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One of the annoying "little things" about the C-Max for me was the lack of a rear cargo net. I have a fairly steep driveway and opening the rear hatch can cause a landslide of "stuff" out of the cargo area on to the driveway if I'm not watching carefully. Plus I like being able to place grocery bags in to an envelope style net to keep milk jugs and other liquids upright. While I have already added the Ford Accessory Cargo Area Protector rubber mat I have no desire to test it... The Ford Accessory Store lists a Cargo Net by Lastik, Part No: VDM5Z-54550A66-A, but it is too small, left to right, and installs way too far forward at the top for what I wanted. So...what to do... A bit of poking around in my garage turned up the Cargo Net that was in my Sonata Hybrid. At 36 inches across and 12 inches tall (unstretched) it would fit the rear of the C-Max perfect for my needs... That's one down. Note: Similar Cargo Nets are available at Automotive stores, dealerships, "junk" yards, or off eBay if you are not a pack rat like I am.... The two silver colored metal U-loops in the C-Max tailgate area will work perfect for securing the bottom of the Cargo Net. That is half the battle... Now the top of the net is a different issue, there is no handy place to secure the Cargo Net... :headscratch: Since I've been riding motorcycles for over 40 years I am very familiar with "bungee cords" I have used them to strap down all sorts of odd shaped items on my bikes. And bikes quite often don't have a handy place to secure a bungee cord..kinda like the C-Max... ;) So an aftermarket company came out with a product called Bungee Buddy which allows you to add a secure strap point. A quick visit to eBay and I had a set of four of them for $12.00 including shipping.... Those will secure the top of the Cargo Net. That is two down... With all the parts in hand I realized I also needed a better way to hook the Cargo Net attachment loops to the anchor points. A quick trip to Home Depot turned up some Zinc Plated Spring Links that make the Cargo Net easy to remove if I need to take it out.... Three down and time to go to work! After some measuring, and looking at different locations, I decided to mount the Bungee Buddy's to the plastic rail the Cargo Cover follows. The bottom of that area is open, I believe this is the intake for the battery cooling fan, and can be easily accessed to attach the Bungee Buddy without removing any panels. I wanted the Bungee Buddy to lie flat so I moved it forward 7.5 inches as measured from the rear cargo cover's bottom to the hole I drilled. I drilled the hole 1.5 inches down from the top of the rail. I choose 1.5 inches as this allows the cover to lay over the Bungee Buddy with no interference. See the attached photo ( Bungee Buddy Measurements) for the measuring points I used. After drilling the holes it was an easy job to bolt on the Bungee Buddy's and tighten them down. I found it was easier to hold the wrench on the backside and tighten the Bungee Buddy from the front with a screw driver insert through the loop twisting it. This was a 30 minute project requiring only basic hand tools except for drilling the two mounting holes for the Bungee Buddy, I used a Dremel tool for that task. Enough talk, here are some photos.... Too see a larger view than I can post here just click the photos and you will be able to see the larger versions in my Flikr account.... Finished Install Bungee Buddy Measurements Drivers Side Top Drivers Side Bottom Passenger Side Top Passenger Side Bottom Bungee Buddys Spring Link Disclaimer: If you choose to make this modification it is at your own risk.

Hello. I could use some assistance from fellow owners right now. Recently, I had a pot of meatballs sitting in my trunk on the way home. I had to quickly maneuver away from another car and the pot tipped over. Luckily, the pot was semi-sealed but some of the sauce managed to spill out of the pot and onto the carpet and into the undercarriage of the trunk. I had the carpets shampooed and thoroughly cleaned what I could, but there's still sauce behind the plastic moldings in the trunk. What can I do to get into the moldings and wipe away the rest of the sauce so my new car doesn't smell like old/stale meatballs? I'm usually a stickler about the cleanliness of my car, so the fact that I can't get into the undercarriage and side moldings to clean the rest out really bugs me. Thanks for the suggestions!

Hello all, I need some opinions. I've watched and read just about every review on these vehicles and drove them and I just can't choose. I currently drive a 2007 BMW 328i convertible, and it's my cream car. But it's almost out of warranty, and I have a dog, and I drive a lot so it doesn’t really work for me anymore. I’ve actually been thinking about a hybrid for a while, and eagerly waiting for Ford C-Max and 2013 Ford Fusion hybrids to come out. Well they finally have and I test drove both as of yesterday (the C-Max 2 weeks ago). The Ford C-Max basically has everything I need in a car, but not everything I want. It’s practical, can fit a lot of cargo both behind the rear seats and with sits folded down, I love the hands free lift gate in the back, perfect for putting in beach chairs when I take my dog to the beach and all the hands are full. It’s obviously very economical at 47MPG across the board. It’s actually smaller in person then it looks in pictures, but not too small, it’d fit perfect in my 1 car garage. And my mom would love to get it from me in a few years when her car dies especially with the park-assist option. So that’s all good, BUT it’s kinda ugly looking on the styling and I’m a 32 year old single male. The rear doors don’t open very wide so my dog would actually have a little trouble jumping in. No HID headlights, LED tail lights or larger wheels are offered. No adaptive cruise control, lane departure assist or other technologies available in the Fusion are offered. And it’s basically the same price as the Fusion Hybrid configured the way I want. The 2013 Fusion Hybrid is an amazing car, whisper quiet even at highway speeds, felt a little faster to me than the C-Max though I can’t back that up with any data, they have exactly the same engine, so it was probably just how it felt. It has a longer and I think a little wider wheel base especially with available 18” wheels, it just felt nice to drive. Also looks very sharp inside and out, felt almost luxurious. Doors open wider so easier for the dog to jump in. More appropriate for a guy like me, BUT the biggest problem is the trunk. The battery takes up a lot of useful space, and I don’t think it can even fit one medium or large size suitcase. I measured all the dimensions and it basically can’t fit much at all because of where the battery goes. It does have a ton of great features from nicer HID headlights and LED tail lights to adaptive cruise control and several other great safety features as well as park-assist. But I really need a trunk I can fit something in. So as much as I think a hybrid would be perfect for me with as much city driving as I do and I’d save about $150 a month on gas vs a BMW. But, I do love my BMW. The best alternative available for me right now is a BMW X1. Unfortunately configured the way I want it’ll be more like $35-37k, but if I take it as Base model it’d be about the same price as the SEL C-Max or Fusion Hybrid with the add-ons I want. It’s also practical, fun to drive, and looks good. But at the lower price I only get crappy headlights, nothing useful inside, and I have to put premium fuel in it just to get 24 city and 33 highway. So I get the practical and add the fun/sexy but lose economical. Lastly, I think a perfect car for me would be the 3-series GT that has not been officially announced yet, but there are some spy photos floating around and it’s supposed to be arriving in 2013, though probably towards the end. And just looking at the pricing of other 3-series, it’ll probably start in the high $30s, which would be a little too expensive for me. So can someone help me choose? Go for practical and efficient and give up sexy? Go for fairly sexy and efficient and suffer with no trunk? Go for practical and sexy but not efficient? Or just pay to get my car serviced, get a new set of tires and risk the future repairs but keep it till something else comes on the market? Lastly I should probably add that I would also consider the VW Passat Diesel and Jetta Diesel (maybe even wagon) but I'd rather not.