Jus-A-CMax

ps between u and me and lets keep this our secret, Maxine is the best ever car & most reliable. I would never mean MY GIRL a real LEMON. Ever ;)

This is for Brother Mike....Gymkhana@San Francisco...

@Lance - Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the skepticism, wish you were here in the earlier days when Matt aka Recumpence and I were smashing the records when back then the EPA rated our Lemons @ "47 MPG". Now it seems like Ford lied and we all got our $550 checks in the mail....and dropped the rating to 43MPG overall. Shoot, I swear they didn't send me that memo. I didn't get the 38MPG memo from Consumer Report either. I always said you trade Time for MPGs and sometimes, you may not want the MPG and spend less time behind the car but its beyond our control. I run out of fingers when I want to speed to work at 7AM but then get jammed because of an accident on the freeway. You cannot escape the traffic, this is LA. Hybrids were invented because of LA traffic, lol. So my advise, find a route less travelled preferably an MPG friendly one. Like today, I found a route that gave me 104 MPG over 12.5 miles one way from home to the gym. With gas at above $4 here in Los Angeles this weekend, I am guilty as sin to reduce my gas usage and using my EV to the max. And before someone jumps on me saying that "hey you rolled down a 12.1 mile hill with lots of traffic lights, bikes and cars"...I finished the day and pulled into my garage with 64MPGs. Enjoy your CMax, don't fret about the MPGs. It takes time to learn your CMax> We all had to learn our Lemons. ps my fuelly is out of date but I think I dropped like 3 800+ tanks, and some pretty high 600 and 700 tanks. But I also do a lot of trips to Mammoth Mountain and back, that really eats at my MPG total but the CMax is the best car for this long haul, 7000+ ft climb trips. It is what it is and right now, I have no plans to update my fuelly cause I lost some receipts and basically, I lost interest in the MPG game.

:stirpot: My deep underground sources tell me Salsaguy is leaning towards a Prii, a Lemon colored one. :twister:

The Rapier vidoe is excellent. My only suggestion is to let the Lemon ride a wee bit after ICE to get some regen and then kick in the minimal EV. He's running it too high in my experience (assuming his road was flat). I got 104MPG going from San Fernando to North Hollywood for my Gym, something like 12 odd miles of which 10 miles were EV, thru many traffic lights etc. Summer is back, and Jus is back...saw a lot of CMaxs too...wonder how they are doing in the MPG department. PS this was a "semi" new route. Using the terrian will sure add MPGs for sure.

I don't go for the 100% charge, makes no sense and here's why: 1. In City mode, you waste too much gas trying to keep the SOC high, the Lemon does very well in the 25mph to 38mph range and needs little EV to maintain the speed with traffic plus u regen with the traffic lights. I try to keep it low unless I know theres up slope that I need more EV. Also, I find routes that are downhills and I let the Lemon ride to naturally regen, I don't burn gas to regen as some here do, but it all depends..well, let me re-state that, I try not to run too many "regen with ICE". If I get a high enough SOC (ala coming down from 118 to Tampa) I then will use a EV acceleration as much as possible, sometimes I floor it as the engine will suck the extra juice from the battery saving a ton of gas and then I get a really nice long pulse (traffice and LAPD permitting). 2. Freeway. I try to keep it around 90% only for me to run the eco-cruise. In the old days I would work the P&G but it gets tiring after a while but its a fact, my MPG is better on my Mammoth trips with P&G vs just eco-cruise but I work my butt off to squeeze out the MPGs...and then my wife turns on the AC...wtf....ppppff...jus eco it after that. I also use eco cruise to charge but never to 100%. Only time I get 100% is going south of the Sherwin Grade, north of Bishop, or leaving Mammoth town to the 395...or going down Agua Dulce to Via Princessa on the 14. Hving a high SOC is an advantage, of course but only when it's free - thanks to the downslope. By the way, I also get a high SOC going down Box Canyon from the 118 to Valley Circle (I pay a bit to climb but its well worth the returns).

I have no intention to sell mine, with gas prices and me JUS KILLING the MPGs, there is NO better car in my hands than my MaxineLemon.

Here are the real stats: stick it in eco-cruise and let it ride, 38MPG to 43MP BUT keep your battery high, that is, don't be tempted to run EV at 70mph. It's all flat in Orlando-Tampa. I use to drive down Orlando to Sarasota for work many years ago and if I remember right, I think the CMax would do good. Get some Gas Pods, helps with the mileage and run the tires to 50 psi. I do a 285 mile trip with the CMax fully loaded with snow gear and climb from 800ft to 7,800 ft and I get 38MPGs there and around 55MPGs coming back. Avg between 45 to 47 MPGs for the 570 mile round trip so you should kill it on a totally FLAT terrain. Check out my review and Mammoth trips if you want stats. I have to say, I REALLY LUV how utilitarian the CMax is. Not small like the regular Prius and it has GO when you want it. No more "acceleration by concensus" as my friend Nick aka C-Max Sea describes the Prii ;)

Hoonigan Fiesta-time :flirt: Crank up the volume and enjoy the drifting....be warned it's long but the 6 minutes are the coolest. Shot at the Universal City Studios lot which is down the valley from me. See if you can spot: The Bates Motel Jaws How many gorillas do you see? ..and throw in some Bollywood for fun. Gymkanna Fastest cars in a head to head...guess who wins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HXO-TwwDEI The rest of the vid is more drifting stuff including some Gymkana & cool, dance music. I DO hypermile to this music. Enjoy :)

I go to Roger Dunn in North Hollywood and Sun Rise Ford has them all lined up as well. Pretty. Would luv to take them and show'em my MPGs, crap all over the sticker labels for sure. Then again, my CMax is a lemon after all.... :secret:

Mine is abut 0.3 gallons off, one time it was a wee off. I don't care...the MPGs I am getting certainly makes my Lemon CMax very, very sweet indeed. Been clocking up some :flirt: personal best MPGs lately that I have never seen till now. :love_shower: Temps have helped tremendously as we are having a heat wave...

Mine does not match. Damn Lemon. :drop:

Brake coach, acceleration coach and whatever-I-forgot-coach is useless, imo. It's not all about braking, if anything is LESS about braking as I get attrocious scores in the LUNATIC Los Angeles City driving and yet I can pull 60-65MPG driving daily in real traffic conditions as I go back and forth from home to work and wherever I care to go in my banged-up-Lemon Maxine. Learn and read the roads better, if you want your MPG. Read the traffic lights, plan ahead but becareful of the red lights - not worth it. Watch the rear traffic....so a road less travelled is an MPG saver. A road with downward incline and a road with the least upward incline (at the expense of additional distance) are preferred options. Remember, MPG is at the expense of time.

@mtcmax, please pass our condolences to you & your family at the passing of your father. Hope they resolve your car issues soon...and like I said, if theres no movement, please feel free to contact Ashley who is a Ford Rep here on this forum and see what she or her colleagues can do to help move things along. Trust me when I say, Ford cares and are watching these CMax issues... :)

Your day will come Frank....I am seeing better & better MPGs due to the warmer weather. My lemon is lemming along.... Hope you got a loaner, that s*cks. Mine is trouble free and mine was a relatively early build - Oct2012. If you still have issues, may I suggest contact the official Ford Rep here and they can try and push things along...

SDM....woah, you're an 800-MaxerMiler, congratz on the real world 61MPG tank... :happy feet: ..yeah mate ;) Now before I get accused of being competitive...(insert that fake :secret: "lol" here)....last Sat, I clocked 285 miles with 38.3MPGs coming back from Vegas...lets talk pain :doh: Mind you, it was a 30+mph head wind all the way and climbing mountains (with no grill covers- thank you very much :drop: ) Gentlemen, it is what it is....enjoy the CMax Lemon :salute: K.

Thats probably a good call for you - not being funny or nothing, and best of luck in your search. Hang around any car forum and everyone has something bad to say about it. Eventually. Like any other car, theres always a lemons. I laid down top dollar on a 2004 Jaguar XJ back then (and I could have bought 2 1/2 CMaxs with that money) and that was a true lemon with more time in shop than actual driving - electrics, shocks and that was from a LUXURY car manufacturer. I never once complained because Galpin really, really took care of us but no matter what they did, the car would do this or that & back to the shop. Speaking of lemons, my lemon :flirt: Maxine just did 80MPG to work and finished the day at 61.5MPG. What a lemon indeed...better make some lemonade while I can ... Cheers everyone.... :drool:

That's a great start, and WELCOME to the forum :) I know you have a TON of questions you would like to ask but may I suggest you peruse this forum and the sub-sections. Most of the useful threads like tips & techniques are pinned (on top) of the sections and there is always a search function here. Have a look at the links in my signature as well. One thing to always keep in mind as a new hybrid driver: 1. Be patient with yourself, none of us were born with MPGs in our brains. 2. Stick to the right and be courteous to the driver behind you - that is - don't go turtle slow if there is traffic behind you. Go with the flow of traffic. Theres plenty of roads to save the MPG later on. If I were you, drive the CMax like a regular car for 2 tanks before worrying about getting the MPGs since it will take some time to get to know the battery & brakes and how the moves & glides. Jus have fun for now, ok ;) ps in the meantime, hang around this forum and check out the many, many cool threads & posts :rockon:

Just a reminder that the TEST FORUM is only for testing your 1st post or 1st thread and "playing" with some of the board's posting features, link etc what have you. Please don't start any real posts/discussions here. Thank you.

Both right...BINGO ;) Laurel - Weir needs to figure out that 5 inch of space between his ears. Like all great golfers, they eventually develop issues. However, he will play the Masters for the rest of his life, even if he shoots 90 in all 2 rounds, no one can take that away from a Past Champion.

It only takes less than 5 seconds to remove the main grill on mine. Plus its only on these "once off" long distance trips with lterally 500ft to 4000ft or 7800ft climbs that these overheating warning issues come up so the new design would not be of any benefit in my world. Am I the only one on this forum who lives in a state with long grades? Prolly so....

The grill covers are not working for the long grades & steep grades. I drove to Las Vegas this week and on the Cajone Pass, it triggered the overheat. Woo..wee. Lucky I kept an eye on temp gauge in MyView so I slowed down and pulled into the truck lane but it was DARN EMBARASSING to go at 40mph & at 2000rpm for the climb up, slower than the trucks! Then later on the same trip, the long grade past Baker to Mt Holloran(?) it again peaked...and again, back down to the 40s and truck lane. Finally I had it with the covers and stopped at a rest area to pulled off the main grill cover but left the bottom one on and temps were normal in the grade climb. Yah!. Got to Vegas with 48.2MPGs and except for the traffic on the 210, I15 and the over heat, made it under 4 hrs 40something and 65-70mph. On this trip, I had the AC on (thanks wifey) and the outside temp was around 75-80F. So the moral of the story is that for long trips where there are mountains & long grades, forgetabout-my-covers. It just ain't worth it and as I said, embarassing to be slower than the trucks up these grades while I wait for the engine to cool. I might drill some holes to let in some air in like what Matt did. Also, the bottom cover is not the most aero for the fit either so I will re-think that lower one. I did keep the lower one on, not an issue and I drove like that to Mammoth as well. Not sure if any MPGs are saved there. Now, for city driving, these covers are the bomb. That I will keep. PS Usual disclaimer, these are my cover grill and not Pauls but essentially, they are very similar. Be wary, if you intend to use these covers for long drives with mountains & long grade climbs. Jus my 2c.

So I had my car at Galpin Ford for the 30K oil change and the recall. I picked it up, drove it home and nothing wrong....car was smooth as usual and as I didn't have my Gas Pods on or my grill covers, my MPG s*cked..and I can feel the lack of glide in the EVing. Kid you not.... ;) Got home, pull the car into my garage. I reloaded up Maxine with my usual crap....golf clubs, tire pressure reader, spare tank of gas,,,,more golf clubs...shag bag of 70 balls..... Drove work in the morning and I decided to go the MPG route...1st mile...squeek....squeek-squeek..... Hmmmh...after 4 miles....annoying...yeah...squeek...squeek...SQUEEK..... Really annoying. squeek... :banghead: Super annoying. Got to work, 78MPG for 20 miles, I luv that...but I checked the car...bumped the car, no squeek...ok.... Left work and decide to head to the golf range...driving there...squeek...squeek..SQUEEK..SQUEEK.... So I called Frank, my new buddy at Galpin Ford at 5PM. Got there... :detective: at the car, the seat....and when we slam the door...it squeeked around the front seat. Move the seat....no noise. So we test drove the car, he heard the squeek but could never identify where it was coming from. Swerving the car left & right...SQUEEK. Drove back. We thought it was my seat. Nope. Not the passenger seat...we checked the car service record and there was no work in the interior except the headliner. I did not have a back seat weld recall. We moved the front passenger seat around and that seemed to reduce the squeek...squeek...but i could not leave the car overnight as I had an early meet and I had a couple of days of vacation so I was driving. "Lets leave this till Monday" (this was on Tuesday). Driving home, the squeek-squeek was less but STILL THERE. Then I slammed my elbow on the centre console. SQUEEK. Slam it again...squeek. Slam it again...squeek...squeek. Ah ha! I found the noise...it's the centre console. So I popped it open, threw out the plastic bottle of Clorox hand wipes and my large flashlight onto the passenger seat. SILENCE IS GOLDEN. Huh? THE DAMN SQUEEK WAS FROM THE CLOROZ AND THE FLASH LIGHT RUBBING INSIDE the center console... :drop: Moral of the story...jus carry less crap in the car :sandman:

LOL, I was at Galpin for my 30K service and I talked with an Energi owner who had electronic issues, poor guy. He was asking me what I thought of my hybrid - and I told him I hated it, I wanted to get a Prius.... j.k. ...did someone lose their sense of humor? lol, nah...I told him I loved it. He was wishing he bought a regular hybrid instead of the money on the Energi. He didn't think the 20 miles were worth it for the charge but he did say he drove it a lot, clocking something silly like 11,000 miles in 4 months (if I recall correctly). I told him I wished I had his battery, theres so many times I could have used the extra capacity...maybe we should have swapped cars. Anyway, jus my 2c...carry on, nuthin to see here.... ;)

I'd say 25 posts at the minimum. This is a forum to discuss issues and find solutions, not a 1 post dump & run that I have seen too often...then everyone posts to pass on their commiserations, offer ideas and OP never bothers to be social. I too am sick of it