jackalopetx

When I first got my C-Max I used Eco Mode but I don't anymore because I can't stand the throttle lag and inconsistent throttle response! Often I need to pull out into a main road, but in Eco Mode I mash the gas and the car sluggishly starts to move. In normal mode, the response is immediate and you get a really nice push of torque from the electric motor. And it doesn't mean you can't drive efficiently. You just have to control the throttle yourself instead of relying on the car to slow you down. I guess in a way it trains you to feather the throttle rather than just mashing the pedal all the time. If you're driving in Eco Mode I recommend trying standard mode!

Does the non-nav C-Max really have GPS?

Why isn't the hitch made to accomodate the 'tab"?

When you look at the trip counter and it says "miles: 2000 ev miles: 800", is it counting only miles where the engine is turned off as "ev miles"? Or does that include when the motor is helping the engine?

I think the Prius V looks better than the C-Max. It's sleek and has that ducktail spoiler that gives it some sportiness, plus the back window is vertical so it has more usable space. But it also has very little if any sound insulation, so it's a noisy car and you hear all the traffic and road noise. The C-Max is similar to the Volvo wagon I had, built more like a luxury vehicle

I've never seen any study ever on engine or oil wear at various temperatures. Automakers won't even admit that an engine needs to be warmed up. Where can we read these studies?

Yes someone did bring that up, and I pointed out that it's not easy on an engine being constantly stopped and started. Plus mine often doesn't warm up on my commute

The GPS number is usually higher than the actual distance traveled because the calculated position "wanders". For example if you stand in one spot and let the GPS collect points, they will drift around you, and you'll end up with a distance logged even though you were standing still At one job I had we were mapping roads with GPS tracklogs, and what we had to do was manually draw a centerline between the points, because the points were never in a straight line

You must live in a rural area with no traffic-- In Austin you're either on the highway in traffic, or on city streets with a lot of traffic lights and stop signs

I mean it looks like the front is higher. The back should be higher so that the skirt doesn't catch the wind (think Marilyn Monroe) BTW I noticed your signature has GPS distance. I wouldn't go with GPS distance due to the lack of precision with GPS tracklogs. Without WAAS you're getting maybe 10 feet precision, so you could drive in a perfectly straight line but have deviations in the track points, creating a crooked tracklog. The distance of a crooked line is greater than the straight line, so end up with an innacurate distance and MPG calculation.

A Focus SVT would get 20mpg on my commute, possibly worse. With the C-Max I get 45mpg The low end torque gives the C-Max pretty good performance in city driving. For example if you're in the left lane and the car in front of you stops to make a left turn, you don't have to wait and wait and wait until there's no traffic in the right lane. If there's an opening you CAN mash the gas and get up to speed quickly. Same if you need to accelerate quickly to get across traffic lanes to make a turn. Or merge onto the highway. I had a turbo Volvo V70 wagon with 215hp and about the same weight as the C-Max, and it was worse in city driving, because the turbo would take time to spool up.

I've read on at least one forum that Ford doesn't use special break in oil

I already posted this but somehow my post disappeared: No manufacturer says to change the oil after break in because if they did, buyers would complain to no end about having to go back for service in a couple weeks. Doesn't mean you don't benefit from getting those metal particles out of there

Are they slanted? It looks like they would catch the wind

You can buy steel wheels and put aerodynamic hubcaps on them. But the steelies are 25lb http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCloseUpServlet?target=runSteel&initialPartNumber=X66271&wheelMake=New&wheelModel=Steel%20Wheel&wheelFinish=Black%20Painted&showRear=no&autoMake=Ford&autoModel=C-MAX+Hybrid&autoYear=2016&autoModClar=SE

Because the first few hundred miles or 1000 miles put extra metal particles into the oil. Some will get blocked by the filter and some won't. Why would you want to drive 5000 or 10000 miles with gritty metal chunks floating around? There's no reason not to get an oil change after break in aside from the $40 cost

I got my oil changed at 1356 miles today, will send the sample to Blackstone for analysis. Now that break in is most likely done I finally gave it full throttle getting onto the highway... It's pretty fast

Wow, and I can't even figure out how to get my phone to connect to SYNC through Bluetooth

Could be because parts of the engine get hotter so the coolant has to flow before the engine warms up fully

Taxi use is easy on an engine because for most of those miles it's warmed up

What are you guys talking about? How can you have navigation without having navigation? Are you talking about just using your phone? If so, what does that have to do with Sync?

Starting and stopping engine 50 times a day on a 5 mile commute during which it never reaches normal operating temperature is probably worse for an engine than normal driving

So Ford is only going to make the Fusion in hybrid form? Somehow it makes sense to them to only sell a hybrid that impractical people who like sedans would buy?

The problem with this kind of analysis is that they always use highway MPG or mixed MPG. The vast majority of people commuting are NOT cruising at 65mpg, they are in traffic. Just because you're "on a highway" doesn't mean you're doing "highway miles". The average consumer is too ignorant to understand that. On my commute my C-Max gets 45mpg and up to 57mpg on a good day. The Volvo V70 I had before under these conditions would probably be getting about 15mpg. But the typical car buyer looks at the Volvo and says "Oh I sit in gridlock on the highway every day so I will get 30mpg!"

I'm surprised no one has posted this... K&N filters let more dirt through. They are less good at filtering. That's how they're designed. K&N have much less surface area, so to compensate the pores are bigger. As if common sense weren't enough, this has been proven by empirical testing. http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html