After 5 months of deliberation and against my Ford shop foreman buddy's recommendation, I placed my order this morning for the Hybrid SEL. He's seeing all the issues all of you have talked about on the Forums, (across the Ford line, not just C-MAX's though they have their specific issues) and recommended I wait for the 2014 model year, but I'm to impatient and really really want this car. I'm hoping by the build date they've figured out the big issues. Talking to the dealer this morning, he's saying Ford is currently holding deliveries. His guess is they're trying to address some issues. Regardless, the count down officially begins!! He said 12 to 16 weeks, so maybe a delivery date somewhere around Memorial Day. Now to go to my Zen state and be patient so my impulse nature doesn't run out and buy something off a lot somewhere :-) Thank for all of you who have been active in the forum sharing your experiences and enthusiasm; the forum is what has convinced me to "just go for it" as the problems, while some aren't fun, are not all the bad in the big big picture..think Toyota and glad we're not there :-)