wants to be a hypermiler, and you shouldn't have to be to reach the EPA rating. With the revised ratings, you won't have to. And anyone who does want to hypermile can do better with a Prius. They just have to accept that they'll be driving a much inferior car to do so. :-D

The ability for the car to know where it is is completely unrelated to its ability to receive or transmit that information. The vehicle has no way of either knowing if anyone wants to track you, or transmitting that information elsewhere without placing an explicit call on your cellphone. Claiming the car's GPS could be used against you in that way is paranoid BS.

I think it would be more appropriate to compare it to the other midsized sedan hybrid variants - Fusion hybrid, Camry hybrid, Sonata hybrid. From the Honda website: So yeah, it's really not going to break any new ground

So did they develop their own or purchase it from Toyota?

Disappointing that consumers don't have any clue about what speeds fuel economy is measured at. Disappointing that consumers don't realize hybrids' strength is in city driving. If I were doing 90% highway at 80MPH, I'd look for a car with a low coefficient of drag and small cross-section, not a tall MPV. The fact is, the C-Max is not a very good platform for a hybrid. Ford took an existing car (the C-Max has been sold in Europe for years) to use for the US hybrid platform. Contrast that to Toyota, who built an entire platform optimized for fuel economy. But in my opinion, the C-Max is a far better car - and although I like the hybrid stuff, the fuel savings on a Prius V (going by Fuelly, the V gets 7.5% better fuel economy) aren't worth it. The steering, the handling, the braking, the materials, the features, the spacial configuration - there's not a single thing there where I think the Prius surpasses the C-Max. And yes, I would expect the V to do much better at higher MPH. And I knew that before I bought the C-Max. The miracles of doing your homework… If that's the *only* thing you care about, you should have focused your research on that aspect. That's what test drives are for - and the instant fuel economy is right there on the instrument panel, on both vehicles.

I've heard it said that the GPS navigation only costs like $15 in production quantities. They could easily be sticking one in every car just for the EV+ feature without it adding much cost to the vehicle.

I'd say don't go back to that station. I find the stations around here generally short about 2%. 2 gallons out of 13 is 15% - that's way too much! By the way, LOVE the car name :)

I ship everything I can via the US Postal Service, and have never had anything damaged or go missing. Lots of computer parts in that mix.

Jus's fuel economy is too high to measure in MPGs, so he measures it in "miles per squirt".

One thing, I wish the ambient lighting were stronger - I feel like the intensity is designed for the grey interior moreso than the black.

I don't think it's "a better feature". I have had dozens of times on my previous car, where the lights were forced off, when I wished I could leave my lights on; whereas on my CMax, thanks to the alert chime and being a generally observant person, I have NEVER left them on accidentally. (Besides that I have the auto headlights, which can either be left on if you have the lights on the Always On position, or automatically turn off when the engine is turned off in the Auto position). In fact, turning off the lights when the accessory circuit shuts off is a lack of a feature - it takes active design to add in an additional circuit to allow the lights to continue to run. I like options, and auto-off with no choice to leave on deprives me of options.

I'm surprised that in almost 5 months nobody pointed out that JusGeneralbeluga probably meant "elusive" (hard to find) rather than "illusive" (deceptive or fake). Edit: Huh, why did I think the thread was started by Jus? :finger:

I heard about a tropical storm back in San Diego back in the 70s, not quite a hurricane though. And once every 30 years or so snowflakes will make it to the ground (though it has never been warm enough for them to survive contact, let alone accumulate). But I'll just leave it at, I've lived in San Diego all my life, and I have never had power disrupted by a natural disaster, not even an earthquake. Hopefully it stays that way - but I would like to be better prepared if something does go awry!

I was at 42.6MPG but driving around with Max AC on all day Saturday nudged it down to 42.5 :twister: I reset it when I did my first fill, but I didn't write down the mileage at the time - so it includes all post-Dealer mileage, and one full tank from before I started using Fuelly. (Also, I use the tripmeter's fuel used for Fuelly, although I note the actual fuel purchased in the notes).

Well, it would be easier than getting people to switch to Metric, but not by much.

There are no commercially cultivated GMO apples. The first two species (designed to not turn brown) are seeking regulatory approval. I think the timeline for investigating and developing a species of fruit tree is just so much slower than a grain crop that it hasn't been attractive for development.

I just noticed that I set up my car as a "Gas L4 Hatchback" instead of a "Hybrid L4 Hatchback". Two of the three of us on 2013 Gas L4 C-Maxs seem to actually be hybrids. I wonder how long it will take the update to propagate?

I've heard there are people taking an interest in cultivating apple varieties that have appealing properties, but have not been commonly cultivated because they're not commercially viable (usually because of cosmetic damage from shipping). Sounds like an interesting hobby if you're interested in apples.

Well, what would impress me would be if they could do that in a $30k car.

So you can't leave your headlights on without leaving the key in the ignition? Do you have to leave it running too? Why hasn't Subaru updated their vehicles to allow you to use your headlights whenever you need them?

99.99999% of them ignore you, and as long as you don't do something that requires their attention, everyone's happy that way.

http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/mountain-driving-some-numbers - a Tesla owner talks about driving up to Mt. Baldy, and the ensuing discussion is interesting. The original poster's estimate was a cost of 6.3 miles of range per thousand feet of climb, and a return of 5 miles of range per thousand feet of descent.