Kelleytoons

As Frank says, you can turn on the camera backup option: To access any of the rear view camera system settings, make the following selections in the touch screen when the transmission is not in reverse ®: Menu > Vehicle > Rear View Camera II don't think NAV can be turned on or off but if it's in your car it *should* react when you remove and/or insert the micro SD card.

I've got one pretty small one that first well in the cargo netting in the back, but I don't think it would fit under the seat (it *might* -- but it might also be a bit too big).

Ours (2014) was on the lot since January (bought in July) -- never gave it a second thought (and wouldn't if I did it again). It was the right color and had the right options. (On a side note: has anyone ever mentioned to you you might overthink things? Just saying... LOL).

Well, perhaps "stick" isn't a good word to use -- I don't mean like in theater floors (where you can't remove your foot). I just mean that I shift my feet around when I drive and I like them to smoothly slide on the rug. With a rubber mat they do not do this, they "hold" (because, well, rubber). That is unacceptable. And I'm willing to admit this may just be me but I also think there is a real reason rubber mats aren't the standard. Folks like carpet for all kinds of reasons and, yes, some folks even like putting rubber (or plastic) on their furniture for protection. So different strokes and all that. For the purpose of this thread I'm just a minority opinion and I'll stay out of the rest of it, but I do think it's worth mentioning for people who feel the same as I do (which is why I asked about them in the first place -- if they were superior carpet ones I might have been interested in buying them).

Yeah, my own SE was made in January and I have about 1700 miles with no issues other than the NAV "wandering" (it was fixed easily with a dealer applied update). If it helps, our driving is such that it *should* have manifested some of the battery issues others have talked about (sits for a couple of days without driving, driving in the rain, puddles, lots of very short trips not long enough to recharge it).

Nah, don't worry about not finding this forum first -- you might have gotten scared off <bg>. You'll probably have to check with your dealer about both of those issues. Note that just "having" an SD card doesn't mean you have the NAV system. You cannot, for example, add the card after the fact (the NAV system is hardware built-in to the MFT). Hopefully someone didn't try and scam you but your dealer can tell you whether the car really does have the NAV system installed (and if it doesn't, it can NOT be added).

Well, we have little rugs around the toilet as well. As with everything in life (especially cars), YMMV (some of us are just neater than others :>). And, no, I'm well aware of what my feet are on and there has never been a rubber car mat I'm not WELL aware of when I'm driving. That awful feeling (of my feet "sticking" to the floor -- I always wear tennis shoes) far outweighs any slight advantage in cleaning (like I said, our Durango carpets are still in really good shape going on their second decade now, and we've even been offroad quite a few times in it). Again, some people are just, well, let's just say more careful about making sure their feet are clean before they put them places where it matters.

Actually, that's not *strictly* true. SE owners *can* get the SYNC services for "free" depending on the package (I have the same services as the SEL comes with standard, with my own SE package -- I think it's the 202 but I never quite remember). The OP does have a "base" model so he won't, but I just wanted to clarify this for the benefit of other SE owners who might get confused. I have a top of the line Garmin but it lives now in our Durango because I like the on-board NAV system much better. There are things about it that are irritating, but nothing beats the voice commands to set destination, and it IS pretty handy sometimes to set a destination from Mapquest. As a matter of fact, the voice commands in the MFT system are the main reason I like Maximis so much -- being able to set air, nav, music or make and receive phone calls all hands free is pretty damn cool. There's a lot to like about her, but that is my favorite <g>.

Scott, I drive my cars long as well, maybe longer than you (our Durango has 15 years on it and will probably go for at least five if not ten now that I'm using Maximis so much, and prior to that I drove my Prelude for 17 years and my wife hated to part with her Mazda 10 year old truck when we moved but we thought we wouldn't need two vehicles -- big mistake). I intend to keep the C-Max as long as it will work (with the battery I'm not sure I'll get more than 8-10 years out of it, though) so I do understand wanting to take your time and getting it right. I agree with Adrian -- if price is your concern I'd wait until the 2015 are released (or perhaps the week before) and hit my dealer up and make them an offer on a 2013 and then walk away (leaving them with your number, of course). I'd do this with at least two or three dealers and see what happens. As long as you are firm and don't waver you ought to be able to get pretty much whatever is reasonable, given no *new car* dealer wants any new "two year old" models on their lot.

So now, Strato, you have the superhuman approach, and the mere mortal one. You *ought* to be able to figure out how to improve given all that info.

Be careful about computer technology analogies. We've known about Moore's law since the 60's, and it was accurate for quite some time (only now is it slowing down and showing signs of not being a good predictor. Still, for a half-century run it's impressive). So even though your 100 meg drive was expensive those of us in the industry were absolutely certain it would not remain that way. Battery technology does not follow Moore's law -- far from it, there have essentially been no huge breakthroughs of the same scale as that law for hundreds of years, since batteries were even mass produced. That doesn't mean we don't hear ALL THE TIME about an exciting new process that will "revolutionize the battery!" Indeed, it is because batteries have such a slow growth of improvement that they are so ripe for revolution, but it never seems to come to pass. That isn't to say they don't get improved, just not on the same order of magnitude. To put it another way, if batteries had followed your hard drive example, we'd now have a AAA battery that could run for years and provide ten times the power of conventional ones, all for a fraction of the cost of such a AAA 20 years ago. Not going to happen, not in my lifetime and most likely not in yours (if anything, batteries that are improved tend to cost more and more).

I dunno, Scott -- no offense but if you've driven a C-Max that much but a *post* makes it hard not to purchase one, I'm not so sure you're the sort who should buy it. For me it was the ten minute test drive, and in my half-century of car ownership I've never had a car I look so forward to getting into and driving. I try and find excuses just to go to the store (but it's even more fun to take it for longer drives). Perhaps it's just because I haven't had a new car in a while, but all the great things about it just make it more fun to be than almost anywhere other than my pool or the tennis courts (although it's great to get TO the tennis courts :>). No matter what you read it won't get any better -- even if you read tomorrow that Ford announced they had officially solved all and any issues with the vehicle that doesn't mean the one you purchase couldn't be a Monday or Friday car. I think you either take a chance... or you stick to bicycles <bg>.

I think you'll find if you read a lot of the battery topic threads that there have been folks with battery issues on ALL models (well, maybe not the Energi but I'm not really up on that). They may be fewer on some models than others, but that could also be because some models (with some equipment) sell less than others. My own gut feeling is the newer the model the less likely battery problems are but you have to go by manufactured date not by year date. IOW, I *think* (just a guess here) Ford has been constantly tinkering with things in an effort to get the battery problem solved and so it may even be a case of "early 2014 versus late 2014" rather than 2013 v. 2014. Obviously Ford knows about these problems, and equally obviously they have been trying to solve them, and it just makes sense they may have made small, but perhaps effective, changes that have fixed *some* of the contributing factors (for example -- if a "bad" batch of radios that would not turn off caused some of the battery problems, they may have just switched to a different OEM supplier). But I also think it's equally obvious that there are battery problems they have yet to be able to fix (and so we should still see problems no matter when the car is made -- they may be getting rarer and rarer to find, though).

The "magic" speed is apparently 67-68 mpg, on Ecocruise. If you can get it there (and turn the cruise on) you should be able to get in the 40's. So if you were at 68 with the cruise on (must have the cruise on for this to work) try 67. Folks swear by this method (I haven't tried it myself so I can't say it if really works or not). Also, make sure you have recirc on your A/C -- that also apparently helps (I've gotten to the point now where I just leave it there).

Actually, we DO have carpet in the bathrooms -- at least rugs (like mats). Do YOU have rubber rugs in YOUR bathroom? If so -- yuck. Rubber mats, no matter how thick, are just tacky. IMHO, of course, but to each his own (that's why they make them both ways).

Well, I wouldn't want rubber mats (that looks cheap to me) so if that's what these are I'll pass (if the carpet ones get worn out, I'll get new carpet ones). Then again -- no kids and we're old people who are pretty careful (the original carpet mats in our 15 year old Durango look almost as good as new).

SYNC is a bit confusing. In essence, it's sort of like a poor man's Onstar system. It uses a linked cell-phone to connect (by making a call) to your Sync account and/or a live person and then you get information that may or may not be useful. But the best part about SYNC (IMHO, of course) is the ability to play music from your devices, either bluetooth or (my preference) USB. I love the fact I can call up albums, artists, or playlists by name, for example. That part is very, very cool. You can also get turn by turn directions read to you, but in the absence of a map I don't think that's useful (but that's just me -- that's why I got the NAV system and MFT in our vehicle). And it will also make a 911 call for you automatically if you get into an accident, which is probably of some use but hopefully not. You can use some of the features without registration, but some of them (like your free calls to a real live person for help with directions or your vehicle health report) you DO need to be registered. Syncmyride.com

Hey, I actually thought the van handled just fine (certainly compared to the Prius). It was just WAY too big (would not fit in my garage next to our Durango) and, as you said, gulped gas like it was going out of style. (Ironically, originally we were thinking of buying that used van from our neighbor, whose wife can't drive anymore so now they have two vehicles they mostly can't use -- even he has problems getting around and that's why we take him to his doctor's visits, etc. Couldn't find an actual blue book price as it was too old, but I took the one I *could* find and subtracted 100 dollars and offered it to him... and his wife wouldn't let him sell as it was "her" car and she didn't want to part with it although she'll never drive again in her life. Boy, am I glad we didn't end up with it now).

I think you're both right -- an "upgrade" is definitely not covered, but *fixing* the basic problem is/was. So if it needed (in their opinion) a new NAV card to fix it, it should have been covered. That was what I would have argued for (now, they might well have turned around and found a new A4 card for the fix, but perhaps not. They may not have had any of those in stock and might even have been unable to order any as the new version is all that is being made now). But as I said, sometimes things aren't worth the hassle, not even over a few hundred dollars. If it's working, fine. However, that's a dealership I would NOT go to again.

Of course, for a Prius owner to be going "flat out" that far over the speed limit means they started accelerating an hour previous <bg>.

I was told yes by my dealer.

I understand, but all I'm saying is if "the work" they did was taking the A4 out and putting the A5 in I'm not so sure I wouldn't have told them where to shove things (and then gone and bought the card myself). If they are charging you $200 for 10 seconds worth of effort they definitely are overcharging (and, yes, I realize the eBay prices are way cheaper, but even so you can most likely get the card for not more than $100). But if it's working... sometimes life is too short to worry about it.

Again, this shows how numbers (and, yes, statistics) don't mean much. It all comes down to real world driving, and the Prius does NOT handle better than even an 18 year old Chevy van (again, unless both the van and the two Priuses I drove were very uncommon and/or I'm just a lousy driver. All of which are possible... but doesn't explain why the C-Max handles so much better in my hands then). But I don't think so -- I've also ridden in both of my friend's Prisues when they were driving and at all times it felt awkward, lurching around the lanes and acting as if they were constantly fighting it. I had chalked it up to my friends just not being very good drivers (while we all think that WE are the best drivers in the world, pretty obviously we aren't all :>) but I truly think it's the car now. I do think if you keep the speed down it is certainly manageable, assuming you have plenty of time in which to make any changes, so perhaps in someplace like the Bay area (last time I drove there I think I remember not being able to go much over 25 in The City and even that was tough most of the time). Don't want to know what happens when you get on the freeways, though.

I think you're right, but it's in how you approach it. When I called the service department for a problem I had I was able to quote the two TSBs posted here relevant to the problem and said something along the lines of "I think perhaps if you just apply these it will fix it" and the tech not only listened but was really happy for the info (he asked me to repeat the numbers slowly so he could write them down). It fixed my own particular problem (no, not a battery one, sorry) but I suspect if you try a little friendly "we're in this together" approach you can get them on your side (they *want* to solve problems, just not be told they aren't competent).

Hmmm -- Rebecca and I differ about this, because when I put A5 in my car (which I bought for less than $40 from eBay) it DID seem to change things in MFT (for the better, but at first it confused me). I had different options and behaviors and did NOT have some things that folks without A5 did have. Rebecca thinks they installed the beta of the new MFT software for me when I brought my car in for other work but I am skeptical about that (since it still seems to say I'm running the same version as everyone else). Assuming you kept the A4 card (which you should have -- it belongs to you) you could put it back in and see if things break again. Honestly, though, if they charged you $235 you were charged $200 too much for that card (I would not have spent more than $35 for the upgrade).