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Newbie here. I'm considering purchasing a 2017 C-Max Hybrid. My dilemma is should I get the straight hybrid or hybrid energi. I'm leaning more towards the Energi model because I live in a small town (10K pop) and nothing is far away. This means that the car rarely reaches normal operating temps especially in the winter. I think the Energi model would work best in this scenario. Thoughts? I've noticed a few new Energi models and lots of barely used 2017 models. The depreciation on these cars seems pretty dramatic!! Was 2017 the last model year? We currently drive a 2012 Kia Soul that has been an excellent vehicle but on long drives it's quite tiring. I believe the C-Max would serve us better in that mode.

I've had My C-Max for just over four months now, and since I relied on this forum to find real opinions and mileage results of real users, and in the process allay my fears about the dead 12V battery issue that plagued the vehicle in the early release phase (i.e. 2013), I want to contribute my two cents and say that after these four months, I think this is pretty darn close to the perfect vehicle for me. Let me first say that I have been driving Civic Hatchbacks since 1984 (and I'm 6'3" tall). I've had four of them, and loved the first three. The first three would get 45 MPG on the highway and 35 around town. Number four got more like 27/35 MPG. They were peppy, nimble and handled well. Their hatchback designs held a good deal of cargo. So overall I liked them, and was with great reluctance that I decided it was time to let go of Honda#4. Gas mileage and family set my search constraints. My criteria in the search for my next vehicle was that it had to be a four door, and average at least 40MPG. I also started by looking only at certain manufacturers just from a default assumption about reliability and quality. Since I found very few vehicles with those two criteria, I eventually opened the search up to all manufactures, and lo and behold, here is this thing called a C-Max by Ford. The spec's for the C-Max do very well on almost all parameters of importance to me when compared to other cars I know well and was considering. MPG: it's listed in the 40-42 range. So, check. It meets that criterion. Horsepower to weight ratio: right up there with my hatchbacks and my wife's Accord. Check again. Torque to weight ratio: again, right up there with the Accord. Check. Headroom: check-plus. C-Max has 2" more headroom than any other vehicle I was considering. (Recall I'm 6'3".) Cargo room behind the seats and with seats folded down (flat even): better than my hatchbacks! So, the C-Max is coming out very well when compared to all the other vehicles I was considering. Then I found that there were bad reviews by one major rating agency, but couldn't find the specific points on which they based those bad reviews. So, hmmm. Then I found this forum and a lot of discussion about the dead 12 V battery, which I read carefully and concluded had been a serious issue early on, but which was now coming under control. …and I found a lot of very enthusiastic reviews by the users. So I held my breath and took the plunge and bought what may be the last car I'll ever own…. (..the 2015 ruby SE) So now I have to repeat that this is an amazing vehicle! Even though it weighs 50% more than my old hatchback, it still gets better MPG! I'm getting 46 MPG steady on each tank fill (5 fills now), and I'm getting over 550 miles per tank (vs. 320 miles on the old hatchback). The Dashboard readout claims that I'm getting 48 MPG, but based on the tank fill volume, it's 46 MPG. That "heavier vehicle getting better mileage" reality has taken me a while to get used to. It's simply a testimony to the systems engineering that's been put into this hybrid vehicle. Things I like about this vehicle: MPG (goes without saying) - I expected that I would have to get a much smaller, lighter, less comfortable, less versatile vehicle to achieve the 46 MPG that this gets, but not so! This vehicle is consistently giving me 46 MPG. I do not understand how it gets rated at 42/37. This MPG rating number has been a big (and costly) issue for Ford. So I get it that they can't and don't want to over-rate it, but those low numbers were one of the main reasons I did not spot the C-Max in my initial searches for suitable vehicles. It shows up in position 72 out of 78 at one of the main automotive websites when searching for cars over 40 mpg. Power when you need it - there is no compromise on power for the very good MPG performance. When you need to move quickly on the highway, this will move. (…and I have only pushed the pedal about 2/3 to 3/4 of way down!) Also the torque at startup from a dead stop is very very nice. That's the benefit from the electric motor, and is common to the hybrid and electric designs. Smooth and quiet ride - It has a nice smooth and very quiet ride. It's not a sloshy suspension that makes me seasick like some big American cars, and it's not a "water on a hot skillet" tight ride like my Civic hatchback. It's just very stable and smooth. I drove it on some winding mountain roads on one trip, and I could swear it handled better and rolled less than my little Civic hatchback. Spacious comfortable Interior - I never felt bad in my hatchback, but after being in the C-Max for a while, I feel like I'm in a submarine when I get into my hatchback again. C-Max has great headroom. For me that's a welcome relief after years bending my neck sideways. Cargo room seats up and seats down - roomy enough because it has more volume than my hatchback, but I have a comment on this later as well. Fold down flat rear seats - 60/40 split provides even more cargo room even while daughter is in the back. I can fold one seat down next to her. Safety systems - taken a bit for granted these days, but I appreciate the potential of the safety improvements of this vehicle as I'm getting older, and this vehicle seems to be well rated. Simple Systems - I bought the SE level vehicle because I'm a "keep it simple" kind of person who appreciates the added reliability of manual this and that. As a driver, I don’t want a touch screen, so I liked the simple buttons and knobs of the radio system. Having said that, my wife loves the Blue-Tooth interface to her cell phone and the hands free sound quality in the car. It's quite good. I also appreciate the 1/8" audio input jack in the center arm rest for those old fashioned sound devices. Comfortable Seats - I don't want motorized seat adjustments, thanks. The SE comes with manual seat adjustments, quick and simple, but lacks a lumbar adjustment. The seat as is was a bit too curved in the lower and mid-back regions for a tall guy like me, but I fixed this easily by having a local seamstress make a 1" thick cushion which hangs from the headrests to fill in that space, and it's very comfy in every respect now. What could be better? In a nutshell, not much. I really consider this vehicle to be as close to perfect for me as I could reasonably ask for. Having said that though, Here are a couple of relatively minor picky things on my wish list: More cargo space width: The cargo volume is fairly large, but what I've come to realize is that's because the space is tall, but it is not as wide or quite deep as my old Civic. Functionally to me, what matters most is the cargo floor area, i.e. square feet. Not so much the volume, i.e. cubic feet. I understand the C-Max is constrained because there are some air chimneys on the sides of the cargo area that bring cooling air to the battery pack under the cargo floor. If the cooling air could come in some other way that left that cargo width useable, that would be an improvement. My criteria for a great cargo area is that you can fit a 4' wide sheet of plywood in at some level - may be not right at the floor, but in some workable way. My 1980 Honda Hatchback could do that, but I haven't seen many cars that still meet that challenge. Tighter turn radius: It doesn’t' seem like a big difference on paper, but the turning radius is functionally not as nice as my old hatchback or my wife's Accord. It's very workable, but I really liked the tight radius on my Civic. (I'm guessing it is constrained by the fancy vectored torque differential transmission driving the front wheels.) Zig-Zag shifter: I've driven manual transmissions all my life. So these automatic shifters are a new thing for me. On a recent vacation I drove a rental car with an automatic transmission that had what I would describe as a zig-zag shifter mechanism, and I have to say that I prefer that over the straight-path shifter of the C-Max. With the straight path shifter of the C-Max, I have to feel each detent and look carefully to be sure I didn't overshoot the desired position, (and I almost always overshoot the desired position). With the "zig-zag" shifter, I found that hitting the channel stops at R and D provided excellent physical feedback telling me that I had positively engaged the desired transmission position. Interior release button for the rear hatch: I would like to see a button or pull lever somewhere that releases the rear hatch. I understand that the designers don't want to make it too easy for the hatch to go flying up by mistake while you're tooling down the highway, but it seems unnecessary to have to put it in park and find the trunk release button on the key that is in the ignition. I would think that if the car is not moving, then the hatch should be able to be released. Backup camera as standard: Maybe it will become that way, but the 2015 SE didn't start with a backup camera. It would be nice. I'll get calibrated eventually, but for now I'm still winding up with about 3 feet of clearance in back when I think I'm close to something behind me. (I'm torn on the ultrasonic distance sensors - I like the function, but they seem like something that will certainly break and be a pain to fix…) Quieter Cabin Air System: The C-Max is much quieter than my Civics. It's strikingly nice. However, if the cabin air fans are set above two-bars (out of 8?), then the white noise of the air from the vents noticeably overpowers that quietness. Above four bars, and it's just loud. It would be nice if the airflow capacity could be maintained, but the noise reduced. Smaller gas tank: I understand that Ford probably has one gas tank that goes into several car models to reduce costs. However, I don't really need to go 550-600 miles per fill-up. I was used to doing 300-320 miles per fill-up. So, if the gas tank were say 7 gallons instead of 13.5 or 14, and that extra space could show up as usable trunk space in the form of a lower floor, I would be fine with that tradeoff. Seat position indicator: I'm a keep it simple kind of person, but it would be nice if there were a simple indicator showing the seat settings, particularly the seat height. Every time my wife uses my C-Max, I have to re-adjust the seat slide, height, and tilt. It would be nice if there were some mechanical scale or readout that would let me unambiguously put the seat back to where it was. This is most important on the seat height adjustment. The slide and tilt settings are easy enough to find by feeling the notches from one end of the travel limit. But the height adjust a much harder and slower to adjust and would most benefit from some scale indicator. So overall, I am very impressed with this vehicle. I'm sorry that I'm not seeing more of them on the road!

Check out this very interesting news story on how these 3 big companies are working together to come up with the next generation of energy saving car technology. Pix and YouTube video links are included in the article. http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/quality-insider-article/announcements-unveilings-and-adjectives.html# Please post your thoughts about this here

I LOVE MY NEW C-MAX! I have owned nothing but Toyotas for the past 30 years. I even bought Toyotas for my kids and for my mother. But my husband and I are now thrilled that I bought a FORD C-MAX in March 2013. I am a retired engineer and do exhaustive analysis before purchases - my husband is also a engineer and scrutinizing as well. When I needed a new car, I wanted to be environmentally responsible as well as a better supporter of American manufacturing. I started some research in November before the C-MAX really was on the market. I looked at hybrids of all kinds. My highest priorities were mpg - had to be greater than 35 and had to have enough horsepower to get up my 14-degree grade on the mountain road where I live here in Portland, Oregon. I finally test drove a PRIUS V and found the driver area so confining that I kept bumping my elbow and that there was not enough horsepower for me to get up my hill each day, especially in winter. Then I test drove the C-MAX and it was no contest! As far as electronics, both cars have lots of wonderful features - I can post later about the specific ones that make the C-MAX such a wonderful experience to drive (and such a wonderfully comfortable experience for the passenger - tall men who get it my car are thrilled by the headroom). I have driven the car for about 2500 miles and I even have enough confidence in its power that I had U-HAUL install a class-2 hitch for my small trailer - the C-MAX hauls this without the slightest hesitation. The only thing that I have to adapt to is the fact that the C-MAX turning radius is not as good as my Toyotas. My last car was a Toyota Sienna, a hefty minivan. Its funny, when I go to Costco and load up, my C-MAX seems to hold a huge load - I don't miss my Sienna size at al! And lots of people stop me to admire my car - I have an Ice Storm exterior with black leather interior - model SEL. Most people say that they didn't know that this car existed. Anyway, just thought that I'd share my complete satisfaction with others who can appreciate. I keep mentionig Toyota in this post on because it was the closest competition - but as I've stated, I am happy with my choice of the FORD C-MAX and each time I drive this car is a real pleasure. I am attaching a picture of my car for the aesthetics and also a picture of the hitch because there has been lots of discussion about that - it does work! Hope this helps someone.

Just joined the hybrid car owners with our 302A equipt'd SEL wearing White Platinum Tri-Coat. Originally the wife said since this is replacing my daily commute car that she would like to occasionally drive it. She hasn't let me drive it since we bought it a week ago! I have to sneak in late night store runs to get behind the wheel. =) We love the car and look forward to hopefully joining the 600 club eventually.

We've had our 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid SEL in Ingot Silver since September 28, 2012. In that time, we've put 28,339 miles on it. The reason for such high mileage is due to living 60 miles away from the metropolitan area near us (shopping, dr. appointments, etc.), as well as a trip down to Salt Lake City & Fernley, NV & back. In a week we are averaging about 300-350 miles.

I came home with a new Ruby Red C-MAX SEL with the 302A package yesterday. I've been looking at small SUV or cross-overs for a year. I thought I wanted the Escape but I wasn't happy with the gas mileage. I got to looking at the C-MAX and I think it will give me all the utility I need. Four wheel drive or off road clearance was never a concern. I spent most of last night reading the owners manual. Lot's of technology to learn in this car. I'll will be good to share thoughts and questions with the rest of you.