obob

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/10/13/2016-toyota-prius-tech-improvements/ "The exhaust heat recirculation system has also been improved and made more compact. This recycles exhaust heat from the engine into the coolant to be reused in the heaters and to warm the engine. Cold weather fuel efficiency has also been improved by introducing an engine coolant selector valve and adding a new system which accelerates engine heating." I wish I had this in the C-Max

I am satisfied with just regular gas, however, there does seem to be people that get the cost down with home brewing. https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+the+main+ingredient+in+octane+booster&oq=what+is+the+primary+ingredient+in+oc&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2.12219j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8 http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octanebooster.html http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/engine-modifications/44006-homemade-octane-booster-formulas.html http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=417082

This is what interests me. The previous Prius was way to cramped for me. A little over 10% improvement is not something I get all excited about ( the unverifed mixed driving numbers ) though it is pretty impressive.

What was the symptom that got the dealer to say it needed to be replaced. Was there a progression of louder regen ? 2013 built in March 2013. It is not so bad that the dealer would replaced it, but I have noticed several loudness changes in the sound of the regen. The first happened around the time of the big software update so I kind of that it was that. And for the last month or two I have noticed that the regen is now louder than ever. Like buying a budget car with little sound proofing.

19700 mostly suburban driving, short trips.

I hope this is a fix for the transmission failures. My regen seems to be louder than ever. Thanks for the heads up Bill-N

What's the deal ? Are they buying it back rather than fixing it ?

There are people that have had to have their 2013 C-Max transmissions replaced. There was a design change on the transmission, probably late 2013 to correct a design problem. Are you having a problem ? In one of the threads about a taxi having a trans replaced someone writes about one difference, the energi trans oil constantly pumps, while the hybrid trans oil only pumps when the engine is on. I also kind of vaguely suspect/recall the final ratio to the wheels is higher but don't bet the house on that.

One suspicion that I have is that VW is stalling. They need the penalties to be smoldered rather than a hot burn. They need to give the lawyers time to give them lots of time. They want to spread payments over lots of time too after getting the penalties.

If it were just top speed I would think the programming would only turn on the pollution above a certain speed.

Additional winder ideas. use EV+ to lower the battery at the end of a trip. In the cold, the engine will run to warm up, so the more battery to charge the better, for otherwise the engine will just be running to warm up. Just my sense but in the cold, when first starting out, use the ICE as gently as possible for when cold, the engine very inefficiently injects gas in the cylinders to get the power it needs. Anyone else have this understanding ?

http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/credit-card-offers-good-rental-car-insurance/ Some credit cards include rental car insurance, primary and or secondary if you pay for the rental with that card.

My experience is that when my car is not working right I feel stuck in a cloud of not goodness, but when it gets corrected I feel better, especially if it is covered under the warranty. That is not a problem I have seen on this forum. The motor seems solid. It seems like a good thing they are replacing the computer. What it seems like it needs is one or two of Ford's top mechanics to get on that car, perhaps one electrical and one mechanical. But top mechanics are probably very very in demand and not a dime and dozen. This reminds me of a problem we had with a large HP printer maybe 15 years ago. It wasn't working. Our service guy was kind of programmed to swap out boards which costs money. After a couple of these swapping calls I called HP and complained. I got a top notch guy on the phone. The problem was the toner cartridge was not seated right, but it was not so unseated that it gave the usual error message, but it gave a misleading message. This may be something simple, but not easy. You definitely have Ford's attention. Replacing a head is a big deal.

You might consider getting a spare tire and jack. There are threads about doing that - going with a reduced or full size tire, in the tires section. Here is one from ebay. Not sure if it is the same one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Ford-OEM-Temporary-Mobility-Tire-Air-Compressor-Kit-/121789355485?hash=item1c5b3615dd:g:S-UAAOSwFnFWBTU7&vxp=mtr

Without double checking the numbers, I recall the C-Max has a drag coefficient of something like .3 The new Prius is about .24 The previous Prius is about .25 The origin Honda Insight was also about .25 I don't expect drag coefficients are going to get that much better. Here is what .15 looks like https://www.google.com/search?q=volkswagen+1l&safe=off&es_sm=93&biw=1273&bih=843&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMIotKxi8DHyAIVj7IeCh3l-g8O I am happy to lose the .05 over a Prius for the better viability and seat position

That might be worth a second opinion or at least look at them yourself. I have not read on this forum about anyone replacing the front brakes. Most of the braking is done in the regeneration of the battery charge. What is your lifetime brake score which is displayed after turning the key off ? The score is the percent of braking taken care of by regeneration. Here is a thread about the rear brakes but one conclusion is beware of being told you need brakes on a C-Max because they hardly wear. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/5405-how-long-did-your-rear-brake-rotors-last/ If I just had them done, I would ask for the old parts to verify that they were needed. And someone that really brakes hard all the time could wear them out quickly, but that would have to be pretty extreme.

Snopes is the best. I am glad I have that snopes perspective now. So the point is VW has a lot of cars to be concerned about and the I need to be careful reading articles from the web. Snopes is my friend.

Great article for me to look at before negotiating a new car deal.

1. Better heating would be great on the C-Max - I like that idea. 2. The AWD version probably will be faster 3. The AWD version I would think would substantially cut into sales of the small SUVs. 4. My guess is Ford has a small AWD hybrid in the works.

Just so you don't feel so lonely I have been getting that smell for the first few seconds for about a month now. It may have something to do with not using the air conditioner that much while I played with getting good mpg.

I'll second that headroom comment. It is so hard to get a smaller car with lots of headroom that allows for me to sit up straight.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/business/engine-shortfall-pushed-volkswagen-to-evade-emissions-testing.html?_r=0 "Volkswagen installed software designed to cheat on emissions tests in 2008 after realizing that a new diesel engine, developed at great expense, could not meet pollution standards in the United States and other countries, people with knowledge of the automaker’s internal inquiry said on Sunday. Rather than stop production of the engine and throw out years of work and investment, managers decided to cheat, the people said, confirming a report in Bild am Sonntag, a German newspaper"

My Dad used to own a garage. He would call work like brakes a gravy job. I suspect that the mechanics and service agents at a dealer get commission. So putting a little scare in somebody makes them money. In some respects, the rotors being scored gives an excuse for a gravy job. He personally did not sell brakes to people that did not need them, but he did mention that the brakes are getting thin and might need to be replaced next time. But there was always the risk that if he did not do the brake job, some other less discretionary mechanic would before the next inspection (and possible other stuff that person did not need) and he would lose the gravy job. It creates a challenge for me going to a dealer and being treated as a stupid person. In some respects I am and in some respects I am not. Being on this forum raises my IQ so to speak giving dealers less of an avenue of abuse.

I agree with this agreement a lot !

Went to the dealer today to talk to him about the tire cupping in the back. He said I need to pay for $75 rear axle alignment for it needs alignment. I told him that it is not adjustable and the response from the mechanic sitting next to him is that it is adjustable. I told him I question that. Well after more talk he said that it may be that something is bent and that would me my cost. I was wondering if I was being set up for some bigger expense. My feeling is that the tire are cupping because of a design problem and I don't want to pay for an alignment. I told him from my Internet research that this is a common problem. His response was something like Internet talk is worthless acting like the all-knowing dealer. Perhaps Friday wasn't the best day to stop by.