MI C-max

Driving at what I described as "2 white ticks" on the the display gauge, while running under ICE power, does allow the vehicle to accelerate while recharging the battery. And somewhere below that range, once you're up to speed, you can maintain forward momentum while recharging the batteries if you're not ready to kick into EV mode. I recently made a trip to Cleveland - on the way there I was able to keep it on ICE while cruising around 68MPH - the EMPOWER display was showing under 1 white tick which means I was probably on a slight downhill grade, and the instantaneous MPG gauge was showing I was hitting somewhere between 45-50MPG while using the ICE to cruise and recharge the battery. Obviously on the way home, the grade was slightly uphill, and I couldn't get into that range again. The ICE "2 white ticks" range provides ample acceleration to keep up with the pack. Trying to feather the EV mode to stay in EV when accelerating from a dead stop results in little or no acceleration beyond 20MPH - and thus lots of people freaking out in your rearview. I was pushing it a little this morning - running 0 - 20MPH in EV mode - I was starting to fall behind the pack a little before I would kick in the ICE at 20MPH, but it wasn't enough to start driving people behind me insane. I ended up with a 58.6 MPG for a 10 mile trip.

Jus - I agree that 0-15MPH in EV is HUGE! The energy required to get these heavy vehicles to start moving from rest is a lot - better to do it under EV mode, than to burn gasoline to do it. Once it's in motion, the energy requirements aren't as drastic. Driving around town today the avg MPG is getting better too. I just dropped my daughter off at the X's house, averaged 48.6 down there using some rural (rather bumpy) roads. Took the smoother 4 lane blacktop back into town to go to the store and averaged 55.7, then hit a 62.3 to the Post Office (over half of that ride was 25MPH though), then a 49.0 back home (along the higher speed limited South Custer). Gased up while I was out - and just noticed that Fuelly is saying the average went up 0.4MPG - NICE! This is only the 3rd time in about 10 days I've had to fuel up - I'm not used to this! The 2012 Escape (or as she's now referred to - "The Bloated Pig") used to have to be gassed up about every other day. Over the 1100 miles covered by those 3 fill ups, WATTSon only consumed 25.3 gallons of gas. The Bloated Pig would have consumed 50 gallons of gas to cover that same distance. BTW ... does anyone want to buy a really nice 2012 Ford Escape??

It took me a couple of weeks ... WATTSon And thanks to the new Sherlock Holmes TV show, she's still named after a woman.

SUCCESS!! Started out the trip last night with an avg MPG of 42.6, pulled back in the driveway with an avg MPG of 43.2 (165 miles roundtrip, about 20 of which were surface streets, the rest was I75 from Monroe MI to Clarkston MI)! That's an increase of 0.6 MPG, and that is the first time I have ever hit the highway (any distance) and had an increase in avg MPG. Here's how I tackled it - Surface streets - followed Jus-A-Cmax guidelines from page 1 of this thread. EV up to 15 MPH, kicked in the ICE up to +3MPH over speed limit, dropped off the pedal, let EV kick in, then feathered it to 1 blue tick on the EMPOWER gauge. I was amazed how much further I went on EV when feathering it like this, as compared to letting the ECO Cruise make all the decisions. Highway - took it up to 65MPH, then kicked in the ECO Cruise. Let the EV mode do it's thing until it dropped back to ICE. Then I would feather it up to 2 white ticks on the gauge, until I reached around 68MPH, then dropped off the pedal, let EV mode kick in and let ECO Cruise do it's thing until the ICE kicked back in again. I know that's a somewhat inefficient use of the EV, but trying to deal with Metro Detroit traffic on a highway in and near rush hour, requires a little more concentration so I couldn't watch the EMPOWER gauges like a hawk. Again, I was pleasantly surprised to see how far I could go in EV while on the highway. Trip MPG was reported as 48.6MPG on the way up to the concert, 44.8MPG on the way back. Those are the highest numbers I've seen while driving up and down I-75 through Metro Detroit. Observations - 1) I noticed that driving like I was, allowed me to NOT be an obstacle on the roads - both surface and highway. For the first time, I didn't notice a lot of people behind me losing their shi# because they thought I was driving too slow. The acceleration on EV from 0 - 15MPH is sufficient to get going, and keep up with traffic. Above 15MPH during acceleration in EV requires a LOT of artful feathering and seriously slow driving - thus causing a lot of people freaking out in the rearview. 2) The undulations in the highway in the northern suburbs of Detroit didn't leave much room for bumping it up to 2 white ticks to get +3MPH above the ECO Cruise set point. BUT ... because the uphills were using the ICE to 2 white ticks, the downhills on the other side let it roll along in EV for a lot longer. In the northern suburbs (Auburn Hills, Clarkston) I just had to sit back and let the ECO Cruise do the work. The southern suburbs (Taylor, Woodhaven) are flatter, so there was more opportunity to manually bump the ICE up to 2 white ticks to +3MPH then back off and let the EV kick in. 3) Driving for better Hybrid MPG is probably foreign to a lot of people. I have been driving for 30 years, and this is the first Hybrid I've owned, so I really do need to learn how to drive it. This thread should somehow be mandatory reading for new members! 4) I thought of an analogy for the EV battery drain while driving - letting the ECO Cruise, or even manually driving in EV mode, with the EMPOWER gauges pegged to maximum blue ticks, is like filling up your tank with gas, and driving around at 6000RPM no matter what speed you're driving. Sure it will get you where you want to go, but it's also going to quickly drain your fuel tank! The draining of the battery in EV seems to be logarithmic - the more blue ticks you use, the faster it drains. 5) Since we were driving home after midnight last night, and there was no one on the surface streets in Monroe at that time, I was kind of playing around with "pulsing" the EV - take it up to 1 blue tick, back off and let it drop to 0, gradually take it up to 1/2 blue tick, back off let if drop to 0, repeat between 0 and 1/2 blue tick - since there were small distances with 0 battery usage, I seemed to go further than I thought I would. I only managed that on a very short straightaway (maybe 2 miles) before I needed to turn, I obviously don't have a lot of data / experience with the "pulsing" method. But definitely something else to tryout while I'm driving. I definitely think I am headed in the right direction now. There is still more to work on, but I am very happy with last night's progress. I'm now hopeful I'll be joining that 600+ Mile Club soon!

I've been wondering how some of you "mega-milers" have been getting that kind of performance out of your C-maxes. I can see from this thread some of the "mistakes" I've been making and I will definitely try to incorporate these tips to bring my MPG avg up. I think I've been doing pretty good so far, but I really want to put some Prius owners I know in their place ... :nonono: Both of them have already admitted that my C-max rides, feels, is nicer on the inside and handles better than their Prii ( :worship:), now I need to show them that it can outperform them too :superhero: Near where I live, I have 2 different roads that run parallel to the River Raisin (North and South Custer). South Custer is 55 MPH, North Custer is 45 MPH, then 35 MPH, then 30 MPH along the same stretch of the river. I have already switched to driving North Custer as often as possible, because I can see the difference in MPG avg when I do. The thing I really need help with is highway driving. I spend a lot of time during the week on highways - either going to the Ford Engineering campus in Dearborn, or Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills. Highway speeds in SE Michigan are 70MPH, and our freeways were built a long time ago, so they usually go over or under the roads they cross. They were not built with fuel efficiency in mind, like many in the SW and West Coast are. I can see that even short runs on the highway are costing me big in avg MPG. I try keeping it between 65 to 68 MPH - looking to get the best MPG out of the ICE while cruising along. I'm going to try to keep off of the ECO Guide cruise control for the next few days to see if I can nurse the highway MPG to some better performance. (I've got 150 miles one way headed to a concert tonight, time to try some of this out while on the freeway tonight). This is a GREAT thread - I'm glad I stumbled upon it this morning!

I jumped on GasPods website yesterday and downloaded their logbook to start recording data w/o GasPods installed - I've already converted their logsheet into a spreadsheet. When I submit the data to AE, I'll post it to a new thread.

Does anyone know if there are any other aftermarket accessories to improve fuel efficiency? I'm thinking things like wheel well covers like the Honda Insight used to have , or cowlings to fit between the hood and windshield - covering up the voids where air can swirl around.

I just checked out their "Test Program" and downloaded the logbook for the first 2000 miles without the GasPods installed. I'll give it a whirl. Probably no better tester than a skeptic - imagine the glowing testimonial they'll have from me if it does work!

I know the perfect stretch of road on the OH Turnpike - and it would be at speeds where I'm looking to gain the most.

NPR ran a story on it first thing Friday (8/16) morning - my Boss called me before 8am with the "news". Local News here in the Metro Detroit area ran stories Thursday (8/15) Night, then Friday Morning, Noon and Evening broadcasts. Plus ever newspaper I read - Wall St Journal, USA Today, Detroit Free Press all had stories as well. There was a lot of coverage here in SE Michigan. Local "News" in Detroit loves stories about Ford - both good and bad.

That's part of my skepticism as well - if they worked well enough to produce a 5% decrease in drag coefficient on something that already has a low drag coefficient (like a C-max or Prius) then Ford, GM or Toyota would have bought them, or licensed them exclusively, for use on their worst performing vehicles ... I'm looking at you Ford FLEX and F150! Ford sells a lot of F150s that hurt their CAFE ratings, but improve their profits. A decrease in drag coefficient on their best selling vehicle would help them a lot in CAFE. If the makers of GasPods were looking for additional C-max test subjects, I'd gladly participate in a regimented test program. I'm a degreed Engineer, working in the Automotive Industry in SE Michigan, Ford is currently my largest account, and I have previous Design & Test Engineering experience in automotive wheel bearings. I know how to run a test ...

Something tells me Ford's "goodwill" payment is going to include some verbiage along the lines of "cashing this check means you have been reimbursed in full, the owner may not be involved in a lawsuit, class action or otherwise, against Ford Motor Company in the future concerning mileage claims with this vehicle".

I'm considering trying out the Gas Pods myself - I'm spending a lot of time on the highway in the 65MPH to 70MPH range. It's obvious the aerodynamics of the vehicle at those speeds are killing my avg MPG. I can hit mid 50s and low 60s around town (under 45MPH), but the instantaneous MPG gauge on the EMPOWER screen usually shows under 40MPG when on the freeway. You and Susan think the optimal location is along the trailing edge of the hatch then? You said about 2 inches off of the sides, following the curve. How far off of the rear edge?

I wouldn't think the Global Close would require any additional hardware. It would seem that the hardware/module required to roll them down, would also be the hardware/module to roll them up - just in reverse. It seems to me that's just a function of the car's Operating System - recognizing that the lock button is being held for 3 seconds, then reverse the roll down motors. I did notice that the key fob for the Focus that does the Global Close was different than the C-max smart key. I would lean more towards the key fob can't do it, rather than something needing to be added to the car.

I had this happen Thursday afternoon - I went out to lunch with co-workers, walked out to the C-max before them, key in my pants pocket. Opened the door as usual (without taking the key out of my pocket, just grabbing door handle). I didn't notice that I did anything unusual, but as I was sliding into the driver's seat I noticed all four windows were rolling down. When we got back to the Office I pulled the manual out and found that section on Global Window Opening - but I know I wasn't pressing on the unlock button on the key fob for 3 seconds. I was wondering if maybe it was a combination of me grabbing the drivers door handle, while my co-workers grabbed their door handles at the same time ... I too did some online research on the the Global Window Open feature - it appears that the Focus can roll down windows by holding the unlock button, and also roll up the windows by holding the lock button. I've tried on the C-max, but it looks like the C-max only knows how to roll down the windows.

I just jumped on Ford.com and searched for C-max vehicle near me, then checked out the window sticker for one of them - You'll notice it has the new EPA 45/40 fuel ratings on the window sticker. I then went to Ford EITS and entered the VIN for that vehicle. The Vehicle Summary does NOT have 13B10 on it -

It would make sense that this is how they would track the $550/$325 payments. They enter 13B10 for every C-max VIN produced prior to the day they made the announcement. If the Dealer puts a new sticker with the 45/40 EPA rating an a C-max, they would go and remove 13B10 from that VIN via the Dealerships Service website. After all the Dealers have replaced the stickers in the vehicles they have on the lot, then Ford would know they need to issue a check for the remaining VINs that still have 13B10 in their "to-do" list in the Ford ETIS.

Just saw it on mine too.

Yesterday's trip to Cleveland and back was interesting - Started off leaving the house with 43.6 avg MPG. Pulled into my destination with a 44.2 avg MPG. I did notice a lot of long downhill declines near the destination, and watched the avg MPG climb accordingly. Of course that meant coming home were a bunch of long uphill inclines, and I watched the avg MPG drop just as quickly. I pulled into the driveway with a 42.8 avg MPG - so the whole trip cost me 0.8 avg MPG - which means I'm probably NOT joining the 600+ club with this tank of gas! I did also notice the "sweet spot" while cruising to Cleveland - somewhere around 68 MPH the MPG gauge was showing somewhere between 40 - 50 MPG on the ICE, while charging the battery. On the way back, I just couldn't find that "sweet spot" again - I think the ride back from Cleveland to Toledo has a general slight incline so I could never get into the "sweet spot". The best part of the trip yesterday - a co-worker of mine that has a Prius went to lunch with me to check out the car. He said several times - "this is a lot nicer than my Prius!" He also mentioned it being quieter in the cabin, and asked me what I thought he could get for his Prius if he sold it. That made the trip well worth it!

I can not say enough good stuff about my C-max! I love this car, and have often told people "it's like driving an iPhone" - which trust me, is very HIGH praise from me! Today, I hit two milestone trips - 1) 9 miles - 56.7 MPG (the highest I'd seen since buying my C-max 8/13/13, then ... ) 2) 16 miles - 65.7 MPG - my jaw dropped when I saw the trip summary on that one! Tomorrow is going to be a long haul test - from Monroe MI to Cleveland OH and back along the OH Turnpike (about 300 miles roundtrip). I'm really curious how that will affect my avg MPG.

Nevermind - got it!

I stopped by my local Ford Dealer this afternoon - took all of the screen shots above with me, and laid out what was done, what was posted on the myford site. The counter guy had their SYNC tech join us, both said they had not heard of any dealer specific install requirements. They then called someone at Ford HQ in Dearborn, who also said they had not heard of any reason for a dealer specific installation. The person on the phone said they saw that I had confirmed the update, and the info they had received was that the update was successfully installed. All three agreed that they did not see a reason to reinstall Gen 2 V3.6.2. I told them I had better things to do with my time than wait around for them to reinstall. I left without them doing anything to my C-Max. The only explanation we got was from the person on the phone that said something must be getting messed up on the Ford website. She said she would let someone know and they would look in to it.

How do you add the Fuelly banner to a signature?

I just got my C-Max last Tuesday (8/13). On Thursday I downloaded and successfully installed the V3.6.2 update. Yesterday I was on the myford.com website and it said my C-Max had a "Dealer-Installed SYNC Update" available. It would not let me download, only said that I needed to make an appointment with the dealer. When I checked what was involved in this "Dealer-Installed Update" it looks exactly what I successfully installed myself last Thursday. It says the Dealer-Installled update is Gen2-V3.6.2 DA5T-14D544-BD Ad the update I installed on Thursday was Gen2-V3.6.2 DA5T-14D544-BD I'm leaning towards ignoring this. Am I missing something here? Is there something more, or something else that needs to be installed that the update I did on my own last week is missing?

Alright, stupid question time ... when I go to my TRIP displays I don't have the MPG or gallons of gas used? Is there a setting I need to change?? I want in on the 600+ Club and need to make sure I can prove it!! EDIT: NEVERMIND ... I just went out in the garage and figured out the Trip display ... d'oh! BTW - This morning on a short trip (about 9 miles one way) I noticed the trip summary said I averaged 49.9 MPG. I've barely had the vehicle for a week and already got a small trip at close to 50 MPG!! I was pretty excited about that!