Kelleytoons

Ah, I sit corrected (can't stand and type :>). Apparently Sirius *is* activated on my system, although they said at the dealership even they weren't sure I had it. So my salesman was faster than I thought <g>. Still don't see much value in it but at least I know now.

Frank (my best friend is named Frank and he used to live near Rochester :>), Do you think the heater thing is true for all hybrids? And how does that compare to a gas engine? IOW, would a Prius also do better in warmer climes? And does the same issue (running a heater or running a colder engine) also affect gas mileage for a gas engine? Answers to those two questions could make a big difference in how attractive hybrids (and perhaps even all electric) cars would be to a lot of people. For example, if hybrids in general "only" average around 30mpg in colder climes and this didn't affect a gas engine as much (or at all) then you might very well get as good or nearly as good mileage with a gas engine in those places. I'm starting to wonder if this hybrid/electric thing is so popular in California not because it's trendy but because it's just a state it suits very well (or both <g>). As for me, living here in Florida, the cold issue isn't that big a deal (although we do use A/C quite a bit), even though we do get a few months each year when it's cold enough to put on the heater in the morning (never freezing but certainly cold).

I think this color is my favorite color of all the cars I've owned -- Red, blue, silver, orange (don't ask), black... Ice Storm is SO much better. But color is highly subjective (heck, we don't even know that anyone sees color the same way any other person does). What I like about it is that it's subtle yet colorful, and infinitely changing in the various light (it also matches our house color, as a friend noticed :>). Still, the bottom line is that it IS your wife's choice -- and she chose you (so never dispute her choices <g>).

Tried it tonight with my 128GB USB stick and it worked perfectly. I had it about 75% full (about 80gb), with over 10K worth of songs on it, and the indexing took five minutes and then building commands took another four (so it was completely done and ready for all voice commands in less than 10 minutes). After that I was able to get any album, artist or song by voice files just fine. So I don't think it's a matter of a "breaking point" so much as organizing your drive properly. All my music files were in separate folders by artist and album, and each folder was optimized (using Windows Explorer) as a music folder. This is most of the music I really want to play in a car so I think I'm all set but since my wife likes to stick in drives to play certain playlists I think we'll need to work something out.

I have the Nav system AND Sirius, but I'm fairly sure Sirius is not activated -- I do not believe it is activated at the same time SYNC is (because they are two separate entities). I will check later, though (too busy tonight). Quite honestly, there is nothing either SYNC nor Sirius can offer me I can't get better/faster/cheaper on my phone, so I'm of the opinion that I won't be paying for anything anyway.

I have gotten about 39mpg doing 70mph on our (so far) four trips to/from Orlando. That's with air on pretty high (90+ degrees here with interior set for 73). I expect that will be slightly better now that I've tinted the windows but we'll see. Neither our battery nor engine are completely broken in and that may give better results as well down the road. One key for good mileage with the C-Max is supposedly not going much over 70mph, but that's actually a good general rule anyway (never drove much faster even in our Durango). Also, the 2014 is supposedly geared slightly better for this than the 2013 models, AFAIK.

Um, still don't know about that. According to the Ford site, you need to register your Sirius account online (which I have not done and which the dealer did not do because when I bought it even THEY were unsure whether I had Sirius or not). Wife has the C-Max at work so I can't check further, but I will when she gets home. I would suspect that *someone* has to register it because otherwise how would they know when it started? To get started, register your account online at siriusxm.com/GetAllAccess

Ahem -- yes, much, MUCH later, if I ever went to court (because trying to prove ANYTHING to a cop is just asking for trouble, and they will be happy to oblige). But I suspect I'd just tear up the ticket and never visit that state again (seriously).

Tint laws are *very* strange -- you'd think there would be some national standards. Looking at the state chart I can see that my relatively conservatively tinted C-Max is still "illegal" in a handful of states and D.C. (including places within reasonable driving distance of me). Obviously this isn't a situation where it's high enough on anyone's radar to be fixed, but you'd think at the very least the national highway system would have one law that everyone could follow (and thus you'd only be at risk when leaving the highways). It's almost as if every single state would have different laws for headlights and turn signals -- imagine how much of a PITA that would be! If I ever did get ticketed in another state I'd just ignore it (assuming I was just visiting).

Um, are you sure about that? While I do have the Sirius install, I've never activated it and yet the Nav system does show traffic and other issues (like current construction). My own particular hunch is that it's coming from the SYNC (which I do have an account) but I've never taken the time to fully investigate (having only had the car about a week -- I'll get to it). Would Sirius show traffic even if not activated?

Okay, just to close this thread out, I had the windows all done at 35 and that seems fine -- I wouldn't have wanted to go darker. I also went ceramic because it does seem to block out a lot more of the heat. Cost a bit more (about $50 more than the original quoted price) but in the Florida sun it probably is worth it.

Yeah, mine's been working as well for the last three days. I can't imagine paying more for just an update of the maps.

I suspect organizing the music by folder (and also using the Windows Properties to identify it as a music folder) will solve that issue. I tried this with a 32mb drive and about 3000 songs and it worked fine, indexed within 10 minutes or less (and the drive was nearly full, so I suspect a 128gb drive even full would index in an hour or less). I've kind of decided to only use a 64gb drive, though, for size considerations (small footprint) but in any case I'm confident that it will work fine (won't know for sure until I get it Tuesday).

So after pouring through the other threads (particularly the long one) and going around the net looking, I'm still a little uncertain as to how dark to go. I don't have a rear camera, so don't want to darken my visibility too much in the back. Coming from our Durango (which came stock with very dark tint on the rear and back windows which seemed to be fine -- don't ask me the percentage because that was a decade and a half ago and I have no idea) I know that I really like having the windows tinted. In our Florida sun it's really a must... but visibility will always be important to me (although we don't do a lot of night driving). Florida rules are 28 and 15, but I suspect that's darker than I would ever need. Just based on comments here, I was thinking that 35% all around would be okay, but would appreciate others thoughts on the subject. Again, my biggest concern is not so much privacy as it is heat/AC load (although it's also nice not to be in a fish bowl :>).

Okay, I'll make sure I check that. Again, thanks.

I found a shop I really liked (in terms of Yelp ratings it was the highest, with beaucoup compliments from all) and he quoted me $170 so we're getting it done tomorrow afternoon. That was for all windows other than the front (I assume you did not tint your front windshield, right?). Thanks for the help, guys -- I think I would have just had my dealer do this otherwise (and I'm sure it would have cost a lot more, although I didn't ask). For that price with a lifetime warranty I don't think I'm going wrong.

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but I thought it should logically be here and a search didn't reveal it. I'm used to a car with tinted windows and this wasn't an option on mine (don't know if it's an option at all, but not with the one we got). I'd like to get the windows tinted as much as I can, everywhere I can, and was wondering what folks have done here about this. Anyone use their dealership for this or an outside service? I'd love to know the pros and cons, as well as where and what you tinted. Here in the hot Florida sun any help I can get from the heat is appreciated (and tinting never bothers me during night driving).

Um, I can't speak for a system without MFT, but some people on other forums had better luck with their music by organizing it in Windows Explorer using: First set the current folder to optimize for Music (Use the Music Template): Right Click Folder > Properties > Customize > Choose "Music" from dropdown list So you could try that for all your folders and see if it helps.

This is an interesting thread that has wandered all over the place from the basic point (yet somehow managed to seem relevant not to mention vastly entertaining). Pardon me for posting a few thoughts: 1) I knew going in that the numbers weren't accurate, even the "adjusted" ones (I just bought ours this week). Didn't particularly bother me, as our best friends have a Prius as well as another couple we spend a lot of time with (that couple has both the Prius sedan and the Prius V) and I knew their mileages were not as advertised either (my lead footed friend is lucky to get 39mpg in his Prius). I came from a Durango where we were lucky to get more than 13mpg so anything would be an improvement. But I can certainly understand the folks who bought first gen before the numbers were "retooled" and felt lied to. They did, however, get more satisfaction from Ford then I ever had out of similar situations with other companies. 2) Resale value doesn't interest me a whit, since I keep all my vehicles long past they are worth selling (the aforementioned Durango is 14 years old, and I'll drive it at least another 5). But, again, I sympathize with those to whom it is an issue. However, I always thought that was what leasing was all about (IOW, if you aren't going to keep your vehicle a LONG time, just lease). 3) While still very new, here in our hot Florida climate I've easily gotten 45mpg even on very short runs (where I wouldn't have thought the system was warm enough to get optimized) with the air on. Then again, I've been driving "carefully" for many decades now, having been taught that way by my employer for company vehicles back in the gas rationing days. Our C-Max also only has 340 miles on it, and I'm hoping that once it breaks in a bit more I can better that by quite a bit. 4) Even with "careful" driving, there are times you need to sharply accelerate, and driving my friend's Prius for a week taught me that it was NOT the car for me -- it basically drives like a whale, so gutless that I was almost t-boned by oncoming traffic just trying to get across the highway outside our development's entrance. The same maneuver with the C-Max is easy-peasy (I don't even have to floor it, just a touch on the gas pedal and it GOES). I understand the Prius V is even worse in this aspect so I'm glad that although it was on our short list we didn't even bother to test drive it. The more I drive the more convinced I am we made the right decision, but that doesn't mean the C-Max might not end up being thought of as the Edsel of the 21st Century. While most of you are probably too young to have experienced it, that particular car was WAY ahead of its time, and other than perhaps the styling (which was an acquired taste) so much better in so many ways than other vehicles it's a shame it got such a bad rap (of course, if you had one in classic condition today it would be worth a LOT of money -- perhaps the same will be true decades down the road of our car. Too bad I won't be alive to reap the benefits :>).

Ah, nevermind -- answered my own question. It definitely has to be FAT (or FAT32 if you have a larger size device). Those work just fine. Also, on another forum (not here) someone couldn't get their music to play if it was organized in folders, but it works for me just fine (I also optimized the folders using the WIndows customize options).

I'm starting another topic because it's a *bit* different than my first one. While waiting for my 128gb USB card to arrive I thought I'd try some smaller ones just to see how they work. The answer? They don't. I tried seven different ones, all of which work fine on my computer and other media players, and in each case I get a "USB device not supported" message (or some such). Huh? How can that be? Is my car broken, or is Ford just VERY picky about what formats and/or hardware is compatible. For the most part these are NTFS formatted, but I can retry with FAT (although it will have to be EX-FAT in order to accommodate the larger sizes). And these are all "standard" hardware types -- Lexar, Patriot, Scandisk, Verbatim, etc. However, if anyone knows a particular one they've gotten to work I'd appreciate knowing (along with format type, please).

The cards on eBay appear legit -- of course, Ford's official position must be to buy from a dealer. However, as all eBay purchases are well protected I would recommend shopping there <g>.

Hmmm, that's discouraging. Putting a smaller amount just isn't a solution for me -- the whole point of such a drive is to have all my music. Otherwise, I'll just use my phone (which, with Apple streaming, can play from all my music no matter how large my library goes). I can search using Siri but, of course, not with the MFT (so not hands free). But since the stick is coming tomorrow I'll give it a test and if it doesn't work I'll just stick with the phone (worst comes to worse I have enough onboard the phone so even if I get into an area with no connection I can still play. But a bummer I can't hands free search). I wonder, though, how you organized your music on that drive. Was it all in one folder or individually? And if individually, was it also broken down by folders for each album? My music is pretty organized in that manner precisely for quick searches using other sorts of hardware similar to the MFT and they work well there.

Yeah, I thought about that but I just bought a "regular" size one so I could get the larger space. It will be okay, though -- we rarely put anything in our storage compartments so I don't think it will get in the way (in the Durango I was cleaning it out yesterday to see if there was anything I needed to transfer and the only thing I could think of was my phone charger cable).

It was not freshly built -- got it from another dealer's lot. Nearest I can figure is that it was made in January (without a lot of checking that appears as a date several times on things, like the keys). It did come with A4, so the $40 I spent for A5 was worth it (I guess -- I spent far more than that on my first Garmin update, before they had the lifetime maps thing).