C-MaxJaxon

Well almost no one else on the forum has any idea either about the driving conditions because you withhold that information and imply that the average driver on the average highway will be capable of achieving such numbers after the weather gets warmer and the engines get more miles on them. I seriously doubt that is going to happen. If people enjoy wasting time sitting in a vehicle and driving at lower speeds then that is your choice. I choose to drive 68 in 70 zones and 63 in 65 zones (less if it's very windy) as a compromise between time and fuel economy. I have been biking to work every day this week. Just doing my part to try to offset the generous contribution to the big oil companies by all the people who drive thousands of unnecessary miles. Plus it improves my physical fitness and it's actually fun, more enjoyable than sitting in a shiny metal box. I have actually come to dread having to drive to work. I'm also more mentally alert after arriving at work. Maybe I should change my username to Mr. Negative, Mr. Snarky or Obviousman. :)

What kind of average speed does it take and how much effort and concentration is required with constant pulse and glide and general nuisance to others around you on the highway to get even close to 50 MPG? Nobody is going to get anywhere close to 50 MPG driving 70+ with the cruise on. Not that I care that much since you only save a few dollars worth of gas if you had averaged 41.5.

It makes more sense to put a graduated guzzler tax on vehicles that get lower fuel economy to encourage buyers to pick more efficient models.

There's no denying that manufacturing all the thousands of parts that go into an automobile and shipping it on a diesel powered truck or train from the assembly plant to your local dealer produces substantial emissions. It's going to be more environmentally friendly to buy a fuel efficient used vehicle whether hybrid, plugin or not.

The EPA site shows how to claim the Federal credit. No idea if there's a NY state credit available. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxphevb.shtml

Every gallon burned unnecessarily makes it more difficult for us to become more independent. Plus it makes the big petroleum companies wealthier and leaves you with less money to spend on something more useful and beneficial.

The recommendation to alter speed during engine breakin applies more to normal transmissions. It may not do as much in the C-Max with the CVT altering its ratio to keep the engine running at an efficient RPM, independent of speed.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/09/fuel-economy-gains-of-more-efficient-cars-undone-by-increased-tr/ Original article: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/03/sivak-20130306.html "The good news is that the average fuel fuel economy of the entire US light-duty fleet improved by 40 percent over the past four decades (increasing from 13 miles per gallon to 21.6 mpg). The bad news is that Americans drive more, and with fewer passengers in each vehicle, undercutting the impact of the fuel economy gains." America is the place where people spend money on fuel, consume a non-renewable resource, increase our dependence on OPEC countries, and pollute the air. While bragging online about how good their fuel economy is, as others enthusiastically cheer them on. As people like me bike to work and limit unnecessary driving to save money, and reduce oil consumption, dependency and pollution, but no one cares. Apologies for the snarky rant, but I am just in that mood right now. ;)

I've found that the trip average goes up and down significantly as you drive. By resetting one of the trip screens and watching it throughout a trip, I saw that the average would repeatedly drop down into the 30s, then climb back into the 40s, depending on whether the ICE had been running for a while or I had been in EV mode for a while. So the trip average would be whatever it happened to be when I shut the car off. Edit: Forgot to mention that the initial charge state of the battery also influenced mileage on shorter trips.

The article is available online. [A thank you goes to the power of Google phrase searching] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323951904578287783822442890.html

I've had at least three. It would go into EV+ whenever I drove near the dealer. Guess there were a few test drives before mine.

The manual says to go to www.navigation.com/ford for map updates. That site is owned by NAVTEQ.

Mine has the intermittent rattle above the touch screen. I have been waiting for some other reason(s) to take the car in to the dealer to get it fixed.

I did. I've been tempted to try a test with the covers on and off on the highway, but decided it wasn't worth the time and gas cost.

Gave up on the block heater idea after the ridiculously high dealer labor quote. I won't use a 3rd party heater. Still have the clear tape on the grill, but I don't think it helps much. Can't complain about my fuel costs. My credit card bill for last month has one charge for $32.50, so I am more than happy with my monthly fuel expense. Once I start biking to work again, maybe I can go two months without refueling. :)

As long as Ford followed the EPA testing procedure correctly and the EPA's own (flawed for hybrid) testing of the C-Max comes close to the same numbers, I think it's unlikely that Ford will lose any of the lawsuits. If they want to sue anyone, it should be the EPA for continuing to use testing methods that don't show the real world performance.

Those of us in the great frozen north and/or who have a short drive to work are at a significant disadvantage in the high MPG competition. So, it's a but demoralizing to see people here bragging. I could get a higher average if I took a longer route to work, but my fuel use would increase. But if anyone wants to have a competition on using the least number of gallons of gas per month, I might have a chance at winning that. I've been biking back and forth to work for over four years now. I've been slacking for the last few months and driving my nice new vehicle, but will be back on the bike if it ever warms up and stops snowing.

Mileage over 50 is nice if you don't mind averaging 31 MPH for 2.25 hours of driving. I'd be happy accepting low 40s to spend less time sitting behind the wheel.

Go here, if you dare, and witness one of the biggest collection of astonishingly ignorant comments you will ever see. http://green.autoblog.com/2013/02/28/ford-c-max-hybrid-falls-well-short-in-careful-cleanmpg-ec/ Then there is this post on Lamebook from someone who thought they were saving money by trading in their C-Max that was averaging 37 MPG for a Lexus ES300h. Taking a multi-thousand dollar deprecation hit and switch to a car that is likely to get similar or worse mileage (and even if it was slightly better, would save maybe $100/year) is the act of a mathematical genius. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/genius Makes me want to http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/desk-flip

No one needs a Scangauge to see if the engine is warm enough for heat in EV mode. I use the MyView screen with the engine temp. When the bar is above approx. the first line, the engine is warm enough.

The only time I've seen the fan on high when turning the climate control on is if I had max defrost on when I shut it off. I try to always make sure I turn max defrost off and leave it in regular Auto mode before shutting climate control off.

It sounds like the cleaning cloth for the touch screen.

The calculator is on the EPA site and is a great tool to see how much you save (or don't save) a year by increasing just a few MPG. I've posted links to it a few times before. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/savemoney.shtml

Page 111-112 of the owner manual: Main menu From the main menu bar on the left side of the information display, you can choose from the following categories: Display Mode Trip 1 & 2 Fuel Economy Information Settings Scroll up/down to highlight one of the categories, then press the right arrow key or OK to enter into that category. Press the left arrow key as needed to exit back to the main menu.

Page 60 of the manual: Car Finder Press the lock button on the key twice within three seconds. The horn will chirp and the turn signals will flash. It is recommended that this method be used to locate your vehicle, rather than using the panic alarm.