C-MaxSea

Congratz Canada on Gold Medal Hockey! (It is in the Swedish character to finish runner-up, sounds like they did perfect in hockey) Have watched some of the closing ceremonies - awesome. So many of our favorite composers, authors, artists ............. wonderful performance. (Get some sleep Laurel :))

+1 (20 mile commute, above freezing, 45-50 mpg very attainable)

Congrats Pony !!! I agree. Enjoy, Nick

+1 Ghostery, no ads, no tracking .......... at least to some degree

and GM today ......................... and 'only' 6 fatalities ........................not wearing seat belts, alcohol, high speed ............. http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/13/autos/gm-recall/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Steal of a deal on your 2013 NRG there GS Dave - great negotiating, Congrats!!! This 'year end' (2013) deal making will be very tough to beat in the future (IMO). Enjoy, Nick

Way better than a Smart Car (crazy name) IMHO too. Lots of good tips here Calgary, but the cold weather & short trips rule the MPG game. Garaging, grill covers, tempering the interior to 65 ish, dress warm, enjoy the beautiful weather & scenery, ECO cruise .................. keep that baby warm. In fair weather, you have the control in your pedal foot to do much better than 39 - your 12 mile commute is not ideal, but should yield 40-45+ MPG in the Spring, Summer, Fall period. I call it driving carefully (not slowly), paying attention to using 'gas' (gas & EV) only when necessary & appropriate. Take care & enjoy, Nick Go Canada in the Olympics, eh.

Blizzzzard here in Seattle - 1 & 1/2 ", still cowering in the corner of the bedroom. :drool:

rflynn, my 2c. As George on Seinfeld said - 'you've got hand'. The new 2013 SEL, 302A, quoted to you at 27k is a winner; keep negotiating though, how about 26 k or free extended warranty, free maintenance plan and free loaner car for any battery issues. Nick

Tofu & veggies for dinner tonight - yum, yum! Tofu one night, double bacon cheese burgers the next. ;)

hmmmmmm, conservative lower case communist - or was that progressive liberal lower case fascist - I'm so cornfused, identity crisis, brain melt down..........who am I? Is the earth really round or is it flat - area 51? ? Tofu Gelato anyone?

That MB appears to have a 17.4 gal tank (MB website says 15.6 ;)). Per Fuely they are getting around 26 - 32 mpg and tanks of 400 - 600 (16-18 gallons). Doing some coasting in neutral and you might be able to get 700, although very difficult. That would be a $70 tank, of course, compared to a $44 tank with the C-Max. A stiff fuel premium, stiff purchase premium & stiff shop rates premium for very comparable space & performance. All combined I'd say twice the price over ten years and far less 'stewardly' of the air we breath. So where does that leave a conservative, lower case communist like me! ;) ;) ;) (Where did I leave my tofu ice cream anyway.........)

Hey barkeep, hear the one about the guy who went to pick up his car from the MB shop .................... $$$ ..... bank..........bar.............. OK, time to pick on MB; too easy to feast on Toyada, yada, yada these days. Anyway, here is my personalized, purely biased spread comparing our C-Max features to the new MB GLK Bluetec 250 Diesel. Amazing what a little extra $20,000 will get you - fewer features, more bulk weight, oh, and a nice ashtray! (Is there a better way than a pdf file?) Just having fun. :stirpot: C-Max Feature Checklist GLK 250.pdf

Exactly my reaction as well !!! (We have an 8 yr Prem. EW & a 5 yr MPP) Recently priced a MB GLK 250 Diesel and reached $52k trying to do a feature for feature comparison with our C-Max. The Benz still came up short on features at $20k more than the C-Max. (Yes, I know you wouldn't want to pull a 3500 lb boat over a mountain pass every day with the C-Max, just a fun exercise of feature comparison) Nick (PS Should I post an Excel spreadsheet comparison?)

Jus, I would go with the Argiano Non Confunditur 2011; its on sale today for $19.99. :) :) :) (cheap, cheap, cheap) Nick here, but not Toyota cheap. It's very crazy to me too, buying a car for just mpg's. Half the cars on the Toyota lots today can not even be sold until they figure out what to do about the flammable seat stuffing or whatever it is!

AH64, all car lots have cars with dead batteries. Yes, you would think ........................... , but no, they all fall short of keeping all batteries up to full charge. Yes, by all means test drive a Prius, and yes test drive a C-Max; in fact try to test drive them several times. Be patient, research, drive, drive, drive, and buy what you want. Don't fret over the battery. I'm guessing that the 'battery issue' is at most a one percent (half a percent ?) sort of thing. The C-Max is way too good a car to discount that quickly. :) My 2 cents. Nick

Good write up rfaunce. Glad you like your C-Max - we sure do too, and with our milder Winter, score a bit better in the MPG game. I am sure you will be doing the 45 mpg you project when the temps get back to 40, 50 degrees. 45 - 50+ mpg is easy peasy for us when it gets above 50. Wish we had some of your snow! Enjoy, Nick

Ahhh Jus, don't ya yust love being able to smack those "City" numbers out of the park! :yahoo: What a great car! :love_shower: (((Sadly the Canadian numbers are unrealistic for way too many drivers in the cold, dark (beautiful) north country; and again, on all cars)))

Not at all hidden, but I sure like them - the built in Blind-Spot Mirrors. :) (Relatively unique to Ford (& Chev ?) cars? Common on trucks, of course) I know there are more tech driven sensor systems out there, but I like to make visual and trust my own eyes. :) Nick

Been crunched & poorly reassembled? Oopsy, forgot the E.

Welcome Paul. I certainly agree about the sparkle in the Sterling Gray, like it a lot - and the splash of warmth they managed to squeeze in the brew. Nick

Canada should really, really, really chuck their mileage rating system - totally misleading on all vehicles. Nick

Congrats Ponypower! Looks like she is straight from the north pole - and beautiful.

Very tough luck, Matt. Best to hear you are all OK. A new modified front facia /cowling - gonna be hard to resist, but ahehaheh ................... well you are certainly the best judge of that. Hope the loaner doesn't give you grief. Had a week with a Nissan Rogue in Hawaii last fall - oh, my aching back. Nick

Speaking of tuft testing, laminar flow ……………………. Is this where we are heading, a redesigned rear quarter panel some day for the C-Max? Before & After Priiiii; & then there is the bug eyed Leaf 'solution':