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J.C.

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Everything posted by J.C.

  1. In case anyone wants to disable the chime, this worked on my 2015. I came here first (I love these forums) but didn't find anything so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyGrFRC0QX0 I drive for Uber and even though I really want my passengers to wear their seat belts, it's not worth it for me to argue with them and cancel the ride over it. So I disabled the passenger side only. I don't mind the reminder for me in the driver's seat, I always wear mine. As the video points out, it's also useful if you have a dog that triggers the warning. Step by step: 0 -- (Video says to engage the e-brake. I don't know if that's necessary but I did engage my parking brake just in case.) 1 -- Wait for the seat belt light indicator to go out after 1 minute 2 -- Fasten and unfasten the seat belt (driver or passenger depending on which you want) 3 times. 3 -- The light will come back on 4 -- Fasten and unfasten once 5 -- The light will flash. 6 -- When it stops flashing, you're done! [Repeat the process to re-engage the chime*] * Honestly chime is not the word, it's really more of an alarm. It gets obnoxious on the 3rd alert.
  2. Not sure why you don't want to say the name Velcro, but anyway, this solution is amazing! I used 1" wide hook and loop and a strip about 2.5" or 3" long. Even if I lose one when I put the seats down I can just cut another one.
  3. My tires had around 35,000 miles on them when I decided to over- (or max) inflate them. Not sure how much life I would get out of the tires, but being positive that they were over 50% done, I figured it was worth a try. I did not notice substantial gains in mpg, although I did notice a bump. (YMMV) But I did get two blowouts from hitting curbs (one I contacted and one I flat out hit--I figure that one is on me) which has NEVER happened to me before, and I drive/have driven a LOT. First blowout was around 40k and the second at 45k, so I got 5k and 10k miles of mpg savings, respectively. But that's just anecdotal evidence, so I made a spreadsheet and did some math. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DLEr2g6B076sOtv3rUOwHIjEmy308g6_dLm4HeNhmQ0 My general conclusion is, it really comes down to your personal belief: If you think that better tires (or higher pressures) will get you significantly better mileage, then you should always go for it. If you think they don't, then you shouldn't. The problem is, for buying tires, there's not really any way to know what the mpg difference will be, that's why I say it's about belief. With inflation, obviously you can just try various PSIs to see what your savings is--assuming you are measuring PSI and MPG accurately, and assuming you drive the same way/routes when you measure. But after all that it comes down to your belief in how much your risk has increased from higher inflation. Whether you believe you have no increased chance of blowout/tire loss, or a much greater one; because we can't measure that. [i'm now in the greater risk camp. ;) ] Also currently (as of Jan 2019) gas prices are pretty low, so it's much harder to generate savings. If we go back to $3.00/gallon, these numbers will change. I used $2.50 when I messed with the sheet. Feel free to try out the sheet for yourself. As the directions say, you have to Make A Copy of the sheet in order to manipulate the numbers. One thing this sheet does not do is calculate tire savings based on differences in tire durability. That extra factor (durability x mpg) increases complexity exponentially, so I omitted it. But you can assume that if your low-MPG tire will last longer than your low rolling resistance tire, then you need even more mpg savings to justify that purchase.
  4. I will add some tape or grille covers. I agree that it was the temps. It was pretty close to 0 here for many of those days. I just filled my 2nd tank (temps 32+) and got 44.2 mpg with estimates of 46.4. So not only was the mpg good, the estimate variance went from over 11% to under 5%.
  5. Yeah this car has been terrible in snow. I can see why the single owner before me from Michigan sold it. I'm 100% okay with that, we don't get that much snow here [or 0 degrees]. I can live with 10 good months out of my C-MAX and 2 months of 34 mpg, which is still the best fuel efficiency I've ever gotten in my life. :)
  6. The car estimated 37.9 mpg over 384 miles (49% EV) but when I filled up my actual mpg was 33.5. I could live with a 5% margin of error, but this is so bad I just can't trust it at all now. The fuel gauge was above F when I got it and it showed as being above the F after this tank. I don't top off the tank so there's no chance that I mistakenly added 1.3 too many gallons. At any rate, does anyone else have this issue? I'm not necessarily shocked at 33.5 because that it's been 0 to 32 degrees here (32 is a great day) with most of the driving occurring around 0-10 degrees and if I don't run the heat on low, my feet will go numb. Don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled, this is 97% city driving at around 35 mph with lots of braking. But I can withhold judgment until the weather is at least in the 40's. It's not usually this cold for this long. I should mention most of my driving is part of doing deliveries so once the car gets warm it stays warm (more or less); this isn't a case of cold starting it and driving to work, then cold starting and driving home. As a secondary question, how is the C-MAX fuel gauge? It maybe seemed like the kind that runs a little slow at the top (F) of the gauge and then runs a little faster at the bottom (E). In my experience every brand or model is different and this is my first Ford.
  7. Got my first hybrid (and my first Ford). C-MAX SEL--302 with Panoramaic Roof, in black. 2015, 22k miles $16.5k. I've barely driven it but I've been getting around 40-42 city (with temps about 30 degrees) and I'm happy with that. Of course I have to drive like an old lady when I'm used to having a lead foot, but that's okay. I'm planning to do food delivery (Order Up, Uber Eats gig work) and the better the mileage, the more I make. I like in a small city of 100,000 and typical traffic is 35-45 mph with fairly frequent stops and an average trip of maybe 12 minutes--20 minutes during rush hour. Driving conservatively probably only adds about 1 minute to those times. I'm already planning a trip out west, this would be Missouri to Oregon, likely through the Southwest and CA to avoid snow on the way there [depends on forecast]. Could be 4000 miles round trip. It's going to be rough trying to drive in my sweet spot on the highway, I typically go 80, sometimes 85 on long trips on the Interstate. The difference to my body, back, and mind between, say, a 12 hour drive and a 15 hour drive are tremendous. I can usually do 10 no problem, but after that I start to feel it. Even if I can make myself go 70 (in a 70 mph zone) that would still be a big improvement for me. This is the dealer pic, it's better than what I can get with this weather or in my tiny garage (the car fits!).
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