HannahWCU

I think they lied about the 13.5 gallon tank. :redcard:

I am lucky on my brake score (97%) as most of my driving is highway. I guess considering its only rated at 40 MPG Highway, I am doing pretty good to get over 43. Especially considering I am only in EV ~35% of the time. I updated my stats with my EV miles and Brake Score.

No grill covers yet. I made some for my Neon. They really helped with the cold weather warm-ups. I wanted to go my first year without any mods (although I do run 44 psi in the tires). My driving is mostly highway (22 of my 27 mile one way commute). I will be looking to make some in the near future. I am toying with the way I want to mount them. I zip-tied the ones on the Neon, but want to go with something a little better looking. Thinking of magnets. I also am trying to figure out how much of an opening I want. I will get there before spring I am sure.

I just past my one year anniversary with my CMax. I was thinking I might share a few of my thoughts of my one year with my CMax. Stats: 2013 Candy Blue CMax Hybrid SE (with equipment group 203A) Miles driven: 27,000 Overall MPG (calculated): 43.3 EV driven: 10,000 Brake score: 97% $/mi: $0.076 Scheduled Dealer Visits: 3 Unscheduled Dealer Visits: 0 (all recalls completed during routine oil changes at 5k, 10k, and 20k) Times left stranded: 1 (my fault, left the lights on overnight) First let me get this out of the way: Fuel economy – In my previous vehicle, a 2005 Dodge Neon, I was able to average 38mpg, in mostly highway driving, (vs. 32mpg EPA highway rating) in 18 months of tracking mpg. So when I first saw the CMax rated at 47, I figured 50 was not out of the question. Even after reading of all the problems in achieving 47 I still thought 45-47 was obtainable based on my previous driving experiences. After one year my average is just over 43mpg. Is 43 MPG bad? No, not at all. And actually, I have come to appreciate the tradeoff of some MPG for a quiet, solid feeling vehicle with plenty of room and power when you need it. But overall, MPG is still somewhat of a disappointment. On to my review: Things I like: · MPG – I know I said I was disappointed, but for what the car is, 43 MPG is pretty good. My record on one tank is 705 miles on 13.937 gallons (indicated on pump), for 50.6mpg. But if I just drive it, I average one fill-up per week traveling 430+ miles on 10 gallons of gas. · Space – I am 6’3” and over 300 pounds. This car has PLENTY of space. Front and back. · Comfort – My butt can last longer than my bladder!!! · Quiet – The combination of the Hybrid drivetrain and sound deadening really makes this a quiet car. · Looks – I have gotten quite a few compliments on the looks of my car. From people of all ages. · My Ford Touch – How can I list MFT as something that I like???? Well, I guess I am lucky and a bit of a techy. I really have had none of the problem most people have with the system. My Nav has worked fine since day one (built Oct. 2012). I think I have had 2 reboots while driving and none since the newest update. Granted, I don’t use the voice activated feature much. But overall, I like the system. Things I don’t like: I really cannot think of anything I really dislike about my CMax. The daylight sensor is annoying. On my drives home, I drive into the sun, and the nav screen will switch back and forth between daylight (white background) and nighttime (black background) several times as I drive in and out of shadows. And having it in the dealer for the recalls and MFT updates was annoying at times, but mostly because I HATE dealers and do not trust them for a minute. But that is part of being an early adopter (IMHO). Final thoughts: Would I have bought it in the first place had I know I would only get 43MPG? Probably. Like I said, I am a big guy and it is hard to find a car with good space in them anymore. Would I buy one again knowing what I know now? YES! Would I get any different options/model? Maybe. I think I would like the seat warmers (they would have helped on that 4 degree morning we had the other day). Overall, the Cmax is a nice quiet, roomy, people hauler. It has power when I need it and with the back seat folded down, I can also haul quite a bit of stuff.

Those look great with your color CMax!

it's posted now (45 city/ 40 hwy/ 43 combined MPG): http://www.ford.com/cars/cmax/specifications/engine/

Ford's web site states "45 city/ 40 hwy/ 43 combined MPG". See http://www.ford.com/cars/cmax/specifications/engine/

2014 Window stickers show same EPA estimates as 2013 (45/40/43). At least for the VINs that have been posted in other threads.

My guess is the improvements don't show up in the EPA tests, but most likely end up helping real world MPG. Especially since real world mileage is what was the problem from the start. Increasing EPA MPG will just cause all the news media to test it again to see if it gets those "better" MPG.

I was looking at the Ford web site and playing with the 360 view: http://www.ford.com/cars/cmax/gallery/colors-and-360-views/ It seems that this is the 2014. You can certainly see the wheel wind blockers in front of the rear wheels when you rotate the vehicle. And if you go full screen you can see everything much better. You can see both front and rear wheel wind blocks and the rear windows add-ons.

Those are great pictures of the underside! Thanks.

Well my point is, I don't think the Energi is getting all the improvements slated for the Hybrid. Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe Ford's list of aerodynamic improvements were only for the CMax Hybrid. Not the Energi. The Energi didn't have any FE issues, only the Hybrid did. To me this is why the Energi is the only one being produced. It didn't change much from 2013 to 2014. I'm sure someone will correct me on this.

Thanks for the information. It confirms what I experience too. One other thing I have noticed and wonder if anyone else see is that on initial start-up, the ICE will immediately run if it is extremely cold (under 30°) regardless what the HVAC is set on. I always cut my HVAC off when I stop the car. This week it got down to 4° on night. When I started the car the ICE immediately started even though the battery was at least 50% and the HVAC was off.

Did anyone but me notice that this was an Energi NOT a hybrid?

Ummm ... it wasn't written by the Huffington post. It was written by the Associated Press. Does that change your mind? Or did you just see that I linked a Huffington Post article and you assumed it was "an opinion piece ... high on inflammatory language, devoid of actual data". Now that I have said that. I agree that the article contained a lot of opinion, but overall, I think it presented what is/was wrong with the ethanol mandate in the first place. Although I have read a lot of articles disputing this story, I haven't found any that have presented facts to dispute the article. Most are full of "inflammatory language, devoid of actual data". Sorry, but I don't play politics. I don't like either side of the government (republicans or democrats). Don’t really care where my news comes from. If I come across something that really interests me, I read it from multiple sources to get the whole picture. I use Google news for my news feed for this reason.

The main reason they are backing off is that it isn't working: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4258796

Do you still have these?

They are talking about Prii, not Cmax (Cmaxi, CMax's?). :)

I agree that you have at least 2 gallons left. 600 miles should be no problem. On my 700 mile tank, I used an indicated 12.89 gallons, but filled up with 13.937 gallons (remember, it is suppose to be a 13.5 gallon tank). Didn't run out of fuel but most people on this forum feel that using an indicated 13 gallons if safe. Also, I went almost 60 miles past where the display read "0" miles to empty. But you can always carry some spare fuel with you.

Just to be clear, because my wife didn't understand how the Energi worked, with the plug-in Hybrid, you have about 21 miles of driving using nothing but electricity (battery). Once the 21 miles are used up, the car continues on like any other Hybrid. Using both battery AND the gas engine. Every time you plug in and recharge the battery you get another 21 (or so) miles of pure electric. With the Energy, you actually have 3 modes, EV Now, EV Later, and Hybrid. EV Now uses pure electric when you start out, then switching to hybrid mode. EV Later starts as a hybrid saving the 21 miles until you want to use them. Hybrid mode uses the whole battery as one big hybrid battery. Hope this helps. My wife thought the Energy was like the Tesla, it only had a 21 mile range! She wondered why you would buy a car that needed to be charge every 21 miles. She didn't understand that once you used the 21 miles it functioned like any other hybrid.

I know the CMax will! I have twice gotten the traction control to kick on while flooring my CMax! Once in the rain, I was trying to get it to do it. And once in the dry when accelerating and turning to merge into traffic.

Thank you Jus for an impartial review of gas pods. I, for one, had my doubt's about whether they actually improved gas mileage or not. But I also have an open mind and like you saw ALOT of negative reviews. Funny thing is, all these negative discussions said they have never seen any scientific evidence that they work, well, I have never seen any scientific evidence that they don't either. So, again, thank you for your opinion on the product.

That might make the drive to the Fair worth it!!!

Seems there is a glut of Cmax's on dealers lots: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/why-is-ford-shutting-down-factories.html/?a=viewall

Not a visual I wanted first thing in the morning ..... No offense intended Jus.