ScubaDadMiami

I wanted to let everyone know about the great service I have received at Auto Nation Ford in Miami, and from my Service Advisor, Pedro Villalonga. I already wrote a separate post focusing on my recent check engine light incident that happened with my C-MAX, but I wanted to elaborate on a few points here. To summarize, while on the way to the dentist last Thursday afternoon, my check engine light came on. I called the direct number of my service advisor, and I described the situation to him over the telephone. He advised me to head over to the dealership or to arrange for a tow. I arrived at the dealership by about 3:00PM, and Pedro had my C-MAX looked at within about 30 minutes of my arrival. An hour later, my C-MAX was returned with the problem fixed. Rather than getting stuck in traffic by waiting for the completion of my paperwork, Pedro arranged for it to get mailed to me. I didn't buy my C-MAX from Auto Nation Ford, but they sure treated me like a loyal customer. I have no financial or other interest in any statement I make about them.

I now have just under 16,500 miles on my SEL Hybrid. On a Friday afternoon, and while on my way to the dentist, my check engine light came on (steady glow, yellow). The car seemed to run okay, so I went to the dentist, finished my procedure, and I was lucky enough to have the C-MAX start. Next, I ran a Vehicle Health Report, and I took a photo of the check engine light aglow. On a chance that I could get some quick advice from my service advisor, I called his direct number. (I will post a separate shout out about this advisor and dealership.) This was probably about 2:30 on a Friday afternoon. He answered, and I explained my situation to him. After first advising me to call for Road Service if there were any doubt about the car's safety or ability to make it to the dealership, he told me to come on over to have the C-MAX checked out. I made it to the dealership without any problem. The SA completed my paperwork, and had the Service Department take my car in for check-up. About an hour later, my C-MAX was returned to me with the light turned back off. The SA told me that they had to reprogram a module, which cleared the light, and that he would not know which module it was that was reprogramed until getting the final paperwork. Meanwhile, he told me that I could leave before Miami's bad rush hour traffic would start, and he would have the paperwork mailed to me, if I preferred not to wait. Rather than creep home through unending traffic, I took his advice, and I headed for home without incident. Unfortunately, I don't know what was done yet, because this just happened. I'll fill you in on what I find out about what triggered the event in the first place. So far, so good.

It could be that it was not your car, but a temporary outage of the satellite or something blocking signal in that area.

Absolutely, about a 10 MPG difference.

+1, except for when on cross country trips.

If you are traveling at 80 MPH, then getting 36 makes sense. I get about 38 at 80 MPH while running air conditioning. Anything beyond 70 MPH starts to pay a big drop in fuel efficiency in the C-MAX. Luckily, I don't have to be in much of a hurry, most of the time anymore, so I rarely travel at those kinds of speeds. Even on my 5,400+ mile trip to New England and back, I pretty much set Eco Cruise at 68 MPH, and then I relaxed and enjoyed the ride. My average for my entire six weeks of travel was 45.6 MPG, and that included lots of extreme driving on 15 degree mountain ranges, and long periods of leaving the car turned on with the dog inside with air conditioning. Frankly, I am happy to have both Prius and C-MAX drivers around. Anybody that is driving a fuel efficient, low pollution car is an ally. So, I have nothing personal against the Prius. I have really only driven the earliest models, which were great cars for their time, so I am not fully qualified to comment on the latest versions. I didn't like the interior of the V, so I never even bothered to test drive one. I really liked the C-MAX from the start, and I was convinced by the end of the test drive. Regarding the battery issues and such, these are the days of vehicle recalls, across the board. Things happen to C-MAXes, and things happen to other cars. You saw my post about the Prius that burned to the ground in my parking garage? I am not saying that I am satisfied about these happenings, but I don't think that there is much chance of avoiding these events, no matter which car you may buy.

I just saw another commercial that featured four models, one of which is the C-MAX.

I am seeing 62 percent saying no failure.

It also works great for wet scuba gear, which was my main reason for getting it in the first place.

I saw the TV ad last night. I like it. They mentioned range on a tank rather than MPG. I have also heard the NPR ad.

I rented a C-MAX for 24 hours before considering it as a finalist candidate, which is similar to what you did by trying your actual intended purchase. Sounds like you found a winner!

Nice numbers! :hi5:

+1. I do this all the time. It helps.

I guess I turned away too early.

No. Maybe it's a bad Sirius module or something. Does it still work properly when using as a radio antenna?

I don't normally watch these kinds of shows, but I saw that they were going to feature the C-MAX, and that got me to watch. Maybe I missed all of the good parts that featured the C-MAX. All I saw was a part where they mentioned driving a C-MAX, and they drove to catch a ferry in the C-MAX. From what I could see, they were driving Euro C-MAXes, not even a Hybrid. They were right hand side driven, and the wheels were the Euro style. After seeing the two seconds of C-MAX, I lost all interest, and I changed to something else. Did I miss something? I must have, because I didn't see anything mentioned above.

+1. Unless you are standing next to the cat at the rear of the vehicle when it runs under, nothing will happen. Even if you are touching the car but not standing at the rear, nothing will happen. Even if you have the key fob inside the vehicle with you, nothing will happen. They thought of all of these kinds of scenarios in the design. When I purchased my C-MAX, I felt forced to get some features that I thought were kind of hokey in order to get others that I really wanted. However, now that I have some of them, I really love them, and I would miss them, were I not to have them anymore. I would certainly miss the kick gate; I use the feature often. It is great when you have your arms full.

When a place installed my cell phone charger cradle, they ran the wire inside of the area below the shifter, and they threaded it where a bunch of other wires pass into the interior from the engine compartment. They connected to a panel under the front hood, not back to the battery.

I have had issues only when Android updates. It will sometimes do it without me knowing, and then I have to delete and then re-pair the phone. It acts just like you are saying when that happens, but deleting Synch from the phone device, deleting the phone from Synch, and starting from scratch always fixes the issue. Also, I'd at least check the phone settings to make sure that Bluetooth still allows both phone and media, just to make sure. I often get that message about Synch trying to connect to the previously paired device, but then it always starts playing within five seconds after that.

Welcome aboard. :)

Yeah, I already did that set up. My last car had the thing with only opening the driver's door on the first button press. I had so many times of getting out of the car for something on the other side, only to have to go back to the driver's door to unlock the rest of the doors. So glad the C-MAX has the option to turn that off. I just wish that there was the equivalent for when I open the kick gate.

This is a less than perfect design. I had the problem from day one. I glued mine back down. The material really isn't backed and adhered to a solid surface. Also, the material will keep things from sliding, but the tradeoff is that whatever you try to slide on the floor will get stuck in it. None of this was really ever a consideration for me, because I planned to cover the rear compartment ASAP after my purchase. As a scuba diver/instructor, I need something that can handle my wet dive gear and tanks without ruining the car. I had excellent success with prior vehicles by installing a CanvasBack, which not only handles things getting slid over it but is also waterproof. I ordered one, attached it and have been happy in my C-MAX, ever since. Since I was the first C-MAX to install one, they used my C-MAX for the picture on their web site, so you can see just how it will look in your C-MAX.

I don't have this on mine.

Speaking of a related subject, is there a setting to get the passenger doors to unlock when opening the rear compartment? I always forget that the doors are still locked after I approach and throw something in the rear compartment, and then the door handle doesn't unlock quite as quickly as my hand pulls to open the driver's door. No big deal, but I have to release the handle and then wait a second for the door to unlock. It's one of those little annoyances that I would like to see changed in the future.

I probably averaged 35 MPH.