Kelleytoons

But if that's true you don't need a low fluid warning, any more than I needed a gas gauge when driving my V-8 Jeep (which got about 9 mpg). I mean, I just didn't pass any gas stations without filling up <g>. But, all seriousness aside, you probably have an excellent handle on how often you need to fill it up. I would argue that someone like myself, who uses the fluid action far less frequently, is exactly the kind who DOES need it, because they have no clue how much is in there (like, now, for example). But conversely, since we use it so seldom it a gauge also isn't really needed. IOW, it's the kind of thing where if you need it, you don't need it <bg>.

My first wife was... well, let's say it was less than glorious. Didn't stop me from marrying again right away (hate to admit how soon) and a woman who was so much alike in *some* things it was scary. We're celebrating nearly 30 years of (mostly) wedded bliss. So, no, your analogy is false. I would NOT blame one car in a maker's lineup for a maker's inability to get it right. And I haven't (I have bought from lines that gave me grief in other models). As I said, if I didn't I would have run out of maker's a long time ago. Sometimes you must let common sense rule and not your emotions (actually, ALL the time but no one is that perfect).

Well, I'm glad they didn't (I probably need to refill the fluid once every five years on my Durango in the 20 years I've owned it). So there's a case where at least one person is happy for no added price for it.

Well, as much as I love Maximis I think this thread is okay to still live -- folks will always have lemons (and, as you point out, in every maker and model) and it's good to know what the procedures are and what luck others have had, regardless of whether they then choose something else completely or stick with Max (like you, I'd stick with the C-Max but it's also okay if someone is "burned" to the extent they'd like to try something else. Heck, the last guy even stayed with Ford, which shows *some* loyalty/sense).

Yeah, it's like I always say -- grass is greener. And forums is NOT where to look for satisfied customers. I test drove a lot of vehicles before the C-Max, and one of my main criteria was the electronics (phone and music playing in particular). Hands down SYNC 2.0 (before the latest) was the best, with the others so clunky and stupid looking it wasn't even close (the Buick was my next choice but the screen was very tiny. And that was before I drove the C-Max, which was so superior in all else I knew I had the winner). Now -- I didn't try the highest end, and I suspect there ARE great electronics out there if you spend enough (there'd almost have to be, right?). But at this price point I don't think there is still anything better, 2.0 regardless. (And I'm pretty demanding of my stuff, having lived life on the bleeding edge for many, many decades now).

And, all seriousness aside, how did you expect us to respond to the original poster? I mean, he comes on a forum that is designed to HELP people out with issues and problems with their vehicles and he engages in a long rant that has no real point or substance other than to make him feel better. There are, perhaps, places on the internet designed to do that, but this forum isn't one of them.

No, just to trolls <bg>.

Maybe you and I are brothers from another mother? I'm older as well, and have been involved in IT for many decades and I *really* like Sync. Is it perfect? No, far from it, it has many things that could be improved, but it's far better than I thought I'd be able to afford right now. In many ways it reminds me of the first or second iteration of the iPhone (and I bought those as well). And while we're on that particular topic -- while iOS could be upgraded on many phones, there were many features that could not. When Siri itself was introduced it was not backwards compatible. I suspect the OP here would have had a fit at that -- hmmm, a voice technology that COULDN'T be applied to his existing iPhone? Why, I should never have bought another Apple product again. (What's that saying about cutting off your nose to spite your face? Oh, that's the saying).

It was "back in the day" when there were no speed limits in Nevada and I was having fun with my small sports car (IIRC it still got about 25 mpg even at those speeds, but that was when gas was so cheap we never really even thought about it -- WAY under $1 per gallon). It was also a rotary engine and the performance characteristics of it are long lost to my ancient brain. So -- probably a full tank and I made the Vegas to LA run in just a little bit over two hours with no gas stops (normal travel time was about four hours, although back then I never took longer than three to do it). Oh, but it was SO stupid -- I actually think back and am amazed I'm still alive (because just driving insanely fast wasn't my only issue -- I would perform reckless turns and other maneuvers that at the very least tested my guardian angel's patience to the limits. Then again, I was a very unhappy person then who was so lucky I got to a point in my life where it's so good I'm just content to putter along at exactly the limits now).

That's a nice analysis (although, as you point out, it's based on limited data. Not sure I could or would want to conduct experiments involving my wife :>). At the very least it makes me feel less worried about the times I need to sharply accelerate in order to perform "correct" maneuvers to get out of the way of folks or otherwise be safe, as well as the frustrating times I accelerate only to see the signal in front of me abruptly turn red even though that particular signal has never done it that way before (they seem to be shortening the yellow light time more and more here in Florida) so that my brake score is less than perfect (it's almost never less than 70% even then, as I'm pretty good at still not jamming on the brakes).

Yeah, I always slow down when a tail-gater approaches (the other thing I have ALWAYS done, even when I drove fast in my sports car, is turn on my right signal when in the right lane and a fast driver comes up behind me if I don't have time to change lanes. I'm basically saying "hey, I understand I need to get over and I will as soon as I safely can" and usually they at least back off a smidgeon. Or at least don't try and swerve around me). Long before hybrids there has been this problem. I was once driving on the California freeways and we were all doing, ahem, well let's say well over the limit but traffic was all flowing together, when a cop car got in front of the four lanes and began swerving back and forth over all four lanes, like he was crazy. It was scary but effective, as we all had to slow down. It was his way of getting dozens of cars to start doing the limit (and I mean the LIMIT, not five or ten miles over it) without trying to give out hundreds of tickets. You might fool yourself and say "well, everyone else is speeding so it's safe and good to drive this fast over the limit" but NO cop will ever agree with you. And they may well decide you are the one they will pick out to make an example of. Your absolute best course of action is to not speed (and I mean NOT at all. Seriously. There are tons of statistics to back this up but the two most telling are that road fatalities decreased by a LOT when the national 55 mph limit went into effect. And that excessive speed is a factor in 1/3 of all fatalities. It's just not worth it and this is coming from a former speeder who prided himself on going 130mph one time on a freeway for over 2 hours).

Your Playstation 3 gets updates so it plays the new PS4 games? Wow -- you are much luckily than I am with my PS3 (Sony told me I'd need to buy the new one). (Insert trollface -- oh, wait, you ARE a trollface :>).

Yeah, concept cars are only interesting to those of us who like science fiction. Here's one equally likely for me to see in my lifetime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZAaVb8y46s

But to be on topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTKXRvhAvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIpLd0WQKCY

Or as Homer Simpson said when he was buying a gun but had to wait seven days "But I'm mad NOW!"

The more I think about it, the more I like it. So I'm looking forward to the revision of all the red signs around here. STOP!!!!!! (THIS MEANS YOU!!)

Wow, it actually has those exclamation points? California has changed a lot since I grew there, the first 20 years of my life. Back then we were laid back and would NEVER have road signs that shouted at us (of course, back then we were all on grass :>). Times have changed.

However, he still is right about this -- "and not leaving your foot on the brake long enough or pushing down far enough". Even with a key you need to do these things, and there have been times I've turned the key without it and gotten the check engine light. With our vehicles it is easy to do, since just turning the key doesn't actually turn an engine on (so you're not quite sure you've pushed the break down or hard enough).

Hmmm, if I wasn't happily married I'd say something about a hot bottomed gal here... (Wait. Maybe I did).

I did in another thread, but driving about 200+ miles yesterday at freeway speeds (70+) I averaged 41mpg (four passengers in the car with fully loaded luggage -- LOL, I couldn't even see out the rearview mirror).

Yipes. At those temperatures I think *I'd* stay inside along with your mpg (my philosophy is to never go outside when the temps are below the mid 40's. Luckily, being retired and living in Florida, that's pretty easy to stick to).

I also just came back from an interesting experience. Taking into account that the trip one way is never quite the same as the return trip, we made a trip (four folks and full luggage loaded) of around 228 miles each way on a short vacation. On the way down I adjusted for best fuel economy in the GPS and thus went on many smaller highways and a shorter distance traveled overall. The couple's husband griped about us not taking the "best route" which was one single shot on a main interstate. But here's the funny thing -- on the way there I averaged 53mpg, which I thought was pretty good (again, not "great") and it took almost exactly 4 hours (minus the stops, but I was counting from computing time on the GPS). The way back, due to his gripes, I took the interstate at high speeds (70+) and averaged just slightly over 40mpg (very bad, for me). The kicker? It was almost exactly the same time (it was one minute faster, again according to the GPS). The interstate route was longer, naturally, which at faster speeds ended up being nearly the same time traveled. Going the short way seemed longer, because we traveled much slower and we made a lot more turns and road changes, but it wasn't. Now, my friend was still griping when I pointed this out to him, because he said if HE had been driving he would have gone much faster (faster than even 8mph over the posted speeds, in the 80's). I still don't think it would have amounted to much more than 15 minutes time savings. But for sure it would have been much lower mpg. This isn't speaking to your point -- driving speeds on the same route obviously affect your travel time a lot more than taking different routes with different speed limits as our trip did illustrate. But I did think it was an interesting thing to think about in terms of where we need to go sometimes. Sometimes driving a lot faster doesn't save much, if any, time, and it sure wastes a lot of gas (particularly in our vehicles).

LOL -- maybe because I was both an English Major and a Math minor do I find both explanations interesting as well as amusing. Yes, I meant it literally -- not great, and certainly not "undesirable". But I also think (for the purpose of discussion) that the expression "great" (along with all the others like "super" and "fantastic" and "wonderful") is highly overused. I reserve it for the times that something is extraordinary. With Maximis that means in the 60s, something I cannot achieve all the time. I *can* however, get in the 50's with no particular effort nowadays (without using A/C) and today was a good example. I filled the tank and saw that my reset said I got 58mpg average on the tank (it wasn't on empty so it wasn't a 600 mile tank). That's with no particular care or effort on my part, and at speeds that probably averaged 50mph (there isn't any limit around here I drive less than 40, and a lot of stretches I drive 60+ on). Is that "great"? I think it's very good and I'm happy with it. But it ain't great. (Someone like Paul does "great" in every sense of the word, as well as the folks in the 700 club).

And then you picked up the car, the wife drove it, and that dream went flying out the window (because she'll never let go of the Max :>).