Tdefny

I can't think about snow yet and won't even put the heat on in my house for another couple of weeks. I am not ready to forget summertime yet.

How did you activate/enable them Phil? I feel that the increased visibility on city streets is worth a potential modest hit to MPG.

Ouch. I feel your pain. I bought one of the very first Saturns and had it about a month when they took it away as part of a coolant recall and gave me a sucky Pontiac to drive for 6 weeks while they built me a new one. I hated every minute of that time until I got my car back.

Was that you behind me? Jus kidding! My Max has only been as far west as NJ for a sweet sip of cheap Jersey gas. (Most NYers think the only other valid reason to go their is enroute to someplace you like better). It used to be that Prius drivers waved to each other too. Then they became so common that nobody cared anymore. It is still the most amazing car I ever drove before the C-Max. I still wave to the drivers of the original Prius. As early adoptors having bought their for reasons similar to why so many kin this forum bought our Fords, they still understand.

One thing about the keyless fob. It is expensive. I got it done and it was $260 for the fob and $80 for the key plus it all needs to be programmed. I looked for aftermarket or online alternatives but could not find any.

Talk to a moderator. Oh wait. I have no idea.

Even if you CAN go into EV mode up to 85, it doesn't mean that it is best for your mileage or that it would benefit you in any way. The traction motor is at the top end of the constant HP portion of its performance curve at that speed, which means its lowest torque torque. The hybrid battery also does not have much stored energy to propel the car for very long. Blend mode may be better at those speeds. The Energi can hold that speed for a long time when the battery is full, but is little different when in hybrid (charge sustaining) mode. In my opinion, the 85 MPH EV portion of the update was just to say they did something. The maximum EV only speed on my Prius is 42, but it gets great mileage above that in blend mode.

Well said!

I think I understand. I just brought mine in for its first service last week. It only has 3000 ICE miles, but 8000 total miles, so the oil wasn't due, but I wanted the tires rotated and an excuse to finally get the 3.5.2 and tailgate updates. That took a total of two days and they didn't get the 3.5.2 update right, so it had to bring it back for a third day. At least they didn't dirty the car and I got a loaner for both trips, but I don't think my car is going to see much of the dealer in the future. They were very no-hassle about making it right, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt this time and give them a good eval on the survey. In fairness, mine was the first Energi they sold (back in Novermber) and I don't think many dealers truly understand these cars yet. Ford has a long experience with the Escape hybrid, but I suspect that they were mostly fleet vehicles and the dealers might not have seen many. In any case, NY trails the West coast in green cars. Maybe it is jus worth the drive drive to Galpin, reputed to be the best dealer on the planet.

Also watch out when parking if the curb is too high. I learned the hard way.

Sync Services works well and will also feed the Nav system too if it is available. We were looking for a store once and I was impressed with how easy it was to get the information from the autoamated system and feed the address and eventually reach my destination with minimal intervention. I still like to have a map available on the big screen to see side streets and potential alternate routes, but I guess it is a very viable option to go that route and use google maps on the cell when you need to.

O yeah, I forgot the ability to also display the NAV on the smaller dashboard screen to the right of the speedo. My wife thinks the NAV, or rather ANY NAV is too distracting and complains when I call it up when I know where I am going (great for getting constantly updated ETA), so I just grab it on the small screen and she is none the wiser.

I am very happy with the NAV. It is missing key features that my Garmin has, like free lifetime updates and traffic reports, but the large screen is easy to read and the system is fairly intuitive. Like Laurel, I have had my Max since November and have not been back to the dealer because everything pretty much works, although not perfectly. It goes in for the first time tomorrow at around 8,500 miles for the updates (just over 3,000 on the ICE) and I hate to part with it for the day. As mentioned above, besides the NAV, the backup camera is a feature that you will be glad about if you get it. It makes parking and all other reverse operations really easy. I would have no trouble recommending the 302 package.

Sorry to hear that. I hope they can get the part in and Rainette back on the road quicker than the 24th.

I have seen two Teslas in the wild so far in the NYC area, but only one C-Max Energi. I would have hoped to have seen more of both by now. Volts can be found and PIP sightings are pretty common, but not the Tesla (understandable considering its price) or the NRG.

Adair, There may have been several things going on. The most common one is that the map may simply be wrong. I work on a very large 60 acre campus. It is very easy to get to but the maps on Google and all GPS systems show it as about 1.5 miles west of where it actually is. I know of at least one other place where the error is that big, but even if you look up your house they will probably be off by 100 feet or so. There also might be more than one entrance to the Hotel. I regularly go to one that is on a divided highway, at the intersection with another big road. The real entrance is on the cross street, but the NAV brings you to the front door, which means overshooting the hotel by about a mile and making a U-turn. Not cool. But I suppose this is just another example of how much do you trust the NAV? It will get you there (or close), but you probably know a better route.

The problem with traffic re-routing is that you have to trust the NAV in the first place. It is OK, but can send you on some crazy detours. That can be a problem in heavy traffic or in a place where you don't know the roads. I had about 50% success with the re-routing feature - about the same as my Garmin, but I already knew that I wasn't going to renew the Sirius traffic plan. I now consult Google on my phone for traffic updates when it matters to me.

Hi Brent, Sorry to shamelessly copy my post verbatim from the Energi forum , but but I am on a tablet and typing is a pain, so here goes: "I love my Energi and would choose it again. Having said that, I rented a Hybrid for a couple of days when I was in Florida and I hated to return it because it was the best car I have ever rented. Either way you can't lose. I travel under 20 miles a day on most days, except for one day a week when my round trip is around 80. I use only electric on the short trip days and need to fill up about once a month overall, compared with twice a month (slightly smaller tank) in my Prius before I bought the Energi or weekly in the minivan. Electricity is very expensive here. We are at $0.21/KWH, which about matches the cost of gas on a per mile basis. I can't explain why, but my electrical usage is at or less than a year ago so my bill hasn't gone up. It must be that LED light bulb I bought :). My car is achieving the mileage stated by the manufacturer with very little effort. I try for gentle starts and stops and usually don't exceed 65 MPH. That's about it. Oh yeah, I avoid the heat whenever possible. It is electric and can drastically reduce EV range on a cold day. Luckily the heated seats work very well and don't use a lot of power. " Performance of either version is outstanding for a hybrid. And anticipated maintenance should be low for either. At 7500+ miles, I have not been back to the dealer yet, but will go before the oil is due for the software updates. Anticipated oil change should be between 10k and 20k miles based on engine run time and the oil life monitor. Any time you bring it in fora $30 oil change they somehow find a way to jack it up to around $300, so this alone should save plenty of $$$. I think you need to try them both and pick what you like. There are many intangibles that go beyond simple payback. It is purely psychological, but I find that I am much less stressed in grinding traffic when I am in EV mode and it isn't hurting mileage or wearing out some part of the car. It always drove me crazy in the Prius when the ICE ran for any reason at those times. I have to weigh that against the taunts from my daughter about the size of the trunk. It is about double the cubic ft. of the trunk of my Prius but it doesn't feel that way if the cover is in place. In reality, we have made several trips to Costco and never had a problem with the haul. A full sized wheelbarrow, as has been reported elsewhere in this forum, would probably not fit in the Energi, but I still have the minivan for that sort of haul.

Nice picture. glad to see more green cars around. Our Kohl's has the only public charger that I have seen so far.

Sorry to hear your problems. Your posts probably helped sell a lot of cars for them. There is still promise for your car. Other than the problems that nobody escaped, mine has been problem free so far. In fact, it hasn't been back to the dealer yet, partially because I am afraid of wasting a day and have been burned by incompetetent people at other dealerships even though my dealer has a good reputation (don't they all?). I recommend that you go to your original dealer and stay away from effing ford. That dealership doesn't sound too good.

Now that you got him out of there your Nav will start working better, your rear hatch will open EVERY time, and you will get 3 MPG better!

That makes sense, but they still should have put a locking gas cap on the Hybrid. After Hurricane Sandy, gas was hard to come by for a week or so around here and my wife wouldn't use her car (a minivan), even though she had a full tank, because she was afraid someone would siphon her. I didn't hear of any siphoning, but there is always the potential if gas becomes scarce enough.

Ford people watch the boards. I was having trouble with MyFordMobile and someone from the development team helped me out on the Energi site. He came back later on and helped others after one of the upgrades. They are around us but probably not allowed to jump into every conversation that pops up.

The locking gas filler cover is part of an emissions control system that the Energi has and the Hybrid does not. In my opinion, the emissions controls difference is the major difference in the fuel economy between the two models. Not the weight (although that has to contribute too) and not any difference in gearing that might have been there but apparently is not (as evidenced by the planned revisions to give the Hybrid the potential for EV operation up to 85 MPH like the Energi). The aim for the Hybrid was the best possible fuel economy. The Energi needed the lowest possible emissions to get tax credits, HOV access and the acceptance that came with all that. Even so, it makes no sense to make a modern car without a locking gas cap of some kind.

It only cares about motion.