SnowStorm

With many used C-Max cars available I started wondering about prices versus mileage. Here's a graph for 18 SEs and 14 SELs. Per trend line, prices start just over 15k for zero miles (what a deal!) and drop to $0 at 300k miles. Trend line for SEs only is: Price = -0.059170 X Miles + 14886 (drop to $o at 252k miles) Trend line for SELs only is: Price = -0.033591 X Miles + 15072 (drop to $o at 449k miles) So, SEs and SELs are about the same for low mileage but SEs loose value faster at high miles. Oh dear, my car is over half way to being "worthless". After that I'll have to pay someone to take it?

Good point! Two thoughts: (1) hopefully by then the dealers will get upgraded to all handle EVs (???) and (2) there have been virtually no problems with the EV part of our cars. I don't know of a single HVB or inverter or electric motor problem. Even the transmission problem was, I expect, due to it simply being a new design - not because it was a hybrid/EV application per se. So, the world will have to change. A lot of dealer service income will disappear with EVs so they had better get good at doing what little remains! For some, there doesn't seem to be much hope. The whole auto manufacturer / dealer / service world must change. Those who do that can survive, those who don't will just add to the melted 'runoff' from "the end of the ICE age!"

Don't know about the fuse either but why not connect it to the power posts under the hood - plenty of current there. You've already cut the cord so attach some big clamps (maybe from a dead jump starter or 12V inverter) and a fuse and it should go. Just keep an eye on the pump so it doesn't go up in smoke! Funny that the pump should fail - it says it is "Built to Last". They just didn't say how long! The auto-shutoff does sound nice though.

Wait for more fill-ups before getting too worried. The gauge is a bit 'dead' at the top as many of them are. I checked the last 15 fill-ups that were over 7 gallons and my car showed 2.4% low to 6.2% high with an average of 3% high. I calculate actual MPG with an odometer correction (as mentioned above) of 1.7% which would give you 34 MPG.

Ah - you beat me to it! Here's a link from across the pond. Other points: "Mr Ford said the focus would be on electrifying existing Ford models without naming any specific cars.""...we're taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we're electrifying them.""Volkswagen said in November it would spend $40bn on electric cars, autonomous driving and new mobility services by the end of 2022"Watch the teaser video in this link on Ford's "Mach 1" all-electric SUV. Love the snow! Sure hope this SUV turns out to be what the Tesla Model X should have been! Find out in 2020.Did someone say "The ICE Age Is Ending"? Now where does that Model E fit in?

No idea where they get the numbers but SullivanTire gives a "Fuel Efficiency Rating" of 10 for the Michelins, 8 for General Altimax and 7 for the General G-Max AS-05. So expect its better to stay with Altimax over G-Max. The longer tread warranty more than makes up for the price difference - and the G-Max is asymmetric so I guess it couldn't be reverse mounted (if one ever wanted to). Then there's the Altimax RT43 (94T version) with 75k warranty and lower price. I don't plan to go 118 mph and edge wear and noise (cupping) seem to be under control with my adjustable rear camber and frequent rotations. I'm at 75k on this second set of Michelins (55k warranty) so should be able to get that out of the Altimax 94T version with its 75k warranty. Have I talked myself into it? Not sure.

So +3, you've got me rethinking my next tire purchase (due soon). I had thought to continue with the OEM Michelins for FE but would sure like to save the money. Even with a $70 rebate on Michelin you still come out ahead after 65k miles and a 3 mpg loss (6%). Now my question: what about the new General G-MAX AS-05? It is cheaper yet, has 94W rating, 50k warranty, otherwise very similar specs to Altimax but no reviews yet. Any idea if it might be similar to the Altimax on FE? I don't push tires very hard - just want lowest over all cost with high quality and performance at least as good as the OEMs.

Original tires are P225 (P-metric) tire that has a service description of 93V and maximum pressure of 51 psi. They also make a 225 "Metric" (no P) Energy Saver A/S with a 94V service description but it is only rated for 44 psi. You can find the 93V on the sidewall under the "ENERGY SAVER A/S" logo - or just make sure the tire is a P225/50R17 tire. Of course the maximum pressure is on the sidewall as well. I haven't heard that anyone has mixed them up yet but I could see it happening.

Using a charger at the front terminals works fine. I had a couple of dead 12V battery incidents years back on my 2013 and used my charger to bring the battery from only a few volts back up to 12V. I wouldn't ever try to jump or charge back at the battery. Other comments are (many repetitive): Make sure your car has had all the updates done. There was a major one related to the dead 12V battery problems and possibly one related to the charging algorithm that helped keep it charged if you only do short trips. If you get a new 12V battery, make sure the battery age parameter gets reset when its installed. If its not reset, it may affect the charging algorithm in a detrimental way. I don't know if this can only be done by dealers - you might want to go to a dealer you trust. Just make sure they do it. Reasons for having a jump starter over a charger is that its quick, you don't need AC power, and you can use it to help someone else if they ask. With so much electronics in cars today I hope to never use jumper cables again. The actual current needed to "jump start" the car is quite unknown. The jump pack must push enough current through the 12V battery to bring its voltage up momentarily to the point that the electronics starts working. Then you "start" the car and the HVB takes over using the DC-DC converter. I would think, though, that most any of those new jump packs will work fine. The 12V power outlet in the back luggage area is on all the time. You might try an extension cable and voltmeter back there. Gas mileage on short trips can vary wildly for several reasons. The numbers are fun to watch but don't mean much. If you want to see lots of technical info about the car, get the Forscan software and a wireless OBDII interface (there's lots of posts about it on here).At 146k miles and 49 lifetime mpg our C-Max remains the "best" car we've ever had and is expected to go to 250k or 300k miles (or until someone throws a 250+ mile EV our way!).

If it keeps it up, I guess I'll have to try cleaning things but hate to think of tearing into the dash. As to a reset button, that might be OK in a car but it reminds me of something from the early '80s. I was working on avioncs for biz jets and we were just starting to use digital technology (microcontrollers) instead of analog designs. Some of us had gone out to Cessna to discuss the latest design and it was suggest that a reset button be placed in the cockpit so the pilot could reset the system if it happened to "lock up"! Well, that didn't fly at all with Cessna - no reset button! We had to design an "activity monitor" to reset the processor automatically if it locked up. Now-a-days these circuits are built in the microcontrollers and called "watchdogs". If you don't properly "pet" the watchdog, it goes off and resets things.

Our radio has started acting up over the last few weeks. You will be driving along and there will be a sudden loud burst of "noise", like static, for a split second. Afterwards the radio won't turn on. When you repeatedly press the volume knob to turn it on it will cycle between no response and flashing a bit of colored bars/box on the screen. Restarting the car seems to fix it - so far. It has been cold weather of course - don't know if problem is temperature related or if it just started on its own. We do not have the touchscreen - 2013 SE. Any ideas?

My take is that the engineers complained about the design as much as us but were told to do it that way by "management"!

These halogen bulbs should never be touched by ones fingers - my apologies if you are aware of this already.

It will sure be interesting to see what "next-generation solid-state batteries" look like - and cost. 20 years from now we'll be looking back and saying "we were worried about battery cost and EV range?"

Whatever they are called and wherever they are made, future models need to be designed "ground up" as EVs / PHEVs with batteries under the floor where they belong. That reason alone means the C-Max and Fusion (as now designed) will go away. But I sure hope the replacements (Model E variants?) are made here.

You can also use the Avg MPG display (big number in the middle of the screen) for another average. (Reset by holding down the OK button.) I reset mine on the car's birthday at end of April to give a yearly average. Presently at 52.9 mpg :) (but inching down :cry: with colder weather.)

Further thoughts: The AutoParts Warehouse site says those arms don't fit C-Max - ??I too am wondering how far you can go in reducing camber without causing other problems. HOWEVER, we can't assume that excessive rear camber is the only cause of edge wear and cupping/noise.I follow Ford's rotation pattern that puts each wheel on all 4 positions. Since I bought a set of tires, my tire dealer rotates for free every 5000 miles. I'm convinced that rotations are of utmost importance.Now at 71k+ miles with only a bit of edge wear and, I think, a small amount of noise - vast improvement over first set. Should make it to 75k miles and expect to hit the wear bars over the full width before the edge is too worn to be a problem.That little level looks easy to use but you can also use a carpenter's level as described in other posts.I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a C-Max - rotate per Ford's pattern at 5000 to 10,000 miles and few folks, IMO, should have a problem to 55k miles (the warranty). Trying to get another 20k miles out of the tires is when it gets rather dicey.As to the cause of noise, my tire dealer told me years back that undriven tires have always had a tendency to cup (alternating low-high spots around the tire that cause noise). For front wheel drive that means the rear tires. Again, rotations are essential.

It will be interesting to see how the 2019 Escape battery is packaged. If its just added "on top" of the original design (like the C-Max Energi), it won't be near as desirable as if it is packaged efficiently under the floor like newer ground-up electric designs. Since it is a plug-in, it should have full speed EV capability which should make hybrid mode more efficient. With care given to other design choices it should get better mileage than the RAV4 hybrid - but don't see much chance of it matching the C-Max. If Ford gets it all "right", the new Escape could be wildly popular.

The 2019 Escape sounds interesting but I really want to hear more about the Model E cars and Ford's all-electric plans. That Escape might be a competitive "stop-gap" vehicle until the Model Es are out. Within about 3 years I would love to have a 250+ mile EV with SUV or C-Max style body, at least 1000 pounds towing and future upgradeable to full autonomy (don't need AWD). Remember, "The ICE age is ending".

Or maybe one could "blame" low gas prices for killing the V. With gas staying relatively "low", the higher fuel consumption takes a back seat to the advantages of an SUV: Higher seating position More ground clearance Towing capability (1750 pounds for the RAV4)Lack of AWD can't be the whole story - half the Escape buyers went with 2WD. After paying $30k for a car, most folks won't worry about the extra $20 per month for fuel (RAV4 over Prius V per EPA numbers). Of course you could make the same argument for non-hybrid versus hybrid - but then you wouldn't get the gushy good feeling of "driving a hybrid"! ;)

Headline says "RAV4 Hybrid took its sales". Ha - more likely killed by the awesome C-Max! (But I still thank Toyota for creating the hybrid market.)

Yes, several of us have done so. I did it running back and forth past the gas station to set a record "miles per tank" run. I think there was some warning but continued on in EV mode to the station - no problem. This post describes also running until EV mode is "dead". Better have gas with you then!

Snapped this picture at a VA gas station today. No, I didn't buy any! Bet even CA can't top this. :lol2: