SnowStorm

This car is insane! Just completed a "round trip" (return to same point) as shown below getting 61 MPG! This was virtually all country road "highway" driving at 50 mph (or less where required). Included elevation changes from sea level to 2200 feet, a coastdown test and, of course, plenty of stops, but otherwise near perfect conditions. 75 to 85F, no AC, no rain, little wind, E0 gas and a rather light load. A leisurely trip for sure but still amazed you can go "cross country" and get over 60 mpg (indicated). Its also amazing how many beautiful non-interstate roads there are that are 55 to 70 mph, well maintained, have gorgeous scenery and little traffic. Leave early and try one sometime! The gas you save could be your own!

LIKE: Getting great MPGs under a panoramic sky in an addictively fun-to-drive car that never shifts gears! DISLIKE: No spare!

Decided to try a coastdown test on The Enterprise. I could not believe how long it takes to coast to a stop! I was sure the motor was pulling a bit as the car went on and on. But no, after stopping, there was no pull until shifting back to Drive. Here's my setup for taking data. Phone with rubber band holding it to a metal L bracket attached to some paneling. Very stable videos. PROCEDURE: Find a flat road with no wind (or cars!), start the video, speed up to just over starting speed, shift to Neutral, coast for two miles (yes, it takes at least two miles just to coast!) , stop video. Repeat in other direction. Do it several times, etc. (Kept passing some guy on a bicycle. Figured he was wondering what that nutcase driver was doing but he didn't seem to pay much attention.) Anyway, go home, play all the fool videos and use a stop watch to get all the splits every 5 mph. Enter data, average the runs and adjust the Crr (coefficient of rolling resistance) and Cd (coefficient of drag) to get the equation below to fit the averages. I had 4 good runs (2 each way) with tires at 49 psi cold and then did 2 more (1 each way) after letting out 11 psi. Tire pressure had only gone up 2 psi from "cold" so actually dropped pressure to 40. Air temperature was about 76F. Here's the data (seconds) and resulting fits. Odd runs in one direction, even in the other. ---------------------49 PSI Cold ----------------------- ---------- 38 PSI Cold-------- Speed Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Fit to Avg Run 5 Run 6 Fit to Avg 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 65 6.17 6.73 5.98 6.97 6.95 5.69 6.65 6.84 60 14.37 14.98 13.8 15.21 14.72 12.61 14.54 14.49 55 22.27 23.6 22.31 24.35 23.47 21.98 23.67 23.07 50 31.89 34.48 32.21 34.37 33.33 31.57 34.09 32.72 45 42.1 45.17 41.1 46 44.50 38.92 45.71 43.63 40 55.28 59.14 53.16 60.7 57.18 51.06 61.75 55.96 35 69.23 74.2 67.23 74.38 71.59 65.78 76.32 69.92 30 85.42 92.02 82.48 91.84 87.94 81.07 94.55 85.72 25 103.12 109.48 98.63 108.83 106.45 95.19 113 103.50 20 122.99 131.8 119.07 133.12 127.23 113.25 134.63 123.37 15 146.28 156.81 141.49 157.87 150.28 133.36 157.2 145.31 10 170.27 183.73 166.91 182.62 175.38 157.03 179.82 169.10 5 190.55 205.48 183.81 200.85 202.07 177.57 198.03 194.32 Results for 49 psi: Crr = 0.0082, Cd = 0.29 Results for 38 psi: Crr = 0.0087, Cd = 0.29 Equation was: a = -(Cd*A*0.5*rho*V2)/M - Crr*g where: a = acceleration in m/s2 A = frontal area (I used a rough estimate of 2.60 sq-m but need a better number) rho = air density = 1.22 kg/m3 (might not be quite right for actual temperature and pressure) V = velocity in m/s M = mass of car & "contents" in kg (I used 1740) g = Standard gravity = 9.81 m/s2 (All the above subject to corrections! Plus a better equation would take rotational friction into account which is proportional to speed - not speed squared. However, I had all the above stuff from a spreadsheet where I did the Lexus years ago. It had a Crr of 0.012 and Cd of 0.35.) But I'm glad we don't have to worry about all this to have fun driving the awesome C-Max! :shift:

Hey, I didn't even know that button was there (or forgot) - haven't tried it yet but certainly will. I have tried L on the shift lever but that seems problematic. Way too much "braking", ICE racing at 4 to 5,000 rpm, and then the ICE won't shut off unless you stop and shift to park! Is that normal??? Made no sense to me, shifted to Neutral, then sopped, ICE kept running. The button sounds way better.

I agree the design is wrong - for a different reason. Those large levers really take away from the seat area. I wish the release was on the top of the seat back.

Yes, full size OEM wheel - just like on the car. There is usually plenty of space. I figure if I have to haul it in the car, cover it, strap it down, all that bother, it might as well be the real thing so I don't have to worry about limited speed/distance, swapping back to front or whatever.

My 2c: Eco seems to ride right next to max EV point (allowing speed to drop a bit if necessary) much better and easier than the driver can. I would expect the switch out of EV to be delayed (compared to "normal" cruise) thereby staying in EV longer. Eco is great for roads where you can use cruise but have periodic stops. You can accelerate "manually" to just over 20 mph, tap Resume, and get a nice easy 2 bar acceleration all the way back up to speed. Normal cruise is too fast. I use standard cruise when traffic is heavier and there are hills so car stays at constant speed and doesn't mess with traffic flow. (It bugs me when other drivers speed up and slow down so neither should I.) But its a pain to switch modes. Left, up, right, right, right, down(up), OK, left, left, left, down, right - or some such rigmarole! :drop:

What is the best source for a spare wheel like the one on the car? Has anyone purchased from FinishLine or Midwest? Was it a good wheel and did you get good service? Any other source? I want a real spare for out-of-the way trips!

Yes Paul, we know you're amusing - and also waxing a bit lisdexic? :lol: SS

Me too! Plus, I figure I've saved enough energy from not watching TV for 40 years to build a whole car!

Now that we've exhausted every other MPG topic (speed, temperature, rain, snow( :)), wind, altitude, break-in, tire pressure, tread depth, aero mods, P&G, acceleration & breaking techniques ad nauseum, best route, EV+, weight, gas, oil, look ahead / plan ahead, drafting, hand position on steering wheel, aliens, etc,), maybe its time to consider bumpy roads! Ever try to bounce your car up and down to check shocks? Not very easy. Now think of that happening non-stop as you drive - the energy has to come from somewhere. Agree? I wonder if it could be significant in that rarefied 60+ MPG world some of you enjoy. Does anyone have parallel smooth/bumpy roads to compare? Maybe an old road along an Interstate? (P.S. SnowStorm hopes for more buy-in on this topic than Can Hills Save Gas?! Still say they can!)

So, the trash cans were rolling towards the car! Pushed by the penguin! :secret: Who isn't about to let himself be seen - even if he did just close another sale! :lol:

Has anyone else seen their MPG meter indication constantly jumping up and down? Mine was doing it yesterday at a rate of about 2 to 3 times per second with a magnitude of, perhaps, 2 to 4 MPG. Not at all the normal reading that just changes smoothly with road and speed. No water on the road, temps about 70F, didn't matter if HVB was being charged or supplying power. Tach and speed were steady. Car seemed to be running normally with gas mileage unaffected. Saw it for over an hour - AFAIK, till the end of the trip.

Totally agree! I would buy the C-Max just to get the no-shift drive-train! All vehicles should be like this one (or pure electric). We have a 5 mile Interstate grade (about 4%) that the C-Max goes up like it isn't there. If you didn't check GPS altitude or something, you just wouldn't know you were going up 1000 feet in elevation. The ICE goes to 3000 rpm but at Interstae speeds and that modest RPM you don't notice it at all. And the simplicity of the Atkinson cycle ICE - no turbochargers or other exotic stuff.

Maybe waiting for 4 lanes on 64 all the way to Nags Head? Naw, then you'd have to go 70 instead of 55 and MPGs would go to pot!

There might be more than two of us with White Platinum but, anyway, we did factory order and eventually settled on that color. It seemed dumb at the time to pay extra for paint (still does) but once settled on white - and comparing the two - the salesman up and refers to the other one as "truck white"! That did it for my wife - no "truck white" for her! We really like the color - and now as much as ever. I think we would still say it was worth it. We needed body work done (at the dealer) which included a new front fender, small repair on front "bumper" and blending in the paint on the front door. It all looks just fine to me. It did cost a bit more but was covered by insurance. BTW, the repair shop said "normal" paint is a total of 5 coats and "tri-coat" is 7. Its not like the total paint job is triple. A relative now has a gray C-Max and we think it is quite handsome too.

Just happened across this post.... SnowStorm likes "Snow Storm Blue"! :clapping:

Nice shot of "the meadow", bro1999. Been there many times. What a fun and relaxing place - following the little deer trails everywhere...

JUS W8NC = "Just Wait And See". Last night when I posted I hadn't even figured it out! :doh: - too busy thinking up stupid answers. Regarding salsaguy, I've seen plenty of his posts but hadn't noticed he didn't have a C-Max yet - or so he says! Updating my answer as follows: When will salsaguy buy a C-Max? He already has one! He's been laughing :lol2: ever since - trying to see how long he can keep up the ruse! :redcard: Busted!

1st 1000 mile tank? - Don't know, but SnowStorm claims first prediction that it will happen. :) 12V problem solved? - Ask your dealer! :lol: salsaguy gets C-Max? - Doesn't everyone here have one??? ;) Dealers have seatback fix? - Yes, but they're being rather "laid back" about implementing it. :lol2: Draft or follow safe? - YES! :shift: Hybrid or Energi? - :redcard: Invalid question! The Energi is the only hybrid. All the others only use gasoline. They should be called EEVs (Electrically Enhanced Vehicles). :thumbsup:

Horrors! So lifetime EV, Regen and Breaking Score are gone too? :rant2: We love seeing that we've gone over 12,000 miles with the engine OFF! Its our favorite way to "brag" on the car!

Maybe and maybe not. Hills can provide potential based P&G that is more efficient than kinetic based - and you can set cruise control and forget it. I'm talking moderate hills, not 10% grades! The ICE should provide all the power to go up (plus charge the battery) and then be off going down (without battery regen). Some people don't agree - you can pick up the arguments in my post on "Can Hills Save Gas?". Figured it's time to :stirpot: ! Technically speaking, I think diesels are great and we should have had far more of them in the US over the years past. But I'm not yet convinced they are really "best" for long distances given today's vehicle choices. First you pay more (like 10 to 20% over RUG), then - for the diesels typically compared to the C-Max - you add another 45 cents per gallon to cover periodic timing belt replacements and last, a bit of extra fuel running around looking for a "diesel station" (remember you're on a long trip - not familiar territory) and I doubt you come out ahead. Plus, few folks can keep a car just for long trips so you must consider an "average" after all. Interesting. Reminds me of years past in the aircraft industry working with fuel efficiency in biz jets. Flying into a head wind you must speed up to get peak fuel efficiency (slow down for a tail wind). Don't know if it carries over to cars but since we are almost always going way above the speed for peak efficiency (wish I knew what it is), speeding up lowers MPG.