Maximum is 38MPG - City

[salsaguy]

Tell the wife you just read on a c-max forum there may be a service update to "fix an issue" (wink wink)  but you need to take it up to highway speed to test out the issue is/isn't on her car , then steal/borrow the car for an hours time and have fun and do some testing for the forum and you to see if you can test out the EV mode at highway speeds. When you get back tell the wife her car is "fine"and doesn't have any issues, or if you can't get it into EV  mode at highway speeds tell her you need to take it in to fix the issue to upgrade to latest program.

 

Just want to update this thread,,, as i haven't been able to test my max on interstate driving... Its mainly wifes car..  :)

I have to agree with above posters.. I got to drive around few (>10 )miles on different route in city.. i could

see the trip mpg to be 41mpg.. this is post tire pressure update...but later after few days its back to 38-39 range

so definitely driver's driving affecting MPG... Im sure i can get it to near 42/43 with my driving..

will update post if i see any improvement or otherwise..

[mtb9153]

Well with all these posts in this thread, I have to say I'm right in there too these days.  Having trouble staying in the 37mpg range right now.  I'm sure of two things it is my need for having the A/C on most of the time since I'm hot by nature, being overweight I guess?  Also I don't practice very well the gas and coast concept once I reach the set speed limit .  Weird because this time last summer I was racking mid to high 40's pretty consistently.  Maybe tire pressure is playing into this some since I think I have a tire which leaks down over a period of time.  Could be better for Maxus right now.

[ptjones]

It is amazing how much A/C can kill your MPG's on short trips, in the 30'smpg when normally I would be in the 50'smpg's. On long trips the hit isn't so bad maybe 1-3mpg. :)

 

Paul

[Marc Smith]

PT.  are you sure  its not because of the lack of warmup time on a short trip...

 

my current average in fuelly is pretty much with a/c on 100% of the time...  Without running the AC  you will save the battery  and you will also keep the shutters closed...

 

with most of my time on an 18 mile  daily commute...with no warmup in the AM or PM...

 

I think my cold weather mileage is going to take a huge hit... concern is going to be  when the summer fuel goes away and I need to start using the heater...  it will be a double whammy..crappy fuel  and the ICE needing to run more to keep the cabin warm...

[ptjones]

I make 4 mile trip into town almost every day at lunch time with temps in high 80's and get high 40's to mid 50's normally.  Couple of days ago with wife in car, I had to put A/C on  and got MPG's of 32& 35, Ouch!  I got 53 and 51mpg's on my last two fillups and think I will get 53 on this tank if I can minimize the A/C use.

 

Winter MPG's don't have to suffer much If you take corrective actions, Grill Covers, ICE Block and Oil Pan Heaters that can minimize any loses. :)

 

Paul

Edited July 8, 2014 by ptjones

[fbov]

... Grill Covers, ICE Block and Oil Pan Heaters that can minimize any loses.

At least South of the Macon-Dixon line...

[ptjones]

Frank, you will gain 4-6mpg by using that equipment over not using it during the winter. If you look at my Fuelly during last winter I was getting 45mpg in 20*-30* temps and 52mpg now.  All the trips had ups and downs. In your situation I would expect 40-45mpg during the winter. :) 

 

Paul

[nsteblay]

I see very little impact from air conditioning.  I took another long highway trip - 1300 miles - averaged 41.5 MPG driving freeway speeds on ECO Cruise - air conditioning on the whole time - hills or flat doesn't seem to make a difference.  Since I've gotten back I've put about 85 miles  commuting to work (rush hour freeway with congestion) and have averaged 51 MPG - air conditioning on.  

 

If you're in warm weather I can't see how you're getting in the mid to upper 30's - with winter weather I believe it. I do think part of my success is driving style yet I am keeping up with the flow of traffic if not passing slower traffic.  Knowing when to accelerate and when to let up to coast does provide a gain in MPG - second nature now.  I don't know - I would have to try hard to get in the 30's in warmer weather.

[fbov]

Frank, you will gain 4-6mpg by using that equipment over not using it during the winter. If you look at my Fuelly during last winter I was getting 45mpg in 20*-30* temps and 52mpg now.  All the trips had ups and downs. In your situation I would expect 40-45mpg during the winter. :)

 

Paul

Paul, my average for the rural route without block heaters is 42.6 mpg when temps are in the 20-30F range. 36.5 mpg on the expressway... car-based readings, not pump-based, so perhaps a bit high.

 

The problem is that temps are rarely that warm in winter... move North 1000 miles and we'll talk about what to expect in Winter.

 

Frank

[ptjones]

Most of my miles are FWY Cross Country and last Feb. I went to SF via KS, CO, WY,UT and NV with temps from 20's to -7* with snow packed Interstate HWY and strong head winds and snow. My worst MPG's was 36.7 without the use of Oil Pan Heater. I still stand by my earlier statement. You should be able to improve your MPG's by 4-6MPG's over last winter, next winter. IMHO :)

 

Paul

 

Paul, my average for the rural route without block heaters is 42.6 mpg when temps are in the 20-30F range. 36.5 mpg on the expressway... car-based readings, not pump-based, so perhaps a bit high.

 

The problem is that temps are rarely that warm in winter... move North 1000 miles and we'll talk about what to expect in Winter.

 

Frank

[ptjones]

Well yesterday my Dealer called me to see if knew anyone that would be interested in used 2013 CMAX SE with 6K miles on it for $19K. It had been traded for a F150, dealer said the guy was very big and he was a tight fit for a CMAX.  You can imagine my curiosity(I haven't driven someone else's CMAX)  to see what kind of MPG's it was getting and if it had any 12v battery problems. So first we checked car history and saw no problems, great!  Next I checked the car out, nicely equipped with NAV no obvious problems so I got in and turned it on.  I was amazed at what I saw, this owner had not changed the Smart Gauge settings since he drove it off the Dealer's Lot! The Display was set for Vehicle Range and instantaneous MPG's, trip gauges were set for standard and #1 had been reset once on first tank, #2 had the original mileage and average MPG's of 37.2 since new.  Smart Gauge was on Fuel Economy: Coach when I turned on the car. The right side was set for leaves. It would appear to me that this person just put gas in the car and wasn't worried about the MPG's. Lifetime Brake Score was 92%

 

My take away from this is that CMAX's owners getting 37mpg drive their CMAX like a regular car not a Hybrid. I drove this car around town and got 56mpg!  IMHO :)

 

Paul

Edited July 14, 2014 by ptjones

[C-MaxSea]

Paul, I think you are spot on - as we have all guessed, a significant portion of owners make little or no effort to understand the vehicle in order to take full advantage of its Eco-engineering; perhaps 10, 20, 30.......%???  Certainly it is OK, taking only 'half advantage' (default mode for most drivers) which aint bad at all at 38MPG; and driving in full fun mode occasionally, perfectly fine; but just a little sad.  We all understand the failings of the dealers too in educating the buyers;  but in their defense, the salespersons/dealers have only a couple cracks at helping the buyers.  I would be curious what their braking score was on that car.  nick
 
PS  I still would like to see some coaching opportunities offered by the dealers.
 
My hypothetical: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2976-coaching-tech-sessions/
 
PSS  The Force is With you '38ers', EVe that is: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2962-the-force-is-with-you/

Edited July 16, 2014 by C-MaxSea

[shinytop]

My dealer had me see a lady for the keys.  She gave me a 30 minute lesson on the car.  She also gave me a phone number for questions.  The dealer also offered classes on Saturdays.  Since I live 240 miles from that dealer I have not attended the classes.  The dealer was Long-Lewis Ford in Birmingham, AL.

 

I found this forum before I bought the car and downloaded and read the manual before I bought the car.  Considered it due diligence.  I knew about the battery issues and the mileage issues.  Have not had the battery issues and am beating the mileage from my sticker AND going to receive a check from Ford.

 

Pretty good buying experience thus far. 

[C-MaxSea]

You go Key Lady !!!  ;)        (Kudos Long-Lewis Ford in Birmingham, AL :thumbsup:  )

Edited July 13, 2014 by C-MaxSea

[fbov]

...My take away from this is that CMAX's owners getting 37mpg drive their CMAX like a regular car not a Hybrid. I drove this car around town and got 56mpg!  IMHO :)

When my wife went car shopping a few years ago, I advised against a hybrid based on my mechanic's agrument that you could get similar mileage for less expense with a conventional drivetrain. We drove that car (Hyundai Elantra) for two years before the C-max came to us, and I had no problem getting EPA-rated highway mileage the one time I drove it alone. All I did was shift to 6th when I got up to highway speed, and turned off the defrost (and so AC). She averages about 90% of rated highway mileage and constantly complains about her rotten mileage around town... especially when I tell her what I'm getting. Blames me for the bad advice.

 

If she could get in and out of the C-Max easily (arthritis), we could trade and see who gets what, but I suspect I know the answer...it's not the car, it's the driver (and this car has changed the way I drive!).

 

Have fun,

Frank

[ptjones]

I went back and took pics of Smart Gauge Lifetime Numbers Brake Score 92% and Trip Gauge for reference. edited on original Post #36 :)

 

Paul

[DaveofDurham]

I went back and took pics of Smart Gauge Lifetime Numbers Brake Score 92% and Trip Gauge for reference. edited on original Post #36 :)

 

Paul

 

92%.  That leads me to start a new thread titled "Yellow Brake Score in Coach"

[ptjones]

If I knew how to start a thread where members could post their LifeTime MPG and Breaking Scores we could create a graph to show a correlation between Break Score and MPG's. IMO :) 

 

Paul

[Smiling Jack]

If I knew how to start a thread where members could post their LifeTime MPG and Breaking Scores we could create a graph to show a correlation between Break Score and MPG's. IMO :)

 

Paul

 

Be careful with this idea until you have actualy seen some data to bear out the intuition.

 

I once had a professor who promised to present a graph of test grades vs. number of homework problems turned in.

 

In the end, he announced that he would not show the graph because the correllation was negative; i.e. the students who had turned in the fewest homework problems tended to earn higher test scores than the ones who had turned in more problems..

 

The professor was mystified by this result, but it made perfrct sense to some of the high scorers who explained that the homework problems were really hard (and there were too many of them, and they were repetitious) and that those of us who took the time to learn and understand a few of the problems simply did not have the time or energy left to do even most of the problems.  On the other hand, many of those who turned in all of the problems were more interested in completing the assignment than in actually learning anything; so they did a hurried and cursory job, which did not help them deal with getting the right answers on the test problems.

[Kelleytoons]

After reading this thread I'm starting to think our C-Max will have a Jekyll/Hyde personality -- when I drive it I'll get great mileage and my lead foot wife (despite her claims to the contrary) will bring it back down (since she'll drive it the majority of the miles we aren't likely to ever average a good MPG).

 

Even now I get about 5-6 MPG better than her driving our Durango -- she's always complaining about putting gas in and yet I can drive it for weeks while she's gone to visit the grandkids and never have to fuel up.  Some people just don't have the touch.  Or, in her case, the patience (when I ride with her she always drives fast right up to the next stop light and then slams on the brakes.  Sigh).

 

Too bad I can't find a driving class that would teach her the techniques I learned WAY back in the 80's (when all the State workers took a course to help get better mileage out of the state vehicles we drove).  Back then we could get nearly 30 MPG out of vehicles with V8 engines that were never designed to get more than 15 MPG normally.

[ptjones]

Be careful with this idea until you have actualy seen some data to bear out the intuition.

 

I once had a professor who promised to present a graph of test grades vs. number of homework problems turned in.

 

In the end, he announced that he would not show the graph because the correllation was negative; i.e. the students who had turned in the fewest homework problems tended to earn higher test scores than the ones who had turned in more problems..

 

The professor was mystified by this result, but it made perfrct sense to some of the high scorers who explained that the homework problems were really hard (and there were too many of them, and they were repetitious) and that those of us who took the time to learn and understand a few of the problems simply did not have the time or energy left to do even most of the problems.  On the other hand, many of those who turned in all of the problems were more interested in completing the assignment than in actually learning anything; so they did a hurried and cursory job, which did not help them deal with getting the right answers on the test problems.

Smiling Jack you make me laugh. LOL  Here are my two Data points: My Car  LifeTime MPG 46.4, Brake score 98%, EV miles 29225.4, Regen miles 2038.1 and total miles 65,438.5. EV% 44.6

                                                                                                   Used CMAX LT              37.3,                     92%                 2504.7                      335.9                          6,782.2. EV% 37

 

Well this is a start and it is very obvious that EV % and Brake Score make a big difference. Now if we had a bunch more we could make a graph that would mean something. If other members want to post their numbers I will post them to my Post.   There does seem to be a direct connection between EV% and MPG's. :)

 

After reading this thread I'm starting to think our C-Max will have a Jekyll/Hyde personality -- when I drive it I'll get great mileage and my lead foot wife (despite her claims to the contrary) will bring it back down (since she'll drive it the majority of the miles we aren't likely to ever average a good MPG).

 

Even now I get about 5-6 MPG better than her driving our Durango -- she's always complaining about putting gas in and yet I can drive it for weeks while she's gone to visit the grandkids and never have to fuel up.  Some people just don't have the touch.  Or, in her case, the patience (when I ride with her she always drives fast right up to the next stop light and then slams on the brakes.  Sigh).

 

Too bad I can't find a driving class that would teach her the techniques I learned WAY back in the 80's (when all the State workers took a course to help get better mileage out of the state vehicles we drove).  Back then we could get nearly 30 MPG out of vehicles with V8 engines that were never designed to get more than 15 MPG normally.

You need to setup Trip 1 for you and Trip 2 for her. LOL That way you can keep track. :drop: I suspect she won't improve, oh well what can you do. ;)

 

Paul

[shinytop]

And those of us with '14's don't have lifetime stats.  Wish I did.

[ptjones]

And those of us with '14's don't have lifetime stats.  Wish I did.

Did you leave Trip 2 unchanged or did you reset it? I don't know why FORD did that other than try to improve the mileage numbers. What does it show when you turn off the car? :)

 

Paul

[shinytop]

The latest turn on to turn off stats.

[DaveofDurham]

If I knew how to start a thread where members could post their LifeTime MPG and Breaking Scores we could create a graph to show a correlation between Break Score and MPG's. IMO :)

 

Paul

Over 30,000+ miles our lifetime mpg is 43.2 and our lifetime brake score is 92%. When today's monsoon ends I will go out and check the other data.

 

I also need to check my records. I have never reset any of our lifetime values, but I recall that our lifetime EV miles got set back to 0 by one of the software updates.