kostby

That's not nearly as large a fuel cost difference as it seems. Consider driving 500 miles at the current 60 cents-per-gallon diesel fuel price "penalty" in my area of the country (and at some stations in my area the cost difference is as high as 75 cents per gallon)... $3.899 per gallon for diesel and getting 50mpg vs vs $3.299 for 87-octane 90%gas/10%ethanol blend and getting 41.5 mpg yields a whopping savings of 76.0 cents cheaper for the diesel, or .0015 per mile for the diesel $38.99 for 10.00 gallons of diesel at $3.899/gallon assuming 50 mpg $39.75 for 12.05 gallons of gas at $3.399/gallon assuming 41.5 mpg If your wife could just squeeze 1 more mile per gallon out of your hybrid, a 2.5% increase in mpg, and average 42.5 mpg instead of 41.5 mpg,, she'd 'win': $38.99 for 10.00 gallons of diesel at $3.899/gallon assuming 50 mpg $38.81 for 11.765 gallons of gas at $3.399/gallon assuming 42.5 mpg is 18.0 cents cheaper for C-MAX hybrid, or .00036 per mile. Certainly fuel cost is only one small part of the full cost-benefit equation. There's always initial vehicle cost, federal, state, and local taxes on purchase price, available financing and incentives, cost-to-insure, license tags, required maintenance costs, and depreciation, and eventually repairs.

Because not everyone likes a low-carb diet. ;) www.atkins.com

Businessinsider's slightly different take on the same info: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-exclusive-ford-plans-new-hybrid-series-to-compete-with-toyota-prius---sources-2014-8 What we seem to be missing is that the current Focus and current Escape will ALSO be replaced by new variants built on the C2 global platform, much as the current C-MAX, Focus, and Escape share the C global platform, and hence the inherited name of our cars, "C-MAX" "The future Ford hybrid would be built on the company’s C2 global platform, which will provide the foundation for the next-generation Focus compact car and Escape sport-utility vehicle as well."

A minor mileage and mpg improvement on the first 600 club numbers we posted last month. 618.8 miles on 12.40 gallons for 49.7mpg calculated by the car. Discovering that 67.5mph high ICE sweet-spot helped!

I know nothing about Apple Ford. I live in Indiana. I just followed the link someone else posted here today, and then explored all the fine print. Apple seems to be a high-volume dealership from the number of cars listed in-stock. I'd guess that they're discounting slow-moving inventory before the free floor-planning expires, because then they would have to purchase the cars. Sometimes it's a cash-flow issue. I'm guessing that if you ordered a specific car, you wouldn't see anything close to 10% off before incentives. I also wouldn't be surprised to see huge dealer doc fees, 'market pricing adjustments', and other tricks of the trade applied to their best-selling models. We purchased our 'leftover' 2013 C-MAX SE, built in April 2013, in late March 2014. I'd been looking since early January, and I purposely picked old inventory, the end of the quarter after horrible winter sales, as quarterly sales incentives were expiring, and as end-of-month sales quotas needed to be met at the dealership.. We got a discount of about 9% off sticker ($2,600 off $28,850), and another $2,500 in Ford incentives for using Ford Credit financing, without a trade-in. I negotiated off all the outrageous add-ons that Finance & Insurance guys like to use to boost the bottom line profitability. And they counter-offered a price $250 under the lowball price I asked for. They wanted to sell us that car that day.

Ford took risks in developing the North American C-MAX as a Hybrid, instead of importing proven (German) diesel and Eco-boost engines and DSG transmissions easily capable of delivering 40 to 60 mpg or more. That's the problem with sharing 'world cars': Not every world market has the same transportation priorities. I'd guess that manufacturing and the supply chain were probably targeting initial sales of 5,000 C-MAX's a month (and they actually approached that combined number ONCE, in November, 2012, likely due to early fleet orders). Who knows what the first-year sales target was? 50,000, 75,000, maybe 100,000? In July 2014, two years after introduction, Ford has sold just under 65,000 (50,000 C-MAX Hybrids and 15,000 C-MAX Energis) and has yet to achieve consistent combined sales of 3,000 a month. Meanwhile, the Ford Escape continues to sell in excess of 25,000 per month, despite differences in fuel economy and similarity in price. Escape outsells every single North American Ford vehicle EXCEPT the F-150. And the North American C-MAX remains a niche product, selling just a bit faster than best selling Lincoln model, the MKZ. Is it any wonder that a new Escape Hybrid is in the works for 2019? July 2014 Ford and Lincoln US Sales stats here.

If you follow the Clear Price disclaimer and un-click all incentives, Apple Ford is offering about 10% off MSRP, less any applicable incentives, and there are residency restrictions by region. They list no Base SEL's without any options. http://appleford.com/Baltimore-Washington-DC/For-Sale/New/Ford/C-MAX/ The least expensive 2014 SEL shown on the website has Equipment Group 301A and Blue Candy paint, adding $1835 in options, so now you're negotiating down from the list price of a $29,830 car, instead of a $27,995 car without options: http://www.inventory.ford.com/services/inventory/WindowSticker.pdf?vin=1FADP5BU1EL502098

PARKING BRAKE Note: Do not press the release button while pulling the lever up. To set the parking brake: 1. Press the foot brake pedal firmly. 2. Pull the parking brake lever up to its fullest extent. Note: If you park your vehicle on a hill and facing uphill, move the transmission selector lever to position P and turn the steering wheel away from the curb. Note: If you park your vehicle on a hill and facing downhill, move the transmission selector lever to position P and turn the steering wheel towards the curb. To release the parking brake: 1. Press the brake pedal firmly. 2. Pull the lever up slightly. 3. Press the release button and push the lever down.

Not any more. The plug-in hybrid landscape changes often. The new BMW i3 is a 4-seater that travels about 80 miles. Add the optional 'Range Extender' (650cc gas engine and 1.9 gal gas tank for about $4000) and it gets you to about 160 miles combined. PluginCars.com review of the BMW i3: http://www.plugincars.com/bmw-i3.html PluginCars.com review of the Chevy Volt: http://www.plugincars.com/chevrolet-volt This page at PluginCars.com lists all the current offerings: http://www.plugincars.com/cars

Here's a 2014 C-MAX Hybrid SEL with no options in "central Florida" (Dade City) from a dealer who is apparently "dealing", listing the car online for $22,980, for a total discount of $6,300 off the sticker price of $27,995, including all incentives. The dealership is apparently no longer using dealerrater.com, but the existing ratings for the sales side are good, the service department, not so much. http://jarrettford.com/Central-Florida/For-Sale/New/Ford/C-MAX/2014-Hybrid-SEL-Blue-Car/27318199/ Exterior Color is Ice Storm Metallic, with Light Stone leather, and the VIN is 1FADP5BU5EL504503 Monroney Window Sticker: http://www.inventory.ford.com/services/inventory/WindowSticker.pdf?vin=1FADP5BU5EL504503 One more search hint: If you use Ford.com to locate vehicles, copy the VIN number from the Ford listing, then enter it into a search engine (I used Yahoo.com in this case), and it will find the car by VIN number as well as the dealer listing the vehicle with one click.

Here's a photochopped 'performance C-MAX' teaser... In the spirit of Saleen, minor bodywork, extended front splitter, rear hatch wing, added rear lower fascia, and of course dropping it low so it will drag on every ant that crosses the road. Wheels are 20" x 8" Quad Munchen Hyper Silver finish wheels on a Ruby Red SEL preview image from TireRack.com

This thread is all about dead 12-volt batteries, and primarily the C-MAX Hybrid models, not the Energi models (though some people are registered in all the forums and do cross-post) To my knowledge, there are NO reported issues with the hybrid High Voltage Batteries in either the C-MAX Hybrid, or the C-MAX Energi, 2+ years into production. Check out the Energi-specific C-MAX forum and the Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi forums for specifics on those models.

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2014/08/teslas-model-s-just-too-slow-try-saleens-souped-up-model-s/ Introduced this week at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance "The Foursixteen, which starts at $152,000 before the various EV tax subsidies are taken into account, looks sportier than the stock Tesla both inside and out, and upgrades to the driveline, suspension, and associated software mean that performance should be able to match the new look." Base Tesla S Model 60 with 60kWh battery starts at $71,070 (cash price before available tax incentives) Tesla S Model 85 with 85kWh large battery starts at $81,070 (cash price before available tax incentives) Tesla S Model P85 Performance with 85kWh battery and performance upgrades starts at $94,570 (cash price before available tax incentives)

The short answer is that a modern Atkinson-cycle engine is more fuel-efficient at higher rpms than a traditional Otto-cycle, but the Atkinson lacks low end torque to get the car rolling. An electric motor has the most torque at 0 rpm start-up, but fades as rpms increase. So the low-torque-at-low-rpm Atkinson-cycle engine is well-matched to work in combination with the most- torque-at-low-rpm electric traction motor. There's a pretty thorough 5-web-page explanation of the Atkinson engine and how it is implemented in modern hybrids in layman's terms here.

According to the Monroney stickers, the average new car gets 23 miles per gallon. Current brochures, list the various engine options of 2014 Ford Escape at 24, 25, or 26 mpg combined. The oft-updated 40-overall 42 city/37 highway C-MAX Monroney sticker now affixed to current C-MAX dealer inventory still claims $4850 (2013) to $5000 (2014) savings on gas over 5 years at $3.55 (2013) or $3.50(2014) per gallon if you drive 15,000 miles per year, so your calculations seem right in the ballpark. For historical accuracy, $5850 savings was the original claim for the 47/47/47 2013 C-MAX models, then $5350 savings for the 45/43/40 version on 2013 models.

You can make a detailed spec comparison of the C-MAX and the Escape for yourself at ford.com This example is C-MAX SE and SEL vs Escape AWD SE: http://www.ford.com/cars/cmax/compare/details?trim=361346&c=361344&c=358959#

Did you smoke a cigarette afterwards? ;)

We get it. You hate it. Sell it and buy the much more technologically advanced Japanese Lexus CT200h. Oh, wait. Forget that. The CT200h shows the selected gear on the dashboard too. The diagram below the gear lever does not light up to show the selected gear. It's stenciled on.

Let the hot-rodding begin! Where are the 'Lowest C-MAX MPG Achieved' and 'Best 1/4 Mile ET and Speed' threads? The Atkinson-cycle horsepower and torque peaks are about opposite of the electric traction motor peaks for good reason, but if you simply add up the maximum HP ratings of both, the total is about 250HP, not 188HP as listed in the specs. I would guess that the eCVT would be one of several weak links in a 'performance' C-MAX. If we could get FordSocial on board for some regional C-MAX owner meets, maybe we could have them include Track Day too! :drool: My wife would just love :love_shower: to see me burn $1000 worth of ecologically-friendly Michelin Green-X tires into clouds of smoke and rubber dust with her C-MAX!

Have you tried downloading and installing the available SYNC 'Troubleshooting Utilities' volume control software solution (linked on this page)? We have the basic SYNC (not MyFordTouch), so there might not be anything to download for the higher-level systems, and might not apply to the NAV system at all. In any case, you must be registered with SYNC, and you must be logged-in to your SYNC account to download the software.

I can see how I missed that whole discussion about high ICE mode - last post there was in December 2013, and I didn't start reading until January 2014. Today, I looked in this, the 'Fuel Mileage' section and didn't turn up anything. Never looked in 'Hybrid Tips & Tricks'.

Based solely on the Instant MPG display 'gauge' on the dashboard, our C-MAX apparently gets significantly better fuel mileage at 66-68 mph -roughly 47 mpg- than anything between 55mph and 65 mph, or speed higher than 68 mph. (Like an indicated 35mpg on the same stretch of road when traveling between 55 and 65mph, and above 68 mph.)Today I managed to capture a photo of it in action. I began noticing this a couple of days ago when we made our first of several daily trips this week down the same stretch of Interstate at about the same time of day. On the 7-mile same stretch of level northwest to southeast interstate highway, traveling in either direction (thus minimizing any minor change elevation and effect of prevailing wind out of the west), our 2013 C-MAX SE with 3 passengers and no luggage aboard, our car displays an instant mpg well over 40. I estimate it at about 47. While there was light traffic, none of it was within 200 feet, so any effect of 'drafting' was minimal. Other data:The car is traveling at a steady 67.5 (indicated) miles per hour in Eco-cruise, and has been for at least 2 miles at the point where I snapped this photo.The ICE is providing all the power. HVB is not discharging. (I just noticed that the attached photo above managed to catch it while neither charging or discharging. Here's .2 miles earlier when the HVB was charging: )Location: Interstate 65, between mile markers 130 and 137, northwest of Indianapolis, IN.Time 10-11 a.m. EDTTires inflated to 44 lbs.AC off, temp set at 68 degrees, cabin fan set on '2'. Ambient air temp of 65-70 degrees ICE fully warmed up by driving at least 8 miles, 4 in town, then 4 at highway speed. Returning home on the same stretch of road, the display was a bit lower, about 41-42 (slightly into the prevailing westerly winds). So, what have I just discovered? 1) an eco-cruise sweet spot 2) a glitch in the formula used to calculate and display instantaneous mpg 3) a point where the fuel delivery system is flat-out lying to the computer about the actual rate of fuel consumption 4) the EXACT location and speed where Ford tested the C-MAX and achieved 47/47/47 EPA numbers 5) a Twilight-Zone-sized hole in the space-time-fuel-consumption-continuum where the normal rules of physics don't apply (doooo-do-dooo-do-doooo-do-dooo-do…)

Look at the license plate. Notice there's no driver on the left side in the cabin. That's a Right Hand Drive European (British) model in the spy shots. Also the website is a clue: WorldCarFans.com The EU grille doesn't use the 'Inspired by (stolen from?) Aston Marton' shape common to most North American Ford cars. Those are not the standard or optional North American wheels, either. Here's the German Language Left-Hand-Drive C-MAX/Grand C-MAX home page - http://www.ford.de/Pkw-Modelle/FordC-MAX There's also a Ford of Great Britain home page showing the current Right Hand Drive models, but I don't have the link handy. Found it: http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/C-MAX

SEL with Equipment Group 303A, priced almost $10,000 off original sticker price of $31,885. http://www.familyhyundai.com/inventory/2013-ford-c-max-hybrid-sel-fwd-hatchback-1fadp5bu3dl513862/ http://services.forddirect.fordvehicles.com/inventory/WindowSticker.pdf?vin=1FADP5BU3DL513862

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/08/consumer-reports-tesla-model-s-has-more-than-its-share-of-problems/index.htm "Bear in mind that the experiences with our test cars are purely anecdotal and never factor into our reliability ratings. After all, it's a sample size of one." Wait a minute. Didn't CR trash the C-MAX fuel economy ratings because THEIR DRIVERS could not get above 37mpg AVERAGE in their only test vehicle? Edmunds.com also encountered issues with their early production Tesla S during 17 months of ownership: http://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/2013/long-term-road-test/wrap-up.html