jestevens

I saw that, and it looks nice but I think maybe I'll just wait and see what they come out with when I'm ready to trade in the C-MAX. I just saw a notice that our vehicle health report service where the data is uploaded via "modem" is going to be discontinued August 2018.

I love the Prius Sedan, it is an example of technology that just works. For all the reasons I stated above I hate the Prius v wagon.. and I really wanted wagon/crossover so I traded in the HHR -and- the Prius Sedan and bought the C-MAX instead.

At the the time they were running a motorcraft special for $80 battery or $120 (I think?) for the "extended" version battery (which ours is of course) - the rest was labor costs = about $200 total. It's part BXT67R The only other battery I could find was on Amazon for $140, and with shipping @ $40 and buying extra long sockets and such it would have been almost the same as just paying the dealer's shop. It's not the hardest job but it's not as easy as just disconnecting some wires and not really fun outside in the middle of winter with 4F temps. It looks like the current special is $20 gift card or $40 off if you use your Ford Credit Card. Prepaid Visa Debit gift cards are fun, I never seem to be able to charge them down to get the full value out of them.

I have a 2013 SEL that was manufactured May 2012, recently paid @ $200 total (parts, labor and tax) to replace original 12V OEM battery from factory with a new 12V battery at local Ford Service. Ford service folks kept testing battery and saying it was fine but my keyless entry wouldn't unlock doors. After battery replaced problem seems to have gone away. It wouldn't surprise me if the original 12V are starting to go, this winter was kind of harsh too which probably helped it along. The SEL never seemed to have the 12V parasitic drain that the SE did, I'm pretty mine was just due to age. If you haven't already you might also want to ask the dealer to take care of all of the items under the 12V battery satisfaction program as Ford did a few things to try to solve that problem, especially if you have an SE.

For the last four days the morning temps have been in the high 20s, low 30s here, so my MPG has been about 32-35MPG.

It was always a struggle for me to download updates from the ford site, the last update I can't even remember how I got a copy of the file - I had to really finagle with owner.ford.com site but did get a copy on a USB stick finally. It took quite a while to update and did have some nice features but yes, it's Sync 2 - a system that Ford is no longer interested in supporting and if I were them I would have terminated the Microsoft contract with gusto. They want you to buy the new car with Sync 3 - you all might be used to the software development world where it is possible to apply updates on a routine basis but this is a car vendor - computers used to be for the life of the car, under the hood. They want to treat Sync 3 like any other new model year feature. Apparently the Sync 3 update also involves newer, updated hardware with capacitive touch screen and more powerful CPU in the embedded computer. There's at least one company I saw someone link to on here that sells retrofit kits, they aren't cheap.

I wouldn't bother with Premium fuel, I've been running mine on 87 Octane for the life of the vehicle and it runs fine. If you really, really want to wring out every possible MPG then I guess maybe it makes a difference but frankly in PA the gas tax is significant enough that it's not worth it to me. The C-MAX doesn't have one of those "Premium Fuel Only" stickers on it anywhere that I can see like some of the more expensive vehicles.

Hmm, I guess maybe they CAN'T do that because there might be instances of where you'd want to run the wipers below freezing..still I would rather control that manually.

You know what would be great to go with rain sensing wipers? Programming in the BCM that would stop the wipers from automatically actuating if the temperature is below freezing. 30F this morning, forgot they were switched on and shortly after I started cleaning off the front windshield the wipers tried to run. Of course the large main wiper was still stuck to the bottom of the windshield and luckily it looks like the only thing that happened is the blade popped out and separated from the arm. Glad there was snow there to protect the glass from the bare arm. I had to check another C-MAX in the parking lot to make sure I didn't bend the arm, maybe a little but it's mostly the same.

I put Ecopia on the Prius and they were a very nice tire, I see you say "noise" but I thought they were quiet compared to the previous brand on there or the Bridgestone Traction T/A I used to use on conventional car. A decent amount of tread for small amount of snow. (I think they had a weird thing where they would skid around just a little bit until they "bit" into the snow and then they were good). The downside for me is that they just didn't seem to last very long. Maybe I was driving too aggressively. Before I understood just how much of a difference LRR tire makes to hybrid I thought I would get away with putting a set of Traction T/A tires on Prius. Horrible idea and the shop didn't know any better either. Horrible road noise, extra friction makes it impossible to coast the way hybrids like to do, have to always be on the throttle. I think the OEM tire is probably the best tire for the C-MAX but they also seemed very expensive. The local Ford shop recommended Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max, I've had two sets of those now and they seem to be a decent alternative for a little less money. I have tires at 40-42psi and I average about 40MPG with stock configuration, good brake and cruising score, horrible acceleration score.

The first time I ever drove a C-MAX I actually hated the car because someone had let it sit and the battery was very low - the engine was so whiney running at high RPM trying to charge up the HVB. I'm sure it's not the issue you describe but I thought I would mention it. I'll give a listen to the audio anyway since I own a 2013. I know there are definitely some harmonics from the powertrain but I sort of like them now. I am driving mostly around town with occasional highway trips. I've got a little over 80K mi so I might just trade the car in if the transmission ever goes out..so far so good though.

Sorry Paul, I hope you were able to get all of it. I've often thought about putting some sort of foam filter on those air intake vents but then I think well, it's not really designed for it and I'd hate for it to get not enough air.

Stolenmoment, in the event that the doors won't unlock by radio you can squeeze the two little indents at the top of the FOB to pop up the Ford logo on the back of the FOB just enough to pry it off and get to the "T" shaped safety key underneath. You can then insert key into driver's side lock of door and twist to be able to unlock. You can hold FOB up to steering column in order to disable alarm and try to start the car. My understanding is the car does use 12V for all of its accessories but to start the engine it only needs enough to boot the computers, which command the HVB relays to close and command HVB to spin motor generator that is connected to the crankshaft of engine to start the engine. There is some sort of step-down DC-DC converter that converts HVB DC current to 12V DC current to charge the 12V battery and provide power for accessories once the relays are closed I think.

I take that back, there was ONE guy I knew who could get around 30MPG out of a Silverado pickup. He had a lot of friends at GM so he knew exactly what codes to use to order the axles, etc. with the right gear ratios, etc. - and he would hypermile it, going max of 50MPH on the highway. He said he was flabbergasted because he would leave early, like at 4-5AM so that there would be plenty of room for other cars to pass him but a few of them just kept right behind him, acting like jerks because he was driving so slow even though the passing lane was wide open.

I was not used to wrenching so hard on the car, the last one I did outside in 4F temperature, that was a lot of fun. I rotated the assembly just enough to be able to pop off the cap on the back and replace the bulb without disconnecting the wiring harness.. The 07 Prius was worse. According to the Toyota shop manual you are supposed to take the bumper cover off and take out the assembly,..they wanted $200 for xenon bulb and $120 labor but if you have small enough hands you can buy xenon on Amazon for $82 and do it in place by hand/mirror. The 06 HHR you had to turn the wheel all the way to one side, pull the push pins on the wheel liner out and reach up under the wheel/liner (I let Chevy do that one). 94 Cavalier you just opened the hood, rotated a lock nut and replaced the bulb in 30 seconds.

I remember when Chevy was doing that because at the time I had an HHR .. a few years before they started pulling that crap but I remember driving past the dealership and just shaking my head, it was a blatant lie. The one VOLT demo car they had was parked around the back of the lot in a very awkward place, and it was stenciled with graphics that no one would ever want to own. The best I -ever- got on the HHR was 29MPG ..and that was driving on a really flat highway for a really long time at the same speed. The C-MAX does 40MPG without really even trying. Ford would argue that the lifetime of the MFT software is over, they've moved on to Sync 3. I see the same thing with a lot of software vendors in the computer world. Do lifetime updates include revised map cards for those of us with navigation? I would guess they would again argue no. An update to improve performance -might- still be possible if they had a contract with Microsoft but that was probably terminated with gusto once they realized the performance they ultimately received. If the hardware really is that underpowered then the only upgrade that makes sense -is- a Sync 3 upgrade - because it would upgrade the embedded PC, the touch screen AND the software. I don't think they'll want to do it, they'd rather tell you to buy the 2017/2018 model probably.

My salesman gave me a piece of advice - he said whenever you hit the voice button wait a few seconds for it to actually get around to listening. It's Microsoft software so I would expect nothing less..basically "C" average. Of course Ford didn't know this and they probably didn't have the expertise to do it in house at the time. My friend with the $60K Mercedes complains all the time that his radio locks up when XM does a channel update, and he raves about the backup camera in the C-MAX, he ordered the backup camera for his car but apparently it's a third party bolt-on add-on, you have to have the radio on to use it because that's the only time the display is on and the sonar only beeps when you are close enough to actually hit something. He's had it to the Mercedes shop several times and they can't really find anything wrong. The bottom line is that in the generation this car was made vendors still weren't used to building user facing computers in their cars, so it makes sense to me that they would treat the new touch interface as another new MY feature. At least they were smart enough to separate the "infotainment" computer from the other critical systems in the car. MFT is really annoying because it's slow but I still like it better than the interface systems on many of the competitors' cars, it has a nice interface that is divided up into nice big quadrants that you can tap - the only actual problem is the slowness, they probably should have upgraded the hardware in the embedded PC. The actual hardware failure problem is another issue, which they've hopefully addressed with the customer satisfaction program. Mine locks the screen when I go above 40 MPH .. I'm not sure how it's supposed to be dangerous. If you can't tell that you are getting distracted when you are using it maybe you should let someone else drive. It would be nice if they'd offer a Sync 3 upgrade, it would go a long way to helping me make up my mind to stick with Ford but I'm not holding my breath because that's not how their sales model works. If you don't like the car -that- much there are a whole plethora of hybrid and pure electric options out there now. Buy a Hybrid Sonata or a Prius Sedan instead.. Most of the nationally filed "class action settlements" I've seen entitle the plaintiff to receive something like a $5 pre-paid gift certificate toward an oil change or something like that.

Average price for 87 octane here in Central PA is $2.85, Premium $3.40, Diesel $3.40 - they either have a lot of roads or they love using the "gas tax" to pay for other things in the budget..maybe a little bit of both?

I guess it does happen from time to time, especially if you live in the country. My mom was having performance issues the first year after she bought her Corolla and when they took it to the shop the mechanics found a nest in the engine air intake. If it's any consolation the car now has over 300K mi and is still running fine. Neighbor down the street had a gopher chew on the wiring harnesses for her Jeep. If the shop had to replace the blower maybe they can spray some cleaner through the ductwork? I'm certainly not an expert but maybe new blower probably has more VOCs than the mice..

Well it's hard to have less power than the Prius V - I test drove one and it was as if they took the regular Prius drivetrain and just added 1500 more pounds. Even the salesperson could see I wasn't impressed. They had a cute little ECO/PWR switch on the dash that someone left unwired from the factory. Luckily I had used C-MAX in the fleet we had at work so I knew there was an alternative. I loved my Prius sedan but I wanted a crossover and the C-MAX was best in my opinion. On all but the coldest days I can easily get 40MPG without even trying which is still roughly double what most competing crossovers can do. It's more than just the gas mileage though, it's the trim level and also the drivetrain, I had to drive a Nissan Versa with a CVT as a rental car recently and the thing sounded like a prop plane taking off..it was cute but a little annoying how they made this car with a CVT automatic transmission sound as though it had to shift gears.. I guess the bottom line is after 10 years of quiet, smooth and relatively powerful operation driving hybrids and getting twice the gas mileage I'm spoiled. Sort of sad to see the C-MAX go but I'm also curious to see after 10 years what Ford and other vendors will come out with as their next gen technology.

I've changed the cabin filter twice now since I've owned the car, you can do it without taking the glove box apart but if you do it's a lot of fun for the same reason, by the time I am done I'm usually sweating bullets and I've contorted my body into the shape of an accordion. On the Prius and HHR it was a 2 minute job, drop a strut for the glove box and the HVAC box was right there behind the glove box, squeeze two clips and pop in a new filter. The C-MAX and Focus, behind the center console stack with a torx screw..much swearing involved. I'm also missing one of the clips that hold the felt cover on but the car doesn't seem to mind.

I stand corrected, it's been a while since I've read the manual. I didn't know it made that much difference for an Atkinson engine. Paul, I don't know about you but I've never seen a C-MAX ad on TV or in print, it's always Focus, Escape or Explorer (oh, who can forget the venerable F-150?). I've never seen them promote the C-MAX, It seems like the main reason they built the C-MAX was to get R&D grants, as a fleet vehicle for the government and maybe to compete with the Prius V but it is their lowest selling car by volume. It's a shame because I love my C-MAX but I'll probably shop around for my next car to see what all of the vendors are offering since at that point another 10 years would have gone by and technology improves. I have done literally nothing to this car except for oil changes, an air filter and now a 12V battery, it's that reliable and it has all of the interior features I like, a panoramic roof on a $21K car (used price) seems rare. One reason I drive a hybrid is because I am sensitive to the price at the pump - here in PA we have 58 cent gas tax/gal, 87 octane is getting close to almost $3/gal now. If I -had- to buy premium gas to drive this car (as in Ford requires it) I wouldn't have bought it.

Sorry, that sucks, I was hoping that they had finally worked out the problem for the SE's..

Ford recommends premium fuel?? That must be new for 2018. I have only ever used 87 octane in mine, I don't drive it gingerly and I still average 40MPG. I would think tires probably make a bigger difference than fuel. My friends who drive Mercedes and Acura have a sticker on their gas tank door that says "Premium Fuel Only" I know they never really wanted to promote it in the first place but if Ford is doing that now then they must really actively be trying to kill off the C-MAX.

No issues since I had my battery replaced - considering it was the original battery and mine was built in May 2012 maybe some of them are genuinely reaching end of useful life? Ford said battery was good but car was starting to act funky.