Singoffpitch

If I back my car out of the garage and turn it off, I always get 999.9 mpg. It makes me laugh every time! (Disclaimer: I have to move my car to get the mower out - I don't just randomly pull in and out of my garage all the time for fun.) It makes me think of those wind-up toy cars - if I back up, the mileage is so good, it's like giving it gas instead of using it! I better be careful to always put it firmly in park so it doesn't shoot forward through the garage wall like the wind-up toy cars when you let go! ;)

Thanks - sorry, I'm long-winded! I would absolutely do that, but I did 5 years of financing, intending to keep it longer than that since it is a Ford and they usually last forever (being my father's daughter, I keep vehicles until the parts start falling off while driving down the road). Since I commute so many miles, my warranty will end long before I own the car. My car will have depreciated beyond being worth anything for trade-in, especially with all the issues with the early 2013 model and my high mileage, and I'll take a huge hit. I wish I would have waited for the 2014. My sister-in-law is an engineer for Ford and she raved about this new car so I ignored all the bad reviews online, assuming she would know if there were any major concerns, and the people saying they were having problems were just whiny. I've refrained from being one of them until this last issue. Now I'm joining the ranks of the whine (but not blasting Ford everywhere; I have a good history with Fords and realize I just have a new car model with a lot of kinks that still needed worked out.) If I pursue the Lemon Law, I would just want to replace it with a 2014 C-Max. I truly do love the car and I've always had good experiences with Ford.

I want to start with saying how much I LOVE my C-Max (her name is Bernie) before saying anything else. I love how it drives like a sports car with such great get-up-and-go, I love how much I can cram in the back with the fold-down seats after downsizing from an Explorer. I love how well I can see without blind spots and I just really enjoy driving my car. Although not what I expected, the mpg is still pretty good! That being said, it makes me really nervous that I've had so many big issues in the 12 months I've had my car. My car has been in for major repairs 7 times, plus all the recalls. The first service visit for non-recall malfunctions was on the 6th day I had the car. The roof recall news release was the day after I bought my car. Three different times, repairs have resulted in several days without my car. I have the extended warranty until 125,000 miles plus every add-on warranty, care option, premier level upgrades, caviar served during tow truck rides, and the tire warranty that includes champagne being poured for me if I have a flat. I commute 150 miles per day, plus any incidental driving, and I've had my car 12 months and have accrued 39,000 miles already. I'm scared of what happens when my warranty runs out and the car isn't brand new anymore, but 3 years old and other stuff starts failing if so many things have malfunctioned while it was new. I bought a brand new car so I didn't have to worry about having a car break down all the time. This was toted to get 47 mpg on hwy and city. My commute is 77 miles each way of 2-lane highway with 55 mph speed limit. The entire drive is flat and straight. It was like the C-Max was made for my commute and I'd be guaranteed to get 47 mpg! But that's not what happened. I've had more repairs and problems with this car than all my previous old high-mileage cars combined (and they changed the 47 mpg rating after I bought my car). My most recent repair for the restraint control module that malfunctioned 1 month after it was fixed in a recall repair would have cost $700 just for the replacement module, not including service. It was under warranty, but it won't be in another year or two and I'm getting more and more concerned with each malfunction. That broken module disabled my air bags, my traction control, my 911 Assist, and caused a high-voltage powertrain error. Not exactly something I could ignore if I couldn't afford to fix it the next time. Last time, it was a leaky air conditioner test port valve that left me without a car for a couple days. The navigation and sync system (I call her Dashboard Lady) used to stop working all the time and had to be uninstalled/reinstalled/upgraded/replaced a few times, the steering wheel controls & voice control stopped working and had to be repaired, and the radio stations would not change another time and had to be serviced. For months, the navigation froze or would lose the location more often than it worked until they were finally able to get it to work consistently with the most recent software upgrade. My canister purge valve in the fuel tank has had to be replaced ($250 part if out of warranty, not including work) right after I got the car, just to name a few things. It seems like it's constantly something. I don't mention all the little things to the service guys, like the power lift gate that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't or how the driver's seat clicks and slides front to back like it doesn't stay locked in place. My aunt bought the same car a month before I did, has half the miles on hers, and has had even more problems than I have. She even had the seat heater coils burn through the seat upholstery. Doesn't anyone else get nervous about what happens at 125,000 miles when we're on our own for paying for all these little and big things? Even while under warranty, we make payments on a car we can't drive during warranty or recall work and likely pay for a rental and pay for gas for much lower mileage (16 mpg in my most recent rental last week driving 1600 miles while without my C-Max 7 days) and we're just out all that money while our cars with great mileage sit in a service bay. I know it's a new car in its first model year so there will be minor glitches and recalls, but I paid for a new car. I didn't get a reduced price for a beta version with a disclosure of kinks or possibility of different mileage than what it was supposed to have when purchased. I bought a car with 47 mpg and have put 39,000 miles on it. I've already surpassed the cost difference of that reimbursement check from Ford for only getting 42 mpg. I drive my hybrid well, too, so it's not that I don't know how to drive it. I get 53-57 mpg in the summer without A/C and 43-47 mpg with A/C, but only got in the 20s in the bitter cold winter and in the 30s when I run the heat. It wasn't disclosed that the car only got 47 mpg if you live in a climate where it is 75 degrees and sunny every day. I love my car so much that I have kept justifying each repair and each recall and keep saying, 'it's the first year and they'll get all the kinks out with recalls,' but this last malfunction that disabled all my safety features and left me stranded without a car in the middle of a 1600-mile drive across several states for a conference might have pushed me over the edge. I ended up in tears in the middle of the dealership where I bought my car (3 hours from my house) after hours on a weekend because Ford's 24/7 roadside care said the dealer had to help me and the dealer said the 1-800 number for 24/7 roadside had to help me and nobody would give me a loaner car and mine wasn't driveable. The sales associate who sold me my car ended up giving me a dealer car (2014 Ford Explorer) that was the only thing he could find with navigation for my trip. It only got 16 mpg on a 1600 mile trip and cost me over twice as much as I had planned for the trip. It took 7 days to get my car fixed this time. I'm seriously considering pursuing lemon law for my beloved car. Honestly, I just want another C-Max, but not so filled with glitches. If only Ford's warranty lasted more than 125,000 miles, I wouldn't worry. Or if I could trade in my glitchy beta version for a glitchless new version in a year or two... Sorry, I went way off-topic. I'll stop rambling now.

This happened to me, too. It would run, but would only blow hot air. Mine was due to a "leaky test port valve" that had to be replaced (took 2 days for repair since part is specialty for C-Max and had to be sent overnight).

I can get anywhere from 53-57 mpg during my daily 150-mile commute (flat, rural, 2-lane highway running between 55-60 mph for about 140 miles of the drive) in the summer with the windows open. Running the air conditioner drops me to between 42-47. This last winter, I never got above 38 mpg and most of the winter, when temps were well below 0, I was under 30 mpg. I took it in the dealer because I thought something was wrong - I bought a car that was supposed to get 47 mpg and I couldn't get 30 all of a sudden! Then I learned about cold and hybrids... (I even had trouble with my electronics freezing a few times this winter and nothing on the MyTouch would work when it was -40 degrees - dealer said it was due to cold temps). I wish I would have known that it would be such a huge mpg difference when I bought the car only because I had budgeted a 150-mile daily commute based on higher mpg. I guess most people know that without being told. My overall mileage for the car is 42.1 mpg (I bumped up to .1 yesterday) with 39,000 miles from 7/27/13 to now. I love my C-Max, but was very surprised by the huge variance in mpg from 27 to 57 based on outside temperature and using A/C or heat.

I bought my C-Max 7/27/13 and found out about the recall on 7/28/13. I didn't realize it had already been announced prior to that - why were they able to sell it that way? It ended up being a nightmare to get the recall work done - they initially refused to give me a loaner car despite it taking 2 days for the repair and then they got grease on my brand new car's ceiling at all 4 corners of the car (still there). Maybe this recall on day 2, the wrench warning light and fuel tank malfunction on day 7, and the change in the car's 47 mpg to 42 mpg two weeks after I purchased should have all been warnings of what was to come. I LOVE my C-Max, but the hassles of all the days without a car and time at the service center for warranty repairs and recall repairs is crazy for a new car!

I bought my C-Max 7/27/13 and found out about the recall on 7/28/13. I didn't realize it had already been announced prior to that - why were they able to sell it that way? It ended up being a nightmare to get the recall work done - they initially refused to give me a loaner car despite it taking 2 days for the repair and then they got grease on my brand new car's ceiling at all 4 corners of the car (still there). Maybe this recall on day 2, the wrench warning light and fuel tank malfunction on day 7, and the change in the car's 47 mpg to 42 mpg two weeks after I purchased should have all been warnings of what was to come. I LOVE my C-Max, but the hassles of all the days without a car and time at the service center for warranty repairs and recall repairs is crazy for a new car!

My dealership has been unable to get a replacement filter for my car. I have had it in 4 (maybe more?) times for repairs to 3 different dealerships since hitting 30,000 miles (about to hit 39,000 miles now) and they still can't get a new filter. Are they on backorder indefinitely? They said mine still looks like new, but it seems like dealerships should have them if they are to be replaced during routine maintenance.

My oil change required light came on two days before my restraint control module malfunctioned and made every warning light activate (it was about 5,000 miles after last oil change and car had about 38,000 miles). They replaced the module and had my car for 7 days to do the repair. When I got my car back 6 days ago, the oil change required light was still lit. I questioned the service center and he said the previous oil change probably hadn't reset it. I asked why they hadn't changed the oil since it was due. He said they didn't think about it. He then offered to do it, but said it would take 2-3 hours. They had already had my car for 7 days and I didn't have another 3 hours to wait at the dealership so I had to take it to another dealer today to get the oil changed. I had about 800 miles until I could get it changed today (5 days). It was on for just over 2 weeks total (including the 7 days at the service center) and about 1500 miles. What happens if you don't have it repaired within the above-stated 500 miles or 2 weeks?

I have had a huge problem with getting a loaner car and I have every extended warranty and care plan. My car has been in for 7 major repairs (plus all the many recalls) and I have only been able to get a loaner 3 of the times and I had to fight for it. This last time, the restraint control module malfunctioned (after being repaired in a recall one month prior) and disabled the airbags, traction control, 911 assist, and causing a high-voltage/powertrain error. I was en route from northwest Indiana to Baltimore, Maryland at the time for work and was told they couldn't get me a loaner car. The dealer told me it was Ford's 24/7 roadside repair's responsibility and Ford said it was the dealer's responsibility. I had to make a pretty huge scene and refuse to leave the dealership without a loaner because I was driving 1600 miles across the country and my new car was broken again. They ended up giving me a salesman's dealer 2014 Ford Explorer and my car took 7 days to be repaired. I had planned to drive 1600 miles with over 40 mpg and ended up doing it with less than 20 mpg. Since I had traded in a gas-guzzling Ford F-150 to buy my C-Max, I'm not very happy that it cost me over twice as much for the trip and there's no compensation for that. So much for buying a new car so I don't have to worry about maintenance issues when I've had to take it in for repairs more in the 12 months I've had it than I did my previous 3 vehicles (each with over 200,000 miles) combined! I wish Ford had a more streamlined process for getting a loaner vehicle for warranty issues. If it wasn't such a hassle, I wouldn't be nearly as upset about all the problems with my car. I hated being treated like it's unreasonable to buy a new car and expect to at least HAVE a car to drive.

My 2013 C-Max was just in for 7 days for this same problem and the part was back-ordered for 6 of the 7 days. It made my airbag warning light, traction control light, and the wrench warning light all go on and disabled the air bags and traction control. It also disables 911 Assist when the module goes bad. I had already had the restraint control module recall repaired a month prior to it malfunctioning. This is the 7th time I've had a pretty major problem with my C-Max and the 3rd time I've been without my car for multiple days in a row while a part was backordered. I also had to wait for a part when the air conditioning stopped working and a part for the fuel tank. Three dealerships haven't been able to change my air filter that was supposed to be changed at 20,000 miles (now at 39,000 miles) because they can't get it in stock.