SnowStorm

Well if anything can, I guess that might do it! What a cool thing to do - finishing out the production run! I think I had a little toy one of those - where is that little guy when I need it? My first real car was a straight six but, man oh man, that's where the similarity ends! And now for the big question (aside the price!), "does it meet its EPA mileage rating"???? :lol2:

And every day I don't get to: :cry: Anybody know the cure for CMA (C-Max Addiction)? :bliss: My wife accuses me of hoggin' the left seat. Our salesman even got after me about it! I say - being deaf in my left ear - "I need to be in the left seat so I can hear you better!" It is true but, nope, haven't gotten much mileage out of that one.

1st in line? Better get up early or you'll be 2nd! Come on Ford - repackage the batteries! Look at what Mercedes is doing in the B-Class Electric. Ditto on wanting all electric. I think the real key will be fast charging, conveniently located next to restrooms and food. Take a break every two hours for 20 minutes and you can drive forever.

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Check this topic too.

But I've had several older cars with cracked dashes - looks absolutely awful. Why do some crack while others don't? Did you use some kind of "rejuvenatory" on your Durango? Sure don't want the C-Max to crack. In the "old days" dashes were painted steel - never cracked! Real wood would look best! Hear you loud and clear. Once hauled (like an idiot) some wood fence posts in the Fit - they "fit" but ended with a nasty scratch on the dash. My wife wasn't too happy (nor was I)! Seriously, has anyone done this or know what's involved? It would give a lot of room for my full size spare. Would build a nice flat cover over it. Now the spare lies in back with a strap going to three tie-downs. I notice some from the dash itself but the worst is from the chrome trim around the vent and instruments. Personally, I can see some protection advantages but don't care much for the look of add-ons - like do-dads dangling from the mirror! :stirpot:

From various topics/posts it sounds like the problem is a "random" high current draw (maybe 5 to 10 amps) that can discharge the battery in hours. What triggers it is unknown (to us owners anyway). It might be related to moisture, bad software, bad hardware, operating conditions/states before turning "off" the car, etc, etc, or some crazy combination. There could be multiple causes. We know the car "turns on" in the middle of the night and does stuff. Maybe something doesn't turn back off - or the wrong thing turns on...... A small continuous load could be found and periodic charging could keep the battery charged (if the car didn't). A "random" one is hard to catch. We don't know how many times the battery was being rapidly discharged but didn't get too low before the car was started. My two incidents left the battery down around 3 volts!. If we had tried to start a few hours earlier it might have done so - and we none the wiser. For now, it seems like the best method of warning would be a voltage monitor that some how alerts you (pick a method) if the battery goes below a certain voltage.

Here's the WSJ article with a nice C-Max photo. But I don't see this requirement changing anything much. It sounds like its just a cross check - the fixed scenario lab tests still go on the window sticker. We need a detailed fuel consumption model stuffed in a QR code on the window sticker. Then you record your daily commute with your smart phone, enter some data like garaged yes/no, time period desired (whole year, summer, winter), snap a picture of the code when you're looking at the car and, voilà, you have a personalized estimate. Click save and go to the next car. Or just do it all on-line along with selecting any route you want. It would be flexible, a lot more accurate and a lot less confusing. It could be done. We went to the moon 45 years ago!

A "side" advantage is that you get separate interior lights - driver, passenger - with the roof option. We factory ordered it and love it. The fact that the shade rolls back from the front means that you can close it part way if the sun bothers the driver and still have it open for back seat drivers. Although it still lets in light, it seems quite effective at blocking heat (but I'm not in Phoenix!).

One year now since "the upgrade" - average indicated MPG is at 48.2 A 3300 mile trip gave 49.6. Details here. All E0 gas would have given over 50 MPG for sure. This car is insane!

The Enterprise had its 1 year anniversary since the MPG upgrade last August. The indicated average for this past year is now 48.2 mpg! :) Recently completed a trip from Virginia to Nova Scotia - all the way to Meat Cove! See photos below. The 3300 mile (oops, 5300 km) trip ended with an indicated mileage of 49.6. Pump based mileage (odometer corrected) was an even up 48.0. Took the full size spare along but, thankfully, didn't need it. The Enterprise stops on the Cabot Trail along the Gulf of St Lawrence. Get off the Interstates and find something cool! "Thanks For Driving A Hybrid!"

Sounds like it could be tire noise, especially if the first rotation came after 30,000+ miles. My local Michelin dealer says that undriven tires (rear on front drive cars) are subject to cupping if not rotated (he recommends every 5,000 miles). I had this problem on my Honda Fit - didn't rotate until rears were quite cupped. Rotated to the front and they eventually quieted down quite a bit but it took thousands of miles. Unwilling to learn from experience I delayed rotating my C-Max tires until, I suspect, some cupping had started. Have rotated several times since but there's still some noise that wasn't there when new. Not that bad in my case but now I'm wondering if there is a wheel bearing problem. Eeek. Anybody know how to accurately distinguish between bearing noise and tire noise?

I can't believe it - just today I was trying to get SYNC to recognize mp3 files inside folders and couldn't. All files had to be in root position. Is there any way to navigate into the folders? I have an SE without MFT.

But don't quite posting either!

+1, or whenever I glance at the 48.0 mpg "lifetime" since upgrade (like I've been doing today), or when I blow the other guy away leaving the stop light because I see my lane ends just after the light (like I did today), yes, real sad. :cry:

Guess I'll wait for the check before I report any more mileage stats on The Enterprise!

Killed more time today driving slow. 93.1 miles (53.6 EV) at 45 mph for 64.0 mpg. Country roads with the occasional stop/turn, no AC or rain. Relatively flat but with about 200 feet of elevation gain. Too slow - past the point of diminishing returns. Would rather go 50 and get 61 mpg (but you need more hills)! :stirpot: Same roads at 55 mph give about 54 mpg. Certainly looks like about 5 mpg for every 5 mph.

Well, The Enterprise has a "real" spare (full size). Now where do I put it? Bought a used wheel from Robbin's Auto Parts in Henrietta, NC for $150 and $25 shipping. Absolutely beautiful. Complete with center emblem and TPMS sensor. The dealer only had access to new ones (a bit over $500) but looked it up on car-part.com and found quite a few. They use that sight for locating parts for the body shop. Our Michelin dealer had the C-Max tire in stock so had one put on (balanced great). About $400 total for peace of mind in the back country. Figure I'll start a 5 tire rotation pattern when I need new tires. Will only lug it around when I need it! ;)

I looked up Hucho's book - expensive and I have too many projects right now to make it worth while. Cool stuff though.

He was in Canada! My problem with that mode is you only get 2 measly digits for mileage - like 5.0 instead of 47.0. Come on programmers! Another digit can't be that hard. It takes forever to get a change on your long term averages.

Well I say "Paul is brave"! 40 miles past empty - that's a long way on fumes! I do wish the indicator would go negative - miles past "empty".

OK, I admit to partly linking that picture just for fun. But is there a fundamental reason that a low drag shape, suitable for a car, has to be unstable? Something about center of pressure offset from center of gravity? Maybe move the battery. Or stabilize with computer control like a fighter jet. They are fundamentally unstable as I understand.