ArizonaEnergi

I recently used the Google Earth "Path" feature to get elevation information on a bike route we travel occasionally. You click on your route from start to finish and turns in-between and then select the Elevation option to see the changes. Placing your cursor on the scale shows where it is on the route.

Yeah, this car is just too low to the ground and with a flat even lower so the scissor jack is the way to go it would seem. Box cutter blade in the tire - bizarre!

Yeah, that 4 ton is the smallest one they have. I measured at the jack points, it's about 8" of clearance in the rear and 7" in the front. That jack has a minimum clearance of 7 5/8". The scissor jack is 3 3/4", so it will have plenty of room. Tested it today and it worked fine. In fact, I liked raising it a bit more than the hydraulic.

The hydraulic bottle jack I got at Harbor Freight is too tall! http://www.harborfreight.com/4-ton-hydraulic-bottle-jack-66450.html It barely fits under the rear jack point with air in the tire, and if it were flat there's no way it would fit, and it doesn't fit under the front jack point at all. It also doesn't entirely collapse back down on its own, making removing the jack a bit difficult. So, anyone had a short hydraulic jack alternative, or am I going to have to go with a scissor jack after all, which Harbor also sells for the same price? http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-2-half-ton-scissor-jack-66907.html

Have you manually calculated the MPG to determine that the 50+ readings are correct? And I wonder how our car picks a fob when it has two fobs in it all the time?

In other forums people retrofit their cars with rear deflectors for that purpose, and I believe Ford used the term aerodynamics to jazz up the function, although it may indeed reduce drag.

The "rear lift gate deflectors" to be added to the 2014 models will be nothing like these pods in that it will mainly just keep debris off the back window and it remains to be seen if it's a separate part that can be retrofitted on to the 2013 model.

A think a good test would be simple. Find a long stretch of lightly traveled level road, say at least 20 miles. Pick a day without much wind. Go in one direction with cruise control on, say at 45MPH. Note MPG reading at end. Turn around and repeat. Then put the magnetic pods on. Repeat the round trip. Take pods off. Repeat. Maybe five round trips with and without. Report results.

I'm a skeptic. If Gaspods worked they or a similar device would be on every car manufactured today to help meet CAFE standards, and race cars to lessen drag. But I can be convinced otherwise! I'd like to see some long-term testing on the C-Max with its MPG reporting. Say a person drives to work for a month with them on, then takes them off and drives another month, then compare, and repeat over a year, on and off. That might take the natural variability of MPG readings out of the results and indicate if these small devices actually have an impact on the car. mtb - I had the same problem with attachment limitations. You need to contact a moderator and have it raised or removed. BTW, you look like my double. I'll post a picture sometime and see if you agree.

Select for Ford-Taurus-2007-Wheel and then from the hits select Steel for the most results.

Yeah, that really sucks. I have a friend that many years ago parked at a pull-in spot on a street and another guy pulled in next to him and flung his door open and hit my friends car. He waited until the guy went in a store then went over and kicked the entire side of his car in, then drove off.

I got a dent very similar to yours, maybe slightly deeper, on a trip when I opened the passenger door onto a concrete pillar I didn't see at a podunk gasoline station. It had a metal cap and the corner of it made a nice dent in the door a little further from the edge than yours. Man was I pissed at the station and my own stupidity. Anyway, I resolved to have it fixed and took the car into a local shop called Dentbusters who specialize in fixing small dents like that. They usually try to come in from the window to repair such dents, but in my case had to drill a small hole in the side of the door to get their tools in, which they capped. Took about 15 minutes and the dent was entirely gone. I could not detect it had ever been there. Fortunately, I didn't have any paint damage. The repair cost $100. I suggest you try and find a similar body shop in your area that uses this technique, and perhaps do some DIY touch-up painting? http://www.paintscratch.com/

I bought a compact spare today. While I had identified two sources on eBay (thanks to people here) I decided to use the national used car part database to see if there were any local sellers that had a Taurus 2000-07 spare and indeed there was. The database is here: http://search2304.used-auto-parts.biz/inventory/retail.htm Select for Ford-Taurus-2007-Wheel and then from the hits select Steel for the most results. I paid $50 for a brand new tire and rim (eBay prices were about $60 shipped) and another $50 for a jack and tire iron. I thought the jack/iron price was high and told them, but they said that was their rate, although they did drop it from $65. UPDATE: I came to my senses and took the jack/tire iron back for a refund, then went to Harbor Freight and bought an $18 4-ton bottle jack. I already had a folding 4-way for the lug nuts. The wife is going to make a full cover for the tire and a small bag for the jack, and we will likely only take it on long trips that include remote blue highway roads. UPDATE: Ordered the RV tire cover from Amazon others have. Wife happier!

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash test ratings for the Hybrid: Overall: 4, Front: 4, Side: 5, Rollover 4 http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/5-Star+Safety+Ratings/2011-Newer+Vehicles/Vehicle-Detail?vehicleId=7482 For the Energi: Overall: 4, Front: 4, Side: 5, Rollover 4 http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/5-Star+Safety+Ratings/2011-Newer+Vehicles/Vehicle-Detail?vehicleId=7481 Note that the Tesla S has been awarded the highest ratings ever! http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/tesla-model-s-achieves-best-safety-rating-any-car-ever-tested

I tried it successfully 7 minutes after you posted your message.

Just worked for me. Headliner liner the only outstanding item shown. Not going to be an early adopter on this fix!

Myth Busters, to name one, has tested this device/theory and found it to be bogus, but how about the "Pods" for your roof recently discussed on this forum? Why Ford isn't putting these on the 2014 C-Max along with all the other MPG tweaks is a mystery. Probably bought off by the same group that suppressed the 100-mpg carburetor! http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2340-installed-gaspods-on-liftgate/?hl=pods&do=findComment&comment=23362 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device#Vapor_devices

I was worried about space too, especially coming from an Odyssey with space galore, but after a 3,000 mile trip with no kids but a parrot with large cage, I've found the 8" taken up by the large battery not really a problem as it still leave two feet of space above it. As for performance I don't think the C-Max notices the extra weight.

Why do I suspect us Energi owners won't be included in this payment?

Thanks. I see that one and another out of PA and will be buying one of them.

Got a link? as my spousal-unit is demanding a spare for our next roadtrip, even though we haven't had a flat since the Firestone fiasco in the late 90's.

Out The Door usually includes tax, title and license. Is that in your number because if it is you got a very good deal it appears. BTW, don't forget about the Federal $3,751 tax credit, and whatever credits are available in your home state. Welcome to the Energi world. I know I love cheap coal power myself!

I had the same problem on my laptop and had to go to my desktop to finally get it to work. Don't use Firefox, try with IE. I had to re-load Java and it finally worked. Very frustrating.

Just finished the update. Took about 30 minutes as reported, many black screens and seemingly hung file uploads, but success. I don't notice many obvious changes other than a compass direction up in the Navigation bar which I think is new, and my favorite, the list of voice commands available when you trigger the paddle. I like that a lot as memorizing the allowed choices was proving difficult for me. When I D/L the file I selected to have the update instructions emailed to me, which never happened, but I did print out the instructions. As it turned out only #1 (start the car - turn on radio) and #2 (plug in USB drive) were needed as the update started immediately at that point. The only problem I see is that my USB flashdrive that contains audiobooks in MP3 format is now generating this message "There are no file entries in this device" when I select "Browse BOOKS" (BOOKS is the name of the drive). It shows the first book and plays it, and if I skip through the files it will find the next book, and play that, but it will not display the files even though this worked in 3.5.1. This is a major disappointment as we listen to books driving around, so its back to iPod until this is fixed. The same type of drive in the other USB slot that contains my music in MP3 works just fine! Yes, I switched them back and forth, and tried Books alone. I posted this other on the SYNC forum in the hope that the Ford guys read it: http://fordsyncforum.com/topic/3351-no-file-entries-usb-drive-error-after-34-update/ All in all, glad this worked and is something that can be done at home.

I don't see this on the SYNC site or in the description of the update. Got any more info?