Recumpence

Here is my best tank yet! 720 miles. This makes three 700+ mile tanks in a row. :) I am pushing for 750....... Matt

Dude, You ROCK! Man, I am psyched! I admit I was wondering if I had some funky anomally with my car and that no-one would believe 700 is possible, but it is! Congrats, Man! Matt

I just removed the passenger side mirror to test what my mileage improvement is. Most guys say roughly 1mpg on the highway per mirror. This thing is freaking HUGE! Oh, it only took 15 minutes to remove the mirror and replace it wil a thin piece of carbon fiber. :) If I do not see an imrovement in FE, I will put it back on. No biggie. If I see a good improvement in FE, I may replace the driver's side mirror with either a fisheye camera or a possibly a tiny mirror (to satisfy the law) along with a good quality fisheye camera. Actually, I could do camera on each side and have plenty of visibility without the aerodynamic loss. I love that this is so easy to do and reinstall if desired. Matt

That normally arises on the forums I frequent. Ususally it is because someone wishes the forum as a whole a "Happy" whatever day it is. Then someone gets offended. Personally, I find it odd that the issues that are most interesting in life are exactly those subjects we must not discuss. But I digress........ If I want to discuss religion I can go to another forum to do that. If I want to discuss the horrible state of our economy, there are forums for that. When I come to this forum, I want to discus the Max. Discussing other topics on this forum is like calling a pizza place to order pasta........ Matt

I never realized my particular car had the hands free lift gate until I was behind the car messing around near the bumper and the gate opened by itself. Hmm, my dealer specifically told me I did NOT have this feature with my options package (302A). So, it was nice to stumble accross it. I use that feature almost every day! Matt

Hello All, I just wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate the kind attitude I find on this forum versus other forums I have frequented (both auto and other forums). Here is what prompted this post; I have been doing some rooting around on various forums looking for answers to aerodynamic questions in the quest for increasing my mileage (mainly highway mileage). I have been a member on Ecomodder for a while and they are decent there (a little short with some posters, but generally OK). I have frequented other forums looking for answers as well with mixed results. One is particularly offensive------- Prius Chat! First let me say I like the prius. I have almost purchased one on numerous occasions. I like all 3 of their itterations. I expecially like the new body style. Anyway, what I have found is, on this forum, the Prius is occasionally talked down on, but not much. We kid around a bit, but I think the majority of us appreciate any hybrid and, for me, I like all of the data gleaned by the multitude of Prius cars in use today. However, what I noticed on Priut Chat is a completely different story. They are even rude to their own Pruis owner/members. One guy asked about deleting the passenger side mirror to gain 1mpg of highway mileage. He got soundly attacked with almost 100% incorrect data.... and this is a Prius owner they were attacking! You should hear them talk about "Other" hybrid owners.......... Anyway, I know it sounds like I am doing exactly what I am complaining about. I am not bashing Priut Chat per-se. I just find that the nature of the web tends to gravitate toward this type of negativity. I have seen it in many RC forums, bike forums, and other forums that have a rude tendency to their members. But, here, there is precious little [none?] of that. I just wanted to say thank you! Matt I guess a link to Adair's "Thank you" thread would be good to post here too. :) http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2045-i-want-to-thank-you-all-for-being-here/ Done Matt! Thanks!!

I find my car does 42 to 45mpg at 70mph. I have no idea how these magazines see such poor mileage. Matt

so much for men being the lead foot. :) Matt

If you drive mostly in town it can. I am at nearly 53mpg average for the last 4,000 miles. the cmax is heavier and taller than the prius. it is not going to be quite as efficient. Matt

Wow, what a wonderful idea! Thank you. :) Matt

Ahh, the yellowing is something I had not considered. I have used Lexan in vehicle applications and never noticed it. That being said, I do not think I have ever used it in continuous outdoor exposure. I will have to keep an eye on that. I thread stainless bolts into aluminum for my bicycle drive systems all the time and have never had an issue. I know stainless galls in stainless, and aluminum galls in aluminum, but I have never seem them gall together. Of course, just because I have never seen it, does not mean it cannot happen......... ;) Matt

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=matt%20shumaker%20recumbent&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.recumbents.com%2Fwisil%2Fshumaker%2F&ei=D2KhUci7EarJygG534HICg&usg=AFQjCNFipcZMwUvZCFTRaOJ1S-odWycznQ Been there, done that. ;) Matt

If you think the C is small, have you seen one of the early Insights? They are tiny........ I would love one, though. But, I would not do the majority of my driving in it. I just think it would be cool to have one project car to see how far this whole mileage thing can be taken. :) Matt

I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but apparently you do not understand hybrids. Nearly all braking action is accompished by way of brake regeneration. That happens in the electric motor, not the brakes. I have 22,000 miles on my car and I have never cleaned the rims. There is no brake dust there. I have reached through the wheels and touched the brakes after stopping without any noticeable heat. The brakes only heat up if you panic stop. Then they cool down very quickly. The vast majority of hybrid braking does not build up any heat at all. The wheel bearings are only affected if you trap brake heat. The bearings themselves do not heat up enough to make any difference. Also, there is airflow behind the wheels. This is not an air tight arrangement. It only cuts down on outside turbulence around the sides of the car. Matt

My car was purchased in November. So, the first of the year theory is not correct. That being said, however, some cars seem to be better than others. Oh, as for tires wearing more wuickly with higher pressure, I have not encountered that. I have always overinflated my tires since I began driving 25 years ago and have always gotten far more miles out of a set of tires than they were rated for. Matt

The C-MAX is far more powerful. So, in high strain situations, it should be more efficient. That is somewhat subjective, though. I can say this, I love driving this car. I have driven a Prius and did not enjoy the ride. That is enough to push me to the mighty Max over a Prius. Of course, if I was only looking at MPG with no other considerations, the best new car right now is the little Prius-C......... Matt

Hello All, I have begun doing some areo mods on my Max. Today I made clear wheel covers. I made them out of 1/4 inch thick Lexan (Polycarbonate) plastic. I do not like the look of solid wheel covers. Heck, the cool stock wheels on the C-Max are just too nice to cover up. So, to that end, I decided to make clear covers. As you can see by the picture, they are pretty much invisible (other than the valve stem hole). These wheel covers are fastened to the wheels with five 1/4-20 stainless button head bolts. I drilled and tapped shallow holes in each wheel for this. I would not recommend this as it is easy to break a tap or in some other way screw up a tapped hole and the OEM rims are not cheap. However, I have a small machineshop and a HUGE amount of experience in fabrication. So, for me, it was a snap. Also, as for wheel strength, these are 15 spoke wheels. I only drilled into ever thirs spoke. Also, the spokes are a good inch thick. I only drilled and tapped about 1/2 inch deep into the spokes. Trust me, there are NO strength issues, what-so-ever. I never plan on selling my car. So, I have no concern about a perspective buyer complaining about the holes. Actually, if I remove the wheel covers, I just have to insert the bolts into the holes and the small shiny button heads look like a visual accent anyway. :) I have about 3 and 1/2 hours in this project and one piece of plastic. So, the time and cost investment is not large. I chose 1/4 inch thick for a few reasons. #1 It was easy to obtain. #2 The rims are a tiny bot more than 1/4 inch narrower than the tire edge. So, the 1/4 inch thick wheel covers almost perfect fill the void making a nearly perfectly straight transition for the air flow from the tire edge to the disc and back to the rear of the tire edge. It is more earodynamic this way. #3 I felt that plastic would not be rigid if it were any thinner. I have driven it a tiny bit. But, not enough to give a decent report on mileage improvement. In fact, I think it will take a few hundre miles to really get some decent numbers to share. I can tell you that most people who use covers (On other cars, I have not seen any on a C-MAx yet) report somewhere around 1.5 to 2mpg improvement on the highway. I assume about half of that improvement in town. My driving is 70% in town and 30% on the highway. So, I will not see the large improvement that is possible. But, anything helps. Also, I get annoyed when I get on the expressway and watch my phenominal in-town mileage drop. So, this will help. Beyond this, I plan on making some very nice new flat grilles, complete the lower pan under the rear of the car, and add a lower chin spoiler to reduce the volume of air compressed under the car. Anyway, I will let you know how it goes when I do more driving. Matt

I arrived at a customer's house the other day (I do appliance repair) and she drove up behind me and parked beside me in a Prius V. So, obviously, we got into quite a great conversation. Here is what she had to say; "What kind of car is that?" ---A Ford C-Max.--- "What? I was told last summer that Ford does not make any more hybrids!" ---Well, this car was available last summer/early fall.--- "Wow, I have to go back to the Ford dealer and check it out!" Basically she said she liked her "V". However, she said she would much rather support an American company and it would be good to be able to deal with the phenominal Ford dealer she has dealt with for years. It was a truly great conversation. She told me she saw 42mpg in the winter and 46 to 48mpg in the summer. That is pretty much what is correct for the C-Max if driven in our area as well. We discussed the driving experience, technology, and other aspects of each car. I have to say, I have nothing against the Prius (I like all 3 variations). In fact, I liked the wider layout of the V on the inside and I do not need a mile of headroom that my Max provides. That being said, I would never give up the fun, sporty aspect of the Max that none of the Prii can hope to match. I just wanted to let you guys and gals know I have not found any competitive attitude between myself and Prius owners. I have had numerous conversations with Prius Liftback owners as well. They normally comment on how solid the C-Max doors and overall vehicle structure feel and how quick and great handling they are. I, then, comment on the higher MPG the Prius liftback is versus my Max. It has always been a pleasure speaking with Prius owners. :) Matt

On my last tank, I drove 14 miles with "0 miles left" and still only put 13.1 Gallons in. Matt

All hybrids REALLY like warm weather. :) Matt

I reset my lifetime mileage after about 600. My mileage shows 45.4 Currently. Buying my car at the beginning of winter killed me. I am showing 52.3mpg on trip one for over 3,700 miles in the warm weather. Matt

I have all of this information available all the time with my Scangauge. That is another digital readout I watch occasionally. I have it showing coolant temp and horsepower output and a couple other bits that the car does not show me while driving. Matt

As for coasting with the Max, I just give it a tiny bit of throttle, enough to not be regenerating and slowing down, but not enough to drag the battery down. That technique shows the battery arrow pointing down (discharging) but not running the battery down enough to notice. Simple! Matt

I have nearly 3,800 miles recorded on my trip one at 52.8mpg. I would say 3,800 miles is a good sample size for what is possible for the C-Max. It may not be possible for everyone in all driving circumstances. But it is possible. Matt

I know. I had a 102mpg trip yesterday. It was 3.1 miles. It was not downhill. But, it was 25mph where I started with a 3/4 full battery and ended with a 1/2 full battery. Though these trips do not do anything to represent anything remotely resmbling real world driving, they are still cool to see. :) Of course, then there are those 2 miles trips to the store that run the engine the whole way while starting with a dead battery in cold weather going up hill and registers 9mpg. Those are depressing......... ;) Matt