valkraider

I've used roadside assistance in west Texas. Why would there not be? If you can get there with a car, so can roadside assistance. It may take a little while, but most places there are within an hour of at least gas station or service station. Maybe in the summer time make sure you have water in the car, but you should be doing that anyway probably.

For expletive's sake. 1. ConsumerReports.org is not an "agency". They are a for-profit magazine which sells advertising. 2. Fuelly and the user submitted part of fueleconomy.gov are all based on unverified numbers submitted by users. People can submit whatever they want. 3. Plenty of other magazines and reviews have got over EPA numbers. They are in the news and articles section of these forums. 4. People take Fuelly numbers as 100% gospel when they are low but completely ignore the owners on this site who are high. Why? Sell your c-max. Do us all a favor. Stop whining and buy a Prius or Insight... I am confident Ford did not fudge numbers. EPA tests test a very specific way. If you want that to better reflect real world, call your congressman. Crap. Did I just feed a troll?

C-max has regen without pressing the brakes. Any time the accelerator is not pressed, regen kicks in. If you want more you can engage the "low" button I think on the side of the gearshift which will turn on more aggressive regen for times like going down mountains or long grades. No brake lights needed. ;)

That is absolutely not true. In fact it violates US law. HOWEVER, that said: they can make it extremely difficult for a vehicle owner. Legally, the manufacturer has to prove that the modification *caused* the failure, and the burden of proof is on the manufacturer. However, realistically the manufacturer can be a massive pain in the tush to a vehicle owner if this happens. If your car has been denied warranty work due to a modification it is red-flagged in the manufacturers system. Your VIN will *forever* be associated with this flag, and you can expect at least a debate or argument ANY TIME this vehicle is worked on. Also, I guarantee Ford and GM have way more lawyers and a much larger legal budget, so regardless of what the law says you can be involved in a protracted drawn out battle that could suck you dry. Finally, even if you win - you still may be without a car for a long time, or have to pay all sorts of "diagnostic" fees or other related costs. Manufacturers can not legally prevent you from modifying a vehicle, even with warranty threats. But be very careful because it just may not be worth it. How much are you willing to fight if you need to? That said, the bad PR is generally not worth it for a manufacturer to fight on small issues, but dealerships will often fight because they want the higher rates they can charge you for the repairs since warranty work pays the dealer less money. For a big issue, Ford will absolutely not make any exceptions: if you install aftermarket performance parts on an engine and the engine blows, you're fighting or paying. No way out of that one. Don't think they can be hidden either, all the techs know how to spot the signs of aftermarket accessories - even after they are removed.

ding! Also, may be more inclined to use a site like fuelly. I bet a lot of c-max customers don't even ever look at anything about cars online... After all, it's "just another Ford"... ;)

+1 Jetta TDI to C-Max Energi

For 7 miles in stop and go traffic in LA this time of year: the C-Max will easily get 47mpg - probably exceed it. I have driven in West Texas many many many times (actually all over between the Rockies and the Mississippi, north & south and everywhere in between). I have actually used fix-a-flat many times because I was in college and too cheap to have a good spare. It worked just fine in a pinch. The C-Max comes with fix-a-flat, and roadside assistance. There is no reason to haul around a 20lb spare 100% of the time if it may only be used once in 5 years. To be honest, I have driven across the USA east to west and north to south and back again at least 4 times in the past 10 years and have not needed a spare tire. I did have a u-haul truck blow a tire in Arkansas which had to be replaced by roadside assistance because it was fully loaded and in the middle of nowhere. They came out and replaced the entire tire within 45 minutes. Most manufacturers are ditching the spare tire to save on weight. It's not a c-max only thing. As of the middle of this year, 50% of the vehicles sold in the USA did not come with spares. I really don't understand, if people are really so down on the C-Max I have an easy answer: DON'T BUY ONE. But please stop conveniently ignoring all of the information which does not fit your agenda, because it just simply makes you an internet troll.

Our Taurus died an early death due to it being a complete POS. A problem suffered by a lot of late eighties Fords.

My understanding is all CARB states require this warranty.

Well the sunroof is already tinted, and the C-Max comes with UV blocking glass all around. Additional tint will improve the UV blocking.

Not to mention environmental concerns. The C-Max is being introduced in the winter, and fuel economy for all vehicles drops in the winter for a whole variety of reasons. We have also discussed many reasons why people may not get EPA ratings out of any car, I have posted links from other sources such as Edmunds and the EPA themselves, and we have shown that it is not a problem unique to the C-Max. Aside from people's own driving - which is the largest impact - there are other things which are outside of the driver's control which impact fuel economy. 1. EPA tests are done on pure gasoline with no ethanol. Gasoline purchased at the pump just about anywhere contains 10% ethanol. 10% ethanol reduces fuel economy on *any* vehicle by more than 1%, usually around 2% and occasionally as much as 4% (it all depends on the engine programming and design as to how the impact of the lower energy density of ethanol is handled). This one single thing alone takes 1mpg away from the C-Max fuel economy compared to EPA numbers. 2. EPA tests are done in moderate temperatures with no environmental wind. In the real world cold impacts fuel economy and so does head or cross wind. 3. EPA highway and high speed tests are not done at real world highway speeds. The C-Max is not as aerodynamic as the Prius or the Insight, so the C-Max will have a greater reduction of fuel economy at higher speeds. Aerodynamics is why the Prius and the Insight are shaped the way they are, and while functional, it is not the most appealing shape to many people. Sometimes we sacrifice one area for another. 4. EPA tests are not done taking into account the crap that people carry around. Weight reduces fuel economy. 5. EPA tests do not account for hills or mountains. 6. EPA tests do not account for elevation. A naturally aspirated vehicle gets lower economy and has lower power output at higher elevations. People in New Mexico and Colorado for example need to take this into account when comparing fuel economy (also combine this with #5). 7. This space intentionally left blank. 8. If you read down this far you may be a nerd like me.

Well, if it is electric then there would be no RPM. Some of the hybrid designs use electric oil pumps, and some use a method where the electric starter spins the motor up before spark is applied and allows oil pressure to ramp up just before the engine fires under pressure. So I guess we would need to know how Ford did it for the C-Max, right? :)

I think oil pressure stays up even when the combustion engine shuts off. That's how the engine can start and stop on demand without destroying itself. As long as the car is "on" the oil pressure is up and ready for the engine to kick in any time...

Again, wouldn't that defeat the purpose? The animal already died. The leather is already used. So by replacing the leather steering wheel with something synthetic the animal somewhat died in vain. Isn't the point to not kill the animal for the leather?

The leather seats are not tied to the sunroof. They can be ordered separately.

People keep claiming that the Prius beats EPA numbers and the C-Max does not.

I am not sure how many times we need to post the reasons why the EPA numbers won't happen. People - read the other threads! Seriously!

Rockets are operated under controlled parameters by qualified individuals. Any yahoo with a key in any location imaginable can and will operate a car.

Also, remember - often vehicles enter the market with a more limited set of options and the manufacturer will add more choices or trims or options as model years progress. Send feedback to Ford, let them know your concerns. If they don't know they are missing a market - they won't be able to respond.

Let's be clear, Vegetarian is not the same as Vegan. Vegetarian people probably have little problem with leather in general, they simply have made a dietary choice to not eat meat. Vegan is more of a philosophical or political viewpoint around the ethical treatment of animals. Again, options are a *good* thing. A car company should try not to exclude any potential customers - regardless of lifestyle choices.

So like buying a steak dinner, throwing away the meat and just eating the baked potato and salad? Perhaps this thread will devolve into a political mess... ;) I have no problem with hoping Ford would provide options. Options are good, even if I disagree with the motivations to choose them. Not every likes the panoramic sunroof but that didn't stop me from ordering it...

At the same time people complain that it takes too long to bring a car to market, or that cars are too expensive, or that cars don't have the exact feature set people want. Heck, every single option or configuration can increase the failure potential exponentially. Even seemingly unrelated things can cause unforeseen problems. For example some versions of a car may be equipped with a fancy infotainment system, and some may not. A person connecting a USB device to the infotainment system could cause a millisecond power drain on the bus which causes a sensor somewhere to report a false value right at the same time that the transmission is adjusting for increased load due to a hill and it causes the engine to go into limp mode. If that happens it is the result of a 1 in 20billion chance of those _exact_ variables occurring but if it does that particular customer may be very upset. A car company has to try and foresee and test for all of these possible scenarios, and more: what happens to this scenario if the headlights are on, or off, or if the heater is on high or off, or if there is high humidity of low humidity, or if the heated seats are on or off, or if the wipers are on or off, or the turn signal is on or off, or the 12v battery is cold or weakened - or ANY combination of these things.

Doesn't that violate the whole intent?

I wouldn't call losing the potential Vegan customers a "major" fail. Perhaps it should be optional, yes. Maybe talk to dealers and ask if it is something that can be handled with a custom order? If not, then maybe the CMAX isn't for you... But seriously - comparing it to human skin is a bit extreme and generally how Vegans lose credibility with me. Wagons are good, at least VW/Audi still make a couple. But the American market seems to not sell enough to warrant the effort needed to produce a lot of wagon models.

Really? I thought they were way roomy and I am 5'10" Maybe you are all leg? ;) That's one of the things that sold us on the C-Max was that the back seat was comfortable for adults... Other stuff: Ours will have heated seats, and other commenters have mentioned how well their heated seats work... So that's nice. I got better than x-Plan pricing just by calling around. Also - Ford and the owners manual say not to watch mileage until the engine is broken in at least 1000 miles.