2014 Ford C-max Hybrid!!!

[ptjones]

Im surprised Ford didnt swap out the wheels on the 2014 CMax to a more aero dynamic face to get better mpgs, like the wheels on the Jetta Hybrid. I was at my VW dealer to service my Passat and he said that is why they look like they do, to help with better laminar flow as the wheel holes/gaps mess up the drag a lot.

 

Im sure you have seen hypermiller cars where they put lexan clear covers over the wheels or cover them up completely. very ugly but it works. these are a good compromise of being a FLAT surface with only minimal openings. Im sure they are harder to clean in some ways though...

 

you can see a pix of them here:

 

http://tinyurl.com/k5knvpx

or here:

http://tinyurl.com/lbc4vev

What's wrong with LEXAN covers? When their clean you can hardly tell their on the wheel. :)

 

Paul

[fbov]

Thanks for the pics. This is fascinating.

+1

[John Sparks]

So I went out and drove the 14 Cmax today. I drove it down about a 7 mile stretch of interstate at 70 mpg Eco Cruise. I can't say for sure but I do feel that it will do better at highway speeds. There was a lot of wind and traffic today so I really cannot consider this a very good test considering I couldn't keep anywhere close to a constant speed but initially my mileage was doing better until I was constantly slowing down and speeding up.

 

At the end of that stretch I drove it back to the dealership through town. The last time I took this route was in a 13 Cmax in the summer with the air on 70. Previously my best was 65.3 mpg. Today in 40° weather I ended with 66.7 mpg. So better mileage but I didn't run any air, however it's much cooler than the last time. All in all I think the mods will make it easier to achieve better mileage on the Cmax.

 

One thing I noticed right off the bat, and it's probably my imagination, EV mode seems to have more pep. I know they changed the final drive ratio, but that should only affect the highway performance, but I swear it feels peppier as though it is allowing the electric motor better torque distribution.

 

I wish I could take it home overnight, but they don't let us do that around here and I don't have the time to take it on a 30 mile interstate drive. I might try to get it back out next week and take it on a longer stretch.

[ptjones]

I thought someone determined that FORD didn't change the final drive ratio.  IMO new HVB is a little more peppier than old one. :) 

 

Paul   

[C-MaxSea]

Paul, I missed that - did they actually upgarade / new gen the HVB?  Nick

Edited March 5, 2014 by C-MaxSea

[ptjones]

Paul, I missed that - did they actually upgarade / new gen the HVB?  Nick

Sorry, I meant my CMAX vs NEW CMAX/FFH  I think the HVB loses some power over time. :)  You really have to watch  what you say. LOL :lol: :lol2:

 

Paul

[62Lincoln]

First 14 Cmax dropped today. Won't be able to take it out for a drive till next week, don't know if I will be able to tell any difference. Anyway all of the wheel moldings are there, and the back hatch molding, like the Escape. Don't see an a-pillar molding and I see no change in the hood seal however they have made the oil cap smaller.

 

I have to check with my techs and what not but I see no reason these could not be added to the 13 model. Granted you may have to either drill some holes or replace a larger panel.

 

Please let us know what you find out. Last time I was at my dealer, I visited the service department, and they looked up the trim pieces on the sides of the rear window. The parts system did not show the pieces as a separate part number; in the illustration, it appeared they were considered part of the glass/hatch.

[62Lincoln]

I wonder if the ECAPES ones are the same? :)

 

Paul

 

Paul, they definitely are not the same. When I was at the dealer, I was able to park my Energi next to an Escape, and the shape of the rear glass is definitely not the same. The trim piece from the Escape would not fit our cars (unfortunately).

[salsaguy]

video review of a 2014

 

[salsaguy]

Ever think they purposely did this so that all the 2013 owners dont go out and buy a part for a 2014 and put it in their 2013 and make it worse since it needs to be programmed in the software to take advantage of the different aerodynamic effects to get the best results?

 

From what I found out at my local Ford Dealer, they have nothing on their computer for 2014 models that even shows the air deflectors.  The deflectors aren't shown as being part of the rear glass assembly.  The parts guy showed me on their computer screen of the rear glass assembly, the illustration showing the exploded assembly view of all the components in the rear glass and the deflectors are not shown.  It might have been that their database was still showing the illustrations and parts bill of material from the 2013 CMax?  As far as I could see the '14 interiors are exactly the same as '13

[salsaguy]

this is EXACTLY why the Energi's dont get these because they didnt have issues getting the MPG ratings, only the hybrids and hence why the 2014 Energi's were available first and they hybrids many months later as they were still tweaking things with mph and aero enhancements and of course testing and retesting. no way they were going to get another screw up for mpg without making SURE many times over

their black eye is going to take a long time to heal if it ever does with some customers

 

Maybe they are thinking of the Energi as a compliance car so they aren't worrying about it if there aren't any complaints. The Hybrid is supposed to challenge the Prius and they need to have their act together for that. The C-Max is a better car but the mileage is not in the same class and Prius reliability has set a very high mark.

[salsaguy]

read here

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/3377-ford-to-update-34-million-cars-to-applink/

seems its only for the non MFT systems and older 2010 to present (so this wont help us CMaxers with SELs)

 

Ford was supposed to be rolling out an update that would enable Applink support.  I remember reading/hearing about it a while back but haven't heard anything else since.

[CarpeNivem]

That is what I figured.  The "easy fix" way is swap the whole car for an SEL.

 

Crazy as it sounds, I'm considering maybe doing that, perhaps next year.

 

As is, my SE is already worth more than I owe on it, but next year, I expect that difference to be even larger.

 

So maybe, just maybe, I'll swap it for a lease on a '15 or '16 SEL, because if the numbers crunch nicely, why not?

[Cmax lover]

Is there anyone on this thread who has had no battery or major issues with their 2014 Cmax Se Hybrid?  I have a 2013 SE and have had major dead battery problems.  I'm going through a buyback process now and would still like to buy a Cmax.   If you have quite a few miles on your 2014 and have had no major problems, would you give me the manufacturer date of your car?  I would appreciate it.

[Kelleytoons]

I think there are many, and perhaps many more who won't even come to a forum.

 

We only have around 3K on our 2014 SE but no battery issues (so far).  Made in January (bought in July so we've had it several months.  I suspect the actual ownership time is more important than miles in terms of these battery problems, though).

[Cmax lover]

Thanks, Kelleytoons for your reply.  I received my car back from the dealership for the 3rd time yesterday. .  66 days out of service and 3 dead batteries.  Each time they say it's fixed!  I try to stay positive and think it is, but I don't feel like I can take it out of town, much less out of state because I don't trust it.  Time will tell.

[scottwood2]

Maybe a very minor data point here. 2014 built in February, bought in September. 1k miles so far with no problems. I did find the cover off the connection point under the hood for jump starting the car. The car did sit on the lot for quite a while so maybe that was why? Maybe an update fixed it or maybe the plant just forgot to put the cap on. Who knows. Just keeping my fingers crossed. I love the car so far.

[CarpeNivem]

I've had no "major" issues with my CMax, and it has over 20k miles on it. The worst/only thing to go wrong was navigation accuracy (the screen would indicate that I was ~1000 feet to the South of where I actually was, and plot routes accordingly), but one trip to a dealership had that resolved in about an hour. All in all, I'm very happy with this car. It's probably the nicest car I've ever owned, and I've owned several.

 

To be clear, I say probably because I used to own a Solara convertible, and any car with a roof that comes off is always going to be remembered fondly. ;)

[RobMax]

Thanks, Kelleytoons for your reply.  I received my car back from the dealership for the 3rd time yesterday. .  66 days out of service and 3 dead batteries.  Each time they say it's fixed!  I try to stay positive and think it is, but I don't feel like I can take it out of town, much less out of state because I don't trust it.  Time will tell.

 

If your #s are true, your dealership sounds incompetent, to say the least. Have they updated all the modules on the vehicle? Even if they have, have them reflash them all again.

Have they properly tested the battery, or replaced the battery, or just recharged it? Have they taken all TSBs into account on potential causes (water pump, wiring, etc)? Please let us know what else has been done, and what finally resolves it. Or if you end up lemon-lawing it. LOL

[Cmax lover]

If your #s are true, your dealership sounds incompetent, to say the least. Have they updated all the modules on the vehicle? Even if they have, have them reflash them all again.

Have they properly tested the battery, or replaced the battery, or just recharged it? Have they taken all TSBs into account on potential causes (water pump, wiring, etc)? Please let us know what else has been done, and what finally resolves it. Or if you end up lemon-lawing it. LOL

The dealer gave me a list of all tsb's done to my car.  It was extensive.  I also wrote a note regarding checking the water pump, wiring, etc).  One of the tsb's included that.  I check " her" in the garage every once in a while to see if she's still "alive".  The service dept. at my dealer is very good and I trust them.  BUT, they've said they don't know if what they've done is a true fix or not.  My ford rep said Ford gives no guarantees.  Interesting.

[RobMax]

The dealer gave me a list of all tsb's done to my car.  It was extensive.  I also wrote a note regarding checking the water pump, wiring, etc).  One of the tsb's included that.  I check " her" in the garage every once in a while to see if she's still "alive".  The service dept. at my dealer is very good and I trust them.  BUT, they've said they don't know if what they've done is a true fix or not.  My ford rep said Ford gives no guarantees.  Interesting.

I would lemon law that car asap then. Maybe the line was drunk that day and put everything in backward. There's no way I'd stand for 66 days worth of downtime on a vehicle. Get another one or something else entirely and don't look back.

[salsaguy]

I'm sure there's are legal and licencing reasons for this. also since there are about 20 different main types of smart phones and companies of varying ages and all work differently with different apps it would be a nightmare to try and code something that works with EVERYTHING.

And while most do own smartphones, not everyone wants one and in your scenario those who buy a car won't get the benefits of a new car without nav unless the had a smartphone and would be pretty pissed off that a $30k+ car lacked a basic feature on all new cars.

 

It's a touchy subject but yes the car systems will always be outdated and it makes sense since cars take 5-7 years to develop and get to manufacturing so the tech in your current car brand new off the lot was already outdated 1-2 years ago as that was when they probably finalized all the designed and froze the supplier list for all the parts being used. Even the Garmin $129 GPS is better at nav than Ford. It just doesn't have all the other things like HD Radio or other stuff.

 

 

For example, navigation on the phone is superior to NAV, and it integrates with my contact manager, which I also synch to my PC at home.  Often, to navigate, I look up the address on my phone, and then I use voice command to dictate to NAV.  Can't we cut out the middle man, and just realize that today's drivers likely have smartphones that can do this better than NAV? 

 

In fact, every application on today's smartphones are superior to MFT.  So, Ford would be smart to put its money into integration systems, making smartphone integrate well with MFT, rather than trying to reinvent already existing services that are superior in almost every way.

[salsaguy]

Jus

We will let you play with ours when we get ours.

;)

 

I'll keep mine as well...but I would :flirt:  to play with the MY14. Oh yeah.

[salsaguy]

Agreed

Companies don't spend much R&D money on an old antiquated feature (keys) that won't get them to get kudos/higher feedback or satisfaction scores back from their costumers since most want keyless nowadays.

 

 

It's an easy fix.  Do away with the key, like the SEL package has.  Just push a button and you're done :love_shower:

[margcarp]

I have a 2014 CMAX hybrid.. I went to start my car this morning and the battery is dead. What can I do to start the car?