scottwood2

It would be great if there was an upgrade path but it is not likely to happen. It is just too costly to do for the few customers that would be willing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy an upgrade. I don't think any other automakers is any different. This might change some with the new Android Auto systems coming. Now your power is in your phone and your car becomes a way to interface with it. This makes it easier to have updates as your phone does all or most of this. So you can buy a new phone and have an updated system in your car. But even with this there will be limits to this. As your car ages there will only be so many updates to make it work with new phones. I feel your pain as I too always want up to date systems but I do understand why companies can not afford to offer this.

The OK button is what I use. Same for ending call too.

I too like the CT200H. I think it is a nice design car and one of the better looking hybrids out there. It was just too low to the ground for me and too costly. It did not make it to the test drive phase for me.

I think the wheel wells are pretty tight to the tires so I am not sure how much you could drop it? I would love to see one dropped.

I felt a lot like you when I was looking too. The quality was a major concern and like others the battery issue almost steered me away from this car. For me two things helped me pull the trigger and buy a 2014 SE I wanted cloth seats so the SE was the only option. A lot of the other options were not that big of a deal to me so the SE was fine and SE comes standard with many options already. Yes there were a lot of SE owners with the battery problem but add the optional My Ford Touch display and the numbers quickly change to a very low number of people with this problem. Who knows what the percentage of owners opt for this option but between this low number of issues and the fact that the newer the car the less issues seem to happen was a plus in my book for getting new vs used. Other problems listed on the site - this also made me think twice about this car but as I started looking at other forums I saw the same thing. The Prius forum has all kinds of issues posted and the Chevy Volt had a bunch too. Both of these cars have very good reliability ratings. I looked at this as just something that happens for all cars and probably not much of a concern. As others have said they have not had many issues with the car. In my four months of ownership and >4k miles I have never been back to the dealer. All systems go so far. Now I do hear a noise when first getting into the car that sounds like a pump going bad but everything is working so far. My previous car, a Scion xB was a great car but it was back to the dealer a number of time while under warranty. So far I think the C-Max is ahead of the game when comparing to the Scion. The SEL is a great car and I am sure you will be happy with it if you get one. People do love loaded up cars and I am sure these sell more. I love driving mine. There are three C-Max's at my work. I have talked to one of the other owners and he loves his car too. I hope this helps.

I have used this to remove hard water spots from well water. It works well for that but I think it also removes the wax. No issues with the paint from what I see and I don't know for sure about the wax but I am pretty sure it takes everything off.

One of my co-workers just went the powder coat route for an old car that the rims were rusting. He found a place that powder coated truck rims and did 4 wheels for $100. That was just the paint with only basic prep. He sanded his wheels and had it done. He said it looks OK but you can see the sanding marks. If you prepped it good this would be a great deal. But with Plasti-dip you can always remove it and go back to stock if you want to.

Does your SE have the standard unit or does it have the 8 inch upgrade unit? I have not heard the Sony unit but there is a world of difference between the standard unit and the upgrade.

OK, Got it. Thx for clearing that up.

??? Charging the battery runs the battery down? I know the 240 v is better but I thought 120 v is better than nothing? Our charging stations at work are 120 v.

Thx for the report. Seeing more of this all the time. My work had 5 charge stations. They are now doubling it to 10. I have not seen any pure electrics here at work but do see a few in the Detroit area from time to time. Good to see so many new cars coming out with this electric option. i hope they can get the storage loss problem taken care of in time. I am sure they will. That was the main reason I did not want the plug in.

I did this years ago but have not for my last 3 cars. Lots of salt in Michigan. Can't hurt but not worth the cost to me.

There is more to this than this general statement but generally the ICE is also better at getting you up to speed and the EV mode is good at keeping you there. My route is similar to yours and I can get into the 50+ MPG on this route in warmer weather. Cold Michigan weather drops this to upper 30's to mid 40 MPG. I have hit 60 MPG or better many times as well. Overall MPG since Sept is about 47 now.

I wondered the same thing as first. But as Plus 3 Golfer said starting out with a low battery is better when cold. Might as well use the energy while the ICE is warming up to charge the battery. Kind of a cool idea. I just noticed that my EV+ mode seems to be coming on sooner than in the past. Not sure why but it can help.

One of my co-workers bought a Ford Fusion (non-hybrid) and have had dead battery issues twice now. First time they charged it, second time they replaced the battery. So it is not just the C-Max that has this issue. Don't know how long the vehicle sat on the lot before they took delivery. My C-Max sat on the lot for about 6 months before I bought it. When i took delivery I noticed the cap for the jump start location was off. Scared me but so far (3 months later) it has been OK. (Knocking on wood many times) :happy feet:

I could never get passed the styling of both the Prius and the Volt. So much so that I never drove them when looking for a car. The inside and the outside of the Prius is just a style that never did much for me. Dash is strange and not in a good way. My xB had a very strange dash but I loved it. It was so functional. The dash in the volt looks like a concept car from the 70's to me. They were both too short. I love the taller roof of the C-Max. Easy to get in and out of, you sit higher and the dash is very well designed. I do wish it had more storage but it looks great.

I think a $4k to $5k loss in value is normal for many cars in the first year. Then it tapers off. I went back to the dealer with my xB a little more than year after I bought it and they offered me $7k less then I paid. The resale on this car is listed as one of the best in it's class. Now that was the dealer talking about trade in but it was still a lot more than I thought. I paid $21,800 for my SE new (2014) and I could have got another $1k off if I worked for Ford and another $1k off if I had a lease for another brand of car. So under $17K for a used SE does sound about right to me. Cars almost always lose a lot of money. One of the reasons I don't get them loaded up.

Husky floor mats came in and I really like them. The fit is good and I do like that the drivers mat has a taller edge in the dead pedal area that keeps dirt, snow etc off the carpet. Rear mat fits very well too. These are just for winter for me. You could use them all the time but I like the carpet in the warmer months. Pricey but they protect the carpet very well. I would buy them again.

Just did a trip on the weekend with temps in the 20's. Heat at 69, tires at 48 PSI, eco cruise for most of it at 60 MPH and did 44 MPG. Have not tired 80 for long drives but 68-70 seems to be a sweet spot. Did 47 MPG at 70 in the past but it was warmer. Tried 60 on this trip just to see what it did. Also finding that 71 degrees vs 69 degrees in the cabin seems to make a difference. Seems the ICE runs a lot more for just 2 degrees. I found a good jump in MPG with tire pressure. They were set to 32 from the dealer.

I have never heard about anything special for warmup on a hybrid. In general for ICE the warm up is for the comfort levels in the cab. I have also heard that it is better for the ICE to have load on it during warm up but not heavy load.

I have heard that USAA is great too but limited membership. From their website: Today, USAA membership is open to U.S. military service members, veterans who have honorably served, and their eligible family members. We also offer some products to individuals with no military affliation.

I was wondering the same thing. I thought maybe they changed the recommended PSI in 2014 but I see yours is a 2014 too. Not sure why? I would think the Energy might be higher due to the extra weight but this is the opposite.

After posting the last reply, an ad for weathertech popped up on this site. I followed it and they have a pic of it here. This is for the non-plug-in version of the C-Max. http://www.weathertech.com/ford/2014/c-max/cargo-liner/plug-in-hybrid/no/ Another 3 months and these ads for WeatherTech should go away for me. :drool:

I am pretty sure this was covered with pics in other posts. I looked these over not long ago looking for floor mats. I was not looking for the cargo liner but I think I remember seeing pics of this. I did a quick search for "WeatherTech" and found 27 posts. Hope this helps

Thx for the replies. I did also find this which was helpful http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/where-the-rubber-meets-the-road/how-tire-pressure-impacts-tread-wear