plus 3 golfer

I didn't mean "coach" as in the "coach display" but the after the fact brake score that is shown. The blue spinning wheel as far as I know only comes on when you apply the brake. I can feel a point when pushing the brake pedal where it appears the brakes begin to engage (grab may be too harsh a term) since the rate of slowing down increases more than I would have expected. Every time this happens I never achieve 100%. The generator can only slow the car down so much. I then conclude that the brakes are being applied. So, it's definitely a "learned" association rather than feeling the brakes "grab". That's why I said initially "It takes anticipation and good hand - eye coordination to "hit the ball" solidly virtually every time" and later "I can feel the difference once the brakes grab and hence get a lower score". The difference is the rate of slowing down. I understand the point on the hills as I'd also like to know what my score was when I don't come to a complete stop. The question is does the overall brake score include these times when one applies the brakes but doesn't "see" a brake score. I would assume it would include all applications of the brake. What might be nice for hills is a +- button / shifter that would kick in regen in stages (assuming energy storage available) - like Tiptronic mode for changing gears on many transmissions. This would also help in slowing down to a stop as there would be no guessing as how hard to push the brake pedal to get that 100%. I had originally thought that maybe "L" included that as additional braking but AFAIK "L" only engages the engine for engine braking.

I thought we were talking about the brake coach when one is applying the brakes which is where safety is more of an issue than going up and down hills. I fail to see any logical reason to put achieving a 100% brake score above safety or maximizing ones brake energy recovery going down hill. Again, the CU have no way of knowing why one is applying the brakes. I would think when going down hill you are braking for safety reasons. Otherwise, why apply the brake at all. :)

Who looks at the blue swirling display anyways until after one is stopped to see their score (which I believe is Ford's intent). One needs to focus on anticipating stops, generally slowing down prior to braking, and then with practice apply the brakes gradually. I really don't find it difficult to get 100%. Like, Jaz says I can feel the difference once the brakes grab and hence get a lower score. In fact, my wife can call the score within a few % points when I brake too hard - generally because I did not anticipate a light change, didn't want to slow down in anticipation of a change with traffic behind me, or exiting a freeway with a short exit ramp with traffic behind me. I don't want to piss off the driver's behind me. :)

Exactly, it's very obvious after braking and monitoring brake coach results for a while what needs to be done to get 100% brake score. And again, I seriously doubt Ford will put any real-time indication of ones braking performance in the brake coach for the reasons I stated above.

Is that 4 times you had to put spare on? I've had many, many times where I've caught nails / screws in tires prior to TPMS where I was able to repair the tire prior to a flat but only remember 2 times where I had to change tire on the side of road in 50 years of driving - about 1.5 million miles. One was a sidewall puncture with my 1979 Accord when I hit a large pothole on a rainy night. Yesterday, at about 2300 miles wife leaves, 5 minutes later returns and says TPMS light on. I look at tires and can see FR appears to be low. Check tire (about 32 psi) and after moving forward once find screw in tread with head almost wore off. Get pliers, twist, pull screw out and replace with larger screw with head. Put air in tire, drive 7 miles to a tire shop, they patch on inside for $10, and I'm on my way in about 15 minutes. I think Discount Tire still repairs any flat free but it was about 5 more miles and likely would have waited an hour+ for free repair. Since TPMS on 3 vehicles in the last 4 years, I've had 4 other screws in tires in about 100k+ miles - all driven to shops for repair. So, I don't feel the need for a spare especially since the advent of TPMS, the tire kit in the car, and the likelihood of a blowout while driving being very low. Since retiring 10 years ago and moving to AZ over 6 years ago, I've driven many, many cross country trips where cell phone service is spotty but again don't feel a compelling need for a spare.

Did you look at your miles to empty when you ran out? or just a little prior to running out?

You must have continued to hold the shift button in. I don't think you can shift into park from L without pushing in the button. I'll have to try next time I'm in the car.

Not quite. You also need "good" cellular service where you plan to use it. :) This is why I get Sirius. For cross country trips there are many areas where cell service is spotty to non-existent.

Yes, and the active noise cancellation. That's one of the first things I noticed when test driving the C-Max - how quiet the cabin was compared to the Jetta. If you open the front doors and look at the gap between the fender and a-pillar, there is sound insulation filling the gap. Also, if you open the hood and look along the back top fender line, there appears to be more sound deadening material.

Here's the thread right below yours, http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/index.php?/topic/793-mft-current-version-cmax-sel-v313/

Yes, I like the higher c-max seating much better than the Jetta. But I'll reserve overall seat comfort until I spend 18+ hours behind the wheel in one day.

I've a spreadsheet on FE and note the price I pay for gas and the price of diesel. After my 5th fillup of my C-Max at 1893 miles,I'm averaging 39.6 mpg. The FE I would have needed to break even on fuel cost so far for my 2009 Jetta TDI is 47.7 mpg. This represents a 20.5% premium for diesel although it has fallen recently. My overall FE on my Jetta was 41.9 mpg after nearly 70k miles. Here's the real differences though, I could drive the Jetta 2-4 mph above the speed limit on 6 trips back east (about 24k miles total) and average 45 mpg with mininal a/c use at an actual average speed of 68 mph (total miles / time engine running). Second I could just "drive" the Jetta around town in the summer and get about 39 mpg. I hope I can get that in the C-Max in the June - Sept period in 100+F temps.

Your SEL has a five way electric seat. Front of seat cushion - up/down, seat - up/down, seat - forward/backward, seat back - reclining, and lumbar.

From everything so far, there appears to be ample warning to the driver should coolant temp get to hot for whatever reason. There's no compelling reason to do a test. But just like a low oil pressure alarm, a coolant temperature alarm needs to be taken seriously so as not to damage components. I don't now how many times people have ignored low oil pressure alarms only to have their engine seize and thus need their engine rebuilt/replaced under the false assumption that it was a low oil level alarm and they only needed to add a quart or so of oil and thus continued to drive their car.

Yes, it's in the manual. There's several pages of informational messages.

So, I wonder if this is generic rather than specific to the C-Max. It does not mention anything about a the coolant temperature warning light (Engine/Motor Coolant Overheat Warning indicator) or the Engine Coolant Overtemperature message both mentioned in the C-Max manual but not in the above from the SM. Both the light and the message appear to be triggered with the gauge going into the red. I ask this because in the C-Max there is not a dedicated coolant temp gauge visible to the driver at all times. So, if one does not put the temp gauge in My View, then one would not see the movement to the red zone and not get a warning until the check engine lamp is illuminated (DTC P1285 is set) according to the SM info.

One cannot assume that the speedometer and odometer are "synced". Comparing the analog speedometer to GPS speed is not a good method to determine the accuracy of the odometer due to "reading" error and possible offsets to the analog gauge. If the digital speed in test mode is "true speed" (no multipliers in the conversion of speed sensor data to digital speed), then it should be good to use. On my old VW Passat I could display digital speed on my Climatronic by putting it in a test mode. There was a 2-3 mph difference at 70 mph between the speedometer and digital speed yet my odometer was virtually spot on. I have yet to find a US standard spec for speedometer accuracy or odometer accuracy that applies to cars. Remember Honda was sued about their odometer accuracy and subsequently changed their standard. IIRC, the bandwidth around the accuracy favored them significantly which would affect warranty situations. It was more likely that their cars over reported actual miles than under reported actual miles. Since Ford sell cars around the world they may follow this standard for speedometer accuracy which has been adopted by many countries. This standard allows significant overstating of actual speed on the display. I know from my days on TDIClub, that especially Canadians were reporting significant errors in their speedometers. Under this standard, using a 100 km/h test speed, the speedometer could read 100 km/h minimum and as high as 114 km/h. If the odometer was tied to the speedometer under this standard, the odometer would be over reporting actual miles like the Honda case.

The seats in the C-Max won't go as high as the seats in the Murano. They need to try the seating out side by side with their Murano. Coming from my Jetta, it's significantly easier getting in /out of the C-Max than the Jetta. One of my criteria in a new vehicle was seating comfort including getting in / out of vehicles as I'm not getting any younger. I almost needed someone to pry me out of my Jetta after say 3-4 hours in the car. I have a Nissan Rogue (slightly smaller all around than the Murano including height) and a crude measurement shows the maximum C-Max seat height (around 25") to be about 2-3 inches lower than the maximum Rouge seat height. It is noticeable when both are at their max height when getting into the vehicles. So, if your parents have the Murano seat height maxed out they might find it more difficult getting in / out of the C-Max.

^^Why I won't buy another new vehicle with tri-coat paint - pay more when you initially buy and again later when you touch up^^ I don't recall the details (minimum mix quantity like one pint, some in aerosol cans and so forth), but I believe it would have cost me near $150 to buy the base coat paint, mid coat paint, and clear coat from an auto paint shop just to touch up rock chips on the front bumper and hood.

Let's see today is the 21st and another e-mail from Sirius (2 days from the previous email) spelling out the details. So, negotiate and just let the "free" Sirius expire if you don't get a favorable deal. Sirius has always come back with very good offers for me and others.

I wouldn't expect anything else from Ford since Ford can't control how a customer uses a device where such inappropriate use could result in damage to their vehicle. As I indicated in another post on the subject, one needs to assess / manage / mitigate the risk of using such a device. I certainly believe Ford has done a good job of mitigating overheating risk of engine damage with this fail safe mode. It also wouldn't surprise me if Ford has a fail-safe / limp mode for inverter and CVT overheating. Will be interested In what you find out.

Historical DTC are diagnostic trouble codes that have cleared on their own. So the codes are not currently active. DTE is distance until empty.

I can't visualize how a software update can fix a wiring harness issue. Maybe it's simply a detection of drain on the 12 V system after the car should be "asleep" or maybe the wiring isn't really the problem.

Exactly, I had read this fail-safe cooling before buying the covers and was aware of the ample alerts and actions designed into the cooling system. So, an owner needs to take immediate action if the gauge moves into the red or gets other warning alerts because warranty claims can be denied due to owner negligence with / without grill covers. The owner's manual is available in pdf here. The applicable detail on fail-safe cooling is below.

What I noticed is that if you have the parking brake on, the test mode screen will be hidden behind the parking brake message. You can see a couple of letters like "TE" of the test mode screen when it pops up in the upper left. You need to release the OK button when you see the letters. Otherwise, if you continue to hold the OK button the test mode screen will be removed. Or release the parking brake before pushing the start button. OOPS cgul beat me to it. Is there any way to delete a post. It's not evident, if there is a way.