jmckinley

200 miles today, 150 miles on flat interstate at 65 mph, the rest 60mph on two lane road. 59 degrees F, AC off, just the two of us, no extra cargo. Computer says we got 35.3 mpg! Avg. for last two tanks was 34.7 based on fillups. Only 1200 miles on the odo, but this is pretty crappy. I'll be surprised if I ever see even 40 mpg. All this technology and batteries and CVT transmission and computers and regenerative braking and no spare tire and 700 pounds more than a Focus and I get a measly 8 mpg more that my 1,000 pound heavier 2005 minivan gets at 70 mph on the same trip. A comparable Focus would have cost $3,000 less. Based on Fuelly, 2012 Focus' are averaging about 32 mpg and C-Max avg is 38 mpg. So, by my calculations, I will get my $3,000 back in only 173,000 miles. And, don't expect big things when the cold weather goes away. Just wait until you start running the air conditioner and see how much your mileage drops. If these things don't get better mileage as we all start to reach the mythical break in point (was 2,000 miles, now Lord Motor Co. says 6,000) and the word gets out, we can kiss our resale value goodbye. We won't be able to give them away. Tomorrow I have 300 freeway miles, mostly on I-71 between Cincinnati and Louisville where there are trucks and hills and a 70 mph speed limit. I'll bet that will be a total disaster. And, I don't want to hear about jury rigging radiator covers. We shouldn't have to do things like that to get reasonable hybrid level mileage!!! The same goes for creeping around obstructing traffic, drafting trucks and 50 psi tires.

OK, tried a workaround. Both pages are posted in the Gallery - Album titled "Dealer Q&A Letter"

I must have violated some rule. Website won't let me upload page two. Apparently you're only allowed 500K per day or per visit or per something. Will try again tomorrow.

Attached is the letter forwarded to me by my salesperson. It is apparently intended to be a guideline for salespeople to address some of the bad press and rumors regarding C-Max gas mileage. I guess I have to post this as two replies. Here is Page One C-Max Letter pg1 pdf.pdf

Got an interesting communication from my salesperson today. It's entitled "Abridged Q&A intended for Discussions with Consumers". It's two pages long and starts off referencing the Consumer Reports report highlighting fuel economy of the C-Max and Fusion. It talks about EPA testing and other stuff. It also says if you drive 70 mph, at 40 degrees, before 6,000 miles you could drop 17mpg. Busy now, but I'll scan it later and post it.

Just for fun, here's an interesting scenario: Suppose you're really not a great husband. You're spending a lot of time at _____ (fill in the blank; Girlfriends House, Strip Joint, Whorehouse, etc.). Dear Wife confronts you, you lie and say you're always at work. DW then takes your brand new C-Max, drives to the suspected scene of your transgressions and lo and behold, EV+ kicks in, indicating you go there often. DW comes back home, calls Divorce Lawyer, her Mother, your kids, your preacher, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Maury Povich, Jerry Stringer and others. You're Busted! Think about it.

Had to wait for DW for about an hour at the doctor's office last week. It was cold outside so I left the Max on and in park, climate control set to 72 deg. It worked just fine - when engine cooled down or battery got depleted the engine would kick on for a few minutes, then shut off. I stayed comfortable and engine didn't have to run full time. Sounds like your scheme would work in the summer, but the usual precautions still apply regarding carbon monoxide. Keep a window cracked, beware of obstructed exhaust pipe or wind from the rear blowing fumes back under and into the car.

Interesting about taping over the Hybrid badge. I've been considering the same thing. I assumed these guys couldn't read, but maybe some of them have evolved slightly. The phenomenon might just be related to car size. I've always observed that our Miata is a tailgater target and when I actually obey the speed limit my motorcycles are also tailgated a lot - and it is really scary to be tailgated on a motorcycle. In fact, being hit from the rear at intersections is the second most common motorcycle accident.

I might have sprung for the CMax at 42mpg. My decision was based on the mileage, the hatchback/flat floor, higher driving position and the ability to tow it four wheels down. Like all hybrids, even at 47mpg the financial equation doesn't justify the extra cost unless you keep it for 10 years. In fact, the best financial solution would have been to keep my 8 year old Chrysler minivan which is paid for and gets 27mpg at 75mph and 20mpg in town Other contenders were the Focus - interior colors sucked, some problems reported towing the six speed auto Escape- too big, pricier, also reported problems towing Volt------Uncertain reliability, uncertain approval to tow, uncertain IRS credit You're right, it is a nice car and I enjoy driving it if I can keep my eyes off "Engage" etc.

When the word starts to spread about the real-world gas mileage, they'll probably have to up it to $2,000!

Thanks for the tip on the ETA function. I wondered if it was in there somewhere, but haven't had time to search for it. I agree about the detail. With that big screen, there is no excuse for not showing more detail. On most any zoom level. all you get is one road. My 5" Garmin shows a heck of a lot more than the Ford and is still readable. Digital speed and altitude would also be welcome. I've had OE systems before and they also did not show digital speed. No doubt because the manufacturer doesn't want to be harassed by owners asking why their speedometer and the GPS don't agree. I guess I'm blessed, my car does at least think it's on the road most of the time. Your best bet would be complain to the dealer until they give you an updated map SD card. It might not help, but at least you'd get a later level map card. Seems like cars from all the OEMs are shipped with old maps so they can hit you up sooner for an update.

It does seem like the majority of them are big SUVs. Just got back from a trip where we were tailgated by a big Tahoe. DW was driving, and when she pulled over to right lane, the guy never passed. He probably ran out of gas. Some people, however, are just dumb and will follow the car ahead up to or down to any speed. Years ago, when I worked for a major supplier of OE brakes, we would do some testing on the road. On more than one occasion we saw people tailgate us through an entire fade test. This is maximum acceleration to 60 mph, full braking down to 20 mph, repeat 20 times. Saw one lady with smoke rolling out of the wheelwells, still clueless. And, this was on a lightly traveled secondary 4 lane highway where it would have been easy to just drive around us. And, we had a big "Caution Brake Test" sign and flashing lights on the decklid.

Like everyone else, I'm irritated that I'm nowhere near 47 mpg no matter what I do. Yes, my car is less than 2,000 miles and it's winter and Your Mileage May Vary etc, etc. But I'm reasonably sure I'll never ever see 47 mpg combined mileage without resorting to extreme dorky driving. But, when I do the math, I find that it isn't all that bad. If I drive this thing until the Hybrid warranty runs out (80,000 miles) and gas hangs around $3.50, it works out like this: Cost to drive 80,000 miles at 40 mpg = $7,000 Cost to drive 80,000 miles at 47 mpg = $5,957 Difference = $1,043 So if it takes me 5 years to do the 80,000, that's $200 per year. Maybe I should just drive the damn thing and quit worrying about mpg.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but it seems like In the C Max I'm getting more tailgaters and other nasty irritating behavior from other drivers. I'm not a hypermiler, but it still seems like people are resentful of the Hybrid. Several times I've used the great acceleration of the Max to get people off my tail. It seems like they are presupposing that you will drive like a dork and want to punish you for it even if you're not. Had a guy ride my butt all the way up to 85 the other day before finally backing off. I was used to the dirty looks when driving my 8 mpg motorhome, but this attitude is totally unexpected.

Most Original Equipment GPS's suck, in my opinion. DW hates GPS units sitting on dash so I gave in went for the Ford Nav. So far works OK, but not as easy or accurate as my Garmin. The Garmin, by the way cost $120 and offers lifetime map updates and traffic. And it offers a lot more info than the Ford System. In particular, I miss the Estimated Time of Arrival. Ford only offers time to arrival which requires in-head math to determine ETA which makes my head hurt.

Just a thought on the dead battery issue. On the Prius, it takes almost nothing to jump the 12V battery. There are procedures on the 'net telling how to do it with a laptop battery, flashlight batteries, etc. It only needs enough power to power up the electronics and let the big battery do its thing. I suspect the 'Max is the same. Has anyone tried waking it up with something other than a conventional jump from another car?

The EV+ function figures out when you are close to home and raises the threshold for EV mode to try and use up as much of the stored energy as possible during the the last 1/2 mile or so before you get home or to some other frequent destination. That's why the battery is always low when you get home. The battery capacity is 1.4 KWH, so using a 110 V outlet at home would only require an hour or two to recharge the battery at a low rate. The problem would be finding a suitable charger. The battery pack is around 280 volts and is Lithium Ion so would require a pretty unusual charger. Not sure where we can find one at a reasonable price.

If I pull the voice command paddle and say "Weather Map", up pops a live weather map showing rain, snow or whatever is going on. Really cool, but I have no idea where it comes from. My guess is Sirrius. Now I know how my grandfather felt when he saw a television for the first time. All kinds of mysterious stuff on this vehicle.

"Never change out your toad while you are on the road" is no doubt good advice. Base plate installation and wiring is a big job and you need plenty of room and time if you plan to do it yourself. Definitely not the kind of thing you'd want to do lying in the grass/gravel at the campground. Not to mention all the spectators/experts that would gather round to "help" you. You made the right decision to have it done. Regarding mileage accumulation - checked that today on a long hill by kicking it into neutral and shutting down. Result - no miles accumulated. Handled pretty well too, steering not oppressively heavy.

Another thought on Ford's response. This is basically the same verbiage from the Focus Owner's Manual. While it sounds good, there is a problem. I don't know how we can get the C-Max to idle for 5 minutes. It just won't do that, as far as I can tell. The fact that someone at Ford told you to do this makes me guess that they were not familiar with the hybrid system and were just parroting something they read in the Focus manual. This "idle for 5 minutes" is pretty common among the limited number of manufacturers who allow flat towing. Even my 1993 Geo Tracker's manual says the same thing. The idea is to get fluid circulated around prior to towing. Clearly a good idea, but will be hard to implement on our new C-Max's.

Thanks guys. While in "Empower" I held down the "OK" button and it reset the avg. mpg on Empower, Engage and Inform screens. Glad I discovered this - it means we really have 4 different averages we can track - Trip 1, Trip 2, Lifetime and this one. Temporarily happy now. If the mpg would just creep up above 40, I'd really be happy. World Peace would be nice too.

FoutsNC, that's interesting. Didn't remember seeing that in the owner's manual. I'll give it a try tomorrow.