jestevens

I did go back to the shop after work and they helped me top off the fluid, more than enough actually but it's not completely full so I am happy.

Oh, I mean to say "top off" .. I did get one of those follow up Emails from Ford Service so I wrote the service manager that the inverter coolant was low but otherwise service was very helpful. No response yet.

I decided to just order the pre-diluted Orange online and do it at the house, that way I can change it when the engine is cold. I need to replace the cabin air filter too so it was easier just to order it all off Amazon. My local auto stores don't stock a cabin air filter for the C-MAX, which is weird - you think they would stock a part that fits a Ford Focus.

I had my annual state inspection yesterday, they did one of those "report card" things and marked the coolant as "OK". So this morning while the engine was cold I went and looked - there's still some coolant in the recovery tank but it's below the MIN mark - I drove for about 20 mins and still shows below MIN by 1/8" so I'm going to go back to the shop and ask them to top it off tonight when I get off work. I figure they already have the stuff pre-mixed and if you never show them the problem how will they know to look for it in the future. So this is the Motorcraft Orange Coolant right, same as what is in the engine?

On the kits it looks like roughly $1600 for the one without nav, and $2099 for the one with nav, plus you have to run a new GPS antenna someplace in the dash for yourself, the existing one they say is not compatible. It would be a nice upgrade but not sure it's really necessary. I guess it's expensive because it comes with a new capacitive touchscreen, a new computer, etc. Commodity parts wouldn't seem that expensive but given it's a custom embedded solution I guess they can charge whatever they like.

Yes, I think the variable speed electric compressor on C-MAX (and Prius) is awesome, I have a friend who paid a lot more for a Mercedes with a stop/start engine but of course when the engine is "off" the AC compressor isn't powered..

100F is rare for my area of the country, but when it did happen for a few days in a row I started looking for shade or parking garages.. Let the building soak up the heat instead of your car?

..and until heat wave last week I forgot all about the "MAX A/C" button on the far right side - which isn't that wonderful for fuel economy but works great in 90F+ weather. It's a little quirky but I like that our cars have actual buttons and controls.

I wouldn't tow anything with CMAX, people on here use the CMAX as a TOAD vehicle for RVs. If it's only once a year try renting a nice truck from Enterprise Rent a Truck, they have 3/4 ton and 1 ton heavy duty pickups with towing capability. A guy I know tried to tow an fifth-wheel trailer with a basic truck and simple hitch from U-HAUL. He seriously damaged both the truck and trailer. His passenger was driving and the trailer jackknifed coming down a hill. Completely lost control, they are very lucky it was JUST property damage and not more.

Car definitely loves slightly cool weather. The average mileage I used to get on my HHR was 25MPG, the best I -ever- got was 30MPG for half a mile on a very straight, long, stretch of highway. I average 40MPG in the CMAX, for short hot, high humidity trips in the summer it might be 23MPG, in the winter @ 4F it might drop to 15-32 MPG but most trips 35MPG or higher .. still better than most gasoline cars. As far as A/C vs. no A/C - If you are comfortable chances are your battery pack will be comfortable too.

If I take my car to Ford service shouldn't they be checking this as a part of routine checks? I guess I'll have to ask specifically to have it checked next time, state inspection is due soon..

I've had my share of "can't reproduce" issues at the shop - not with this car but with others. I guess everyone needs to know that the car stores codes in memory but if the issue is as critical as consistently over-temp transmission where the windings could be cooked don't you think the CEL should stay lit? My 2007 Prius had the "triangle of death" icon on the dash for things like ABS failure, etc. and if you were really "lucky", a big warning triangle showed up on the LCD display when you tried to shift out of park with the "I'm not moving right now you better call a tow truck" type of messages. (I experienced ABS warning from a bad switch on the brake pedal, but lucky none of the shift mode lockouts.)

The mechanism for the new latches is definitely different - the latch handles have a stiffer pull feeling to them and the power locks sound different. They still work just fine, they just act a little different than the original parts, which I guess is a good thing. I was surprised to hear that the dealer down the street had the parts too, he probably thought I was an idiot trying to set up the appointment because of my surprise. Maybe there is a difference in how big the shop is? I prefer a smaller dealer but the place I took them too does a lot of body work for the whole area and has extended hours so maybe they had more parts in inventory.

Yes, I remember the dealer told me that "Ice Storm Metallic" is actually a "green" paint.. too bad the interior is black leather and there's a giant glass hole in the roof (which I love). I hate the buffeting noise, which seems to happen with all such aerodynamic cars..as others have already said it can be reduced with opening a few windows but at 65MPH I find the road noise and all that wind to be even more irritating so use A/C on highway. Around town or late at night in the summer going 45MPH or below I love to leave the windows open and drive silently around town. I also find that there is a difference in having the windows ALL the way down vs. part way. All the way down seems to promote an open feeling to the car and the wind doesn't knock me around as much.

Yes, I've gotten these notices. Lucky for me none of the roads have really changed around here in 50 years or so.

I've had it sit and spin trying to connect to my phone on Bluetooth. I've had it get busy and temporarily stop communicating with the display to the right side of the speedo with on the dash ("Navigation Fault" - after having the right side LCD set to navigation) which usually clears itself. I've had it act like it's on a voice call over hands-free for no good reason that won't hang up no matter how many times you press END CALL. I've seen it not update track names properly in the CD player. I've had it reboot and run disk maintenance periodically (that one I'd understand). Having said all of that I actually like the way MFT is laid out in quadrants, etc. Most of the time it works, it's just soo slooow - bad for driver distraction waiting for the thing to refresh the screen and respond. They should have upped the hardware specs on the machine probably. I find a lot of other car infotainment things to be very cluttered.

Is your C-MAX equipped with remote start? I think those engine symbols are "start/stop" engine? Mine is not so equipped so I can only speculate but there are the same symbols on the push button starter so.. Try holding down the buttons near the car and see if it starts?

Well my doors seemed stiff to close in the back but never actually popped open driving down the road, I guess you have to make your own judgment call. It does change the feel of the interior door pull slightly when you open the door but it's not unpleasant. I was about to curse when I opened the back passenger side and noticed one edge of the plastic trim piece from the door loose, but it -was- just loose and only needed a good press to seat it back in place.

Just had mine done a few days ago, they want the car all day, they were done in approximately 5 hours (plus an oil change and wash).

There is no comparison between the C-MAX and the Prius V in my opinion. Toyota seemingly took the same Prius drivetrain (which is great on the sedan) and just added another ~ 1800 lbs? I test drove one before I bought the C-MAX and it was probably one of the worst rides I've ever had in my life with respect to power. They even have a cute little button near the shifter that says "ECO" or "POWER" but as far as I could tell mine must've been left disconnected at the factory. Ford did a smart thing with the slightly more up-market fit and finish too, the Prius V seemed almost as bad a Chevy with all those plastics in the interior. I absolutely loved my Prius sedan, 45-50MPG with just a little bit of effort, decent power and you could haul stuff with the hatchback/split seat design but I got tired of having two cars so I traded both the HHR and Prius on the C-MAX and I'm still happy. The only thing I miss is the HHR also let you fold down the front passenger seatback too - I hauled a set of bifold doors in that sucker, with the back closed and everything no problem - the cheap plastics were at home in that car because it was designed for utility.

I decided to switch on the coach in MyView and use your 2 bar rule this morning when the traffic was light - I got 48MPG for the trip to work using secondary roads, normally on cold mornings I am lucky to get 38MPG. I managed to get my acceleration and coasting scores up to 99%, braking - which is usually in the top 90's was 75% but I wasn't using the brakes very much.

I had an HHR where they had a batch of substandard electric power steering motors from Delco that finally went out completely under extremely hot conditions driving around one weekend, and you're right, it was amazingly hard to turn because the car was obviously built with power steering in mind. Apparently GM had done a recall of Cobalt power steering motors in the US and HHR power steering motors in Canada but no HHR power steering motor recall in US. Eventually they did cover the cost of the repair and then mysteriously shortly thereafter my thermostat was stuck and to fix it cost about the same as a power steering motor repair job.. Luckily no such problem with the CMAX yet, it's almost eerie - 10,000 mi intervals of visiting the service shop..

I've gotten exceptionally high 50-60MPG around town just running errands on a nice weather day with things warmed up just right, etc. but that's not my daily commute. I'm not sure where they are all going to but folks around here are in a huge hurry. I'm not hypermiling and they still sometimes pass like I'm standing still. The limit on the sidewall says 52PSI and I'm just not willing to push it that far. It's nice to know the potential of the car anyway.

Thanks for the driving tips, the relatively flat terrain where you are at and the physical MODs seem to help with your MPG. I normally use the split power gauge but I did switch over to the Empower gauge for a while to see if I can get better MPGs. I am getting maybe 2MPG better now..

Thanks for pointing that out in the manual. So this inverter is only designed to power things that sit there and look pretty? I can charge my phone horribly inefficiently (instead of just using USB), or keep people distracted with a DVD player, or sell more C-MAX if people think it's cool because it has a "power outlet" ? I guess what they are saying is that the system isn't designed for constant large fluctuations in current like AC motors turning off and on randomly? The 100 amp service in my house has trouble starting an AC compressor without a secondary capacitor too.. Maybe for people who work out of their car this at least gives them a way to plug in a computer.