garypark

My C-Max has refused to move more than once after it was parked facing "down-hill" in a parking structure. I found that pulling on the hand break and releasing it again returned operation to normal.

Somewhere in one of the multitude of computers that run the C-Max there must be one that know very accurately how much gas it uses each time an injector squirts. Otherwise the car would not run well. My guess is they only keep an truncated version of that squirt volume for the other "less essential" uses of that data such as displaying the milage to the driver. Due to all the various laws about falsifying an odometer reading they dare not truncate the miles value as it is passed around. So the MPG displayed will be a little high for each squirt-loss. The error should be linear with distance.

I have seen trip "MGP numbers" of over 70. (Purely down hill and under 60mph.) Driving to work usually over 50 coming home maxes out (C-Maxes out) at 34. But pump to pump nothing close to 47 yet.

First, let me be clear that I do not regret having bought a Ford C-Max. Over-all I am very happy with the car. Fuel economy however it the one area where I am disappointed. I believe the Consumer Reports values far more that I do the EPA (window sticker) numbers. Also, I consider the actual fuel economy numbers that I am getting to be quite good. They are in fact only disappointing as a broken promise from Ford Motor Company. I have kept spread sheets for my last 3 cars, recording the gas milage for every tank of gas that I bought. For all of those cars I achieved numbers that actually matched the EPA estimates very well. Nissan 350z: Rated 18 city, 26 highway. My average 23.7 (worst 20.8, best 26.5) Honda Civic EX: Rated 28 city, 36 highway. My average 32.5 (worst 26.9, best 42.8) Honda Civic Hybrid: Rated 40 city, 45 highway. My average 42.3 (worst 38.4, best 48.8) As you can see my personal experience does not make me think that the EPA numbers are always bunk. Nor do I accept that these results indicate that I am “lead footed” to any extreme. I believe the numbers on the window sticker should reflect reasonable expectations - not the best one can possibly achieve under ideal conditions or most perfect driving techniques. Clearly, Nissan and Honda both manage to provide very acceptable estimates. So far my C-Max is not coming anywhere near as close to keeping its promises as these three cars did. My average is 37.6. The worst is 36.2, best 39.1. With just over 3000 miles in my current C-max numbers it is still very early to come to any conclusions, but it is not looking good. Sorry to say, but I think the Ford numbers may be self-serving over estimates. I am not happy to hold this opinion as it tends to sour my impression of what is otherwise an excellent car.