jmcgliss

You might consider some positives. C-Max Hybrids drive and handle very well because the chassis is engineered and screwed together well. Reliability seems good as a used car dealership near us routinely sells C-Max Hybrids with 130,000 miles (retired from municipal or utility fleet use). Here in the Chicago area, mileage does diminish during the coldest coldest months but is at its best during the summer months (not sure how hot your area gets). Our Hybrid SE is well-suited to my wife's 40-minute suburban commute averaging 54-56mpg in summer and 42-44 in winter. After 35,000 miles she is at 49mpg (combined seasons and including some expressway trips). We are seriously considering buying out our lease in May. Keep checking ads for the right mix of age, miles driven, and price. P.S. Did I emphasize my wife not only loves driving her C-Max Hybrid - she also loves the dashboard readout that is configurable and the positive feedback? Or you can keep it simple and just monitor overall mileage.

Our 2018 C-Max has what we would consider well-tempered, not aggressive, regen braking. Pressing what I call the descent button on the gear lever invokes more deceleration force. But in normal Drive mode, we can coast smoothly up to a corner and turn without having to use much (if any) brake pedal. We really enjoy the handling aspect of the C-Max for that reason. My wife's commute mileage after 30,000 miles is 49.8mpg with about 50% EV . Sorry I can't recall the Regen stats - which indirectly says it performs seamlessly.

Aaargh, I just recommended the Escape Hybrid (and late model C-Max) to my wife's friend yesterday. Hope Ford gets these Escape issues ironed out, or we'll stay with what works and buy out our C-Max lease in the spring.

At 33,000 miles, my wife has average 49.6 with EV at roughly 61%. Would be higher without Chicago winters. Updated 10/05/20: Now at 49.8 but cold weather will temper further improvements. 46-48psi tire pressures, no grille covers, no ECO use.

Somehow we missed the existence of the C-Max until 2018 when my wife needed a more efficient commuter car than her thirsty high-mileage Subaru. We remember noticing 2013-2014 C-Maxes mainly because of the ice-blue metallic color available then. All Ford needed to do since 2015 is refer people to Fuelly.com. Graphs clearly show many people getting high miles per gallon in real-world conditions. Every make of hybrid will show a bell-shaped mileage curve based on driver usage, correct? Educating the consumer would have helped overcome the 2013 setbacks.

My wife and I love the C-Max seating and headroom. What's interesting is that even with a difference in our respective heights, I do not have to move the driver's seat very much - compared to our Subaru Legacy. As for the Prius - I thought ALL Toyota acceleration was unintended ?

Has your area experience a drop in temperature? Reduced tire pressure can affect mileage, and feel like more rolling resistance. I followed suggestions on this forum to pump the stock Michelins to 48-50psi to optimize mileage and recently notice an mpg drop at my wife's last fill-up since it's cooled off here.

It was fairly easy in our 2018 C-Max - minimal fasteners to remove. The awkward part was compressing the filter to fit through the opening. It doesn't just slide in like the tray-style filters. Also check under the hood next to each hood hinge where leaves and debris can collect. Remove debris with forceps or chop sticks, then flush the area with bursts from a garden hose. The foam wedges inside seem permeable to water, which will then drain behind the front wheels.

We love how the C-Max Hybrid has more headroom than anything we compared it to. With the seats folded I can carry bass amps and PA gear (boxy items). My wife commutes 45 minutes on county roads and sees 49-54mpg in warm months and 44-48mpg in the winter. We use a 2005 Subaru Legacy wagon on real snowy days but would invest in steel wheels and snows for the C-Max if the Subie dies. The Crosstek looks very truncated in the back and shorter in height. It seems more of a commuter car than cargo-worthy. Be aware that Subaru boxer engines mean you have twice as many heads, sensors, and gaskets, and spark plugs are more difficult to remove. Head service is easier with the engine out. Just be aware of costs once they get past 120,000 miles. The CVT transmission gets mixed reviews and mileage is not remarkable.

That's a good point - Ford has promised multiple new products on the C2 platform. The new Escape appears to be more Mazda-like. Reading reviews of the 2020 Escape, journalists are calling the Hybrid "the sweet spot" and "the one to buy" vs the gasoline-only models. But, my wife loves her C-Max, so once the lease expires in 2021 she's leaning toward buying it (we got a great deal which would be hard to beat if we traded in the C-Max). Between the ride quality, handling, and mileage ranging from 49 average to 54 peak, the Escape has big shoes to fill.

We just cleaned our 2018 engine bay and found more buildup of leaves, twigs, and maple tree spinners. My wife had long forceps to help extract larger pieces. Then we were able to flush both sides with short bursts of the hose. Water could be seen draining behind the front tires. I did not try removing the foam wedges next to the hinges since water seemed to flow thorough pretty well. If it gets to the point where it seems water does not drain we'll have the dealer service it.

Interesting. Are you sure it's dialectric grease? If so, that could interfere. I mistakenly applied dialectric grease to a loose engine connectors in a Subaru and it threw codes shortly thereafter. It's used in high voltage applications (spark plug boots).

http://www.gorilla-auto.com/lug-nuts I just put these on and the chrome seems to be good quality. A friend put black ones on his F-250 and did see some rust after a New York winter of daily driving. Gorilla replaced them under warranty, but recommended chrome for more durability. They also make "Lifetime" lug nuts that may have the same stainless cover as Ford OEM - not sure if they are better quality.

We need to see how the interior space is laid out, and if the Escape's ride height and tire selection are all about "truckiness" at the expense of mileage. We're averaging 49.5 mpg after 18 months of ownership (including Chicago winters), and spoiled by the ride quality.

On our 2015 MKZ with only 25,000 miles, five out of twenty lug nuts had swelled to where the lug wrench was a tight fit. One required hammering on an impact socket to remove it. Went with Gorilla acorn-bulge replacements before a 1,000 mile road trip. Who wants a flat tire you can't change?

The rates posted in the Anderson link are comparable to what our Lincoln dealer quoted to add three more years to a 2015. A different dealer was almost $500 more for the same coverage with no explanation. While I agree with the pay-as-you-need-repairs approach, we had several failures on our 2015 MKZ 1 day before the B2B warranty ran out (and the car only had 26,000 miles). Replacing the digital instrument pod would have been $1,000 so that convinced us to try the extended warranty. When the lease on our 2018 C-Max expires we'll see how we feel about keeping the car at the time. It has fewer electronics aside from the hybrid drive line.

Good luck with your C-Max search. On the Fuelly.com website you can view graphs of real-world mileage experience by C-Max users, by month, and by model year. My wife's 45-minute commute on county roads with some stop lights is ideal for our C-Max hybrid. Averages 54+ mpg in warm months and 46-48 mpg in winter. On occasional expressway trips, mileage drops about 10 mpg. Tire inflation in the 48-50 psi range helps as well. Even without the above-average mileage she gets on weekdays, we love the car. P.S. We've seen the occasional 10-20 mile trip average 68-70 mpg.\ - not at highway miles but that shows you what is possible under good conditions.

This is an unrelated solution for battery drain but might help someone else who finds this thread. Our Lincoln MKZ was draining the battery because the the glove box door was missing the "stop arm" that turns off the glove box lamp when the glove box door is closed. The problem was compounded by winter when we may have opened and closed car doors periodically but were not driving it much. The battery was replaced in fall 2018. The part in question was lost or damaged when the previous owner or shop changed the cabin air filter.

Ford might tune the Escape for a different audience than our C-Max's. When we test drove our 2018 C-Max vs Escape, the Escape had a "truck-ier" ride while the C-Max was smooth, refined, and buttoned down with flatter cornering. Engineers know how to tune, so that's no accident. Will 2020 Escape Hybrids come with the same Michelins as the C-Max or be a compromise toward a truckster feel?

"A briefcase-size battery...is good for up to 550 miles". Hmm in warm weather, we're used to a 700+ range in our 2018 C-Max. From Autoweek: The regular Escape hybrid uses a briefcase-size battery under the floor and is good for up to 550 miles of total range with a full tank of fuel. The plug-in has a larger battery (14.1 kWh vs 1.1 kWh), good for 30 miles of pure electric range. Charging time on the plug-in is 3.5 hours on a Level 2 charger, 10-11 hours on a 115-volt home plug. New for 2020, both Escape hybrids have four hybrid-specific modes that include auto EV (the vehicle decides whether to run gas or electric), EV now (all-electric driving), EV later (all gas-powered driving) and EV charge (drivers can continue to charge the battery while driving to generate electric-only miles later). The cargo area is about 3 cubic feet smaller in the hybrids (37.5 to 34.4 behind the second row) due to the placement of the 12-volt battery in the rear. Read more: https://autoweek.com/article/family/2020-ford-escape-here#ixzz5jx6f1lKc

Welcome to the forum. Start off right by tracking your fuel mileage at Fuelly.com. You can also compare your results with other owners by model year.

Love the photos. No pics to share yet, but for a vintage rock trio I'll be hauling two bass cabinets, two PA monitors and head amp, two power amps in cases, a long bag with pole stands and mic stands, two bass guitar cases, milk crates full of cables, folding table, and more.

Welcome and congrats. We still love our 2018 after about 12,000 miles.

Wiper service mode - good information to have with falling leaves and snow approaching. I found the thread suggesting foam pipe insulation placed between the hood and windshield to keep snow, ice, or leaves from packing inside the deep trough where the wipers reside. Will give that a try this week.

Congratulations! We bought our 2018 SE the same way - with about 2200 miles on the clock. After 6,000 commuting miles since May 2018, my wife has *averaged* 54 mpg and we both love driving it (and the interior space as you mentioned).