Baldrick

Thanks obob - that looks like a great option, we'll still have the US amazon account and can work out people to ship to us or use the international delivery option if required. Plus3 - Ford do sell the fusion hybrid in the Netherlands so the hybrid parts are looking more and more obtainable - but I can imagine the typical sucking of teeth when asking for support. I have queries into Ford UK to check on windshields and body part compatibility - I'm hoping they will be identical but planning that they won't... Car insurance is being looked into as we speak - will update on that and other questions.

Thanks everyone for your input Filters... hadn't thought of those, will pick them up. I had the current ones replaced about 4k miles ago. I'm now at 50K so hearing the brake pads are still good at 160k is great news especially for the pocket. Plus 3 - by fog lights you mean the front 'puddle lights'? or a separate light for the back? I'm from the UK, been in the US for a long time now, but I recall there was a law to have rear fog lights (which everyone always forgot to turn off). I will check with the authorities in the Netherlands on this. I'm also checking out the panels/windscreen sizing. We'll be gone for at least 3 years, maybe longer depending on how everything works out. We have always anticipated keeping the car till it becomes no longer usable so I am not too worried about having to resell it during the time we are there. Cheers, Derek.

I will update as the move goes through - we're looking to leave the US at the end of September, the movers reckon on 6 weeks for us to take delivery in the Netherlands. Dank je wel!

As I mentioned in the previous post I'm exporting the C-Max to the Netherlands. As the hybrid C-Max isn't sold in Europe I'm going to get new brake pads and tires put on before we depart. I've just replaced the wiper blades and I'm thinking I should also buy a set of light bulbs just in case. Anyone suggest any other 'consumables' I should pick up to avoid paying the astronomical prices?

Thanks - where'd you find the sticker? I have the original sales sticker listing everything included in the car, costs, packages and the mpg. I've heard back from my Dutch colleagues and it looks like the Netherlands will tax me €2100 for import duties. But that is well worth it as buying a car there isn't cheap.

I have a job move coming up at the end of the year and we'll be taking our 2013 C-Max with us. My new company is going to aid in the process of registering the car in the Netherlands but I wondered if anyone else has imported a US C-Max to Europe? I'm also trying to locate a statement of what the CO2 emissions are per gram - but without much success. I've gone to fueleconomy.gov and this has the emissions as 229 grams per mile. Does that seem correct?

UPDATE So the local dealer had the car for 3 days this time around. Day 1 - mechanic couldn't hear anything (couldn't be bothered more like), gave the customer service rep some bs answer - he's not happy with this and steps it up and wants to talk with the service manager. Day 2 CSR lets me know that he has spoken to the service manager and he wants to meet me and talk further... Day 3 - Turn up to dealership and meet the service manager, we go for a test drive and as we get to the best section of road to hear the noise the heavens open and ruin any possibility of hearing the noise (brakes wet, rain noise, road's wet etc.) Brilliant... Thankfully I had been able to record the sound on my phone so proceeded to play the clip to the service manager. Finally he gets to hear it and doesn't have an answer straight away (I can upload the clip if anyone's interested). Long story short, service manager decides to have the rotors ground/flattened. So far so good, however I have not been able to get back to the best section of the road - this weekend though. Not sure of the long term effects of having the rotors ground - any thoughts/comments? And on a lighter note to finish with... the phone plays all the recorded clips back to back. So you can only imagine the surprise of the service manager (and my shock) when the speakers emit some weird screeching noises, followed by some purring... yes the recording I made of our cat was playing at full volume. Brilliant.

Car is booked into the dealership on Tuesday morning, not sure quite what their going to do different from the last time but if nothing works out then I found another dealer a few miles further away. brbevil - thanks for the idea, will check that out over the weekend.

Thanks Hybridbear - I haven't thought to check that out - will do so on the trip to work tomorrow. Paul - my initial idea was that it was bearing related - even with only 29k on it - but the dealer said no. Although I'm wondering now just how much faith I put in their answers. Griswoldo4g - interesting, I'll bring this up. Today I found a freshly paved road - something of a rarity in these parts of MI - and I hear a pulsing sound that gets quicker/slower as I increase/decrease speeds, so perhaps its not the calipers and more of the bearing. Updates as they happen... Thanks again

The dealership took everything off and checked the pads, discs and calipers - all came back with a clean bill of health. i had thought about the glazed pads and had that checked also, again all ok. Its the sound that's peculiar, as if the calipers aren't releasing fully.

Thanks for the quick responses - it definitely didn't sound right when the service manager said it was normal behaviour. I'm now accutely aware of the noise now and drove the car close to a long wall so I could brake and coast a couple of times. It sounds awful and now seems to go longer than before. Guess I have another trip to the dealer next week... Will keep the thread up to date.

I've been hearing a metallic grinding noise when braking and it stays for a while after releasing the pedal (the car has 29K miles). The car's been into the dealership twice now, the first time they couldn't hear it and charged me $30 for the trouble. The second time I took one of the engineers out so he could hear it. Once he heard it they took it in for another day of work and 12 miles of road testing. However, after looking at the brakes, the pads and the calipers (all were in perfect shape)they came to the decision that it is all normal due to the regenerative braking. I don't buy it, there shouldn't be a metal grinding noise from a car, let alone when its breaking and after. It's like the calipers don't release fully. Has anyone else experienced the same/similar problem? I'll get a recording and post it to the thread.

My garage - Ford Lincoln of Franklin - used to offer a free Enterprise rental every time but after the last visit I was told that unless I had the extended maintenance package (I don't) then I could only get a lift back to my office. Apparently it was costing too much to do this on a regular basis. Shame as there only seemed to be F150s for rental and I got the gas comp'd after mentioning the mpg I got from the Max.

Hi David, Any updates on the creaking?

We had this on a 3 hr road trip recently - the air stopped flowing, but still made noise. It went in to the shop but they couldn't diagnose anything. It was as if the AC just got tired and needed a break. It then happened again last weekend. My wife used the touch screen (she tried the manual controls first but nothing happened) to try changing the air flow and it started working again. The car's going back in for other unrelated work - steering wheel controls not working - this week so Ill let the garage know our work around.