valkraider

I miss my Jetta TDI. But I do like my all electric miles. Therefore, a VWAG plug-in hybrid is very appealing to me. I expect my next will be something VWAG. The C-max is nice but not nearly as satisfying as VW and Audi products, and the combination of Ford's crappy IT and bad customer service makes me think - unless they dazzle me the next couple years - I'm gonna be a VWAG guy.

There are 700 mileage threads in this forum. I don't know why we keep rehashing the same crap over and over. This past weekend I made a good test of real world numbers. In my Energi model is rated at 41 highway, 44 city, 43 combined in the "EV Later" mode (normal hybrid operation). 650ish miles. 5 passengers + a dog. Luggage for a weekend. Temps ranging from 30 degrees to 50 degrees. Brief periods of rain and snow. Mostly still air but a period of about 60 miles had a stiff head wind. Over 400 of the miles on freeway, Eco cruise set to 70mph. The rest on highways with Eco cruise set to 60mph. All very mountainous, lots of steep grades. Climate control inside set to 70 and "auto". No hypermiling techniques used. Fuel is 10% ethanol. 38.9 mpg (corrected for odometer differences) Barely 2.1mpg lower than the EPA numbers which average only 48mph, are run using 100% gasoline (no ethanol), warmer temps, not carrying 5 people and gear, and on level ground. I think that's pretty darn good. In other situations I exceed EPA significantly. The weekend of Feb 16, I made four 80 mile trips. 50 degrees outside, climate controls set to 70 auto. Rural roads, Eco cruise set to 55. Mountainous terrain. Two passengers on two trips, three passengers on the other two. No wind. 10% ethanol fuel. 46mpg That's 5mpg better than the EPA highway numbers. I don't hypermile. I do driver moderately. Right under the fuel economy estimates on the window sticker it says "your mileage may vary" (I paraphrased because I don't have a sticker in front of me). If you drive hard in hard conditions - fuel economy drops.

They might be "connected" in the sense that they go into the same battery cavity - just in the diagrams the battery cavity inside the box is considered a "closed box" (probably for good reason - I imagine most normal service people should never be opening that box) so for our purposes it's considered a magic box and we never need to know what is inside. :) I am nervous about pet hair and other dust/debris. Any kind of fun activity seems like potential to get crud down in there. Pet hair, sand, leaves, pine needles, dust, road grit & gravel, kids beads or glitter or Cheerios... Basically anything that can be on the junk we pile back there can end up dropping down those vents.

Yeah, that's normal audio over Bluetooth. I can do that with all my audio apps on my phone in all my vehicles that support A2DP - even my motorcycle helmet... Applink is actually an application on the vehicle that simply uses the phone's data connection. Without MFT - how do you run an app? What is the screen, and how would you, say, search for an Artist on Pandora?

Our luggage compartment cover rattles a little, but that's it. Unless we leave a rear seat-belt buckle against a hard surface when we put the seat up or down... Oh, and cans in the cup holders. ;)

I stand corrected, according to those diagrams it looks like the lower vents just open into the wall cavities. Maybe that still allows for some airflow somewhere (general electrical components?) but is not ducted directly to the battery. The fans are significantly different on they Energi vs the Hybrid... And yes, I would want to get that glass out of those ducts. Even if there isn't a problem right now, vibration and G Forces could move the chunks of glass all over the place... :(

Hot Potato - are you thinking the Bluetooth audio? How do you control Pandora?

Hey now, I said I don't bother but I know people who do. ;) But yeah - gadgets weigh. I remember on my can the power rear seat took 150lbs off my tongue capacity because it weighed 150lbs more than the manual rear seat with the gearing and motors and wiring.... I could stop eating junk food and cut some weight from the car. ;)

Yeah, I don't think CCA matters. I think deep cycle would be more important, since the little battery never actually has to turn a starter but it does have to power electronics and last while sitting/stored. If people are really looking to save weight - they can do like motorcycles can and install one of the teeny 12v lithium ion batteries. They are like 1/4 the weight of a motorcycle 12v battery but work the same. :) I have not used one personally because they are expensive and my motorcycle is 900lbs dry and 2300cc anyway so it's just not worth it for me. But I know guys with crotch-rockets who use them.

Yeah, Just text us all his address book entry, and when we need to reboot our MFT we'll call him... ;)

The deal is, my first Ford since 1996 is going to be my last Ford.

You can not use Pandora with MFT in the C-Max. Currently the C-Max is a "generation 2" sync system, which does not (yet?) support Applink. I have read that the gen2 systems will never support AppLink - that it will be limited to Gen3 systems or newer. I probably wouldn't say "never" but I would highly doubt that they get it retrofitted into the older Gen2 systems. Note: this is not about what version of MFT there is - Gen2 and Gen3 (it is my understanding) refers to the hardware specs of the system on which the MFT runs. Probably the Gen2 system isn't fast enough or doesn't have enough RAM or something. Or they just want to push the newer exciting vehicles?

It shouldn't have anything to do with his phone - MFT has no way of knowing anything about the caller on the other end. They could be on a 1975 Mickey Mouse rotary phone for all it knows. Besides MFT just being buggy crap - it probably had something to do with the address book entry you have for your husband in your phone. Look for anything unusual about his entry. Strange numbers or characters, any notes, custom ring tones or anything like that...

All 4 are battery vents. Probably to make sure they are unlikely to be clogged by cargo. The battery also vents to outside air, the computer actively manages where it needs to vent to and from. That panel is covering a fuse block, behind it is one of the cars fuse panels.

Get a new Husband? ;)

Ford sold 3183 C-Max in February 2013, with 334 of those being plug-in Energi models. Energi sales figures for January and February were primarily constrained by supply shortages but inventories of the Energi models are rising, entering March with nearly 4x the levels seen in January and early February. http://cmaxchat.com/?p=3093 http://insideevs.com/february-2013-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/ Also of note is Fords sales of Energi model Fusions and the full battery electric Focus are increasing as well.

This is why Fuelly is for entertainment purposes only. :)

I also want to remind those reading this thread, when I post my results - I have an Energi model. In "EV Later" or with the EV range all used up - the car operates in normal hybrid mode. BUT: the Energi is only rated at 44mpg city / 41mpg highway (43mpg combined). This is due to the 300lb battery and a different gearing ratio. Therefore my numbers (or any other Energi numbers) should be considered in that context. I posted earlier in this thread a couple rural trips where I got 46mpg on four legs of 80 miles each. This trip I was much more heavily loaded and driving at much higher speeds and over much higher mountains with much colder temps and still got 38mpg. Real world, corrected mileages. This car is doing just fine, I know this is anecdotal but I am a really anal retentive and critical guy. I have no reason to complain about fuel economy at all with this car. Especially when 100% of my daily around town routine can be done on pure electric alone. :)

No roof rack. :) Just very well planned loading. I do family motorcycle trips, so I have lots of practice packing and loading situations with very little cargo capacity. :)

I will say passing while climbing is different, I have never had a CVT before. So instead of the normal downshift I have felt for 25 years - there is no real sensation of shifting, just the change in growl from the ICE. :)

It climbs hills just fine - no problem at all. We climb 20% grades regularly, and have freeways with 6 and 7 percent grades in our daily commutes. No issues with torque or power. Yes, we were well packed. It was a good trial run - in May we will do a 3500 mile trip with the same group and more luggage. :)

It's not unique to this car. It is unique to this particular update. The MFT 3.5.1 update made some changes to the nab system which requires a new nav data card. Normally, the nav data card can be updated without needing a system update. This particular instance they changed something which impacted both the application and the data (probably modified the data structure for the nav data).

I just did 650 miles at 60mph to 75mph using exo-cruise through very mountainous terrain, temps ranged 30 to 50 degrees (f) with some snow and rain and the car was carrying 4 adults + one adult sized teen (and our dog). Plus gear and the 300lb Energi battery. I used "EV Later" mode the whole way, and for at least 60 miles yesterday fought a serious headwind (the rest of the trip had mostly still air). My overall was 38.9mpg. Not bad at all. It brought my lifetime average down a bit though. :)

The first time I filled my C-Max (we can't pump our own gas in Oregon) there was a C-Max commercial playing on the screen on the gas pump. :)

The EPA numbers are great for comparison only... That's all they are to be used for. They are not a guarantee of performance. If one wants to compare two vehicles the two vehicles need to be tested as close to the same way as possible. That's what the EPA tests are - is a very specific set if prescribed tests which are done the same for every vehicle. I think the whole problem could be averted if the EPA added one more test, a "sustained freeway speeds". Drive 10 miles at 45mph to warm up the vehicle.. Then drive 30 miles each at sustained speeds of 55mph, 65mph, 75mph, and 80mph. Display the results plotted on a line graph, so people can see that at sustained speeds here is what the vehicle got. Those speeds cover the range of legal freeway speeds in all but one place, and should be a good indicator of real world use. It's really all the EPA tests are lacking - the other 6 or 7 tests they already perform have the city, urban, and suburban travel types well covered. There should also be a standard about where any battery charge state should be at the start of any given test. Perhaps the sustained tests could recharge any batteries to full before testing each of the speeds. Or perhaps start with zero charge. If they wanted to get detailed they could run all of the current EPA tests at 4 different ambient temps, and require that the cabin be kept at 70 degrees. Use ambient temps of 30degrees. 50degrees. 70degrees. And 90degrees. Plot those on the same graph, So a consumer could quickly look at the conditions and see that a cars economy can vary wildly with temperature and speed.