Kelleytoons

Had mine almost three years with no accidents (yet - sigh) but I suspect I will keep it until either it or I die. Have never had another vehicle I liked even half as much. (The wife can drive what she wants -- she goes her way, I go mine, and the day she tells me what I can drive is the day I'll be looking for wife number three).

Yeah, the Niro won't be anything I'd be interested in, for exactly the reasons you mention.

I play tennis at a lot of gate communities, and sometimes I have to wait for the gate guard to come out and let me in. I have, on more than one occasion, had to honk my horn, at which point they always say "I didn't even know there was a car out here". Sometimes you can be TOO quiet.

Yeah, I've got my letter but if it's gonna take that long to fix it may be an issue for me (the main dealer is 45 minutes away with no real possibility for me to just drop it off).

Going for around $70 now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/A7-2016-MAP-UPDATE-Navigation-SD-CARD-SYNC-FITS-ALL-FORD-LINCOLN-UPDATES-A6-/282258241765?hash=item41b7e6f8e5:g:kW4AAOSwA3dYLK~C&vxp=mtr So always worth it to wait a bit (I'm still in no pressing need of it, although might pick it up in a couple of months).

I wish I could afford another C-Max right now, but I'm still holding out hope that in a couple of years (when I could) there might be some nice deals on either some new ones on lots or good used ones.

Thanks, Frank, that's good to know. I thought this was another case of the "I've found something perfect and now they no longer make it" syndrome (can't tell you how many times that has occurred in the last decade or so).

Frank, I don't care what it's called but I just LOVE the smoothness of the power that comes, and can't stand driving (or even being) in a vehicle with a conventional transmission. So that would be something I would not do, no matter what. And at my age I may well be able to nurse Maximis along so I don't need anything else (or at least until the total EV solutions come along I can live with -- I assume THEY don't "shift" the way conventional engines would, right? Or do they also lurch along?)

The lack of CVT alone would be a deal breaker.

It's so very sad that once I found a vehicle I liked, they won't make it anymore. And it sounds like nothing that really compares will ever be available (not to knock this Kia thingee, but one of the big selling points to me was the iPhone and media integration and I doubt they will offer anything as good). I suppose I could look on the bright side and say at least I DID get a C-Max, and perhaps it will outlive me (at my age that's always a possibility).

What I want is NOT a Prius or the Model E (if it's based on a sedan like body like the Prius) but a small SUV Hybrid. Oh, wait, that's what I have now. So, hell yes I'm going to keep my C-Max and hell yes I'm NOT going to buy what Ford makes next because it appears they have no interest in doing that. Maybe someone else will, but I'm not holding my breath (because we all know mpg takes a hit when you have a taller car like our babies, and makers are all about getting that precious mpg up there for all to see). I'm not at all hopeful for anything that I want in the realm of hybrids or EVs in the future (luckily I'm an old guy who might not ever need another vehicle).

As others have said here, for me an all electric makes no economic sense (with 20% off gas cards at Publix 13 times a year, I am currently getting gas at around $1.70 per gallon and never higher, although sometimes lower). Gas prices would have to double for it to even begin to make sense (at which point, for a car to get to tennis and back, it might work for me). But since I won't be in the market for another vehicle for at least five years I'll just see what the future brings. I'm still rather skeptical an all electric is ever in my (limited) lifetime, but you never know.

Funny you mention this, Paul. Today, for the first time, I drove 3.4 miles on a return trip and when I got back home I had averaged 101.5mpg. That's the highest I've ever had on a return trip back home when I've already used up my battery going out. And highest by a WIDE margin on any trip longer than 2 miles. It was VERY odd but I just chalked it up to not using A/C for the first time this year (finally cooled off enough in Florida). Weird, though.

Ditto, ditto <g>.

Oh, and one more thing (from a forum admin who knows about this stuff pretty well). Forums "lifeblood" are the participation of members. Without them contributing, there IS no forum. So for me, getting on here and contributing and not just asking for help is my "payment" for the forum. When admins start making it onerous to visit it's their own fault that membership drops off and the forum dies. Putting obnoxious ads on is a good way to kill a golden goose -- if they can't make it work without those, they shouldn't be running it (and nature abhors a vaccum -- there will be others that will come along and be just as good if the forum goes away).

As someone who runs a couple of forums I can speak to the ad issue -- I don't use them except for actual sponsors (who get a mention in banners that I control, hence aren't blocked by any ad blocker). Obviously this is far more work than just subscribing to an ad service, and makes less money... but forums shouldn't be a for-profit situation anyway, IMHO. If you are making money off of it you *should* be blocked. I run Adblock (which I paid for) on my browser all the time and will NOT visit a site that blocks me because of it (like the Washington Post). Plenty of other choices out there.

Don't have the SEL (only SE) but I can tell you that BT works just fine and the quality is fine as well (and I'm kind of an audio snob). Like anything else, it's garbage in garbage out. If your BT source is fine, your audio will be fine. All my MP3s are 320CBR played by my iPhone via BT and the audio is on par with a CD (not *quite* as good but so close as to be indistinguisable in all but the very softest music, like perhaps quiet piano). I've also used a USB stick and it will NOT reindex if you set it up properly (you need to turn off the two music match systems -- can't remember offhand what they are called but they don't really work anyway and yet are on by default). Quality is fine but selection for me isn't nearly as easy (I can just invoke Siri by holding down the steering wheel paddle and then say "Play female jazz vocalists" or some such, whereas with the USB it's a PITA to get a particular selection). Then again, I have a LARGE amount of music on my phone (128gb).

There's a thread about this somewhere -- do a search on "Drive-in" and I'll bet you'll find it (it's rather lengthy -- I *think* the consensus is you might be better off just bringing some external audio device with you but I don't remember since I haven't been to a drive-in for over half a century and don't think I will again in my lifetime.

In this case $50 would have been about $45 too much (I actually paid $7 for the bulbs but they came two to a package). So, no, I would NOT have wanted that as part of my warranty. Headlights are more but still pretty inexpensive and now that I know how to do it I'm confident I could handle all the front lights pretty quickly.

You're more than welcome. It sure helped me -- I think I'd have been lost without it (I'm not exact "handy", at least when it comes to automobiles).

Well, too late for him <g>. But for anyone else, this is what I used: https://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2013_Ford_C-Max_Hybrid_SEL_2.0L_4_Cyl./lights/turn_signal_front

You don't need a tool, you just need to turn it by hand and it's pretty easy (just a quarter turn). The only hard part is locating it (you *can* see if -- there is just that much slack -- but it's easier to just do it by feel IF you know what you are trying to feel. I did it by looking the first time but if I have to do it again I think I'll remember enough not to have to look). I wish you had posted sooner as I could have linked to an excellent video I used. But glad you got everything worked out.

I'm sure we'll be keeping Maximis until at *least* 2020, but we'll be lucky to be at 70k by then (so even if the battery only lasts 100k we'll have gotten our money's worth :>).

Don't anyone be leaning on their doors <g>.

The problem with doing that in Florida is the bugs would eat it before it got done cooking.