MI C-max

I saw a blue C-max in Monroe on Thursday ... that's now 4 different colored C-max vehicles (my red, white, grey and blue) that I've seen running around Monroe MI. Not bad for a county that only has 135,000 people in it!

Mine showed up via FedEx.

Adair - the mornings in SE MI have been killing me lately! The drive to take my daughter to school (about 17 miles from the house) was netting fuel economies in the 50 MPG range until this week, now hitting low 40's! I'm chalking up the decreases to the defroster and lights needing to be on! I do tend to cycle the HVAC though - just turn it on to clear the windshield, then turn it off until needed again. And once the kid is out of the car, the HVAC is OFF and the windows are cracked open to keep the view clear. The ride back still needs lights though, so the return trips are hitting mid-40's. I'm still wondering why Ford didn't put LEDs in the headlights? I see them on the new Escapes, not sure why they didn't think low energy lights would be a good idea on a hybrid ...

I stumbled on to this thread looking for a solution to a true "vent" for my C-max hybrid ... I read this post and started laughing! My first car was a 1974 Plymouth Duster, at the firewall beneath the dash on both sides of the vehicle, were black boxes with doors and little lever locks on them. When you opened the door, that was the fresh air vent. The geniuses at Chrysler / Plymouth made it literally a vent too - no filters, no screens - bugs would find their way into the vehicle through those little trap doors! Oh how I wish for a modern version of those vents now ...

I was up in Troy MI today, the GPS said if I took the Interstates home it would be a 1hr 15 min drive. For kicks I decided to see if I could get from Troy to Monroe without ever touching one of the Interstates (in other words, staying at 55MPH or below the whole way). Using roads like 16 Mile Rd., Coolidge Highway, 8 Mile Rd, Southfield Freeway and Telegraph Rd. I made it home in 1hr 25 mins (10 mins longer than the GPS estimate) and averaged 58MPG for the ride, versus the usual 44MPG or lower using I-75. And the lack of stress by avoiding I-75 this afternoon was pretty refreshing!

I think I've finally figure out the distribution strategy - By State, Alphabetically. We've seen checks in Arizona, Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan But no checks in North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Washington I'm starting to see a trend ...

$550 check just arrived (the benefits of living in the same state that it was FedExed from - 1 day service instead of 2). Accompanying letter was dated 9/9/13. For those tracking the distribution of checks ... I purchased my C-max on August 16, 2013 Last name starts with "O" I live in Monroe MI

I'm going to be up in the Novi / Farmington Hills area today, then Troy tomorrow ... I wish Ford would have just told me where the check was and I would have stopped to pick it up. I could have saved them the FedEx shipping for at least 1 check! AND, I could have shown them it was possible to get close to the original tagged 47MPG in the process!!

FedEx just sent me an email saying FORD MOTOR COMPANY has shipped a package via FedEx 2 Day from Farmington Hills MI. Package was picked up today, scheduled for delivery Thursday by 8pm.

It really seems like it's Geographic or Zip Code based - it looks like people on the West Coast, East Coast, Southeast and Southwest have received theirs. Not seeing anyone in the Midwest saying they've gotten their's yet. You, I and Adair are all in Michigan, and none of us have seen our checks yet. I have an Account with FedEx and they send me an email that a shipment is inbound to me as soon as the billing info hits their system. As soon as I see an email from them, I'll post something. Of course with our luck, since we're so close to Dearborn, Ford will probably just mail ours out, and not ship via FedEx. It would help when everyone posts that they got their check, if they let us know where they're located. Some people don't have their location specified under their avatar.

I've been keeping my eyes peeled for other C-max vehicles near where I live in Monroe MI (a rural community about an hour south of Detroit MI, and just north of Toledo OH). I've had mine for about 6 weeks now, and I see a lot of people in store parking lots checking it out. A few have asked what kind of mileage I get and the obvious "Do you like it?" questions. I keep getting fooled thinking that new Escapes are C-maxes, but realize as they get close that they are not. Yesterday, while driving around town I spotted a white C-max heading in the opposite direction from me! I flashed my lights and gave the driver a thumbs up out of my window. She beeped and returned the thumbs up. Not 5 minutes later, on a different road ... a grey C-max heading the other way. Again I flashed the lights and gave a thumbs up out of the window - but only got a look like I was insane from the other driver. When I used to have my VW New Beetle, there was a "community greeting" among the drivers - we would flash our lights at each other. We need to develop a C-max community greeting - I'm hoping the thumbs up will catch on!

It's starting to sound like they're being distributed geographically ...

Anyone that has received their check - have you checked Ford ETIS to see if the 13B10 code had been removed from your vehicle?

"Cover Mods" ... I'm intrigued! Do you have a thread going for this??

They must be going out in VIN order. I'm in SE Michigan - very close to Dearborn - and nothing yet for me.