RedLdr1

I do not believe that claim for one minute... I leave "stuff" (iPod, Cell phone, camera battery charger) plugged in all the time and have not had any issue. And the brake issue would be Highlighted in the Owners Manual if that were the case...

Welcome to the forum. I looked at the Energi but needed the "trunk space" the "regular" hybrid offers. Are you going to install the high voltage charger at home?

When I had the bad Instrument Panel one of the clues was that after jumping off the car everything appeared normal. A car that needed jump started should at least show a low battery warning light until it is back up to full charge....

I just installed my Ford Mat this afternoon and it fits very well. Ford ships these rolled up in a box so they are "curly" and a bit rippled around the front and rear edges when you remove them. A couple of jack stands laid on it kept it from curling back up while it warmed up lying on my driveway in direct sunlight. After a couple of hours the curl was gone as well as most of the ripples.

I also have ordered Body side molding but from a different source. I went with SportWing's ChromeLine moldings as I like the Chrome Insert breaking up the vast painted expanse on the doors. I have been using SportWing's moldings on all of the family cars for several years and have never had a problem with color match, paint fade, or anything... I currently have set on my Taurus SHO which is the hard to match White Platinum Pearl or "Tri-Coat" and they are a perfect color match. The SportWing catalog shows the C-Max and Focus using the same Part Number. I confirmed this is true, in e-mail, before ordering a set. The C-Max is installed with different measurements than the Focus to put the molding where it needs to be to protect the doors. The attached picture, from SportWing's website is a of a Focus, I'll post pictures of mine once they arrive and are installed. I have installed them myself, with my wife's assistance, but for the $40.00 the local independent body shop charges I usually pay to have them mounted. Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in this company, I am a very satisfied customer and this post is just showing another option available for C-Maxer's....:D Regards,

I'd be interested in that... I suspect the C-Max is still pretty rare around here as I have yet to see one in the "wild"... :)

The only potential "downside" I am aware of is that you will pay more for a Ford Extended Warranty on a three year old "used" vehicle than when it is "new". I would check: The cost both ways, new and on a three year old car. I'd use a 2009 Focus as a "used" car and a 2012 Focus as a "new" car comparison point since the C-Max is too new to establish a "used" cost. That should give you an idea of the values each way.... The available length, as in time and mileage, of the plans. The available coverage of the "new" and "used" plans. Do the "math" and see what makes sense... :)

A perfectly plausible and logical explanation, I have seen that on other vehicles.... That should address the issues for you. Good Luck!

Colleen, I'll take a shot at answering your question... I have been working in the electronics arena for over 40 years and the bad "Fuse Box", or Power Distribution Box as Ford calls it, is a distinct possibility. There are three fuse boxes in the C-Max, I'm betting the dealer is replacing the "pre-fuse box located in the engine compartment" as described on page 268 of my .pdf version of the Owners Manual. The C-Max uses Electric Power Steering (EPS) so any power interruption will "kill" the EPS and you now only have manual steering. The main Power Distribution Box Fuse Box being defective may also explain the other problems you have had as the Fuse Box has dozens of wires, on various connectors, both bring in the electricity from the 12V battery supply and distributing it to all the different accessories. Having a loose connection, causing an intermittent electrical connection at a Fuse Box is not unheard of, I see it in the older cars and motorcycles that I restore periodically. Having a defective Fuse Box on a new car is uncommon...but so was my defective Instrument Panel! I have not had any problems since my Instrument Panel was replaced and hopefully the Fuse Box will resolve your issues. I hope this helps, Regards,

My 2012 Taurus SHO also has a huge shield under the engine. But fortunately someone was thinking ahead and used captive Dzus style fasteners, instead of loose Torx screws, on it. I suspect that as the EPA MPG requirements go up we will find more not so noticeable streamlining being installed on all cars.

Here are a few thoughts based on my experiences. Your results may vary greatly from mine and this is just my opinion... The Finance Office Always remember that when you are in the Finance Office you are still with a salesman, just a different one. Most Finance and Insurance (F&I) staff are paid commissions on the items the sell. This includes but is not limited to: 1. The Car Loan. The higher interest rate the loan the more "commission" there is in it for the F&I person and the dealership. It pays to know your credit score, and "shop" what rate you can get from your bank or credit union. I walk in with the rates, that I qualify for, from USAA, Pentagon Federal, and SunTrust Bank in my smart phone. I simply tell the F&I person to either "meet or beat" the best rate or they lose the finance. Keep in mind that even if they have to drop down to meet your finance with their source they still get a "finders fee" and some commissions from their sources...even at 0% Manufacture Financing. 2. Manufactures Extended Warranties. Once again it pays to shop around but their is no reason to buy one off the web from a dealership a thousand miles away. The "meet or beat" concept works just as well here as on the loan. Just makes sure you are comparing apples to apples as far as the plans, saving money by dropping time, mileage, or coverage is not saving money, it is playing with the numbers. 3. Manufactures Service Plans. Everything above about the Extended Warranties applies here as well. 4. X-Plan or other Incentives. Tell the salesman up front if you are using X-plan or other incentives like a car buying service. In some dealerships the "fleet manager" handles those customers due to the low commissions. You will not get a better price by waiting and "springing" this on the sales person at the last minute in the negotiations. Your price has already been determined... 5. Third Party Warranties or Service Plans. I highly advise you to avoid these like the plague as they can be full of problems. Finding a dealership who will accept them, or having to pay first and seek re-reimbursement, and the companies going out of business all together are common complaints. 6. Protection Plans. These are generally pure margin for the dealership. A can of "Scotchguard" Fabric protector and a semi-annual wax at the local car wash will usually be just as effective...and cheaper. But do the math! My dealer offers "Auto Butler" which is basically a full detail service and wax job for $100 a year which covers a visit once every six months. I pay more than that to have my car detailed at the local Mr. Clean car wash chain and they don't do it while my car is in for a regular service. The math made good sense so I bought the plan... Selling or Trading your Car 1. Car Max or others. When buying my C-Max I was offered $1,000 less at Car Max than I was given as a Trade-In value at my dealer. When you add in the sales tax penalty you can really lose money selling your car when buying a new car. I pay a 6% Sales Tax on the difference between my old cars Trade In value and the Selling Price of the new car. If I sell my car outright I'll will pay sales tax on the entire Selling Price of the new car. As an example a car being Traded In for $20,000 is really worth $21,200 as I saved $1,200 in taxes, ($20,000*6% = $1,200) That is real dollars saved. If Car Max had offered me $20,500 to buy my car, and I took it instead of the $20,000 Trade In value I would have lost $700!!! Do the math! I have never been offered more at Car Max than I was offered in Trade In, your experiences may vary... 2. Trade In Value. This is a rough one... We all know about Kelly Blue Book, the NADA Guide, Black Book, etc... Well take them as a "data point" and move on...you might as well be throwing darts. Dealers base their Trade In value on a several sources you cannot access, the most common is the Mannheim report. It is a national database of what cars are selling for at wholesale auction across the nation. 99% of the time It will be significantly lower than any other value you will find published. To establish a "rough" value of your cars value I suggest Car Max's value and looking in Auto Trader or other publications. The prices you see posted on cars for sale in Auto Trader are Retail, generally Trade In value is $2,000 to $4,000 less than that value depending on the model and how popular it is... Note: If you own an "orphan" car, like Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Mercury, or especially a true orphan like Saab, your Trade In value will be lower then you may expect... General Research: Do your research! Research the car, the dealer, the financing options, the Service / Warranty plans, before sitting down in the dealership! Research now saves you money later... Summary: DO THE MATH! Don't fall in love with a car, don't have to have it today and you will get a better deal. If you have to take a disinterested friend or family member who can keep the emotion out of the deal. Yes, it is fun and exciting buying a new car, but you have to live with what you agreed to for a long time.... Buying "pieces and parts" of the deal, such as a Extended Warranty, on line might save you some money. But now you cannot finance it as part of the overall deal, at that good rate you negotiated, so you get to pay for it, right now...does the Math still work? Disclaimer: I am not in the "industry", but I "flip" cars every two years, in most cases, and do the negotiating for most of my family members. I have a lot of experience in trading vehicles and I have several friends in the "industry", that I do trust, who have filled me in on the details, like the Mannheim Report, over the years. Your best bet, in the long run, is to establish a relationship with a local dealer you can trust. That still pays off in Customer Service and other less tangible values over time....

It is worth a try but most Map software is copy protected to only run on the supplied card. If it wasn't some owners would be buying "boot leg" map updates on e-Bay for a $1 from someone offshore. The other questions are how much storage memory does the GPS contain and how much of the Map info does it "cache" on boot up for faster access? I highly doubt the GPS loads the entire US / Canada on boot up, it probably just loads at least a several state / province region, based on your locality, that is how most GPS's most work. I had a Subaru that required you to load a new DVD, out of the supplied set, when you traveled West of the Mississippi River....

If you have the key less entry option there is a physical key inside the remote fob to use in emergencies. Pop open the fob and you will find a little T-shaped key, it will unlock the drivers side door to give you access to the vehicle. I am having a spare cut to carry in my wallet as soon as the key blanks are available locally....

Duplicate Post, darn key bounce...

Freddy, is a male Bearded Collie mix; Penny, is a female Jack Russel Terrier / Dachshund mix; Rosie is a "Chi-Wee" Chihuahua / Dachshund "Designer Dog"; and our two new girls, Lilly the mother, and her daughter Suzie, look like 1/4 scale Corgis...the Vet thinks they may be Chihuahua / Corgi mixes... All of them are Rescues from the local shelter or Rescue groups. Their combined weight is around 110 pounds so they killed my gas mileage today... :) At least that is my story and I am sticking to it... ;)

We purchased our new C-Max on November 10th, drove about a hundred miles total in three separate trips, and parked it in the garage for the night. On the morning of the Sunday, the 11th we went out to leave and found the car was totally dead... By totally dead I mean 100%...not even the LED Dome Lights would come on, absolutely nothing worked. Since our dealership is closed on Sunday I decided to wait to call Service until Monday morning. Monday morning I called Ford Roadside Assistance and they sent out a tow truck. Using a 12V battery jumper box got the C-Max to fire right up...with absolutely No indications anything had been wrong... I at least expected the Battery "idiot light" to come on, indicating a low battery, but it did not... Anyway I then drove the car to my dealership and turned it in to the service department. That afternoon they called and told me the 12V battery had failed a load test and they had installed a new one. Not a big deal to me, I have dealt with bad 12V batteries all the time in telecommunications facilities power systems...batteries fail and least it failed under warranty! :) So I picked up the C-Max and headed home. Tuesday morning... Went out to run some errands and the C-Max was totally dead...again! There were absolutely zero indications anything was wrong when I had parked it Monday night...and I had looked very closely prior to shutdown. Another call to Ford Roadside Assistance, :sos: another jump start, with zero trouble indications again when started, and off to the dealer I went... This time the Service Adviser wanted to keep the C-Max in the shop and had already lined up a nice 2012 Escape "loaner" for me to use while they looked in to the issue. Wednesday morning the C-Max would not start again, but at least it was at the dealer...no need to call a tow truck! The dealer turned loose their electronics guru and he found that the Instrument Panel was defective and causing the battery to slowly discharge over night. My short day trips the previous Saturday had been spaced close enough together it wasn't an issue. A new Instrument Panel was ordered, arrived Friday morning, and was installed that afternoon. By mutual agreement the car stayed at the dealership to see if it start on Saturday morning. Saturday morning everything was fine, I turned in the Escape, picked up the C-Max, and off we went... :) Somethings to watch out for: First, there was never any indications of any problems prior to the failures or after the failures. Since it was the Instrument Panel that failed that is most likely why I never had any idiot lights, like Low Battery, come on to warn me. No "Error Codes" were present either... Second, when I say totally dead I mean 100% dead, absolutely nothing worked. But after a quick jump start everything is back to normal? That's unusual...I suspect, but do not know for sure, that there is a low voltage "cutoff relay" somewhere in the system that caused the total shutdown to protect the 12V battery. Third, I found out the salesman had needed to jump start the car on the day we took possession. While it is not uncommon for a car to need "boosted" after sitting on the lot for a long time this one had just been driven well over a hundred miles, it was a dealer trade, the previous day. That is not "normal" and would have been a "Red Flag" for me had I known it prior to Monday. Fourth, some of the Features, like the "Horn Chirp on Lock", wouldn't work until the Instrument Panel was replaced. I thought I needed to configure them so I ignored them not working as I had planned to go through all the configuration parameters on Sunday. Now the good news: My C-Max is now running great, averaging around 43MPG overall, and everything works just fine. My dealerships Service department was able to quickly isolate the problem, obtain the parts, and resolve the issue. My dealership showed excellent Customer Service in arranging a nice loaner prior to my even requesting one. None of the configuration, or user content I had already added, like my cellphone pairing, was lost during the repair. Not a big deal but it was nice to see it still configured. Summary: Any car, a new or older design, can have "weird" issues, it is how the dealer, and manufacture, handle them that really matters to me. This issue was handled in an very professional, courteous manner, my car is"fixed", so I am quite happy with the outcome. It does not diminish the car, make me nervous, or otherwise cause me any concerns. I truly suspect I had a "one off" problem, but just in case there is more than one bad Instrument Panel "floating around" in the parts system I am posting this so anyone else may be able to identify the issue quicker... Today we put the C-Max to good use hauling our five rescue dogs, we picked up two more Saturday on one of those short trips, to the Vet for their annual, and initial check ups... The C-Max's carrying ability worked out like I had hoped it would...even with two more "kids" :) :dogwalk:

Yes, it is handy for storing my Pentel mechanical pencil I use with my "Log Book"...

That is one Feature I do really miss, and the memory mirrors that are part of the package usually... Go look at any other Fords, or any other brand, and you find most, if not all "leather seats", are not all leather. That is why the manufactures advertise "Leather Seating Surfaces" or in the case of the C-MAX SEL "Leather Trim" is specified on the Window Sticker.

The 3M Foam Tape used to hold on trim is available at most Auto Supply stores. In my area Pep Boys, AutoZone, NAPA, and just about everyone else, carries it. Just tells the store clerk you need 3M Body Side Molding Tape and they should be able to hand a you a roll for a reasonable price, usually around $5.00. When I purchase an exterior trim piece I almost always add more tape to it as I don't want it coming loose! Here is a Link to the 3M Website showing the tape most vendors use.

I bought the Ford Premium ESP for 75K Miles / 5 Years due to my C-Max SEL, with the 303A Equipment Group, being a very "gadget loaded vehicle" and a first model year as well. To me Extended Warranties are a just another from of "Insurance" even if that term is not technically correct. I am betting I'll need it and it will pay for itself, FoMoCo is betting it is just pure profit for them... With the price of the "gadgets" much less the labor involved, the price of the "insurance" is worth it to me. I can always cancel it and take a prorated refund if I trade early. Any Ford dealer can sell you a Ford Plan so it pays to shop around and get competitive pricing. I would not assume that the ESP Plan will give you more value when selling a car unless it is a private sale. I have been told to cancel the contract on every car I have ever traded. Being a cynic I suspect the dealerships want a chance to sell the buyer a new ESP, not roll yours over for a minimal amount.

Since I already started posting in other sub forums I suppose I should do an intro post... :) Last Saturday, November 10th, we purchased a C-Max SEL, with the 303A Equipment Group and Panoramic Sun Roof, in Ruby Red with the Light Stone leather interior. The C-Max replaced a 2012 Sonata hybrid sedan, with the "Ultimate Package" that while a very nice car just wasn't "right" for us. The C-Max is our third hybrid as we have also owned a Camry hybrid. The C-Max is with out any doubt the nicest of the three hybrids we have owned and is the most "fun" to drive. The Sonata we traded felt faster, looked great, but it handled poorly and the Electric Power Steering (EPS) just never felt "right" to me even after having the dealer change the response modes. Plus the seats in the Sonata and I just didn't get along and it was killing my back. Add in that we have three rescue dogs to haul around and a "mini-wagon" just makes a lot more sense, I know our 75 pound Bearded Collie appreciates "his" new room in the back. :dogwalk: I plan on doing a few upgrades to the C-Max, body side moldings, window tint, lighting, and some other protection and will post information on those "mods" as they are added. Regards,

We just purchased our C-Max SEL last Saturday, November 10th, using X-Plan Partner and recieved the $1,000 Incentive. The MSRP was $33,080, X-Plan pricing was $31,425, a $1655 savings, plus the $1K incentive added up to a $2,655 discount. The other nice thing about X-Plan is it caps "Dealer Fees" at $100. Some of the dealers in this area charge up to $600 for "Dealer Fees", mine usually charges $299, so that was another $199 saved with X-Plan.

The dash is black and stone, low gloss black on top and stone around the glove box and console, and the doors are a two-tone as well of black and stone. The picture on the Ford website in the "Build Your 2013 C-MAX" is fairly accurate. See Link Here.

The Stone color shown on Page 7 of the e-brochure is fairly close when viewed on my iMac. But the color you see will vary based on your PC and it's settings. To my eyes the Stone leather is a very light Tan color, in some light it can look like light grey. It was quite the search to find a Stone interior, almost every C-Max SEL in a 200 mile radius had Black leather, not something I enjoy during Atlanta summers... :)