chrisl

I'm going to resurrect this thread to ask about engine break in rather than starting a new one. I'm getting a 2013 SE (silver) that's getting dropped off tonight, and I'm planning to drive from LA to the Bay Area next week for thanksgiving. The question is whether I should take the new C-max, which won't have many miles at all yet, or the old car. I'm most concerned about whether the load going over the grapevine will be too high during the break in period. I also tend to drive a little fast, but I always do manual throttle (I've never really liked cruise) so during the long stretch on the 5 the load should be varying reasonably. From the comments so far, it seems like it's probably reasonable to take the C-max

This thread: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/309-just-bought-the-first-ford-c-max-sel-in-albuquerque-area-from-rich-ford-edgewood-nm/ shows a yakima rack mounted on a C-max. I'll probably be trying it within a few weeks as well.

Thanks for posting this! I'm about to get a C-max and am glad to see I can get my existing Q-towers to fit before Yakima come out with a fit kit. I'm curious how you selected the Q128 clips. Are they the ford focus clips (similar roof geometry?). Also, there are apparently different rubber pads, as well, but I've never been able to figure out what the differences in those are- do you know which pads you have? And finally, if you have time to get measurements (or even just post a full side profile pic) that would be great, though I can probably install it just fine from what you're showing already.

"Great" mileage is a relative thing-- I doubt many cars are going to do much better on hills. The old saturn does well because it's pretty light, but it's slowly disintegrating. And I think everything I'm looking at now has a CVT. It's nice to hear that it can handle long steep grades without having to bail out into the truck lane, and that it drives well in the mountain roads around SoCal. And the trip from home down to the freeway would probably be almost free as long as the battery is charged starting from home.

Thanks for all the responses! (and the pointers to some entertaining threads) I had been a little concerned after reading a review by someone who took one down from Mt. Baldy (not sure which route) and didn't like it. But it sounds like it's pretty well behaved in the mountains. As far as other options-- I eliminated the Prius V pretty fast. It has more cargo space, but less power, and felt like it was laboring to go over a little hill on the test drive with just me and the sales guy in it. When I looked it up, it's about 2 seconds slower 0-60 than my old Saturn SW2 that I'm looking to replace. I also ended up with a regular Prius last week as a rental for a work trip and really didn't like it. Mostly what I'm looking for is small wagon with decent gas mileage and enough power to haul around full, and with bikes on top. The points in favor of the C-max are that it's got great mileage and a lot of power, and it's US made. The subaru has ok mileage and AWD (I'd take advantage of it, but it's not critical), it feels and handles just like the old SW2, and it's a bit less expensive (even pretty far out-- the insurance on the Cmax makes up for a lot of the fuel savings).

I'm shopping for a new car and am looking pretty seriously at the C-Max (I've been looking at this forum on and off lately), and this thread seems like a good place to ask about one of my main concerns: how does it drive in the mountains (not just on big freeway passes, but also mountain roads, like in the San Gabriels) and how it does when loaded and going over major passes (e.g. the Grapevine). I've pretty much narrowed it down to the C-Max vs. Subaru Impreza Sport - if the C-Max didn't exist it would be easy, but the C-Max is looking pretty good. I've been meaning to rent one for a few days (there's one available sometimes at a Hertz near me) but haven't had a chance yet when it's been available and I'd have time to check what I want with it. I'm especially curious how you other SoCal drivers like it in the mountains. Even just to/from my house from anywhere involves ~500+ feet of elevation change and some twisty roads.