Manticore

I purchased the SE with the 202A and Winter packages so I have heated seats and heated mirrors. Heated seats are nice to have in New England! The only thing I would want from the SEL trim level is the foglights. The rest is pretty much useless to me. I hate auto dimming mirrors, just hate 'em! I don't care for leather seats either. Auto wipers are ok but I wouldn't pay extra for something like that. I think I know when it's raining and I'm certainly capable of turning the wipers on. I'm more than happy with the SE. I bought my first new car in 1973 and of all the cars I've owned, the C-Max is hands down my favorite, I just love this car. I started hypermiling about 6 years ago so this car fits my driving style, or maybe thats the other way around. Anyway I'm averaging about 50 ± MPG and couldn't be happier. Anyone not getting at least 45 MPG needs to learn how to drive a hybrid, RTFM! (read the ford manual) ;) Better yet, read the posts on this forum, There's a wealth of knowledge to be gained here. One of my favorite things about this car is while getting 50 MPG, it has more than enough get-up-and-go to pass others when necessary, try that in a Toyota Pukeus! I hope ya'll are enjoying your C-Max as much as I am. Simply a fantastic car.

Personally I did not care for the feel of the factory leather especially the stitching they used, totally unacceptable in my opinion, but I bought the car knowing I could put a wheelskin on and make things more to my liking. I did not remove the factory leather, but installed the wheelskin over the factory leather so it would fatten up the wheel. The Bumps, I call them Tumors, are totally unnecessary. I considered eliminating them but that would have been a messy process so I just installed over them as well. There is exposed stitching as the wheelskin does not fully wrap around the tumors. It would be nice if Wheelskins were to increase the width of the cover in those 2 areas for complete coverage. It would be a far more elegant install, but sometimes you have to work with what you have. I will follow up with some pics in the next couple of days. Let me just say the wanker at Ford who thought those 2 tumors in the steering wheel were a good idea is suffering from a rectal cranial inversion. Even Ford Motor Company is subject to hiring idiots from time to time.

Put a Wheelskin on Ruby this afternoon, much better!. I've put a wheelskin leather steering wheel cover on the last 3 vehicles I've owned so it just was a matter of time before one would find it's way into my C-Max. I love the feel of these things and I also like the feel of a thicker steering wheel. The C-Max is not the most friendly steering wheel for a Wheelskin due to the tumors they placed at 10 & 2, probably the work of some wanker at Ford. So it's not the most elegant implementation but it is a definite improvement over the factory leather.

Here we go...

Congrats MTB! I drive backroads to and from work every day! This provides 2 distinct advantages. 1) I no longer deal with the highway horseshit, less traffic, fewer idiots to deal with so less stress! 2) Most important = Higher MPG's! I drive with a light foot since learning how to hypermile 5 years ago, but Eco Cruise has an even lighter foot than mine. I use eco cruise constantly and I'm getting 51+ average mpg. I'll be joining the 600 mile club in a few days. The high mpg's are there for the taking. Good luck, it only gets better!

Well, the top line is the first verse of the song Woodstock, the bottom line is a verse from I Am The Walrus. All case, punctuation and spaces have been deleted so it looks like this: wellthetoplineisthefirstverseofthesongwoodstockthebottomlineisaversefromiamthewalrus You might say I have too much time on my hands or just a really twisted mind, your choice.

I'm right there with you Jaz! My information is out there on more computer systems than I care to think about so I cannot see any reason to add my info to another system just to perform a task I can do with pencil and paper.

Jus-A-CMax, that's wonderful stuff, thanks for sharing. I slack tune my Martin from time to time but I've never managed to play anything remotely as lovely as Ledward Kaapana plays. I had never heard him or heard of him but I sure will be listening to more of his stuff. Thanks again! My mother got me listening to Alfred Apaca when my age was in single digits. He has one of the greatest voices I've ever heard, He's right on par with Roy Orbison & Raul Malo. Gotta say I love Island music. Michael Nesmith said there are only 2 types of music, good music and bad music. I have to agree and I love the joy of finding something really good that I've never heard before.

Since we are in the Lounge and it's for off topic, here's one for you. What are you listening to? Being a child of the 60's I am a huge Beatles fan. It's very rare that I find a cover version of one of their songs to be better than the original, but here's one that is absolutely Stellar! I am the Walrus as done by Spooky Tooth Adjust your altitude, turn up the speakers and enjoy... Chris

I didn't ever consider a Prius since I would not buy a Toyota, so I didn't bother to test drive a Prius. Perhaps a Prius can out-mgp a C-Max, but can a Prius get up and go if you get into the throttle like the C-Max will? It's nice to drive a hybrid that has good performance if you want to get into it a bit. I ask because I've never driven a Prius and don't how how they will perform if you get on the throttle a bit. Update: I just read on another thread that the Prius has 54 less Horsepower than a C-Max. I would think 54 less HP would make for some rather spleeny performance at best, and be a downright sloth at worst.

Thanks Adair, I wasn't positioned to buy another car until late March of this year so when it came time I started looking. I grew up and lived in the San Fernando Valley where Jus-A-CMax is located. I moved to New England when I was 23 and after 39 years I still miss that So Cal weather. I think I'm going to enjoy my time here on the forum, again Thanks. jedi50, I'm new to the forum this week as I just purchased my C-Max last Saturday. I'm on my first tank of gas with under 400 miles on the car and I'm averaging 41 mpg. Like C-MAXER said "The car is only 1/2 of the efficiency equation." This is very true. Most folks think they have good driving habits, I thought I did, but they tend to be fairly heavy footed. I discovered this about 7 years ago when I bought a Scangage for my 2005 Colorado Pickup in an effort to squeeze every mile I could out of a tank of gas. I was amazed at how heavy footed I was but I quickly was able to change my driving habits. This has made it very easy for me to achieve 41 mpg average on my first tank in the new C-Max. Listen to all the posters on here as they have more time with their cars than I do, but I can assure you the high mpg's are there if you are willing to adjust your driving habits. Thanks bsmax, the only way I can explain it is that when I sat in the C-Max it just felt like home. I traded my 2003 Saturn Vue V6 AWD in on the the C-Max. I was getting 21 mpg with the Saturn, ocassionally 22 mpg so I'm loving the C-Max at over 40 mpg on my first tank.

Been poking around and found a couple of tips. I also read a post refering to some battery issue but I was unable to find out what the issue was. I know we are all rolling the dice buying a first year model car, but I've had a good feeling about this car since I bought it. Call it intuition if you must, but I've learned to listen to mine and it has served me well for many years. I sure hope it's right this time as the more I drive the C-Max the more I like it. I just couldn't bring myself to buy a Prius or Honda. Now if I can only find out about this battery issue...

Just bought my C-Max last Saturday. I've had the car for 5 days and only have ~250 miles as of today, but my average is already at 41 mpg! I know it's only going to get better. I just love this car!

When I had my 2005 Colorado pickup I used to drive in the right hand lane at 55mph on my daily commute. I made a sign for the back window that said: "I drive slow to conserve gas, pissing you off is just a bonus!". Many drivers would give me a thumbs up and a big smile as they passed me. I think I may have to make a sign for the back of the C-Max.

It was time to replace my 2003 Saturn Vue 6 cyl AWD, and I'll not miss that 21mpg! So I thought it was time to try a Hybrid. I wanted High MPG! GM was out of consideration for the way they dealt with Saturn. Toyota was out - too many problems of late. Chrysler? I don't think so! I would rather slide down a banister covered with razor blades into a bucket of alcohol than drive anything made by Chrysler. and the list just kept getting shorter... It came down to Honda or Ford. I'm a big guy and Honda's are not very comfortable for one of my girth. ;) So Saturday morning we went to our Ford dealer of choice and I was surprized by the C-Max. Easier to enter and exit from than my Vue! Took a little test drive and I was sold on the car. My choice was either a Silver one (yuck) on a Ruby Red one, and I loved the Ruby Red color. After 2 days I have 193 miles with an average mpg of 40.7 and I know things will just get better as the car breaks in and as I learn how to better drive a hybrid. I was hypermiling my 2005 Colorado to squeeze every mpg I could get. Installed a Scangage and was I surprized how much lead was in my foot. I relearned how to work an accelerator and developed much better driving habits, so this is helping as driving the Hybrid just fits with my driving style developed over the past few years. I've got a really good feeling about this car! Here's what I got. 2013 C-Max SE Hybrid 202A Equipment Group Ruby Red Metallic Tinted Clearcoat So far I love this car. Looking forward to getting to know the folks here. Time to go and explore the forum and see what I can learn. Chris