mtberman

Yes, this is the key to EV+. Whether or not a person will benefit from EV+ depends mainly on heater demand. If you tend to not need the heater when you first set out with a cold engine (i.e., you have a garage or live in a warm climate), then EV+ won't really impact your mileage. It may even lower it slightly. If you need heat in the morning and tend to leave the climate system on, you'll benefit more from EV+. This probably includes anyone who uses remote start, since remote start is literally antithetical to this car's design. The car is going to run after start-up to meet the driver's demand for heat, so it doesn't matter if your battery is empty upon cold start if you're this driver. The engine has to run anyway, so EV+ cleverly takes advantage of this situation to re-charge the battery. Hence the idea that it's OK if the battery is empty when you park it at night.

Ditto on the winter problem and high speeds. Those getting below 35 MPG are almost certainly running the heat from start-up, and/or running 65+ MPH. One tip: Try running with the climate control off (use seat heaters if you have them and it's cold out) for the first ten minutes of your drive when possible. Turn the system on only after the gas engine has thoroughly warmed up. Of course you should use the system regardless of mileage if it gets stuffy or there's any chance of ice or fog on the windows. I was surprised how much doing this improved my MPG.

3M film is not a necessary or standard part of the rack. The rack feet are designed so they won't mar, scratch or otherwise affect the paint. I believe that some users fashion pieces of 3M film (the infamous "clear bra" material) to place under their rack feet as an additional precaution. I think that's what we're talking about here. As with any rack, you have to be careful not to scratch the paint when you take the crossbars on and off. Using protective film should help avoid that.

Great advice overall. I was so skeptical that I test-drove the car five times. There was no real threat of buying one on impulse because (a) I'm not that kind of guy and (b) C Max SEL with the 302 or 302 package + pano roof are basically non-existent in my area unless you like white cars. The best advice with this, or any car really, is to drive one more than once if possible, and try to go on a weekday when they're not busy so you can be out for a while and really get a feel for it. If you're considering other cars, try to drive both the same day, back-to-back if possible. There are a lot of good things about a Prius or a Prius V.

It took me about about 5 minutes to put the Thule Fit 1683 onto the four Thule feet. It's then a matter of sliding the crossbars onto the feet and placing each assembly on the car, one front and one back. All told, this probably takes from 15 minutes to a half hour, depending on your experience and skills. It's pretty easy if you're a bigger person, but it's a lot easier if you have another person to help with the last part. Once the cross bars are on, you'll add your equipment (bike mounts, ski rack, roof box, etc)nd then put the wind-noise tape over the gaps that you aren't using. That's really the more time-consuming part.

I really wanted Deep Impact and almost passed when I found it wasn't available. Thought Blue candy might work until I saw it in person. Fortunately they had a Sterling Gray one nearby and I was surprised how good it looked on this car, especially the SEL with the different trim. All the colors are so different in person. The Sterling Gray and Ruby Red are both really attractive in person vs. in pictures. I learned my lesson with light interiors with a 2008 Escape hybrid. That car was available in medium light stone only, no other choices. I'm really picky about keeping my car clean but I also do a lot of mountain biking, use dirt roads, go camping in it, etc. and it was hard to keep the Escape clean. The black interior on the C Max is pretty dark. But if you spring for the glass roof it's perfect.

Capitalized cost is the selling price of the car, meaning you paid $31925. What is maintenance and wear n care? Maybe you also got some extras. But regardless, this is not a good deal. A base (200A package) C Max SE lists for $25,995. The cap cost on this car should be no more than $25,000, or almost $7000 less than the cap cost you're describing. That's not acceptable. I personally would raise a huge ass stink and demand they re-do this deal at $289 per month, as advertised (see below). Tell them, politely, that you're going to go on Yelp, Craigslist, Ford's Facebook site and anywhere else you can think of and tell the world that they did a bait and switch, and took advantage of you as a family with a distracting fussy new baby. Hell, tell them you think the salesman might have pinched your baby. Because this deal is just so egregiously bad, which I personally think entitles you to do and say whatever you want. If they think it's worth it to force you to keep the car and the deal, then that's their choice. At that point, you can write up a simple summary of how they took advantage of you and your young family, and start posting it all over town. Google reviews, yellow pages sites, you name it. Naturally, you should offer an alternative. Tell them you want the advertised South Florida lease deal shown below. It's on the Ford website. Seriously, though, don't feel bad. You made a mistake, big deal. We have all done something like this. Now go fix it. South Florida Lease: http://www.fordspecialevent.com/vehicles/2013%20Ford%20C-MAX 2013 Ford C-MAX Hybrid SE Sedan Auto$289 /mo. for 24 mos.Ford Credit Red Carpet Lease$2788 Cash Due at Signing Security deposit waived Taxes, title and license fees extra Not all buyers will qualify for Ford Credit Red Carpet Lease. Payments may vary; dealers determine prices. Residency restrictions apply. Cash due at signing is after $250 cash back (PGM #50164). Take new retail delivery from dealer stock by 4/1/13. See dealer for qualifications and complete details. EDIT: Oh and by the way, you don't need the maintenance plan. Oil changes cost about $40 for this car, less with a Ford Quick lane coupon, and you only need one every 10,000 miles. That's 3 oil changes over the course of the lease.

The video is at least partly, if not fully, bogus. First, running electric AC won't directly affect MPG as depicted in the video. The only way to get the MPG to fluctuate instantly as shown was for the driver to increase and decrease power demand. That's done using the pedal on the floor. The one on the right. The AC compressor in both C Max and Prius is driven by the high voltage battery and is a variable type. Its power draw depends on the cooling needs of the car. When you turn it on, it doesn't kick immediately on at full load. It spins up relatively slowly. Even if it were an "instant on" type, changing the load on the HV battery while underway wouldn't manifest as an instantly detectable increase or decrease in metered fuel usage. The number would change gradually, especially when driving on a flat road as depicted in the video. The compressor in both the Prius and the C Max spins up slowly with power draw increasing similarly slowly. In the C Max, we can see this draw in the info display if we've set it to show that. There is of course a drain on the HV battery when the compressor is on. That energy has to come from somewhere, which is of course the gas tank. It comes in the form of lower overall fuel mileage when the compressor is running than when it isn't. That much is true. But the video is BS in my opinion. I would be more inclined to believe this if there was another one out there in which the engine speed is steady.

+1 on this. Octane ratings are not a measure of fuel quality. The only thing that's certain is this: The higher the octane rating, the lower the amount of energy per gallon of fuel and the lower your actual gas mileage will be. There are basically four ways to buy fuel for a car designed for regular unleaded gasoline. One choice is to buy your favorite regular gas from your neighborhood 7-11, supermarket or Costco. This is fine. Another choice is to buy Top Tier regular gasoline. Do this if you want the best possible fuel. A third choice is to buy Top Tier mid-grade or premium fuel. This is what our Audi calls for, but the C Max engine is not the same as the Audi engine, and wasn't designed to run mid-grade or premium fuel. Doing this probably won't hurt the car but your mileage will be slightly lower and the fuel is easily 30c more per gallon, making this a solid waste of money. A fourth option would be to go to your neighborhood 7-11, supermarket or Costco and buy mid-grade or premium. A lot of people do this, mistakenly thinking that they are helping their car by selecting the "premium" grade. The name is a misnomer. The fuel is a different grade, not a better grade. The only fuel that's "better" is Top Tier and similar fuels, which are proven better than non-Top Tier fuels. Buying a lower quality fuel is no big deal, but buying the wrong grade of it is just nonsensical. I don't blame folks for going to low cost outlets. That's great and I'm all for it, and your car will be fine with it. But really, don't buy the wrong grade of fuel no matter where you fill up. If you want to spend money, go to a Top Tier station, but the proper fuel, and pocket the money you would have spent buying the wrong grade of fuel. And Thank You to the Mobil engineer that taught me all this trivial stuff back in the mid 1990s when the internet was new and I had a Ford Taurus SHO that called for mid-grade. You've saved me a lot of money over the years.

The engine doesn't come on when I open my hood. The same was true with my former Toyota Prius: You could have the hood open and be poking around and the engine would fire up. The only warning was an electronic hum and then a clicking like a relay. Then, Bam, engine on. You can sometimes tell the car is on when you stick your head under the hood because of the puttering of the A/C compressor and the hum of the climate fan. But if those items are off, it can be difficult to tell whether or not the car is onwhen you open the hood. Fortunately, there's no belt-driven alternator or belt-driven compressor or belt-driven power steering pump to worry about. Moving parts are well hidden.

This video is interesting but deceptive in my opinion. When the driver turns on the A/C, he simultaneously increases engine speed from about 1600 RPM to just over 1700 RPM, and then says basically "Look how the MPG dropped". Well of course the car uses more fuel when you speed up. He holds this higher engine speed, even creeping up to nearly 1800 RPM a few times, while he's remarking about how the gas mileage dropped. He claims he's holding the pedal steady but he really isn't. As soon as he turns the A/C off, he lifts the pedal (whether intentional or not, I don't know) and slows the engine speed back to about 1550 RPM. The gas mileage reading goes back up, naturally. But he attributes thisto turning off the A/C, not to the fact that he slowed then engine down. It's pretty obvious. I assume he was assailed for this deception over on Priuschat.

Sorry for jacking this thread ... And God Forbid we talk about gasoline. However... this thread implies that folks may be buying 91 octane Costco fuel for a new C Max. Please accept my apologies if I'm mistaken about that. If true, however, it's worth mentioning that it's a bad idea (mainly financially) to run the incorrect fuel, which would be anything higher than 87 in your C Max. Especially a low quality version of it. For those interested in running "the good stuff" in your new baby, don't go to a cheap gas place and buy premium. Instead, buy the proper fuel (87 octane) and buy a better quality fuel. A high quality version of the fuel your car is designed to use costs a lot less than buying the wrong fuel (premium) from a low quality vendor, and is better for your car and your wallet or purse. Check out the engineering section of Road and Track or visit www.toptiergas.com for information about fuel quality.

+1 for stalking. It works. I've bought 2 cars that way. The first was a 2004 Prius in late '03. There were waiting lists for the car at the time. It was an unclaimed order and I bought it on the spot. The second was in early '07, a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. It was also a wait list car at the time, and the updated 2008 model was just hitting dealer lots. I saw it at a Ford dealer but couldn't find it on the internet. It turns out they'd mistakenly used an incorrect (fleet) code when they ordered it. In fact, the dealer didn't even realize this until I came in and asked. The sales person said they'd been wondering why no one had bought it yet, considering how hard they were to get at the time. Anyway, they said 'no thanks' to my X-Plan offer. I left them my number, and a month later (on my birthday, coincidentally) they called and said they'd take the X-Plan deal if I came in that day. My dealer said the same thing will happen with the car I originally ordered. It won't show up on the internet, but if someone happens to find it there, they will get a gray 302A package SEL with black seats and a sunroof, a car that is only otherwise available around here by special order.

I had mine done in Huber Optic Xtreme Optiks 35% all around. Except of course the windshield, which I would never tint. Colorado law is 27%+ light transmission and standard windows already have some tint, so I usually stick with 35%. Also I live in an urban environment and we have lots of jaywalkers. I need to be able to see clearly at night if I want avoid taking out a drunk hipster. The shop I use is expensive but they have been around for years and provide a lifetime warranty. Even after a repeat customer discount and another 10% it was still a little over $200. They also threw in a $40 film on the rear bumper. But still, this car does have a lot of windows. More than other cars, the C Max really needs a tint. Totally worth the money. On the first few drives before I had it done I felt like I was in a fish bowl.

Great advice. I did the same thing. I ordered one in late Nov, just as you did, and asked them to keep looking. I don't think they really did much looking. Car dealers' attention spans are generally pretty short and they naturally move on to the next car deal. Can't blame them. Anyway, I stopped by on a quiet weekday afternoon a couple of weeks later and asked them to do a search. They were happy to help but we didn't find one. I went back in a couple of weeks later in late Dec and told them I'd take either the 302A package or the 303A, instead of just the 302A, as long as we could get it done by Jan 2. Sure enough, a matching car was incoming at a dealer about 450 miles away. They set up the trade while I was sitting there. Going in on a quiet day and asking is really the only reason I got my car in January. They weren't super helpful by phone or email, but were great once I was there in person. We signed everything the day before the larger incentives expired and I took delivery shortly after.

The C Max turning circle is not good. This is frankly the only thing about the car that has disappointed me. I traded an Audi Q5 for my C Max. The Audi cost about $40,000, is about a foot longer and has a wheelbase at least six inches longer. And mine had the upgraded 19" wheels, too. But its turning circle was noticeably better. However, this is a really small thing. I'm a car guy, and it's important to note that the C Max compared favorably enough with a $40K vehicle to get me to trade. This says a lot about how good it really is. I had the misfortune to own a Prius for two years, and that car SUCKED compared to the C Max. The two are in totally different leagues. But yes, the turning circle isn't good.

Considering the long service intervals and the fact that you can take it to Ford Quick Lane, a prepaid maintenance plan seems like a questionable choice. There are Ford dealers all over and most offer in/out, no-appointment-needed service. They were always fast and did it right when I had my Escape Hybrid. And the staff seemed way more qualified than those Clown Lube places. Plus it's cheap, between $20 and $35 depending on whether you need synthetic or semi-synthetic and depending on whether you remember to print the discount coupons from the dealer's website first.

Ha Ha, actually it's car number 2068 off the line. I must say I've never seen the "Damaged Unit" entry on a window sticker before. Also interesting that it says O/T G. I know Order Type 1 is a customer order and Order Type 2 is a dealer stock order, but I have no idea what an order type G is. I found that sticker when I was looking at used C Maxs for sale. The car is actually listed for sale right now. It's probably fine and just had some cosmetic damage or something, but I personally would want some kind of explanation before I bought it.

On the re-bill, I think the six digit number is a dealer number, and the second number (take the C off) is an order number. Perhaps the car was pulled out of stock after it had been allocated to a dealer (dealer # 100526, order #m071), most likely as a random test thing. They would have just given that dealer a different car instead. If so, it would have been put back into stock later and then re-allocated and re-billed to another dealer (dealer # 200603, order #j252). Or something like that. How would you feel about buying this car? VIN: 1FADP5BU5DL502068

There are two versions of the "Scheduled to" status. Scheduled to Week comes first. It means your car has been assigned a VIN and a production week. It is tentatively scheduled to be built during that week. Scheduled to Day is next. It means they've tentatively scheduled the car to be built on that day. The week doesn't usually change once it's been assigned. The day may change by a few days either way.

That's funny, I was going to list "selected at random for quality control checks" under the reasons why it might have been re-invoiced later, but thought to myself 'Nah, that's pretty rare'. That is most likely why the dates don't match up. It was most likely tested, found to be fine, and put back in the pool of available cars before being allocated to a dealer. If that's the case, it will say "O/T 2" in the area near the item number box. Order Type 2 means a regular inventory order for dealer stock. Your dealer could tell you exactly what happened on December 7 by looking it up on their computer, but it's probably not worth worrying about.

The car may have been re-invoiced due to a change in order status, pricing change, or inventory change such as a dealer trade. Can't tell without the entire VIN.

The date at the very bottom is the date the sticker is/was viewed. In other words, if you render a sticker for viewing today on the internet, that date will be today's date. If it's on the printed sticker then that's the date the paper sticker was actually prepared. There is another date near the bottom. It's in the box below the Item # box that has your order number in it. That date is in a regular date format (i.e., 01 18 13) and is very often six days prior to the scheduled build date. In my experience, that date is the first day the window sticker was first available, like for online viewing.

I do a lot of biking and one of my top criteria for a car is that a mountain bike must fit inside without a lot of hassle. In other words, I want to be able to just put it in, close the door, and get going without a lot of finagling. My Yeti mountain bike fits in the back with the wheel removed, no problem. I turn it sideways and slide it in. Bam. Done. This was no surprise because I'd measured the C Max cargo area before I bought the car, just to be sure. The C Max is near identical in interior size to my previous car, an Audi Q5. I haven't yet tried to stand it up. If that works, two bikes would probably fit side-by-side. Based on SBGrad's pictures of his antique ( ;) ) mountain bike in the back of his car, I don't think the area is quite long enough for two but I could be wrong.

The build date only appears on an electronically-rendered version of the sticker, not on the actual (paper) sticker itself. There are several ways to view a Ford window sticker but this site is one of the most popular: http://www.researchmaniacs.com/Ford/TrackFactoryCarOrders.html