SnowStorm

The 120v inverter is quite convenient at times when you need small amounts of AC power - I've used it several times. But, no, its not intended to start motors that draw power (or current) in excess of the inverter's rating. It seems that a simple moderate power alternative would be to connect a good inverter (sine-wave type if needed) to the 12V power posts under the hood. With the car in "ready to run" mode you should be able to get at least 300 to 400 watts. The 12VDC converter in the car (that charges the 12V battery) can put out 30 amps (probably more) as I measured in this post. Use a fuse on this connection and observe all safety precautions! I'm tempted to install a permanent connector or even the inverter itself. Then I can just open the hood and plug in the power cord. Just be sure to never run the inverter with the car OFF - you'll kill the 12V battery! Does anyone see any problems doing this?

"How To Drive..." Good job. You show the process quite clearly. Its good you comment on what the hills are doing since they affect driving quite a bit (obviously) and you can't tell much about them from the camera. (Unrelated trivia: (1) At the end, the left screen shows Trip, then Lifetime, but then goes back to Trip? How did you do that? (2) I see some differences from my 2013 SE like the box on the left screen after start-up (can't tell what it says) that goes away after a bit and the diagonal lines out from the compass with some text at the bottom.) "Hypermiling" Again, we can see how you do it but I'm afraid I'm still a bit too lazy to give up on Eco Cruise. What do you do in flat terrain? Just follow at the selected distance or do you let speed vary to stretch the EV time? How often do you have people jump in the gap between you and the the truck? Getting 56 mpg at those speeds is quite an achievement. Looking forward to Aero mods.

Yes, you really have to watch mechanic's "recommendations". A local garage failed me at inspection for rusty brakes, or some such foolishness. I went to my tire dealer and his inspector was furious that someone had failed them - saying they were just fine. I payed for another inspection and haven't been back to the other place since.

An easy way to get 2 bar acceleration is to set Eco Cruise mode and then set the cruise speed at about 50 mph or higher. Then after a stop, you accelerate "manually" to just over 20 mph (minimum cruise control speed is 20), tap Resume and the car will accelerate automatically at about 2 bars all the way back to the set speed. Lower set speeds on the cruise control will give a bit less than 2 bars, higher speeds maybe a bit more. I do this all the time - super easy and you don't have to think or watch anything.

MaxHeadroom, you mention the Fram Ultra, and other, filters as good - do you think they are better than the Mobil 1 Synthetic filter? It often comes with the oil in an "oil change special".

I'm not very consistent, usually about 15k odometer miles at least. So at 40%+ EV thats around 9k miles on ICE. I wish the oil minder said how many miles over you are (our Fit does that). At last change I put in the 0W-20 Mobil1. At 122k+ miles there is still essentially no oil consumption. Things sure have changed from 50 years ago!

On the other hand, all those people out there that never heard of the C-Max (most of the US!) have, also, never heard of the 47/47/47 thing and the 12V battery problem. Those issues are gone, so would have no effect on a new buyer just being introduced to the car. I still think the C-Max and Fusion hybrids are, to some extent, test beds for newer hybrid technology and Li-ion batteries. Ford wouldn't want millions of cars out there if there had been some major problem. Add the low gas prices that came along and its easy to see that advertising dollars should go elsewhere. I suspect Ford pretty much knows what they are doing - even if we don't always agree.

Now that's a car Snowstorm could get excited about. :) Just keep it all sensible - not over-the-top like the Tesla Model X. By 2020 The Enterprise should be near the 250k mile goal I have for it. Of course charging had better be reasonably priced or it won't beat the near 4 cents/mile it costs now to run a C-Max! Gas at about $2/gal and 50 MPG will be hard for an EV to beat. But I really do want all electric - enough oil changes for one lifetime! Which reminds me, another one is due! :gaah:

As much as possible, use Recirc(ulation). It takes much less engine heat to heat, say, 60F air from inside the car than to heat 17F air from outside. It can make a big difference in how much the engine has to run. Switching to the OEM Michelin tires in summer will also help a lot.

Back on topic! There have been a number of times that I feel/hear what it sounds like you are describing. It seems it only occurs when the battery is almost at full charge and the ICE starts up because I've pressed hard enough on the accelerator to require its power but not hard enough to send it straight to higher RPMs. Under these conditions it only needs to run at low RPM and there seems to be a bit of delay before the active noise cancellation cuts in. It is certainly noticeable but only lasts for a split second. I don't think I've ever noticed any 'click'. I too hear a fan sometimes after shutting down the car. I think there are several discussions on this forum if you do a search - I think it is battery cooling.

My guess is that it resets a circuit breaker protecting those 180 watt 12V power ports. Don't think I've ever had a blown fuse on a power port but maybe some people have. In that case a resettable breaker would be nice. (Or maybe it resets the computers that run the 12V battery down when their software goes crazy!? :rant2: But who would be there to push it? :headscratch: )

This question was also discussed here, but no 2016/17 owner ever reported on top speed - still wondering.

So now it happened to me - big cloud of white smoke as I nearly floored it to pass someone (yes Virginia, there are drivers slower than SnowStorm!) The car was thoroughly warmed up, had been driving about two hours on 55 mph roads. Went to pass, happened to look in the mirror and, yikes, big cloud all over the road. Its rather shocking to see.

Hmmm.... wonder what the LRR characteristics were on this tire. Hybrid drivers avoid "wet pavement" like the plague and never employ "heavy braking" so these tires should be just fine! Another story here. If these things had panned out, you'd also have to select color! But, oh boy, wouldn't they have looked grand! (Sorry for hijacking - just didn't want another whole thread for this silly post.)

Good job joshg678. Sadly though, the "Honor Role" hasn't been updated for like a year - it seems our moderators have moved on to better and greater things - perhaps a BEV!

OK Paul, here's the latest info "hot off the dash"! BTW, my Regen miles were at 355 when reset in the Aug 2013 upgrade so total should be 1243 miles. Brake score at that time was 95% so no change there.

Looks nice! Now that we can get the shirt, when is the C-Max rally in Michigan and the factory tour? :)

Congratulations! The Enterprise recently pulled to 48.5 Lifetime but there you go, pulling ahead again! I can hear you singing now: "You can't catch me, I'm the High Mileage Man!" But for the year (since end of April - my car's birthday), The Enterprise is at 49.6 mpg! Some recent good runs have helped pull it out of the winter doldrums. Last 5 fill-ups (car indicated) were 598 miles @ 63.4 mpg, 502 miles @ 48.3 mpg, 130 miles @ 56.5 mpg, 565 miles @ 51.4 mpg and 634 miles @ 54.1 mpg! The longer ones were virtually all "highway". I ran a 75 mile stretch of Interstate at (mostly) 65 to 67 mph and got 57 mpg indicated - helped by a bit of tail wind! Boy, does head versus tail wind sure make a difference. Total miles are now past 120,200 with total EV about 50,400. Edit: added two more tanks and corrected the order.

That link above is not right as homestead describes. So you get the "can't be found" message and a "Site Map" on www.ford.com which has nothing to do with Sync. The 2016 and 2017 cars shown are just the current models on ford.com. The link should be: https://owner.ford.com/tools/account/how-tos/keep-your-sync-up-to-date.html

And can Forscan connect to the car through that WiFi port????

Also, an 'SUV' should have some towing capability! Certainly agree with the other requirements.

That would be an interesting test but I don't have a Prius! :) It would be fun, though, to do some comparison runs between C-Max cars to see how they compare (I'm sure you will win!). As for those articles, I basically pay no attention to any of them - too many unanswered questions and too many things that could be done wrong (unintentionally or not). I still say the EPA numbers are the only valid numbers out there for comparison purposes between different models. Yes, there have been a few hiccups, but still far more valid than anything else. BTW, the 24 EV miles is as expected for cars before the Aug 2013 update since speeds above 62 mph always forced the ICE on. So, when is the Grand C-Max Hypermiling Road Rally to be held and where? Maybe a loop around the Smokies? :shift:

Thanks, HotPotato, for sharing. Some reactions: Sad. Seats are so important - its what you feel the whole time you're in the car. I just don't understand why they can't spend a few more dollars on seat comfort. Shucks, by now we should have a seat option that automatically adjusts their shape to perfectly fit your body! Another shame - especially in a quiet car. The industry should be forced back to standard format upgradeable sound systems. Perhaps not as critical but, again, any of us would likely pay the incremental cost difference for nicer stuff - but you can't. Awesome! No more ICE! Perfect! A lower cargo floor sure sounds great. How is headroom? A shame there's no adaptive cruise but would love to try the 360 degree cameras. So for long trips charging is still quite an issue - $750 option with present limit at 50kW.... I sure hope we get past these early limitations soon. We need the 350kW chargers that Ford (and others) are installing in Europe. Of course for local driving the 200+ range essentially eliminates the charging issue. It usually does - but we are getting more BEV options every year! :)

The Heroic Happy Hybrid Hyper-miler Game! I've started wondering, though, will I miss it with a BEV? (I do hope to have one....some day.) Or will I enjoy not "worrying" about when to run the ICE, and all that stuff? Yes, there will still be techniques to maximize mileage, but it seems it will be a lot simpler. (The drive-train will be a lot simpler for sure!) So, will you miss it or be glad its gone?