jkngale

An excellent suggestion - thanks Fotus! This is the second time that someone has suggested recording the problem. I keep forgetting about that camcorder/voice recorder I carry around with me all the time! I remember my math teacher asking "you're not going to carry a calculator with you everywhere you go." Boy was he ever wrong. I don't just carry a calculator, but an encyclopedia and a multimedia production studio!

...he said hours too late, not realizing there was a second page on the forum :P

...he said six minutes too late :)

Hey hanneshorn - ICE = Internal Combustion Engine. There's a acronym thread on here, but that one is used a lot - I was confused by it at first, too!

FotusNC - I thought this, too, but held it down for over 3 seconds until I couldn't see at all and no wipers... I'm having trouble replicating it in a predictable way now that I've let the dealer know, though. Isn't that always the way. The front one worked every time today, but the back one didn't work intermittently (pun intended)

Sorry - double post :-(

I noticed that sometimes, after the first time of using the windshield washer spray the wipers won't go unless i manually turn them on. I don't have rain sensing wipers. It works the first time, but not after. Same issue front and back wipers.

I noticed that sometimes, after the first time of using the windshield washer spray the wipers won't go unless i manually turn them on. I don't have rain sensing wipers. It works the first time, but not after. Same issue front and back wipers.

We bought a demo model, and the panoramic roof was its only option. I wouldn't have chosen it, but my kids love it. I think it benefits the back seaters most.

I found this in the car manual p. 188 in the section on fuel quality: "Do not be concerned if your engine sometimes knocks lightly"

Thanks for the idea to record the sound... Interesting to hear that someone else has experienced this, too.. I'll monitor it and post here if it happens again.

Hey C-Maxians, This morning I got up to move Ceecee when the plow came. We're having a fairly significant storm, and there was snow up over the hood. I brushed it all off all around, got in, and turned her on. No surprise the ICE kicked right in - but with this very disconcerting knocking sound. About six-eight knocks / second, strong enough that I could feel the vibration all through the car. I got out and it sounded literally like a gremlin knocking in the engine compartment. It started getting quieter, and then went away after a bit - probably 2-3 minutes. I called the dealer - they suggested it could be snow or ice on a belt. But then they also said this C-Max is the only one in the province, so they really didn't know much about it. Monitor the situation, and if it persists bring her in. What do you think? Anyone else have this experience?

I'm wondering - would a block heater improve my mileage enough to warrant using the home electric to run it? It was cold today, and I noticed that it affected my mileage quite a bit. I kept the heater off for the shorter trips, but the ICE still kicked in on startup - I presume to get things under the hood heated up. I'd also love a plug-in option to get the cabin heated before getting in, like on the Energi. As it is, I'm thinking about running a small plug-in space heater in the hatch which I could connect an hour before I leave, and adding a block heater. Canada can get cold. But then again, would the hit to my electric bill be any more efficient? I'm thinking possibly not...

Doesn't the Energi already do this? If it does, doesn't it prove that they can not only do it, but it's also not too terribly expensive? I mean, most of the increase in cost is in the battery and the couple extra standard features, right? I guess the complication comes in making it an "add on" - when it's already in the connection, it's easy, but to retrofit would be expensive and complicated. That's what I'm hearing... ...but part of me can't help thinking - if the Energi can....

Ahhhh... well my mom always told me better a smart-ass than a dumb-ass. I could barely afford the SE, unfortunately. Trust me - I wanted to consider the Energi. I'm very happy to have what I've got, though!

I followed the link but couldn't find it. I checked the Ford Canada website but nothing there either.

Seeing this, and projecting into the future - does anyone think that there might ever be a battery upgrade potential? I would even love to somehow add a second battery in order to increase the distance I can get on flat roads.

I am wondering about this too - it couldn't be that expensive to do, could it?

@roninsd - its the tan lighter-colour interior. With kids, the darker colour would have been preferable - but this was the one available! Thanks for the welcome Jus-A-CMax! Looking forward to sharing and hearing about others experience with this great vehicle.

Hello C-MAX owners and interested people, We just bought the only available C-MAX in our province, an SE with panoramic roof. It was the dealer's customer service vehicle, so we got it with 11,000km on it. We're calling her Ceecee. We've only had it since Thursday, but we had to go on a 12-hour unexpected drive for family reasons. Wow! We love the drive and the awesome fuel mileage. I was a bit worried when I read some of the websites, but we're happily realizing 5.5L/100km with no special effort (other than driving the speed limit and deliberately slow acceleration). On the faster highways we were getting closer to 6.2L/100km, but I've been reading on this forum about the "sweet spot" and will certainly experiment with this when we go out of province next. The fastest speed limit on PEI is 90km/h - a fact which happily lowers Ceecee's already low fuel consumption. We've moved from a Ford Freestar minivan, which was averaging somewhere around 14-16L/100km, so wheeee! We are happy! Our three kids fit in the back, though the three carseats were a squeeze, they all report being happy, even after a 12-hour round trip. I think the ample leg room and the panoramic roof helps. Plus they love the voice-activated features - they argue over who gets to say "Bluetooth audio" when we get in the car. And our 90 lb. lab fits in the hatch quite nicely! It's early going, but I am loving this car so far. Seeing the fuel consumption has forced me to slow down, which I am strangely enjoying. I know the car has plenty of power, but I like the full disclosure... "Sure we can have a little fun," she says, "but this is what it's going to cost you!" I can't believe our local Ford hasn't been pushing this car - we had a hard time convincing them to even let us test drive it. Everyone who we've talked to seems to love it. My family all drove it and were crazy about it. When the dealer service decals were off, we even had someone stop us as we were leaving the lot to ask where he could find one to drive... unfortunately, ours was the only one! It's too bad they're so hard to find. We're loving our C-MAX! I've had a lot of compliments on the Ice Storm colour, though it has created some family discussion. So far I am winning - it's more a shade of green than blue. Personally I think the colour will age poorly, and at first I thought it was kind of ugly. I don't know... it's starting to wear on me now... it's probably just because I've come to the car itself so much.