CMax-Traveler

This was today: 61.3 miles, 62.6 MPG, 0.9 gal. This was a round trip -- so no cheating on the elevation, I returned back to the point from which I started. No Hypermiling, just normal driving. The only thing I did was I actively managed when it was ICE vs. EV. Speeds were typically between 30 and 50, mostly around the city, with a couple spots up to 60+ on the highway. Weather conditions were ideal, mid-60's and sunny, so no A/C or heat. I think I've finally figured this car out.

Ok, here we go, here's my disaster of an entry into the 700+ Mile Club. I accidentally reset my Trip 1 a couple days ago, as I was approaching 700. But, fortunately, I have enough photos that I'm able to account for the entire tank (minus a 0.9 mi gap between Trip1 and Trip2 resets -- close enough, I hope). Photos are here: (Link to the photos because it's large) So, here's the deal: 0. At ODO 1530.5mi, I reset Trip2. 1. At ODO 1561.4mi, I took a photo of Trip2, and then 0.9mi later, at 1562.3mi I reset Trip1. 2. At ODO 2163.3mi, I took a photo of Trip1 and reset it 3. At ODO 2792.3mi, I took a photo of Trip1 and reset it 4. At ODO 3493.0mi, I took a photo of Trip2 -- this is my 700+mi tank. So, by subtracting 1, 2, and 3 from #4, I can give you exactly what the last tank was (minus 0.9mi, we'll be conservative and assume worst case that I used zero fuel for that). Time: 84:18:42 - 24:44:14 - 22:42:03 - 00:42:54 = 36:09:31 Distance: 3493.0mi - 2792.3mi = 700.7mi EV: 1163.1mi - 347.4mi - 327.0mi - 10.4mi - 0.9mi = 477.4mi EV Gallons: 39.57 - 13.01 - 12.44 - 0.66 = 13.46gal MPG: 700.7mi / 13.46gal = 52.06mpg Tada. Let me know if there are any questions or if I screwed up my math somewhere. Onward to 800 :) (Edited 9/26 to add EV)

mtb - thanks -- it looks like using Trip 2 I actually may have photographic proof, it'll just take some math. I reset Trip 1 and Trip 2 when I got the 13B07 upgrade, and have photos of both Trip 1 resets since then. I just discovered last week that I've been sabotaging my MPG's by the way I've been driving and have found a way to consistently get 5-10MPG higher. (Basically, it seems the C-Max is extremely efficient at 1/2 to 1-bar ICE burns on flat roads <50mph; I'd been preventing those by forcing it into EV -- I'll post separately after I've had a chance to play with it more). When I first got the car, I thought 600 would be a stretch. Then, as I've learned the car and as it has broken in, 700 became a reality, and I'm not even trying very hard. Of course, having this be my second hybrid probably helped, and the weather in Boston has been perfect. But I'm sure, if you want to, you can at least get 650, in time.

Ok, I'm an idiot. I'm well on track to my first 700-mile tank (620mi and >1/8 tank left) and I managed to accidentally reset my Trip 1. mtb, looking forward to seeing your name on the list! That MTE thing caught me off guard, too... still haven't figured out why it fluctuates so much when you get near empty.

The totally flat roads are nowhere around here. I don't know of any near Boston, just too many little hills. I did discover that my MPG took a big hit on the few somewhat colder days we've had recently, but I've now learned how to adjust the heater so it's not much of an issue. That said, I'm fully expecting the winter days will completely kill my MPG. The ICE warm-up time is so much longer when it's colder out, and none of my trips are especially long, so on the colder days, the ICE is going to be running a lot. We'll see.

Guess that's no big deal for me, since that's what I have to do for my C-Max anyway (SE). How about this one? August Smart Lock: http://www.august.com/ -- available later this year for $199.

I always used a drysuit on every dive, even if the water was 80 degrees (with just shorts and a t-shirt under, of course), and get laughed at by everyone on the boat. Then on the boat ride back in, I'd laugh back at all the wetsuit wearers who were freezing. I converted several people. Absolutely, give me a shout next time you're up here and I'll show you some of the secret spots in the Whites that only locals know.

It looks like you turned your C-Max into a tank... Nice looking car there, btw (same color as mine) By the way, for "current trip MPG" I just reset the Empower MPG display every time I get into the car. I reset Trip 1 every tank, Trip 2 every oil change, and Lifetime is, well, lifetime.

Yep, that's accurate on mine too... I have to pull the handles twice when the doors are locked, once to unlock, then again to open. locot, if that's not how yours are working, then definitely take it in for service.

My civic hybrid lost 10mpg with a bike rack on the back. I'd be very happy if it's only 1-2 with the C-max. Then again, so far I've just put my bike inside, which wasn't possible with the Civic, so I'm losing nothing while carting my bike around.

Here ya go: RF Deadbolt: $88.17 http://www.smarthome.com/51890/MiLocks-RF-01P-RF-Remote-Controlled-Keyless-Entry-Deadbolt-Brass/p.aspx 2 Key Fobs: $19.99 http://www.smarthome.com/51890R/MiLocks-RM01-RF-Remote-Control-Key-Fob-for-Keyless-Entry-Door-Locks-and-Deadbolts/p.aspx Total cost: $108.16 I found a similar one years ago on ThinkGeek, but I was (and still am) renting.

I guess because there's no manual lock mechanism, that's just how it works. The locks on the C-Max are to keep people outside out, not to keep people in. If you want the doors to not be able to be opened, you'll have to use the child locks. Which is annoying b/c then they can't ever be opened from inside, but at least then the kids won't go flying out going down the highway. FYI, there was a recall on the child lock for the left rear door for vehicles manufactured in November, 2012.

I don't hypermile and I have 48.9mpg post-update, and 46.4mpg lifetime. City is usually 52-55, and highway/freeway is 42-45. I need to start a thread on how I drive, b/c I'm managing to do really well, but I still feel like I could do a lot better. I know I can get to the 700mi club, but it's still eluding me. Then again, I'm only on my 5th tank. I've decided that, while your driving style has a lot to do with your MPG, so does the environment in which you drive. Totally flat roads, with extremely frequent stopping and starting, and many short trips, the C-Max just can't work optimally. Or at least those trips are the ones where I get the worst MPGs. I periodically get a trip around 35mpg, but those are usually <5mi so the ICE warmup kills it. On the other hand, I had a random 20mi 76.8mpg trip, and I still can't figure out how or why. Lots of 70+ freeway driving will lower your MPG as well. I've found that moderate hills actually help my MPG, but I think that's because of the forced pulse & glide discussed elsewhere. So, I'm guessing that even if you're driving as optimally as you can, the nature of the trips you're taking may be limiting your MPGs. I'd be interested in hearing more about the types of trips, terrain, traffic, and distances.

I do a lot of running, this past weekend I did a 205-mi 26-hour relay through New Hampshire with 11 of my friends. I'm also a rock climber, both indoors and out. I mostly climb at the Shawangunk Ridge in NY, and Rumney and Whitehorse in NH, but I also travel around the country -- Red Rocks near Vegas, Flatirons near Boulder, etc. The C-Max is the perfect car for comfortably lugging around 4 people plus climbing gear and still getting great MPGs. Hiking/backpacking is also one of my favorite things to do, took a 3-day backpack in the White Mountains over Labor Day. I'm still trying to figure out how I left the C-Max in the parking lot with a low charge but came back to it fully charged. SDM, I used to live in Miami and did a lot of cave diving when I lived down there -- my favorites were on the mill pond in Marianna, but spent a lot of time at Peacock (incl. lower Orange Grove), Devils, and Cow. But all on open circuit, never made the jump to rebreathers. Now that I live in Boston, I've sadly stopped diving, frigid temps and low vis just don't work for me.

My calculated MPGs so far have been within 1 MPG of the displayed MPG, so I have no reason at the moment to doubt it... and between the trip1 and distance to empty, it's currently telling me I'm on track for a 740mi tank. We'll see after this tank, but I have a looong way to go. Yeah, maybe I should name it Hal...

I had a very weird experience yesterday with my MPGs in my C-Max. To start, so far on this tank, I'm averaging 51.8 MPG over 250 miles. 100% city driving. So, clearly, things are working out well for me with the car. I also have the 13B07 update. I went out of town to California for a week, and severely missed my car -- I couldn't believe how much I like how it handles and feels compared to the car I had to drive while I was out of town. Definitely gives me a new appreciation for the car, it's no wonder I fell in love on the first test-drive. Anyway, yesterday I got home and went for a drive. While out of town I had taken my C-Max key off of my keychain -- no point in carrying it across the country. So when I got home, I grabbed my key and hopped in the car. While driving, I noticed my Trip 1 and Trip 2 were in "standard" display, not "enhanced" display like I had set them, and "My View" was set completely differently, so I thought that was odd, and I fixed them. But then I did two trips and got 40 and 41 MPG on trips that I would usually get 50+ MPG on. Very odd, and I was fairly concerned -- did that car I drove in Cali really spoil my driving ability? When I got home I figured it out -- I had inadvertently switched key fobs! That explains the display settings, anyway... I had never driven the car using the other key. So, it got me wondering. I switched back to my usual key and took two more trips later in the day -- 51 and 54 MPGs, and then another 53 MPG trip today. Weird! So... apparently the display settings are key-dependent, but I'm wondering if the PCM is somehow linked to the key? And maybe it actually does learn and adapt to your driving style, and those adaptations are dependent on the key? (I had always assumed the "learning" to be marketing BS that the sales guy spouts with no actual basis in reality and that the service advisor says as an excuse to get you to leave them alone, but...) There are so many variables here that I can't definitively say that it was related to the key. But it certainly seems unusual to me. Now I'm going to have to try another trip or two with the other key. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

From what I can tell, all Ford vehicles just have Sirius: http://www.siriusxm.com/vehicleavailability/f The C-Max isn't listed, but I don't see why it'd be any different than every other Ford vehicle.

Technically, SiriusXM is the company and overarching brand, and they have a Sirius and an XM division. So if a receiver receives Sirius or XM, it's a SiriusXM radio. I get what you're saying about advertising SiriusXM but getting Sirius. If the receiver in the car only had XM (like mine, but mine is aftermarket), others could say it was bait-and-switch to advertise SiriusXM but only give you XM. It's sad that they met the letter rather than the intent of the FCC mandate to have dual-band-capable receivers (they only ever made one). Bottom line, they should've clarified which technology they were offering, because either way someone will be able to complain. But, from what I've heard, the built-in one has a really poor sound quality anyway, so I'd just go get an aftermarket one. It won't be integrated, but to me that's a small price to pay for good sound and programming.

As far as I can tell, you can only identify negative split if your display is in Engage. EV is obvious, it says EV. Positive split - white bar (ICE) only, upward chevron on battery. Negative split - both White (ICE) and Blue (EV) bars, negative chevron on battery.

What I think he meant, and what I tried, is this: Consider the scenario: you're driving down the highway, eco-cruise on, the car it's charging up to the 3/4 point. Once it reaches 3/4 (or, for me, it seems it's 7/8), the threshold bar creeps up, and generally will overtake the current energy demand and drop into EV mode. What usually happens at that point is it stays full EV and discharges to the 1/4 point, then charges. But, if, instead, you briefly tap the accelerator and release, it'll bump it back out of EV mode for a while longer and if the battery is high enough, into negative split mode. You have to actively bump it out of EV, though, every time it decides to go into it. If you go down a hill, it'll switch to EV and not much you can do about that until you're going back up. Unfortunately for me, the highways here are too hilly so I can't maintain negative split for any reasonable duration, so I can't really play or test with negative split to compare to full EV.

Silent? ;) Thanks so much, looking forward to not having to clean up a mess every time I open the glove box!

My first entry into the 600+Mile club: I took this immediately before I filled up 12.91 gal, although I topped off this tank and didn't top off the last one. Same gas station. E10, unfortunately... I can't seem to find E0 anywhere here in MA. This is my third fill-up (car had 550mi when I bought it, from being transferred all over creation). This tank is all post-13B07, and had a ~250mi 70mph road trip. Time to work on the 700+Mile club... :)

Assuming you're still doing these, I just ordered one... such an awesome idea, I'm still not sure why Ford couldn't have done this themselves! Thanks so much!!

I'll second that the center console storage is awkward. Wish there were a coin tray (thinking about somehow sticking one underneath the parking brake). Also, given how huge the console is, there must be a lot of dead space in there, so some sort of additional storage compartment would be nice. Also, the glove box needs work, things constantly fall off of the top shelf. What were they thinking? The solar-powered ventilation would be really nice, esp. on a hot day. Separate HVAC controls for the back seat (driver and passenger are already separate, why not one more zone?). On the SE model, something besides compass and efficiency leaves on the right display. What a waste. Not sure why the entertainment module can't display there.

Just to throw my two cents in here, I have to agree that the only thing I'm disappointed in with my C-Max is the number of issues I've had with it. With my previous Honda Civic Hybrid, until 38,000 miles (when I had to have the battery replaced under warranty!!!), and then from that point until I traded it in at >100K, I had zero problems, the only reason I had to service the car was the required oil changes, tire rotations, etc. With the C-Max, at 2000 miles, I've already been to the dealer twice for service (headliner, PCM update), and I have to go back a third time for two additional issues I've discovered, which are apparently common problems (left strut noise, tabs missing on window molding). So, while overall, the car is great, the whole "initial quality" experience has me wondering what's in store down the road. Yes, it's the first model year, but still, I was under the impression that Ford had gotten their act together. I also am starting to believe that the service department at my local dealer leaves a bit to be desired, but we'll see. Worst case, I'll switch dealers. (Thanks salsaguy for that DealerRate site, btw, that's awesome).