Consumer Reports April Auto Issue

[ArizonaEnergi]

The good news is that the C-Max Hybrid is second in the Wagon ratings based on Overall Road Test, with a rating of 83 vs. the Mazda 5 Grand Touring which had a rating of 88. Next was the Volkswagen Jetta at 81 and the Prius V at 80. The C-Max also has one of the lowest Cost Per Mile ratings at $0.54.

 

Unfortunately it continues to be rated unreliable by CR for the early problems with the MFT system, and perhaps the battery issues, and is given the only Worst Predicted Reliability Survey Results rating for a Wagon.

 

Hopefully the next rating survey will see this rating reversed.

 

Edited March 13, 2014 by ArizonaEnergi

[salsaguy]

Note that they only tested/rated the SE version which lacks a lot of the cool features. Many who sit in/drive an SEL will love it/get spoiled in all the nice stuff it has over the competition. The SE was also more prone for the battery issues in the 2013 version.

But it still did better than the crapbox Prius :)

Edited March 13, 2014 by salsaguy

[cmax-nynj]

No issues with dead battery here with the SE, built 7/2013.  It has been through 100F and 0F, no problem and knock on wood.  I get 50MPG driving in NYC under mild weather condition.

[C-MaxSea]

Very good point Salsa.  Sounds like the C-Max started with a five+ point handicap because they used an SE model rather than an SEL.

Edited March 14, 2014 by C-MaxSea

[ArizonaEnergi]

The C-Max road test score of 83 was only exceeded by a very few cars in the same or similar categories. I haven't counted them, but it might be just 10-15 out of 200 or so vehicles in these catagories that have a higher ratings.

 

For example, only 1 mid-sized SUV had a score of 83 and the 20 others were below the C-Max rating, with the next highest being 78. The highest compact-luxury rating was 80, for a BMW X3, and only one midsized luxury, the Lexus RX had a higher rating at 88. The other 10 were lower.

 

We buy a car for a quality and/or functional experience, and the C-Max delivers on both levels!

Edited March 14, 2014 by ArizonaEnergi

[plus 3 golfer]

Note that they only tested/rated the SE version which lacks a lot of the cool features. Many who sit in/drive an SEL will love it/get spoiled in all the nice stuff it has over the competition. The SE was also more prone for the battery issues in the 2013 version.

But it still did better than the crapbox Prius :)

When I look at the rating categories and the ratings of such categories, I question whether the SEL will score higher than an SE.  The Controls and Display in the Comfort and Convenience category is the only category I see that might be rated differently for the SE and SEL models.   Most reviews indicate the MFT (standard on the SEL) as complicated and as a "con" in their review.  The SEL could get a lower rating in that category but I doubt it since the rating of the Controls and Display is only average.  I doubt CR will test a 2014 C-Max.  But maybe if they did test a 2014,  Ford's "improved" functionality of the controls could raise the rating of this category to "above average".  Of course we also don't know how much this is weighted in the 83 number.

 

Like AE is suggesting, 83 is a great score.  CR likes the C-Max.  It's the owners' surveys that yield the black circle in predicted reliability and "average" rating in owner's satisfaction.  It's up to Ford to improve the C-Max and the owner's should then respond with less problems and likely higher satisfaction.  Since I haven't had the issues that many have had in 21k miles,  I expect that my C-max will be very reliable in the future and after 100k miles of ownership, I will be able to say that my C-Max is one of the best cars I've owned.  But, to the owners that heavily contributed to the 3%+ problem rate (see quote below) that yields the black circle in reliability rating, they will likely not rate their car as one of the best they've owned.

 

Models that score a  are not necessarily unreliable, but have a higher rate of problems than the average model. Similarly, models that score  are not necessarily problem-free, but had relatively few problems compared with other models. 

 

Because problem rates in some trouble spots are very low, we do not assign a  or a  unless the model's problem rate exceeds 3 percent. If a problem rate is below 2 or 1 percent it will be assigned a  or a  respectively.  

 

Edited March 14, 2014 by Plus 3 Golfer