My Experience so far

[SnitGTS]

I've gotten several messages from people asking me what I'm doing to get such good gas mileage in a brand new car, and why I honestly don't feel like I'm doing anything special, I figured I'd write it down here for others to decipher.

 

My main 'strategy', if you can call it that, is that I set up the MyView to show the Power + Threshold screen and the Coach. (I’ve mistakenly called the Power + Threshold screen the Engage screen before, my apologies)  If no one is behind me I try to accelerate in EV mode, but if there is someone behind me I will let the ICE come on and fill the gauge up to the 2^nd notch.  I also do this when going up hills; I’m happy with whatever the 2^nd notch can give me.  This amount of power keeps the Acceleration bar in the Coach mostly full.  I try to anticipate when I will have to brake and either coast or brake much sooner than I used to, this keeps the Brake bar in the coach mostly full.  The Cruise bar stays full until you top about 50 mph and drops to about 75% full at 60 mph.  I do on occasion Pulse & Glide but not consistently, more often than not it’s after noticing my speed dropped off when going up a gradual hill.  I will watch the Power + Threshold to keep the car in EV mode up to the next stop when I take routes where I’m driving on a residential road to avoid a main thoroughfare and each block has a stop sign. (I’ve taken these routes long before I got my C-Max to avoid congestion; NJ is the worst for traffic!)

 

I think more than anything my commute is the reason for my mileage.  After getting my C-Max I made two changes, on my way to work I drive around a big hill that I used to go up and over, and on my way home from work I have started taking back roads instead of a freeway. (I used to take the freeway to work too, but the toll doubled about a year ago and I’m not paying $2 a day to get to work 5 minutes faster, the ride home on the freeway is free)  My commute is about 13 miles each way, 5 miles on back roads at an average of 35-40 mph and 8 miles on local highways where the speed limit is 50, I never top 55 mph.  It’s almost like the EPA test was built around my commute. (or vice versa)

 

Here is what I don’t do:

-       Try to keep the car in EV mode longer than it wants to.  I accelerate modestly and maintain the speed limit (+/- 5 mph), the car figures out the rest.

-       Use Premium gas.  I’ve only filled up once and I used regular, I assume the dealer also put in regular.

-       Overinflate my tires. I haven’t even checked them yet to be honest.  They look expensive and I’m not going to trade off having to replace them sooner for a mile or two a gallon.

-       Mods.  My car is completely stock and I do not plan on doing anything to it.

-       Hyper-mile.  As much as I’d love to get a 600 or 700 mile tank I’m not going out of my way to do it.  I don’t consider modest driving to be hyper-mile driving.

 

In addition, the weather here has been mostly pleasant, outside of a couple 90 degree + days and a few days where it rained the past 3 weeks have been as good as it gets here.  I do have the Intro-Tech sun shade, but going forward if we have lots of 90 degree + days and lots of rain I expect my mileage to go down a little.

 

I hope this helps those who still aren’t getting the mileage they expect, but I don’t think there is anything ground breaking in what I have said. 

Edited June 1, 2013 by SnitGTS

[homestead]

I suppose its possible Ford broke-in your car at the factory, they may take a car off the line occasionally for quality testing.

Then after testing they could zero out the odometer and put it back in with other production cars to be purchased.

If your mileage doesn't improve over time then that may have happened.

[SnitGTS]

Is that even legal?

[plus 3 golfer]

No, Ford can't sell a "test car" as new let alone roll back the miles and sell it as used.  SnitGTS, I would expect you to get over 50 mpg driving as you describe if the car were broken in. Any use of AC yet?

 

I say this all the time it's really not difficult to get 50+ mpg if one reduces speed (which around here means staying off the freeways and taking ancillary streets with speed limits of 35 to 50 mph with traffic lights and stop signs) and practice some basic hypermiling techniques.  But in the Phoenix area staying off the freeways adds significant time to trips and the use of A/C is starting to reduce FE significantly (it's around noon, clear, and with current temp of 104.5*F and climbing).  We're leaving for lunch and some errands shortly so I'll monitor AC usage as this will be the hottest day for the C-Max yet.

[SnitGTS]

I have used the AC a few days, it was 97 here Thursday when I was driving home.  I set the AC to 75 as that was as high as I could set it and feel comfortable.  Mostly It has been high 70's to mid 80's, and just having the windows down is sufficient to keep the car comfortable.  

 

On a side note, after having a 06' Toyota Corolla CE with manual locks & windows it is sooooo nice to be able to roll down all my windows and feel the wind!

[ScubaDadMiami]

they may take a car off the line occasionally for quality testing.

Mine is one of those cars.  It arrived with 113 miles--I think that's right--on it.  I know that this is the case, because, after having a build date and becoming optimistic for the delivery date, it then took about two extra weeks for my new C-MAX to arrive.  When I called for status, I was told that it was noted: "Hold for Quality Control."  My dealer explained that the vehicle was pulled for in-depth random testing.

Edited June 1, 2013 by ScubaDadMiami

[homestead]

At least they didn't zero the odometer.  If they found any problems during QC they probably fixed them too.

[BIG ROCCO]

Yeah - AC use has taken its toll, but we're still seeing mid-40s, and we're only at 600+ miles.  We, too, try to drive conservatively, but nothing extreme.  What I can't figure out are the people reporting mid to upper 30s - what can possibly explain that?  Maybe just high speed highway use with AC?

[Testdriver]

Earlier this week, my 1-year old feel asleep in the C-Max, so I took it for a cruise around town. I was able to get 57 MPG over 11 miles, cruising around town -- never breaking 45 mph, easing into stoplights and slowly accelerating with the AC off. I did this in a couple loops, so there was no elevation gain or loss, and I only have 3000 miles on the car.

 

On the flipside, that morning we went out to breakfast and it was 60 degrees out. The engine immediately turns on to heat itself up, the car ride is only about 1.2 miles, mostly downhill, and we ended up getting 17 MPG. I could easily see if someone took a lot of short trips that they would only average in the mid-30s MPG, regardless of how good of a hyper-miler they are.

 

BTW, we just got back from a 2000 mile trip to South Carolina and back, and averaged 41 MPG on the nose. Most of the time I tried to keep it to 69 or 70 on the freeway, but there were a couple 100+ mile stretches where we were in a hurry and I was going 75+. It seemed to average about 42.5 MPG at 69 MPH, all the way down to around 32 MPG at 78 MPH. Almost all of that was with the AC on, and about half of it was through very hilly terrain. I was pleased with that performance, but a side of me was hoping it could manage 45 MPG at 69  ;)

Edited June 20, 2013 by Testdriver

[BIG ROCCO]

Mmmm...interesting.  Below a certain air temperature, the ICE turns on regardless of speed or battery level or engine load?  We got our CM early May, so here in Phoenix, I guess we have not seen any temperatures cold enough to turn the ICE on.  We live at the top of a hill (there are lots of hills, and 1 big fountain, in our town: Fountain Hills, AZ)  I have left our house (with no recent driving) and gone ~2 miles down the hill to a supermarket and then 2 miles back up the hill, nearly 100% in EV mode.  Could it be we have selected some setting that allows that?

[SnitGTS]

I 'managed' to get a 33.6 mpg trip on my 12.5 mile trip home from work this week when I normally get about 45 mpg, even driving conservatively.  It was raining pretty hard and there was really bad traffic in one section, I happened to get stuck in the traffic with a low battery and because the traffic was so bad I never got up fast enough to get any regeneration, and the car ended up running the ICE for a couple minutes two separate times while I was sitting in traffic to charge the battery.  Needless to say it was a miserable trip home, normally takes me 30 minutes but took well over an hour.

[Testdriver]

Mmmm...interesting.  Below a certain air temperature, the ICE turns on regardless of speed or battery level or engine load?  We got our CM early May, so here in Phoenix, I guess we have not seen any temperatures cold enough to turn the ICE on.  We live at the top of a hill (there are lots of hills, and 1 big fountain, in our town: Fountain Hills, AZ)  I have left our house (with no recent driving) and gone ~2 miles down the hill to a supermarket and then 2 miles back up the hill, nearly 100% in EV mode.  Could it be we have selected some setting that allows that?

 

If temps are below 65 or 70, it seems like the ICE will run at least for a minute or 2 after I start moving. If the battery is nearly full, it seems like it will kick over to EV mode regardless of whether the ICE is warmed up yet or not. 

 

Honestly, I haven't driven it enough to have a great feel for when the ICE will be heated up, but that's the behavior I've seen with my car so far. Keep in mind too that it's (probably) not the current outside temperature that dictates whether the ICE gets heated up, but the temperature of the ICE. When it was 60 degrees at 9am when I drove my car, it was probably 10 degrees cooler than that earlier in the morning, so the ICE may have been 50 degrees at that time.

[BIG ROCCO]

LOL below 65 or 70? We will have to wait until ~Thanksgiving for that here in Phoenix!

[Jus-A-CMax]

Nope, for me 65/70F ice warm up is typically short, less than a min. But may short cycle again once if u don't use ice after warmup...like I may be using just EV.This is overcome with some braking to throw it back to EV mode.  Now when it drops to 40-45F or below  then ice is on longer, noticed this alot whilst at snowy Mammoth, nothing can be done so think of it as a battery recharging "exercise".  Plus it's cold, forget about MPGs.

[SnitGTS]

Has anyone noticed if this warm up period is shorter in the winter if the car is kept in a garage? (thus it should be relatively warm versus outside temps)

[salsaguy]

garage might help a little bit but the diff from garage temp vs. outside temp is maybe only 20-40 degrees but the engine needs to warm up to what line at least 160-200 degrees? so engine will still have to come on to ensure its lubricated enough and warm enough to not cause damage to the parts. I'm sure running with full synthetic oil will help as well esp in the cold area.

[SnitGTS]

True, but even in the dead of winter our garage is at minimum 50 degrees f, that's about what it's been here the past month or two in the morning and it takes less than a minute for the car to warm up.  Dead of winter here the temps go down to 10-15 degrees f and below, I haven't had the car in winter so I'm not sure how much longer the car will take to warm up.  

 

With the cold having such an affect on mileage I would think this matters.

[SnitGTS]

I wanted to add this image to my review, it shows my trip home from work.  As you can see, I never top 55 mph with the majority of my driving below that speed.  My commute is very similar to the way the EPA gets its highway fuel economy, which is why I get better than the 47/47/47.  Going to work I had been in the 65-70 mpg range but a recent tweet to my route has me in the 70-73 mpg range, coming home has been consistently 45 mpg +/- 1 or 2 mpg.  My current tank is at 53.4 mpg.

 

I got this image online from Progressive, I have the Progressive Snapshot device which tracks your trips and rates your driving.  You can get up to a 30% discount by letting them track your driving for 30 days and I got a 26% discount!  If I keep the device in for 6 months that discount will become permanent.  

 

[bigalpha]

No, Ford can't sell a "test car" as new let alone roll back the miles and sell it as used.  SnitGTS, I would expect you to get over 50 mpg driving as you describe if the car were broken in. Any use of AC yet?

 

I say this all the time it's really not difficult to get 50+ mpg if one reduces speed (which around here means staying off the freeways and taking ancillary streets with speed limits of 35 to 50 mph with traffic lights and stop signs) and practice some basic hypermiling techniques.  But in the Phoenix area staying off the freeways adds significant time to trips and the use of A/C is starting to reduce FE significantly (it's around noon, clear, and with current temp of 104.5*F and climbing).  We're leaving for lunch and some errands shortly so I'll monitor AC usage as this will be the hottest day for the C-Max yet.

 

On highways/interstate speeds, it doesn't seem that the car gets very good FE.  I have a ~80 mile trip to work with 90% of it at higher speeds.  I'm lucky to get anything above 35mpg by keeping it at the speed limit and ECO cruise.   I am only managing a 5-7mpg increase in my FE compared to my mazda 3.

[Laurel]

 

On highways/interstate speeds, it doesn't seem that the car gets very good FE.  I have a ~80 mile trip to work with 90% of it at higher speeds.  I'm lucky to get anything above 35mpg by keeping it at the speed limit and ECO cruise.   I am only managing a 5-7mpg increase in my FE compared to my mazda 3.

We get our best mileage on our freeways (about 57 mpg) but our speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour which is about 60 mph.  How fast are you going?  I can stay in EV much of the time at about 97 kph.

[salsaguy]

big alpha, at what mph setpoint do you eco cruise at?

also with that type of commute, why didn't you buy a diesel like the Jetta TDI or Passat TDI? diesels excel with your exact type of commute (high speeds for long trips) and you would be getting great mpgs.yes diesel fuel can cost more compared to regular gas but this would be offset by the higher mpgs and longer range of the diesel.

 

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/06/10/vw-passat-tdi-clean-diesel-en-route-to-new-lower-48-mpg-record/

 

http://media.vw.com/pressrelease/1056/1/volkswagen-passat-sets-world-record-longest-distance-one

 

 

 

On highways/interstate speeds, it doesn't seem that the car gets very good FE.  I have a ~80 mile trip to work with 90% of it at higher speeds.  I'm lucky to get anything above 35mpg by keeping it at the speed limit and ECO cruise.   I am only managing a 5-7mpg increase in my FE compared to my mazda 3.

[salsaguy]

Rule 1 for new hybrid drivers:

Move to the right and slow down

;)