obob

Perfect. Thanks. I have the tan rugs and interior. What color did you buy. I am leaning toward the black for am concern tan will not match right.

Anyone have help in deciding weathertech vs husky ? Thanks.

I never got past sitting in the Pruis. The headroom was so minimal I didn't want to test drive it. The Pruis C seems to me to have the most headroom out of the three Pruisii.

from http://green.answers.com/auto-industry/a-basic-introduction-to-how-the-atkinson-cycle-engine-works The goal of equal pressure As the internal air pressure increases with each cycle, the purpose of the Atkinson cycle is to make the combustion chamber's air pressure at the end of a power stroke to be the same as atmospheric pressure. At this point, the combustion process has yielded all of its available energy, meaning that you have maximized the efficiency in the system. The more energy that an engine converts from heat to mechanical energy, the more efficient the engine. ( notes added by obob 1. or a lot closer to atmospheric pressure than the otto[conventional] engine. 2. so by returning some of the intake gas to the intake manifold, the amount of gas-air left allows for an efficient burn. )

It helped me understand how the atkinson engine works. Compares atkinson with conventional gas engine

I miss manual transmission. It would be great to be able to buy the C-Max with a 4 cylinder gas engine and a manual trans for less money. I know that would not appeal to the vast majority of people. I would consider a manual Focus. If I didn't want an American car, I might have ended up with a manual transmission Nissan Cube. I did test drive a manual Chevy Sonic but my feet were too big for the clutch and the stuff around it.

There has been a fix. The battery problems since then are pretty infrequent. And when there was a problem, the SEs seemed to have way more problems that the SELs, from this forum's surveying. I personally am not concerned anymore and I own an SE.

I like my donut spare that I get to move around. I do not want to give up space to load things in there. I easily fit a new dishwasher in the car. It would be nice for Ford to provide a donut spare the exact size I need. By the way, I did use the spare once. Found a screw in the tire and fixed with a $7 ebay repair kit. Though if Ford were to put a spare in the back that could be moved around it would be fine with me but other people might judge it as a hack. Right now it keeps the watermelons from rolling around. Those changes may provide much better winter mileage and highway mileage, incorporating some gains from the grill covers people have so ingeniously engineered.

FYI Without researching it to get exact understanding, there are only a couple of map data bases and pretty much all the GPS vendors use one of these two. I assume the data base for places is similar. And I suspect that the two companies are neither American nor Canadian. OK I did some research from http://www.gps-forums.net/companies-provide-gps-map-data-t37163.html Garmin and Magellan use NavTeq, TomTom has been using TeleAtlas but I think they've also been looking at NavTeq. > Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the accuracy of the POIs from > Garmin vs. Magellan, for instance? They both get the map data from NavTeq, but there are additional sources for POIs and they differ somewhat in deciding what types of locations to include. Note navteq is owned by Nokia but it used to be based in US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navteq Tele Atllas is Netherland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tele_Atlas

Some Ideas" This may reveal the difference. For front tire noise, jack the front end up and put the car on horses. Start it up and put it in gear. Listen for the noise. If there is a noise it is not the tires. When trying to locate a noise in motor / transmission, it can be helpful to put a LONG screwdriver to different spots and put ear to the end. It can help to listen to noise with the windows open.

This is what I did to get the back up sensors. So far so good for me. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2793-after-market-back-up-sensor/

I suspect that was a typo and should be transmission failure.

So what charges the 12V battery ?

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/3094-ssm-44252-hybrids-in-taxi-service-hf35-transmission-bearing-noise/?p=46461 I just posted some info I got from Ford last year.

I wrote Ford last year (oct-nov) (2013) I wrote: I am concerned that the transmission problems experienced by taxi drivers will cause my transmission to fail, though maybe after more miles than a taxi driver. SSM 44252 - Hybrids In Taxi Service - HF35 Transmission Bearing Noise Some 2013 C-MAX Hybrid and 2013-2014 Fusion Hybrid vehicles operating in taxi service may exhibit a metal-on-metal scraping-type sound from the transmission. ... The current transmission assembly (7000) service parts incorporate design improvements to enhance durability under the unique operating conditions of taxi service. I am not sure if this is true "The problem is from lack of lubrication while the ICE is off. As I stated in my first post. The Energi's are exempt from this SSM due to the fact, they have an external ATF pump to circulate ATF while the ICE is off. Adding the pump would eliminate this condition." from: (Gave link to this thread where it was, but it doesn't seem to want to paste in here for me right now) They wrote back: After researching your inquiry, according to our Technical Subject Matter Expert, the transmission concerns when the vehicle is used in taxi service is inherent in the type of usage that a Taxi typically experiences, frequent stop and go and extended operation. The temperature of the transmission fluid and additional lubrication provided by the auxiliary cooling pump is not a factor in the type of failure experienced when the vehicle is used as a taxi. The transmission fluid level and condition should be inspected during normal scheduled maintenance and serviced at 150,000 mile intervals. In regards to your concern with the possibility of engine failure in the future, please understand the projected life expectancy of our vehicles and their part/s is obtained through designed laboratory tests, under a controlled environment. The life expectancy depends on how, when, and where the vehicle is driven. As such, we cannot guarantee coverage on a repair that may not be necessary.

http://fordcmaxenergiforum.com/topic/1868-extension-cord/ This is from one of the energi forums

Got mine today - FedEx $475

I was thinking if I were to get some magnetic gas pods, I would try increasing the distance between them when going on a highway/fast trip. I would think that the vortexes increase in diameter with speed(and could interfere or cancel themselves). Could put the extras on the sides, Also, do the magnetic ones leaven any scratches from use ?

One thing that doesn't get discussed much here in this forum is that the C-Max handles really really well and is a fun car to wiz around in. Since it is short it is easy to change lanes in traffic (and park). But it is roomy. I don't know how important that is to other people, but not all cars have fun. Reminds me of VW's Fahrvergnügen.

I didn't realize that the LLR could save so much money. Those PureContacts are looking good to me now. Though by the time I need tires I will be able to take advantage of other people's experience here.

To me it feels nice riding in a car built in America, designed by an American company, my C-Max. My last car was a Toyota built in American but it just didn't feel like I was helping to employ Americans.

65K is great. How many times did you rotate the tires? Thanks. By the way, somewhere I posted a link to an article that says that the max tire pressure is for max load, not the pressure the tire become unsafe. That pressure is much higher.

Not sure if this has been posted but here is a rundown of Michelin tires that might fit the C-Max http://www.michelinman.com/tire-selector/category/passenger-car-minivan I personally favor the Defender, giving up a bit of fuel efficiency and comfort for handling, breaking and treadlife. (and perhaps also giving up some winter traction.)

Something like that happened years ago to a truck my Dad had. Spontaneously just cracked up in the sun. As I recall the explanation had to do with it being tempered glass and tempered glass occasionally does that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_glass_breakage

The C-Max is really a great car for aggressive urban and suburban driving. It is big inside but small enough to allow for easy lane changes. Sporty suspension and tires. Plenty fast, even with 4 adults in the car. Saw that demonstrated and it was nice to see. With a few aggressive lane changes the driver I saw worked her way through some traffic and got ahead of me. With a full size mini-van my last car, this C-Max is so much more fun to drive and park.