Kelleytoons

IGregor, I don't think you're going to get what you want -- which is to be able to pick from addresses on your phone. It looks like what both Rebecca and Shiny are saying is that you can send an address to SYNC and then use Services to set that as a destination. That's a lot of steps for just one address. Why wouldn't you just do what Scuba does and look up the address and say it into the NAV system? What we want is for MFT to work as a unit, together. It LOOKS like it should consolidate things. After all, it shows you phone, navigation, climate and entertainment all there, together. You can use voice commands to get to phone numbers that have addresses attached to them, but what you *can't* do is integrate all of that with the NAV system. And that's what you want and that's something that really ought to be possible (indeed, it sounds like Ford really wants to do that, at some point in time. My experience with devs though is that you shouldn't be holding your breath. My hunch is that they will completely change the SYNC system before they ever get around to providing that kind of integration. And by "completely change" I mean have it phone app based instead of the other way around, and certainly not in OUR cars).

Yeah, our Prius friends (the one couple that are snobs -- not the other one who are actually not at all snobbish about their Prius as their other vehicle is a van which they drive at least as much) actually refused to ride in our Durango. I guess we were just destroying the earth or something (I don't want to get into politics here, but if someone is truly upset about hydrocarbons they really oughtn't be driving a car at all. I mean it -- bike or walk to wherever you want to go, or get a horse. Even an all electric car doesn't mitigate the fact that most of our electricity comes from fossil fuels -- how do they think they are going to charge it?). The Prius dashboard was *very* hard to read and figure out -- I didn't even think about how ugly it was (which it was). Oh well, I really don't mind anyone's choice in ANYTHING -- like your mate, choosing your car is a highly personal decision. I just don't want anyone else judging me from what *I* choose (although that's what that couple did).

I actually used my custom made shade two or three times before I realized it was WAY more effort than I ever wanted to do when I parked the car. What happens is this: you park for, say, 10 minutes and think "Do I want to spend two minutes putting the shade up, a minute taking it down and putting it away, when I'm only going to be away for that short a period of time?" So you skip it that one time. And the next time you are gone for only 15 minutes... Soon you just can't bring yourself to using it unless you are REALLY going to be away from the vehicle, for hours at a time. In those cases (like for those of you who are unfortunate enough to have to work for a living :>) then I'd go ahead and get whatever is the best for you, knowing that even spending five minutes putting it up and taking it down will only be done once a day. For those of us who don't have our vehicles unattended that long (or who make lots of short trips) I really think the absolute easiest thing is what you want because then you WILL do it (and I use the Wal-mart shades even if I'm out of the car for less than 10 minutes, because it takes less than a minute TOTAL for up and down). Women are a whole different thing, as we all know. And as soon as someone figures them out, I'll buy their book <g>.

According to the Ford Sync AppLink guide (this is what is being used here) it saves the SYNC Destinations to your radio presets (?). And it doesn't look as if it actually integrates with the Nav system per se, but rather allows you to navigate via your phone (so when you say "Route me to" it actually uses the phone itself to route you to that place, rather than the Navigation system). I don't think this is what you have in mind but if so, it will do it. Send to SYNC is more of what you want, I do believe, but it only works with Mapquest. There is at least one iPhone app that allows you to send addresses from your phone to SYNC but it doesn't work with the address book but rather more of a maps feature (so it probably uses the Mapquest backend). My own feeling is that you will need to wait until/unless Ford does this themselves. ScubaDad has, I do believe, the best workflow right now.

I'm curious -- just what *was* your stereotype? Because... we have two couples we are friends with, and one couple to me fits the stereotype (at least the one *I* have in my head). They are "eco-friendly" folks who are horrified that we don't recycle (which is a long story in and of itself) and are snobbish that they are that they drive these two Prius models (they are friends with our other Prius owner friends solely because those folks also own a Prius -- they have literally nothing else in common with them and when they get together that's all they talk about). The other couple is as down to earth as you can imagine and their other vehicle is a van (which obviously doesn't get great gas mileage but is one they drive often). I, too, never thought I'd own a hybrid. When we went out to buy a new vehicle, because our Durango has gotten unreliable for anything other than short trips, I was thinking small SUV. I did have the Ford Focus Hybrid on my list just to look at (and curiously enough, never even test drove it). I was pretty sure we'd end up with either the Buick Encore or the Ford Escape (interesting how both small SUVs start with an "E") but our terrific Ford salesman convinced me to try the C-Max and we were hooked. Looking back now I think I see why -- I took a tennis buddy for a long trip to a match and afterwards he said he absolutely wants one (and is going to my dealer to talk with my salesguy). I think the ride impresses a lot of folks. If the C-Max had been a "normal" vehicle I might still have bought it -- the ride and features are that good. Great mpg is icing on the cake.

I wrote in another thread (about the C-Max ride) about my experiences with a Prius (and a Prius V) which I drove for a week, but to me there is no comparison. I suppose if all you really want is great gas mileage then you ought to get a bicycle but truly the Prius is a dangerous car out on the roads of today (not even the freeways but just places where folks routinely go 55-60 mph). It moves like a whale, and even the GMC van I drove performed better in that respect. I couldn't even remember how comfortable it was (or not) because I was just so damned concerned about my safety all the time I was driving that I couldn't think of anything else (and I'm a careful driver who doesn't usually make speed maneuvers, but you HAVE to at times just not to get run over). I am just SO glad I "lucked into" the C-Max (it was so low on my radar that it was almost an afterthought of the list of cars I wanted to try. The Prius V was much higher on the list, although at the time I hadn't driven it yet). Every day I drive it it makes me smile.

Wow -- let me see if I can remember (it might only be the hideous ones that stand out). First and foremost, our friends Prius (note the plural "friends" -- both the couples we are closest to own Priuses and one couple owns two of them. Then again, they are rather prissy "holier than thou" snobs when it comes to ecology and such -- hey, if I talk this way about my FRIENDS you can only imagine how I dish my enemies :>). One Prius and the other Prius V, although the latter I only drove a short period (the former I had for a week). They were such whales I can't even imagine ANYONE wanting one. I nearly got run over trying to merge onto our highway (our development fronts a very busy highway where folks are usually at 60 mpg or higher as they pass by, so to merge left as I usually do when I go play tennis I have to cross quickly across four fast moving lanes of traffic. The first time I tried this in a Prius the cars almost crashed into me on all sides as the zero acceleration left me putt-putting across). I don't remember how the ride felt otherwise, as I was so worried about lack of driving ability I couldn't enjoy any comfort (if it had any). They were also extremely noisy -- got great gas mileage, though. That's a good thing to put on your tombstone after you've been killed in one. Then -- um, some GM type vehicles (an SUV and something I don't know, perhaps a van). Honda hybrid for three days (I think it was a Civic) which got great gas mileage and was *very* peppy, even more so than our C-Max. It actually drove like my old Honda Prelude, a sort of hybrid sports car, but the ride was as rough as a sports car, the car so low to the ground I felt like I was riding a skateboard, and the "upgraded" electronics (which was a big factor in my choice of Ford -- unlike others, I truly LIKE MFT a lot) were a joke: a tiny little four inch screen that reminded me of something from the 90's. What else? Oh, another small SUV (might have been the Mazda -- at this point I was just waiting for the C-Max to come back from repairs so not really caring or paying much attention). Okay all around, but nothing special. The funny thing was that I go through these security gates at one of my tennis venues and the guards there know me pretty well (going there two or three times a week for the last four years or so) and for three weeks straight I was in a different car every time I went through. At one point I told the guard I was the "Jay Leno of central Florida. You ought to see my garage!"

My beloved says her brake score was 96 yesterday -- if so that's a pretty amazing achievement for her. Before she left (when I was bragging about getting in the 50's earlier that day) she said something like "that's something [gas mileage] only men care about". I got to thinking about that. Is that true? I mean, obviously there are exceptions to every rule, but is gas mileage something predominant among the male gender? Fairly obviously driving fast and flashy is a male thing, as are performance and muscle cars. My gut would have said that driving careful and responsible would have been a female thing, but maybe it's just a "cars" thing (which is to say, that men are just more obsessed with all aspects of cars than women). I have to do some more pondering on this. In any case, if it's making her more aware of her driving habits it's a Good Thing in any case. While I don't know that many of us think about it, driving carefully (not accelerating too fast, watching ahead so that we don't have to brake hard which also includes leaving enough distance between us and the next vehicle, not driving over the limits much, if any, etc.) for gas mileage is also the best way to be safe in a vehicle. I always used to get on my wife about this for that reason, not so much for conservation, and if she starts being a safer driver that will thrill me no end (since I'd kind of like to keep her around a bit, as we come up on three decades of wedded joy :>).

Oh, and I got a record 59 mpg (for me) coming back from a 6.1 mile trip from the store, which included half the distance at highway speeds (got only 51 mpg going to the store, though). My wife (Lead Foot Annie) swears she got 52 mpg on her shopping trip but I'm somewhat skeptical. The A/C is running high for us, though, since it's into the high 90's here today.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I couldn't help but post after I took a nice ride today. In the run up to buying our C-Max I had the good fortune to drive six other vehicles, not counting our own Durango (which had issues that caused us to shop for a more reliable vehicle). Our friends and family loaned us a variety of their own cars, and we had one rental. These came from all different makers, and were all different types, and helped us make a good decision (although that was not the purpose -- we were just trying to get around in the meantime). We drove all of these not less than 50 miles, and some appreciably more, so we were able to get a good feel for different kinds. And then, of course, we drove three or four other new vehicles during test rides when we went out to buy -- not for very long, though, as test drives go. Driving the C-Max today I was struck by how none of those 10 or 11 vehicles (including our Durango in the count) had anything approaching the comfort and quiet of the ride I was experiencing. I felt like I was walking on a carpet, or perhaps outside in very comfortable slippers. My tunes were clear and easy and wonderful to hear even during quiet passages and even driving at highway speeds or in heavy traffic. I'm guessing that a truly high end vehicle, something costing twice (or more) what the C-Max cost would have the same sort of luxury ride, but to get it at this price, with all the advantages a hybrid brings... well, my decision looks better and better all the time. I hadn't thought about enjoying a new vehicle -- for me, it was going to strictly be utility in terms of getting us from one place to the other. So we lucked out. But I'm so glad we did. (On a slightly different note, my wife took the C-Max out today for shopping and a man approached her in the parking lot and asked her how she liked it -- he said he had both the C-Max SE and an Energi, and loved them. There is also another C-Max of the same color as ours parked in one of the places I play tennis, and now my mission is to try and track down the owner, as they don't seem all that common around here and *I've* never seen another C-Max outside the dealer lot until Paul visited us).

Well, to each his own. I kind of hate spending more than even a few seconds putting sunshades up, and rolling up something like the Introtech would drive me buggy. I really can put the shades up (and take them down) in less time than anyone can count to two. Plus I really want the sunshade to take up *zero* room in the car, which the Auto Expressions ones do (well, it's not physically possible to take up zero room, but they certainly don't take up even 1/8" of room between the seat you couldn't use anyway). Honestly, I think they *would* be perfect if they were just a bit bigger and with the cars nowadays coming out with bigger and bigger front windshields I suspect it will happen -- just a matter of time.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'd further venture to say that no amount of protection is going to solve that issue (that is to say, a dashboard prone to cracking is going to crack whether you carpet it or not). But that's just a guess. I know I've had many plastic items here in Florida that have cracked and fallen apart in my garage and they weren't even exposed to anything but heat (so covering them with carpet wouldn't have done a damn thing). But glare protection is another thing entirely, and I do understand Mike wanting that, so if that's an issue these covers might well do the trick.

If changing bad connectors solved the problem Ford would be doing that on all these cars... and the problem would be solved. Clearly that's not the case, and simply alerting Ford dealers doesn't help in that regard. If Michelle said that Engineering is still working on the problem, and we stipulate these are not dumb folks, then changing connectors isn't the answer. It may be AN answer, and it may solve SOME specific problem, but I am still of the opinion that the factory radio plays a part in at least some of these issues. I think it's pretty clear this "problem" of dead batteries is a hydra, with many causes and perhaps (in the most unfortunate cases) some of the folks who suffer suffer from more than one cause (because one cause is pretty easy for most engineers to track down). I hope for all of you who suffer these issues you find some resolution (and I would also hope you'd understand if I pray that I DON'T fall victim to this particular fault).

I know some dashes crack -- but have no idea the rhyme or reason of it. As I said, I lived in Nevada for over 30 years, and at least a decade in Vegas (where, if sun, heat and dryness were going to be a factor in this, it would have happened) and even with cars with black dashes parked continuously outside, never had any dash problems. And all these vehicles I've had for a decade or longer. No special care used, either -- just washed from time to time (and usually not even that -- I'm pretty awful when it comes to getting the car washed). Maybe it's more an issue of cold than anything else -- I've never lived where the temps are consistently below freezing. So perhaps that's the real issue and maybe folks who have had dashes that have cracked can comment on that. But one thing is for sure -- I'm not worried about it on the C-Max (and certainly not going to "carpet" the dash on the off chance it would).

Yeah, it's still an annoyance to me as I haven't found a perfect solution. I did get the Trillium but it really is *way* too small (even the large) to help. I ended up buying a tiny little throw pillow (from Wally World, of all places) that actually matches the interior and is a much better size for me but because the real issue is that the tiny little arm rest we have isn't quite high enough AND it's too far back the pillow ends up kind of tilting forward into the drink holders and being a little awkward in use. I can live with it, but I'm still always looking for something. If I ever find it I'll report back here.

Yeah, that would bug me as well. I wonder if that's related to sun angle. I know when we lived in Northern Nevada (the same relative location northwise as you) the sun was in a VERY different position in the sky. Moving here to Florida I'm still not quite used to how different it is. I notice this a lot on the courts (tennis, that is). In Nevada my serve would be affected quite a bit by the sun but here it never bothers me, year around. In any case, I don't notice any glare or reflection at all in the car no matter what time of day I'm driving.

Yeah, I have just such a thread here. There are folks who can drive with common sense, and those who cannot (like my wife, bless her). For the latter you will get improved mileage in any hybrid, but even in a Prius you won't get fantastic mileage (my wife drove a Prius for a week and got the same sort of 39 mpg that folks get here by not driving "correctly"). But anyone who thinks the OP is still here or this thread is viable in any way shape or form needs a reality check -- this really should be closed off, or archived, as the last meaningful posts were in March and in internet time that means the dark ages. Nearly all the folks who complained here posted less than twice (some only once) and have gone off to either get satisfaction or not as the case might be. I also think this -- while it "appears" as if the C-Max may have more issues than most vehicles, it's really hard to tell from any such forum. If all you ever visited was hospitals you'd think there were no healthy people anywhere in the world. People, as a rule, don't come to forums like these because all is well and they just want to say how great things are. They have issues, major or minor, that they'd like help with. And clearly early adopters of ANY technology are going to face problems and situations that folks who buy down the road in that process won't (I can't tell you how many folks I helped on the Apple forums who were SURE there would never be another iPhone after all the problems with the first model that came out. Hmmm, how did that work out?)

While there is no one absolute cause for the battery problems, it *seems* there is at least some evidence that those vehicles without MFT (that is, factory radio only) have more issues than those with MFT. And I think most (all?) SEL models have MFT. The factory standard radio may have been (and perhaps still is) at least one source of some problems. We bought a 2014 SE with MFT and no issues so far but as with any anecdotal information it's not statistically significant (and it could fail tomorrow -- or a year from now). What I'd like to see are folks in that battery thread report their car not only by SE or SEL but also by equipment package but it's probably too late to quantify that (the other thing that would be important to quantify would be weather conditions, as moisture seems to play some role in failures as well).

Oh, okay, then. The first thing my wife asked me, when we got the new car, was if we were going to put "carpet on the dash" as our friend has his Prius done this way. It was asked in such a manner as to indicate disdain (or at least bemusement) even though we've never done such a thing. I think she was half-afraid I'd do it and it was an attempt to head me off at the pass, so to speak. I don't get glare there but then when it's sunny here in Florida I always drive in sunglasses that eliminate such things anyway. But I at least understand now why some folks would do this, so thanks for the explanation (obviously just isn't something *I'd* do). (But I do totally understand the need/want to modify or at least kit out your car -- I can't wait for our personalized plate to come and that's total vanity as it adds really nothing of any worth to the car itself).

Not trying to start any kind of argument here whatsoever, but I'd be curious to know what the actual rational behind such a thing is. I've owned vehicles for 45 years, and always keep them for a decade or more and never had any issues with dash "problems" (and I lived in Vegas for nearly 20 years, and Nevada for 35, where sun and heat would certainly do whatever damage people worry about). The dash on our Durango, for example, which has been outside in the Nevada desert sun for nearly a decade and now spent almost that long in Florida looks absolutely as new as the day I got it. Okay, so let's stipulate that nowadays we didn't in the past really need to "protect" our dash from damage -- why do people then get these things? Is it because you want to change the color of your dash? I thought all the dashes of the C-Max were black anyway, but perhaps you got a different material that looks cool or neat or something. Or is it that these newer vehicles have dashes that are more... sensitive? (They certainly have a ton more electronics than my old vehicles ever did, but I assume they are made out of the same materials as the dashes I've had in past vehicles that were basically indestructible). Anyway, just trying to understand here (in case this is something I need/want :>).

Yeah, I have to admit this solution isn't perfect -- while it doesn't require any external support and does stow away easily and tidily, I will admit it does not fit perfectly and is a bit "fussy" when you put it up (you have two pieces and you push one to one side and the other to the other so not just like putting one smooth piece in place like the ginormous custom made one I also have). What *would* be perfect would be one of these springy things custom cut to fit our windshield but I don't think that's likely to be found (although that won't stop me from continuing to look). And, as you said, finding something that someone will use (in our cases, our wives) is the most important. Since my own has been -- dare I say it? -- "trained" to use these on the Durango it's a sure bet she will on our C-Max.

So I did go to Pep Boys and got the "Jumbo" size and lo and behold it's the same as the "Universal" size (but I'm glad I got it because it's the "Deluxe Silver" which is what I really wanted anyway). So there are really three sizes, but four designations for them, just FYI. They work, they are quick and easy to setup, and take zero room in the car. And, best of all, my wife will use them <bg>.

Paul, Any time you want to get together just let me know. I know I'll never be in the same class as you, but it's always nice to see how the master does. Today, "punching it" to get to my tennis date, I only got 39 mpg (but it was only a 3 mile trip so I'm not sure that most of that wasn't just in warming up). I had fun pulling out VERY fast in front of traffic on our highway (front of our development) though -- try doing THAT in a Prius (actually, I *did* try it once and very nearly got run over by oncoming traffic. Prius is a wet noodle when it comes to acceleration). I suspect I'll keep playing around with things from time to time but at the moment I'm just happy getting 3x what I used to get in our silver whale.

I should add a few things: 1) These "Universal" shields are 25x28 inches, and I put them in lengthwise (top to bottom). The actual length we could use (assuming we wanted complete coverage of the dash) would be more on the order of 34 inches and you can see they don't come all the way forward. For me this isn't an issue but it might be for some of you. 2) They make two more sizes: Super Jumbo (which as Rick notes, is too big for our cars) is 31x38. You *could* use the 31 inches just fine, but that 38" would be WAY too big across and bunch up around the rearview mirror (I assume that was what Rick experienced when he tried to use them). However, the Jumbo size might be an even better fit that the Universal. It measures 28x31, so you could use it turned the same way as the Universal but that would give us 3 extra inches of coverage. I don't think the 28 inch width would then be too big across the center (it might, but it would be worth a try). 3) You can't get the Jumbo size at Wally World -- they only sell the Universal and Super Jumbo. Locally the only place I can find which carries them is Pep Boys, and I may take a trip down there today just to get one to see (heck, for $10 it's worth the experiment). I'm playing tennis at 2pm so I won't be able to report back until after then (which will be around 5pm) but if someone can get one sooner let me know here and I'll not waste my time.

Sorry it took so long, had late (9:30pm) tennis last night and didn't get up until about an hour ago. These are the "universal" Windshield size ones, cost about $10 and come in various colors/designs (for years in the Durango we used the silver ones, but I like these Florida looking ones even better, even if they *are* sideways :>). I was going to do a video on how to do it but this is WAY cuter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0AtG3L0kaAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0AtG3L0kaA (And I can do it in less than 1 second but I have a lot larger arms :>).