Chinto

The C-Max owners' manual is silent on the interior storage area at the back -- just in front of the lift gate.  What's it for?  Can I use it?

I like to stash my snow brush/ice scrap, bungee straps, hand towels, first aid kit, reusable shopping bags and select tools in there.   

That looks perfect for the application.   For easy removal tie a string or attach a small paper clip to the eye of the drive as a tether.   

The 286 chip with monochrome monitor, 20 meg hard drive with 1 meg ram and a dot matrix printer was state of the art in 1985.  Lets not talk about how much it cost.  

My insurance went up. Higher than both our other cars... I called to ask why a compact Ford Hybrid cost more to insure than our 2011 Camaro convertible. The answer?

 

Batteries.

 

Batteries are incredibly expensive and almost always damaged in a crash.

Maybe the difference is that you have the Energi which has the really big battery vs  the hybrid.   My insurance came out less when I changed from an 08 Sable to the C Max Hybrid.   This might make an interesting forum question between the Energi and the Hybrid.   Did your insurance go up or down.   

This effect is further hampered by our perception of diminishing returns. *

 

--Going from 10mpg to 20mpg saves (1,500ga - 750ga) 750ga or $2,700/yr

 

--Going from 20mpg to 40mpg saves (750ga - 375ga) 375ga or $1,350/yr

 

--Going from 40mpg to 60mpg saves (375ga - 250ga) 125ga or $450/yr

 

-- CMAX real average of 37mpg vs. EPA 47mpg costs (319.15ga - 405.4ga) 86.25ga or $310/yr

* Assumes a 15,000 mile annual average and fuel at $3.60/ga

I am in category B with my C Max.  Never really applied gallons saved but I like the savings.   

I wanted to double my mpg when I bought the C Max which even with the winter temps I have accomplished.  My Sable would average 19 in the winter and 21 in the summer in town which is 95% of my driving.  So right now my winter time average with the C Max is 39.5mpg with occasional trips in the mid forties.  I am satisfied with my C Max on fuel economy even in the winter which will only get better from here as we approach spring.   As far as my satisfaction with the comparative  benchmarks of the C Max and all the other cars I considered over the 4 months of looking and researching - my C Max is still at the top of my list.  I just like to drive the thing because it is surprisingly fun.   The other observation I made with other cars was that I didn't like the turbo effect.  I did not like the delay/lag that others all had when you push the pedal.  The C Max responds like a high performance car only without the HP.  

One day I was driving along on a sunny day and the wipers just started.  Noticed that the car in front of me was using his window washer spray that over sprayed on to my windshield just a little and immediately started my wipers.   Pretty cool got my windshield cleaned without using my window washer fluid.    The auto wipers also work in the car wash if the car is still running.   

If you have the nav system then you need the sd card for it to function.     

I understand - it is a trade off that costs mpg.  Idling the car to warm it up without moving forward sacrifices miles per gallon especially with a demand for cabin heat.         I am not saying that you should not idle to warm but understand that your mpg will suffer because of it.  The seat warmers actually has less influence on mpg than the heater that operates from the engine heat.   I hate winter.  I should live were there are palm trees.   

Check the link below for the thread discussing foaming the grill opening.  You will see a photo of my car with the grill foamed and how it was done.  

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/index.php?/topic/770-3-mpg-gain-with-grill-covers/

That is the problem with running the motor while parked there are no miles per gallon when your are not moving.  Seriously, I have found the biggest killer of mpg is the heater when it is cold outside.   This morning my drive to work is 7 miles, which is all non highway,  and I did, per my trip summary readout, 40 mpg at 20 degrees outside temp without the heater.   Normally, I would have done 30mpg at that temperature with the heater running.  

I have discovered that if I leave the heater off until the car is fully warmed (by water temp gauge past the first mark)  before turning it on I will do better with the mpg than if I let the car's auto function on its own.   

One other note, I have foamed the grill openings  for faster and more consistent  engine warming.  I am convinced that this helps in the cold weather.  Next week the weather forecast is expecting highs around 10 degrees and lows a 0 here so I will see how it works when it is really cold.    Now my goal is to simply keep my average mpg around 39-40.  

This is an update on the replacement "grommet"  WeatherTech sent to solve the difficult to unsnap the mat from the carpet problem that I have.  It takes a pry bar to unsnap the mat from the carpet.   Long and short it was the same exact grommet already in place so it did not help.   

Not wanting to fool around anymore with WeatherTech I decided to take the new grommet and ream it out a little to see if that would solve the problem.   Good news, the snaps now work perfectly.  I simply took my dremel tool with a cylinder type sanding stone and removed some of the bumps inside the grommet to loosen it up.  It just took a little.  You don't even need to take the snap apart to ream the inside of the grommet.   Now it is easy to unsnap the mat from the carpet.  

So for those of you who find their DigitalFit mat from WeatherTech hard to unsnap simply ream the inside of the grommet just a little and that will solve the problem.   

that feature is on the Dodge dart

The fronts look great.  One question.  On the drivers side, does the left foot rest portion go high enough or does your foot extend over the top?  Thanks for the pictures!

The mat covering the left foot racing ramp measures 7 1/2" from the floor.  So with my sz 9 shoe my toes extend above the mat when flat against the racing ramp.  

How's the access to the second row storage area with the second row mat installed?

I only have the front row DigitalFit mats.  My backseat never gets used so I use the OEM mat on the 2nd row seats.   The WeatherTech 2nd row mat is one long piece across the entire floor so I would think it could interfere with access somewhat.   You would probably need to fold the one side over onto the other side to open the hatch depending on what you were retrieving or placing in the recess.   Especially if you were using the air compressor kit.  If your backseat gets a lot of traffic however a full width mat would protect the center hump area much better than the factory split mats.  

Once you get them please post some pictures.  The pictures they have on the weathertech web site are not from a CMAX and I would like to see exactly where the Digital Fit edges line up.

I contacted WeatherTech regarding the driver side fastening problem.  CS is sending me  replacement "grommets" that will hopefully make it easier to unsnap and remove the liner.  I will let you know how that goes.  

While the photos below are not great it should convey how they fit in the C Max.   

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/99971988/2013%20600x300.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/99971988/2013%20600x300%20floor%20mat.jpg

Fortunately I live fairly close to the WeatherTech store so I went yesterday to buy the DigitalFit floor liners,  I have had these floor mats for other cars and wanted them for my C Max.   As I expected the new floor mats fit perfectly.   The carpet is completely protected where it needs to be.  The only issue I see with these is the driver side snaps are a little to strong.  I needed at pry  bar to unsnap them so going to the car wash will likely be a problem for easy removal.  I am planning to call today to see if  Weathertech has a solution. Other than that I am very please with the fit and finish and the protection.  

If I get some removal tips from the factory I will let you know.      

Congrats on your new C Max. These cars are fun to drive and economical. The most difficult part to learn is Sync because of the commands. Once you get the lingo down it is easy.

Thank you for the great information.   I was wondering what the actual temperatures were at the first mark and mid way mark on the gauge.  So anything below the midway mark will be sub-optimal operating temperature.   I think you said the thermostat does not open until 190.   It would also seem that even with grill covers in place hitting the optimal temperature takes a while.  That would seem to account for my  observation that short trips give low mpg #s when it is cold.   I have observed that  I need at least 10 miles of steady driving to start showing mileage gains.    I am anxious to know your finding when it is warmer outside.  

I just learned that WeatherTech has added the DigitalFit style all weather floor-liners to their website.   For those of us who have been waiting for these to become available, your wait is over.   Check the link below for details.   

http://www.weathertech.com/ford/2013/c-max/floorliner-digitalfit/

So your findings point to shutter control is triggered by water temperature. Staying fully closed up to 190 degrees and fully open at 215. So if this is functioning this way why does the WT remain less than optimum in cold, below 32 degree conditions? I would think WT would be more stable with thermal control shutters regardless of outside temps.

Don't forget to remove the foam inserts before a carwash......

Actually I had my car washed yesterday with the foam inserts in place and had no affect on them.  

I read that too but the facts don't seam to support it. At 70mph the ICE will get up to opperating temp and any gains after that have too be aero and I saw 4.5mpg at many different temps.

 

Are you referring to engine temperatures or outside temperatures?  It seems that the shutter system performs poorly in cold weather temps as evidenced by the gains made by simply obstructing air flow through the grill and increasing the engine temperature to optimum.   It seems that optimum engine temperature trumps aerodynamics in attaining optimum mpg at 32 degrees and below outside temps.   

I had my first short 20 miles each way trip yesterday since foaming the grill.  The first thing noted was the water gauge maintained the half way mark through out the trip and with my super short drive to work.   Outside temp around 20 degrees.   Since foaming the grill my initial short trips to work are only 6-7 miles one way which I have maintained 38 mpg whereas before was doing 35ish before foaming with temps around 20-25 degrees.     So yesterday with a longer drive my mileage hit 41 for the trip of 20 miles which is an increase compared to what I achieved without the foam.  So my initial conclusions are that restricting cold air to the radiator improved my mpg at least by 3mpg.   I believe the longer the drive the better the mileage gain below 32 degrees by restricting the cold air.   

I also have to concluded that the auto shutters are not set to open and close correctly to maintain optimal engine temperature.   Does anyone know how those actually operate?   What is the triggering signal  for  open and close.   Having an auto shuttered radiator should do a better job of maintaining optimal engine temp than foaming my grill.   Can the auto shutters be tune for better performance?    That would be the best way to handle this rather than sticking something on the grill like did in the old days.  Right? 

I found a little more info on how the shutters work.  It seems like they are tuned more for aerodynamic function than engine temperature and more applicable at highway speeds than in town speeds.  Ford's purpose and the consumer's needs in cold weather appear to be different.   

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1079678_active-shutter-grille-vents-how-they-help-improve-mpg

Today was the 3rd time I reset the clock since I bought the car.  Today however I noticed that the station presets were not showing in AM.  I pushed the FM button and everything showed correctly even when I went back to AM.    Unfortunately the clock remained wrong until I reset the time.   I believe these are software issues and hopefully when updated will be resolved.    

Maybe when the eco cruise is ON the pulse and glide driving technique is defeated.   When it is OFF the car better simulates the pulse and glide which we have established earlier improves mileage.     This seems plausible and should be experimented by how the EV reacts both ways.   

Do you have your water temperature gauge displayed?  I would bet it barely approached the first bar the entire trip.  That has been my observation with cold temps.   This car works best when warm.  According to ptjones the optimal water temp needs to be between 202-215 degrees for best mileage.