mlaurence

I got my check on Thursday. In two weeks my C-Max will be one year old (built in May) and my lifetime mileage is now 43.4 on the odometer. I feel like I should give the money back! But I'm not going to.

I want to thank you guys for the cold weather tips. At the beginning of November I was proud to be getting over 46mpg, but lately Boston has gone into the 30s and 20s. My current running mileage is about 10mpg below where it was a month ago, so I turned here for some tips. Tonight I tried turning the heat off, and what a difference that makes! The engine warms much faster and I saw the blue EV light come on so quickly. It also took so much more time for the engine to cool down when I was coasting on EV or waiting at a traffic light. I never would have thought that blowing warm air into the cabin used so much engine heat. My trip tonight gave me over 42mpg for a short 15 mile round trip in sub-freezing weather. It's not a route I usually take but I'll get a better comparison tomorrow on my way to work. Hopefully this will keep me out of winter depression, watching the lifetime mileage plunge month after month until April. One thing for sure: I'm glad I insisted on a model with heated seats!

Thanks! I don't know why my photo attachments are always so tiny. And these ones are even upside-down! I feel like I'm driving the clown car. :) But at least I'm in da club. Meanwhile, some of you are hitting 800 miles or more-wow! I guess that'll be "wait til next year" from here in New England.

Here's how I joined the club! I had about 525 miles on a tank and my estimated miles-to-empty read about 65. The temperature's been dropping and I can see that I lose 10mpg or more on chilly mornings. Today was a balmy 60º in Boston (for the Red Sox victory parade, of course), so I figured this was my last chance before next spring to get the big 600 mile tank. I went off on an old-fashioned road trip, cruising down a lightly traveled state highway (35-45 mph), watching the miles go up and the miles-to-go drop down. With 40 miles to the goal, I got a Low Fuel Warning and the tank in the gas gauge turned yellow. It claimed I could squeeze 37 miles out of my tank. About 20 miles later it turned red! I never saw that before. I figured I might be walking the last miles as the miles-to-go dropped to 0 with 8 miles left to 600. But I made it, to 601.2 miles, with a gas station in front of me as I stopped to take pictures. Score! As it turns out, there's either a lot of spare gas in the tank, or a lot of room after the gas pump clicks off. My car took 12.878 gallons, so there was well over a half gallon of gas in the tank (or air when I finished filling it up). There was another milestone on this trip: On the 75 mile mileage run, I got the best trip mileage of my car's life, a little over 60 mpg. It was along the coast, so basically the same elevation from start to finish. Those 40 mph roads are really the sweet spot for the C-Max. I'll estimate that my 600 mile tank was about 50% city driving, 20% interstate, and 30% state highway.

Same here, first 3000 miles now problem free and the gas mileage just keeps going up. My most recent tank is over 48mpg. I'm thinking maybe I should send their $550 check back. :)

I received my $550 today. Last name starts with K, I bought my C-Max on August 8. I kinda wish they'd sent it by regular mail and sent me the difference. :) Anyway, as you can see, my mileage is more than the new window sticker says and it continues to get a little better week by week. Thank you Ford for the free gas!

I did a 200 mile trip over the weekend, more than half on interstate highways. At the end, I was over 44 mpg. That's with the update, and I was happy with the results. I actually did quite a bit of driving over 70mph, and didn't pay as close attention as I usually do to the changing mpg guages. So that meant for a more relaxed trip. Going uphills, I let the car slow to 60 or so, but over the hill I let it go as fast as 75, and I was happy to see the EV kick in even at those speeds on the downward slope. It was nice to be passing some cars and using some of the fun-to-drive power that I bought with the C-Max. Overall, I'd say I had faster speeds than before the update, and my overall mileage was at least as good as before.

Hi, as a fellow Bostonian, I'm wondering where you find those "totally flat roads." :) No, I know of a few, and my best tactic there is to get up to and a little above the speed limit and then let the EV coast with a little power to keep it going. The biggest variable that a lot of people don't think about is net difference in altitude. You'll go up and down a lot of hills but a lot of the time you don't realize you've dropped 500 feet in the process of reaching your destination, or climbed that far. That's why I really only believe my mileage when I've finished a round trip. So far I haven't owned my C-Max through a really cold morning, but when it's in the 40's and 50's it might take a mile or so before the EV will kick in. Of course the mpg's drop, but the upside of all that ICE driving is that the battery is building up to the top, so you'll be able to use the EV more during the rest of your trip. I'm enjoying 45.1 lifetime right now (on the car's computer, anyway), but I know it won't last when the New England winter kicks in.

Now I have my first fill-up after 400+ miles with the update. And it barely made a difference in my lifetime mileage. My tank was 0.3mpg under my Fuelly average, which didn't change things from the previous 44.1mpg. The car's own computer didn't change either, still 45.0. The really good news for me is that I did not spend the whole time in the slow lane trying to hit this number. Instead of driving under the speed limit all the time, I was going 65-75 as I let the EV kick in to coast for a little while on the interstate. Probably my average interstate speed was a little over 65, which makes a considerable difference when everyone is going 65-80. I still haven't gotten the rhythm quite right. But I'm encouraged: I didn't lose mileage - well, a tiny bit, but that's just a glitch. My EV+ is back after it disappeared for almost 2 weeks after the update. That little EV boost when I get close to home really makes a difference. Considering that I was really experimenting for the first 1/3 of the tank, I think the mileage will be heading up in the future. The best news: it was only a tiny drop. 45mpg is a lot better than I expected when I bought the C-Max, and I'm still getting it in the city and - almost - on the highway. I'll get that 47mpg yet - although with winter on the way, I might have to wait a few months.

I'd rather not have one that worked from inside the car. As you suggest, it sounds insecure - anybody who knew about it would have a giant added incentive to break into the car. But more important, there are many times that I want to unlock my house door and I'm not getting out of my car at the time. A key fob in the pocket would be a lot better.

Thanks for the comparison. Nice review! I'd say you were fair to the Prius and picked the winner I would have picked. I've driven Prius rentals before and bought a C-Max, so I picked it too. I love the quiet, solid build of the C-Max, the extra touches of the SEL package, comfortable seats, and nice ride. Unlike you, I'm really happy so far with MyFord Touch. The voice commands have made it easy to sort out the many complicated features of the phone/entertainment package...at least for me. But I've also been a little frustrated that I can't quite seem to get the 47mpg or better that some people on this group are reporting. It does seem like Toyota makes it easier to drive the Prius the way you'd want to if you wanted top mileage. But I also want to be able to step on it when necessary, have some fun, and get some performance out of my almost $30,000 car. Ford makes it a lot easier to do that, and that above all is why I prefer the C-Max.

This is exactly what I was experiencing after I got the update. On an interstate, now you pulse to a higher speed with the ICE and let the EV gradually cruise to a slightly slower speed, building up those mpg's as you cruise. It's like a straightaway on a city street or a state highway. I think it's a little more relaxing to drive the car consistently, instead of having to switch styles once you went over 62mph. I'm glad not to have to think about the 62mph threshold.

Wow, that's amazing, on the first tank! Absolutely no learning curve for you driving the C-Max. I've been all impressed with myself on target for my first 600 mile tank after 2000 miles, and you go and do it on tank #1. Have you driven hybrids before? Congratulations.

I like it! It wouldn't work with my Android phone but that's okay, it will still work with a keyfob in my pocket. I'm not sure if it would work with my rather ancient door and lock. Their discussion of lock brand names and systems doesn't mean much to me, but I'm afraid it would add up to "sorry, you need all new everything." :) And there's also the drawback that it doesn't seem to actually exist yet. Otherwise, sounds great!

I don't see much difference between ECO and every other cruise control I've ever used. It slows you down a little bit on hills, but for good mileage I'd slow down by 10mph or more. What you can do is push it a little more when you see a hill coming up, then ease up on the gas (not all the way, but somewhat) and accept that you'll be going quite a bit slower at the top of the hill. But once the gas engine kicks in, feel free to push it when you get close to the top of the hill. Then when you get to the top you'll be back to the speed limit or above it, and you can coast on EV for a while, building the mileage back up, making up as much as you can of the loss from that climb. It's so important to be able to anticipate what's coming up. That's what gives us human drivers better results than the ECO cruise control. At least that's the way it looks to me. But hey, I've had the update for a week, so I'm still learning. Maybe there's a better way - I'm sure I will learn some new tricks as I go.