Marc Smith

just gotmy 2013 cmax sel  with 11500....  19,200  out the door...

 

I thnk I got a steal when comparing to the Prius or Prius V

one thing you can do....  jack the car up  take the wheel off.  fill up a squirt bottle with a solution of dishsoap and water.  go heavy on the soap. 

 

fill the tire up to 40 psi  and start squirting the wheel, tire, valve stem...  yes you can do it while on the car.  but its harder to see the inside bead area....

 

if you have a leak,  you will start blowing bubbles at the point of the leak...

 

common points of leaks. 

 

valve stems, and bead areas.   When mounting a tire, if the person doesn't use any lubricant,  its possible to tear the bead but still mount ok and not notice it.

 

sometimes the valve inside the valve stem is loose and will leak.  sometimes a small screw or nail  then ends up getting broken off and its hard to see.

 

if you find that air is escaping through the wheel itself.  mark the area with a sharpie  and then take the wheel into the dealership OFF the car.  bring your squirt bottle and ask to see the service manager.    While showing them,  ask them why a technician that getting billed at $100 an hours  was unable to  find this and you had the spend the better part of an hour wasting your time to do something they should have done.  Bet you'd get a few oil changes and car washes out of it...  But Not sure I'd really want to take my car back to that dealership again...if they cant find a tire leak...

 

If the leak is in the tire....plug it(so long its not in the sidewall), dealership will try to sell you a new tire. 

 

if the leak is in the valve stem.  try putting in a new valve first.  if that doesn't solve it.  then you'll need a new TPS...dealership may help.  but you have to dismount the tire and then re mount it. 

 

if the leak is in the bead area.  dismounting the tire, cleaning the rim edge and remounting  will most likely solve the problem.  unless you can see a tear.in the bead.  then its a new tire... Again,  if they are factory tires...  you'd have a case against ford since it was their employees that mounted the tire...

ON my prius  the gas guage had ten lighted pips.  Prius tank was 11.9 gallons.  once the gauge got down to a single pip  it would start flashing, which meant  you'd have about 2 gallons of gas left. (or nearly 100 miles until dry)

 

so Nice that the c-max has yellow, then red warning...  and it seems that if you had reset the trip meter when fueling  the amount fuel used is pretty accurate with what folks have had to put in.

 

The prius had  a problem with "topping off"  if you topped off too much  you end up filling up the  charcoal evap canister....  Any worries about this same problem with the c-max... 

 

Still kind of wierded out by the  capless gas tank...

 

Currently a bit more than half way through my first tank.. 8.06 gallons used  358 miles  which will put me close to a 600 mile tank...not bad for my first tank...

Paul...

 

Just thinking outside the proverbial box...  just thinking  flip a switch,  close the grill...

 

i made a custom carbon fiber grille blocker for th elower grille on the 2010 prius.    I took the grille out and used it to make a mold..  two zip ties  held it on.

 

I'll probably do the same thing for the C-max.maybe just do painted fiberglass,  since  I'm out of CF

on my prius,  the tint  "sucked" into the dots after a few weeks...  so the transision  wasn't as noticable...

3m  35% all the way around with a 5% strip to the AS1 line....just done,  so no window for 3 days.

 

gonna let it bake in the sun today..

 

 

LOL

 

IL's are nice enough  one's had a stroke and the other a heart attack.  Wife and I don't trust them to make the drive alone...

now that is loaded....

Quick thought....

 

Anyone done any research on hard wiring the shutters to an override switch...

 

IE  so the driver could just flip a switch, close the shutters.

 

This would be nice in the winter time.

UAV...urban assault vehicle...

 

UAV  nice new acronym for an old description...  WAGON...  :)

 

36 deep x 38 wide for the Saturn

31 deep x 40 wide for the c-max...

 

so its close...  thankfully its a 4 day weekend, not some week long trip ...so, in theory,  a bag that fits in the overhead bin of an airplane per person  should do it...

 

I guess I could install a trailer hitch.  I do have an external hitch mounted luggage rack, but I'm never fond of crap being outside the vehicle...

gotta love classic yachts

So...We are planning a family reunion in Long Island this summer.  We will be shlepping my mother and father-in-law with us.  I was hoping that my Sister-in-law and her hubby would take them in their minivan but since we are going up early and staying later  MIL and FIL  wanted to tag along.

 

I was thinking of taking out 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line.  But this morning when I walked into the garage today  and looked at the new c-max and my wifes 2008 saturn vue hybrid side by side...  I was amazed as to the similarity in size/shape.  So I went on edmunds.com and compared the measurements...

 

pretty amazing that the Vue is considered an SUV while the C-max is considered a car...

 

cmax

Exterior Measurements

WIDTH 6 ft. 0 in. (72 in.) HEIGHT 5 ft. 3.9 in. (63.9 in.) LENGTH 14 ft. 5.6 in. (173.6 in.) FRONT TRACK 5 ft. 0.5 in. (60.5 in.) REAR TRACK 5 ft. 0.4 in. (60.4 in.)

WHEEL BASE 8 ft. 8.3 in. (104.3 in.)

 

Vue

exterior

WIDTH 6 ft. 0.8 in. (72.8 in.) HEIGHT 5 ft. 7 in. (67 in.) LENGTH 15 ft. 0.1 in. (180.1 in.) GROUND CLEARANCE 0 ft. 7.8 in. (7.8 in.) FRONT TRACK 5 ft. 1.4 in. (61.4 in.) REAR TRACK 5 ft. 1.8 in. (61.8 in.) WHEEL BASE 8 ft. 10.6 in. (106.6 in.

 

so i wentto the inside dims......

Cmax

Interior Measurements

FRONT HEAD ROOM 41.0 in. FRONT HIP ROOM 54.3 in. FRONT LEG ROOM 43.1 in. FRONT SHOULDER ROOM 55.9 in. REAR HIP ROOM 51.9 in. REAR HEAD ROOM 39.4 in. REAR LEG ROOM 36.5 in. REAR SHOULDER ROOM 55.2 in. EPA INTERIOR VOLUME 124.2 cu.ft. CURB WEIGHT 3607 lbs. CARGO CAPACITY, ALL SEATS IN PLACE 24.5 cu.ft. MAXIMUM CARGO CAPACITY 54.3 cu.ft.

 

Vue

 

Interior Measurements

FRONT HEAD ROOM 40.2 in. FRONT HIP ROOM 52.6 in. FRONT LEG ROOM 40.7 in. FRONT SHOULDER ROOM 56.0 in. REAR HIP ROOM 52.9 in. REAR HEAD ROOM 39.3 in. REAR LEG ROOM 36.9 in. REAR SHOULDER ROOM 55.9 in. MAXIMUM TOWING CAPACITY** 1500 lbs. CURB WEIGHT 3825 lbs. CARGO CAPACITY, ALL SEATS IN PLACE 29.2 cu.ft. MAXIMUM CARGO CAPACITY 56.4 cu.ft.

 

the vue weighs 200lbs more... and has a Cd of .36  while the c-max is .30

 

maybe a with a bit of tweaking in the ride height of the saturn(now chevy captiva)  and putting the volt drive train  GM could have a "loosely based" SUV that would turn in some impressive fuel numbers.  I like the saturn for what it is,  but a very mild hybrid is really giving it more cred than its worth...

 

So now  based on the similarity in size,  I'm thinking C-max.  Benefit...fuel as in I'll be using less of it, rear ac ducts, ipod, BT. 

 

My concern is the rear seats.... and the rear cargo area.  giving up a couple cubic feet could cause some headache, and the rear seats....will stand up to the MIL, Daughter, and Wife, FIL gets shotgun....

FordIV

 

i have a 2013 with package 300a...  so no nav...but my touch...

 

is nav  just a software upgrade or is there hardware involved....

Dave,

 

Yeah  but it would be  neat to have the app on the Sync screen and be able to toss the displays up and not have to have an android device.

hey folks.  since I had a odb2 reader with my prius  I figure its time to start playing...

 

I wonder....if we could get torque to run on sync as an app  and use the big honkin display for some good...

never heard of monster mats.  got a link?

 

I'm the landscape and grounds manager at a college campus  so I do occasionally bring home bits of my work on shoes...and I liked the ones I had in my prius...

 

http://services.forddirect.fordvehicles.com/inventory/WindowSticker.pdf?vin=1FADP5BU1DL526562

 

here is the window sticker...  it says I have equipment group 300a  and according ford website  no mention of nav...

 

if its a simple as buying the SD cards  and putting them in the slot...  id do it...  for the time being the garmin rests on the ledge in front of the cd slot...

hopefully tint and weather techs soon...

thanks guys...

 

bought a 2013 SEL

hmmm

 

maybe I need to keep the sharkfin antenna from my Prius that I never installed and just get a rattle can and shoot it...

 

Wish the SEL had nav...  not ready to subscribe to sync yet for 60 bucks a month...

 

I'll have to read on  to really understand what  EV miles really means..

 

a big diffeence with the pedal feel on the cmax... vs the prius.  I do miss the EV  and eco switch....

well I got a 2013 SEL  with 11500 on the clock.  no funky smells or anything.   I haven't had a chance to really play with all the info screens  but I did see 6000+ EV miles....

 

drove it with the sales guy  for about 5 miles got back and then kicked him out and went for a 20 mile ride.  in  a mix of city and highway  was able to get 42 averge  and on  the 60 mile trip home  kep the mpgs close to 45 holding steady at 65...

 

pretty happy with the purchase...

 

18,500...  but I have to handle my own tags and taxes... which will put me close to 20k

 

now I need to order up the weather techs and get the windows tinted...  it was drizzling today  so no pics..  it will happen tomorrow..

 

now I just need to begin figuring out the gadgetry....

 

Salsa,  my wife and I have been payment free for over a decade.....Nice to not have to worry about payments...

Kos,  thanks.  I don't own a c-max yet  so no owners manual to reference...:)

 

Maybe tomorrow will be the day....

 

hopefully  the owners manual is more logical than the prius....:)

Hey folks,  looking at a c-max.....wondering...

 

Do all C-max SE  have a usb port for ipod or thumbdrive?  or is it a specific option package...

 

I see stock photos of a usb port  in the center console...

 

 

 

http://www.sheehy.com/bargain/Ford/2013-Ford-C-Max+Hybrid-797ca5b50a0a00de368014e075c52e9c.htm

tim...

 

here is the one I drove..

 

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=605911909&listingRecNum=1&criteria=feedSegId%3D28705%26rpp%3D50%26isDealerGrouping%3Dfalse%26sf2Nm%3Dmiles%26requestorTrackingInfo%3DRTB_SEARCH%26sf1Nm%3Dprice%26sf2Dir%3DASC%26stkTypId%3D28881%26PMmt%3D1-1-0%26rn%3D0%26zc%3D22182%26rd%3D50%26crSrtFlds%3DstkTypId-feedSegId-mkId-mdId-pseudoPrice%26mdId%3D49085%26stkTyp%3DU%26mkId%3D20015%26prMn%3D0%26sf1Dir%3DDESC%26prMx%3D20000&aff=national&listType=1

 

I think if I went in with a $20K check  I coudl get it......

 

yeah the  regular prius with the flying bridge inside is "odd"  but with powered leather seats it is comfortable.   the one thing about the prius v  that I did not like,  when the seats are folded down in the back, its not as finished looking  the seat gaps and such.  but the normal prius and c-max  the rear hatch area seems more finished a few bucks and attention to detail to the prius v woudl have been nice...

 

was impressed with the pep of the c-max., totaly different feel than the prius...  My car before the prius was a 2010 Chevy HHR with the 2.4l i4.  so from a power to weight ratio the prius was similar to the chevy....I love performance,  but i also understand with a hybrid,  we aren't looking for 0-60.... 

 

On the c-max all the buttons on the center stack were also  very distracting... and not looking forward to having to stick a garmin in the car...A few months with built in NAV  was pretty nice...

 

for $1000 more... I could get a new 2014...

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=newcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=607396969&listingRecNum=0&criteria=dlId%3D435707%26feedSegId%3D28705%26rpp%3D50%26isDealerGrouping%3Dfalse%26requestorTrackingInfo%3DRTB_SEARCH%26sf1Nm%3Dprice%26stkTypId%3D28880%26PMmt%3D1-1-0%26rn%3D0%26zc%3D22182%26crSrtFlds%3DstkTypId-feedSegId-mkId-mdId%26mdId%3D49085%26stkTyp%3DN%26mkId%3D20015%26sf1Dir%3DASC&aff=national&listType=1

 

been reading on the site and it seems that the c-max has had some "teething" problems  for a new model..

Hey folks.  thansk for the forum.

 

I am an 2010 Prius owner...trim iv      bad news, a tree fell on the car while I was stopped at a traffic light.  Car was totaled.  So I'm looking for a new ride.

 

and based on the money from the Insurance company  it puts me in the ballpark of  a used Prius v(wagon) or a lightly used C-max, or another standard prius hatchback but severl years newer..  Or a 2010 prius with a few bucks left in my pocket...

 

I am hoping to be "out the door" @ 20K  nice thing...wife is going out of town on business for three weeks, so I'm not in a "rush"  IE  have time to search.   lots of good sales right now and next weekend (end of month)

 

Not sure how much wiggle room there is on a new 2013, 

 

I just figured I'd intro myself before I start searching and asking...

 

fwiw...I only had 9 tanks in the prius since I got it in january,  and I have logged a couple 500+ mile tanks.  hard to be upset with that...  I did test drive a '13 c-max  defintily different than the prius...