First few days/week with my C-MAX

[BigRed]

So, Finally got my car! Woo!

 

I feel like recording thoughts and annoyances/pluses I have found so I guess this will be like a mini blog post. I live in Seattle, it rains here a lot in the spring.

I got the C-MAX SEL /w 303a, sunroof, and in Blue Candy. Still going on my full fuel tank from the dealership.

 

I am 6'7" so I have a unique perspective on vehicles since they aren't really designed for someone of my size. I am also in IT & Electrical engineering/Electronics design  so I have a tendency to notice things a lot of people miss.

 

This is only my 2nd ever vehicle I have owned. Previous car was still my 1st car. A 1996 Camaro. I had that beast for 12 years. I am almost 30. It would have been funny if I still had my first car at 30, heh. Sadly it was on its way out and a lot of things were starting to break on it as it approached 200,000 miles. Since I havent owned a newer vehicle before some of my opinions might be a little skewed.

 

ANYWAY WALL OF TEXT!

 

(taken on Tuesday the 16th)

Car was built on March 24th

 

Exterior:

I have noticed that the backup camera gets covered with water easily during rain in traffic (Lots of splashing I guess). Noticed this on Thursday when I got home from work and was backing into my driveway. Couldn't see the backup camera very well. I might try and put some rain-x or some other kind of water repellent on the lens.

 

The wax job from the factory/dealer (if any) sucked. I am leaning toward that they didnt do anything, at least there were no swirl marks. I brought the car on Thursday to an awesome detailer and had them claybar it and put on opti-coat. Made the blue a little bit of a deeper shade and now the water beading on the paint is really impressive (water also runs off of it easy while moving).

 

I really wish I could adjust the blindspot mirrors. The drivers side one is mostly fine but the passenger side one doesn't really cover the blindspot for me very well. At least not where I want my side mirror to be.

 

When the exterior lights (parking, headlight) are on auto, when I shut off the car and get out, the lights stay on until the keyfob is out of range of the car. I thought that was a nice touch.

 

Man that A-Pillar is huge. Thankfully I am used to that kind from my camaro. Visibility is almost the same. Also those tiny A-Pillar windows are dumb, but I did find one decent use. The turn signal shines through them quite nicely at night. I can see the reflection against the plastic. Another reminder that the turn signal is on and working.

 

Interior:

FINALLY A CARS SEAT THAT HAS A HEADREST THAT SUPPORTS MY HEAD! vs Ending at the base of my skull. Back of my skull actually fits in the headrest indent. woot! (Big plus for my purchase during the test drive, plus headroom)

 

The dead pedal is far too small for my massive size 16 feet. I have found it more comfortable to just not use it and sit in the car like a chair.

 

Owwwwww my right knee muscles.... I have adapted to it but my right knee was sore after driving for two days. Heel/toe pedaling isnt really possible for my height. Its mostly fine now though that I have adjusted. Was quite a shock going from my camaro.

 

Efficiency leaves are dumb. Since I listen to music often I find myself leaving the right screen on the media display. Although I get some kind of perverse pleasure out of flooring the car for funsies and watching leaves fall off, lol. YEAH TAKE THAT DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

 

I dont know why the hell everyone bitches about MyFord Touch. It took me a few days to learn the system but now its pretty good. Learning the voice commands for sync. After being used to Siri on the iPhone this was kind of an adjustment but not a huge one.

I had MyFord Touch crash once (likely a bad audio file, or unknown format on the USB drive that it couldn't handle) but it rebooted on its own and continued playing. 

 

Auto Anti-Glare rear view mirror. HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS! I always got headaches while driving my old car at night (Eyes are sensitive to light) but I havent yet in the C-MAX likely due to this.

 

Wipers. Took me a while to figure out the auto water sensing wipers. Dont know why that confused me so much. Also I hate that little switch at the end of the wiper controls that turns on the rear wiper. My massive meatpaws keep accidently hitting it.

 

Climate control. I wish the buttons matched up 100% with the functionality of the touch screen. I have found myself just using the dial for temp and not much else. Mostly cause I want Defrost & feet. To try and dry my Weathertech floormats so I don't hear the water induced squeaking between the mat rubber & my shoes. I haven't been able to get the physical buttons to choose a multiple airpath, just one or another. To be fair I didn't really put much effort into it so it may be possible.

 

Speaking of floormats I enjoy the snap down drivers floormat feature. Old car I was constantly pulling my floormat back away from the pedals.

 

Driving / Performance:

 

Man those brakes are touchy. I was used to brakes that had like 3" of travel before it started braking. I have mostly adjusted to this. I think I have figured out the feeling of regen braking vs friction braking. Some kind of indicator would have been nice (similar to the Empower threshold bar for EV drive) to assist with learning the feel of the brakes.

 

The steering is VERY accurate. Its kind of nice. At the end of my old cars life I was able to movie drive the damn thing cause there was so much play in the wheel.

 

ENGINE! ZOOOM! Holy shit on Thursday when I was getting onto I-90 from I-5 the car almost got away from me. Lane was ending and there was some asshole hovering next to me so I had to punch it. When the power meter hit the yellow & the car was doing Max EV assist it was almost too much to control on a wet road. Its nice to know that it has the power to get me the hell away from danger when I need it. I didnt know that the C-MAX did EV acceleration assist like that. It sure adds a lot of torque to the performance.

 

Eco cruise is far better at keeping the car at the threshold of EV driving than I am. I find myself using it more and more. A computer better at calculation than a meatbag human?! GASP!

 

I have learned the auto media is dumb. They dont know how to drive a hybrid. Or they are still reveling in the fact that the C-MAX actually has power when you need it and are far too liberal with the gas pedal. I got this on my way to work this morning (49 degrees outside)

 

Curses! 1 away from EPA  :drop:

 

Update from weekend:

 

Went on a little trip today to see my dad. Took the ferry over to whidbhey island and drove up to anacortes, over to I-5 then down to mount vernon. Also grabbed me some $3.45 cheveron gas at the reservation.

 

A couple other things I noticed on the trip:

 

The back of the C-MAX gets super dirty it seems. Just had it detailed on Thursday and after the drive its filthy. I suppose this is due to the air deadzone behind the car. All the dust and stuff just collects there.

 

The turn signal is super sensitive. it seems like if you move the wheel at all it will click off. It is slightly annoying.

 

Discovered on the ferry that the mirrors fold in, that was handy when we were all packed in on the boat. Didnt want anybody hitting it.

 

The NAV shows the speed limit for that current road. That also came in quite handy, thats probably one of my new favorite features.

 

I read the thread on the "Sweet spot" for highway MPG, for some reason my car takes a long time to hit it. I managed to get it on the way to the ferry and a little bit on the way back. Where the battery was fully charged and MPG's hovered between 40 & 60. I tried most of the freeway trip on the way back and it was hard to get to that. (I was going about 67mph). It might just be due to all the hills on the freeway here. it would EV assist climbing the hills while ecocruise was on and drain the battery enough so it needed to recharge before it would hit that sweet spot again.

 

I am planing a trip a little further up noth in the next few weeks, i am also planing a trip down to SFO in may to see how the new car fares on longer trips.

 

4/22 Update:

 

I dug out my old Zune HD (lol Zune  blast from the past there) from my bin of random stuff yesterday. Synced it up with my machine, added a bunch of different types of music to it (different from my USB drive) and plugged it inside the armrest ports.

Man... MyFord touch is sure unresponsive while its indexing the device. I had 800 songs on that and it took 20min to index. Works fine after that.

Also learned that it works with two different USB devices. Just shows USB1 and USB2 on the screen. I have a thumbdrive with a random mix of songs and then I have my 32gb Zune with another random mix of songs. I am pleased that I can do this and it all works alright. I wonder how many USB devices it can work with. I wonder if a USB hub with a bunch of different thumbdrives (like mixtapes) can work with the system. I might investigate this further for a future roadtrip.

 

Also I got this on the way to work today:

 

w00t! BR got High Score on this machine! Beat that EPA douchebag!

Edited April 22, 2013 by BigRed

[fotomoto]

Shouldn't you change your name to Big Blue?   :)

 

CONGRATS on your new ride!  It looks great!  Mine was built about a week before yours and I have 3.5.1 and, I too, have no issues with MFT.

[BigRed]

Shouldn't you change your name to Big Blue?   :)

 

CONGRATS on your new ride!  It looks great!  Mine was built about a week before yours and I have 3.5.1 and, I too, have no issues with MFT.

 

The nick comes from the fact I am 6'7" and have red hair 

 

The Ruby Red was my 2nd choice for color. I enjoy the blue more though.

[lowbar]

My MFT is rev 3.5.1 and I think it is one of the best features of the car.  Then again, like BigRed, I have an IT / Engineering background.

[wamba2000]

BigRed, congrats nice to hear from anotehr above average height person  (I am 6'6").

Not a lot of options for tall drivers, plus many rooflines make you duck under to get into the car, if you have any neck issues, look out (Chrysler 300 is an example).

 

C-Max can accommodate.  My 6'10" son (college hoops player) is going to be visiting in a week, will ahve to see how the seating works for him, and will report.  Uh-oh, bet my lifetime mileage drops----his right foot is heavier than mine.

[JAZ]

Wipers. Took me a while to figure out the auto water sensing wipers. Dont know why that confused me so much. Also I hate that little switch at the end of the wiper controls that turns on the rear wiper. My massive meatpaws keep accidently hitting it.

 

Climate control. I wish the buttons matched up 100% with the functionality of the touch screen. I have found myself just using the dial for temp and not much else. Mostly cause I want Defrost & feet. To try and dry my Weathertech floormats so I don't hear the water induced squeaking between the mat rubber & my shoes. I haven't been able to get the physical buttons to choose a multiple airpath, just one or another. To be fair I didn't really put much effort into it so it may be possible.

 

My meatpaws aren't massive but I find myself accidentally switching on the rear wiper too.  Far as the buttons for airpath, pushing any button will switch it on if it's off, and off it it's on.  I'm able to select multiple paths that way.

[Adair]

My meatpaws aren't massive but I find myself accidentally switching on the rear wiper too.  Far as the buttons for airpath, pushing any button will switch it on if it's off, and off it it's on.  I'm able to select multiple paths that way.

 Uh, you do know that the rear wiper is automatic too, if you're backing up and it's raining, right? I only ask because I didn't know that, and several times after I first got the car, I'd be backing up and swore that accidentally bumped the rear wiper, when it was actually sensing rain and doing what it was supposed to do :sing_rain:

Edited April 19, 2013 by Adair

[BigRed]

Climate control. I wish the buttons matched up 100% with the functionality of the touch screen. I have found myself just using the dial for temp and not much else. Mostly cause I want Defrost & feet. To try and dry my Weathertech floormats so I don't hear the water induced squeaking between the mat rubber & my shoes. I haven't been able to get the physical buttons to choose a multiple airpath, just one or another. To be fair I didn't really put much effort into it so it may be possible.

 

 Far as the buttons for airpath, pushing any button will switch it on if it's off, and off it it's on.  I'm able to select multiple paths that way.

 

Holy hell I feel dumb, lol. Thanks for the info :)

 

I didn't try that much cause nothing was really obvious so I just did it via the touchscreen.

[JAZ]

Thanks for the reminder about the rear wiper, though I have on several occasions inadvertently bumped it on.  Nevertheless, wondering how many years (lifetimes?) until I am savvy with all the MAX has to offer...

[DR61]

"The wax job from the factory/dealer (if any) sucked."

 

Usually new cars are not waxed by the factory or dealer so that the paint has a chance to harden. I usually wax new cars about 5-8 weeks after the build week.

[roninsd]

Man that A-Pillar is huge. Thankfully I am used to that kind from my camaro. Visibility is almost the same. Also those tiny A-Pillar windows are dumb, but I did find one decent use. The turn signal shines through them quite nicely at night. I can see the reflection against the plastic. Another reminder that the turn signal is on and working.

 

I find the A-Pillar window VERY helpful: when the clothes washer selection knob is in the middle of the window, I know I've pulled far enough into the garage that the garage door won't hit my tail!

[colea]

ENGINE! ZOOOM! Holy shit on Thursday when I was getting onto I-90 from I-5 the car almost got away from me. Lane was ending and there was some asshole hovering next to me so I had to punch it. When the power meter hit the yellow & the car was doing Max EV assist it was almost too much to control on a wet road. Its nice to know that it has the power to get me the hell away from danger when I need it. I didnt know that the C-MAX did EV acceleration assist like that. It sure adds a lot of torque to the performance.

This, and then you get 46.0 mpg on the way to work in a car that isn't broken in yet? This car seems to bring out the dual personality in us. Me too.  :)

[BigRed]

Just posted an edit/update from my small trip this past weekend and adventures with MyFord Touch. Plus a 47.9mpg trip when I only have ~500 miles on the car, heh.

 

I wonder what it would be like after the engine gets broken in...

[cepwin]

Cool that the car can fit so many sizes.   I just test-drove one this morning (I'm 4'6") and commented to the salesman when I got back that the seats are very LP (Little Person) friendly.     I'm also a techie so the tech on the car is very cool to me.

[Jus-A-CMax]

BigRed....nice review and update mate  :rockon:

 

 

PS we're not suppose to get anywhere near the 47EPA, its not possible for the "average" driver, and especially not for a new car...didn't you get the memo?!? Dude, get with the program otherwise they'll have to reclass u as a "hypermiler freakazoid"...  ;)

[BigRed]

The non-broken in engine critical hit me right in the MPG this weekend. Did a trip 80mi north with 4 total people in the car. My average mpg on this tank is going to suck :( (its at 36.8 right now with the tank at 50%). Tried all I could to cruise at freeway to get the most mpg possible but my averages were 42 on the way there and 36 on the way back. Route back was likely due to temps since it got down to 42 degrees on the route back.

Edited April 29, 2013 by BigRed