Four Months Going and Very Happy with my 2015

[SanDiegoDP]

I've had My C-Max for just over four months now, and since I relied on this forum to find real opinions and mileage results of real users, and in the process allay my fears about the dead 12V battery issue that plagued the vehicle in the early release phase (i.e. 2013), I want to contribute my two cents and say that after these four months, I think this is pretty darn close to the perfect vehicle for me.

 

Let me first say that I have been driving Civic Hatchbacks since 1984 (and I'm 6'3" tall).  I've had four of them, and loved the first three.  The first three would get 45 MPG on the highway and 35 around town.  Number four got more like 27/35 MPG.  They were peppy, nimble and handled well.  Their hatchback designs held a good deal of cargo.  So overall I liked them, and was with great reluctance that I decided it was time to let go of Honda#4. 

 

Gas mileage and family set my search constraints.  My criteria in the search for my next vehicle was that it had to be a four door, and average at least 40MPG.  I also started by looking only at certain manufacturers just from a default assumption about reliability and quality.  Since I found very few vehicles with those two criteria, I eventually opened the search up to all manufactures, and lo and behold, here is this thing called a C-Max by Ford. 

 

The spec's for the C-Max do very well on almost all parameters of importance to me when compared to other cars I know well and was considering.  MPG: it's listed in the 40-42 range. So, check.  It meets that criterion.  Horsepower to weight ratio: right up there with my hatchbacks and my wife's Accord.  Check again.  Torque to weight ratio: again, right up there with the Accord.  Check.  Headroom: check-plus.  C-Max has 2" more headroom than any other vehicle I was considering. (Recall I'm 6'3".)  Cargo room behind the seats and with seats folded down (flat even): better than my hatchbacks!  So, the C-Max is coming out very well when compared to all the other vehicles I was considering.

 

Then I found that there were bad reviews by one major rating agency, but couldn't find the specific points on which they based those bad reviews.  So, hmmm.  Then I found this forum and a lot of discussion about the dead 12 V battery, which I read carefully and concluded had been a serious issue early on, but which was now coming under control. …and I found a lot of very enthusiastic reviews by the users.  So I held my breath and took the plunge and bought what may be the last car I'll ever own…. (..the 2015 ruby SE)

 

So now I have to repeat that this is an amazing vehicle!  Even though it weighs 50% more than my old hatchback, it still gets better MPG!  I'm getting 46 MPG steady on each tank fill (5 fills now), and I'm getting over 550 miles per tank (vs. 320 miles on the old hatchback).  The Dashboard readout claims that I'm getting 48 MPG, but based on the tank fill volume, it's 46 MPG.  That "heavier vehicle getting better mileage" reality has taken me a while to get used to.  It's simply a testimony to the systems engineering that's been put into this hybrid vehicle. 

 

Things I like about this vehicle:

         MPG (goes without saying) - I expected that I would have to get a much smaller, lighter, less comfortable, less versatile vehicle to achieve the 46 MPG that this gets, but not so!  This vehicle is consistently giving me 46 MPG.  I do not understand how it gets rated at 42/37.  This MPG rating number has been a big (and costly) issue for Ford.  So I get it that they can't and don't want to over-rate it, but those low numbers were one of the main reasons I did not spot the C-Max in my initial searches for suitable vehicles.  It shows up in position 72 out of 78 at one of the main automotive websites when searching for cars over 40 mpg.

         Power when you need it - there is no compromise on power for the very good MPG performance.  When you need to move quickly on the highway, this will move.  (…and I have only pushed the pedal about 2/3 to 3/4 of way down!)  Also the torque at startup from a dead stop is very very nice.  That's the benefit from the electric motor, and is common to the hybrid and electric designs. 

         Smooth and quiet ride - It has a nice smooth and very quiet ride.  It's not a sloshy suspension that makes me seasick like some big American cars, and it's not a "water on a hot skillet" tight ride like my Civic hatchback.  It's just very stable and smooth.  I drove it on some winding mountain roads on one trip, and I could swear it handled better and rolled less than my little Civic hatchback.

         Spacious comfortable Interior - I never felt bad in my hatchback, but after being in the C-Max for a while, I feel like I'm in a submarine when I get into my hatchback again.  C-Max has great headroom.  For me that's a welcome relief after years bending my neck sideways. 

         Cargo room seats up and seats down - roomy enough because it has more volume than my hatchback, but I have a comment on this later as well.

         Fold down flat rear seats -  60/40 split provides even more cargo room even while daughter is in the back.  I can fold one seat down next to her.

         Safety systems - taken a bit for granted these days, but I appreciate the potential of the safety improvements of this vehicle as I'm getting older, and this vehicle seems to be well rated.

         Simple Systems - I bought the SE level vehicle because I'm a "keep it simple" kind of person who appreciates the added reliability of manual this and that.  As a driver, I don’t want a touch screen, so I liked the simple buttons and knobs of the radio system.  Having said that, my wife loves the Blue-Tooth interface to her cell phone and the hands free sound quality in the car.  It's quite good.  I also appreciate the 1/8" audio input jack in the center arm rest for those old fashioned sound devices. 

         Comfortable Seats - I don't want motorized seat adjustments, thanks.  The SE comes with manual seat adjustments, quick and simple, but lacks a lumbar adjustment. The seat as is was a bit too curved in the lower and mid-back regions for a tall guy like me, but I fixed this easily by having a local seamstress make a 1" thick cushion which hangs from the headrests to fill in that space, and it's very comfy in every respect now.

        

        

What could be better?  In a nutshell, not much.  I really consider this vehicle to be as close to perfect for me as I could reasonably ask for.  Having said that though, Here are a couple of relatively minor picky things on my wish list:

         More cargo space width:  The cargo volume is fairly large, but what I've come to realize is that's because the space is tall, but it is not as wide or quite deep as my old Civic.  Functionally to me, what matters most is the cargo floor area, i.e. square feet.  Not so much the volume, i.e. cubic feet.   I understand the C-Max is constrained because there are some air chimneys on the sides of the cargo area that bring cooling air to the battery pack under the cargo floor.  If the cooling air could come in some other way that left that cargo width useable, that would be an improvement.  My criteria for a great cargo area is that you can fit a 4' wide sheet of plywood in at some level - may be not right at the floor, but in some workable way.  My 1980 Honda Hatchback could do that, but I haven't seen many cars that still meet that challenge.

         Tighter turn radius:  It doesn’t' seem like a big difference on paper, but the turning radius is functionally not as nice as my old hatchback or my wife's Accord.  It's very workable, but I really liked the tight radius on my Civic.  (I'm guessing it is constrained by the fancy vectored torque differential transmission driving the front wheels.)

         Zig-Zag shifter:  I've driven manual transmissions all my life.  So these automatic shifters are a new thing for me.  On a recent vacation I drove a rental car with an automatic transmission that had what I would describe as a zig-zag shifter mechanism, and I have to say that I prefer that over the straight-path shifter of the C-Max.  With the straight path shifter of the C-Max, I have to feel each detent and look carefully to be sure I didn't overshoot the desired position, (and I almost always overshoot the desired position).  With the "zig-zag" shifter, I found that hitting the channel stops at R and D provided excellent physical feedback telling me that I had positively engaged the desired transmission position.

         Interior release button for the rear hatch:  I would like to see a button or pull lever somewhere that releases the rear hatch.  I understand that the designers don't want to make it too easy for the hatch to go flying up by mistake while you're tooling down the highway, but it seems unnecessary to have to put it in park and find the trunk release button on the key that is in the ignition.  I would think that if the car is not moving, then the hatch should be able to be released.

         Backup camera as standard:  Maybe it will become that way, but the 2015 SE didn't start with a backup camera.  It would be nice.  I'll get calibrated eventually, but for now I'm still winding up with about 3 feet of clearance in back when I think I'm close to something behind me.  (I'm torn on the ultrasonic distance sensors - I like the function, but they seem like something that will certainly break and be a pain to fix…)

         Quieter Cabin Air System:  The C-Max is much quieter than my Civics.  It's strikingly nice.  However, if the cabin air fans are set above two-bars (out of 8?), then the white noise of the air from the vents noticeably overpowers that quietness.  Above four bars, and it's just loud.  It would be nice if the airflow capacity could be maintained, but the noise reduced.

         Smaller gas tank:  I understand that Ford probably has one gas tank that goes into several car models to reduce costs.  However, I don't really need to go 550-600 miles per fill-up.  I was used to doing 300-320 miles per fill-up.  So, if the gas tank were say 7 gallons instead of 13.5 or 14, and that extra space could show up as usable trunk space in the form of a lower floor, I would be fine with that tradeoff.

         Seat position indicator: I'm a keep it simple kind of person, but it would be nice if there were a simple indicator showing the seat settings, particularly the seat height.   Every time my wife uses my C-Max, I have to re-adjust the seat slide, height, and tilt.  It would be nice if there were some mechanical scale or readout that would let me unambiguously put the seat back to where it was.  This is most important on the seat height adjustment.  The slide and tilt settings are easy enough to find by feeling the notches from one end of the travel limit.  But the height adjust a much harder and slower to adjust and would most benefit from some scale indicator.

 

So overall, I am very impressed with this vehicle.  I'm sorry that I'm not seeing more of them on the road!

[Taz]

Very well thought out review - kudos! 

 

My C-max Energi has an inside rear hatch release. Maybe it came with my 303a pkg. I absolutely love the option to move my foot under the bumper. It is REALLY nice when my arms are full of junk.

 

I think I am on my 5th fill up as well but that has been in about 5 weeks. My average FE until this point was 40 mpg under pretty much terrible conditions. This tank is markedly better. Partly because I've been actually able to plug it in but also because I've learned how to drive it better.

 

Glad you are enjoying your C-max so much. I fell in love with one when I had it in Europe with a diesel. Really wish they would bring that model to the US. I probably would have bought it and not my Energi at the time. Now i realize the Energi is a great choice as well.

[kostby]

If your C-MAX SE is equipped with the 201A equipment group (power liftgate, reverse sensing system, ambient interior lighting) or the 203A equipment group which includes all the features of 201A and 202A, you have an inside hatch release button located on the right side beneath the climate control. SE's with 200A or 202A alone do not have the liftgate dashboard release.

[SanDiegoDP]

Kostby,

 

Thanks, that explains the lack of the hatch release on mine. It is a base package 200A. 

[stevedebi]

Kostby,

 

Thanks, that explains the lack of the hatch release on mine. It is a base package 200A. 

The large gas tank comes from the fact the C-Max is based on the world wide Kuga platform, which uses gasoline / diesel in other countries. They need the larger tank.

[scottwood2]

 

         Zig-Zag shifter:  I've driven manual transmissions all my life.  So these automatic shifters are a new thing for me.  On a recent vacation I drove a rental car with an automatic transmission that had what I would describe as a zig-zag shifter mechanism, and I have to say that I prefer that over the straight-path shifter of the C-Max.  With the straight path shifter of the C-Max, I have to feel each detent and look carefully to be sure I didn't overshoot the desired position, (and I almost always overshoot the desired position).  With the "zig-zag" shifter, I found that hitting the channel stops at R and D provided excellent physical feedback telling me that I had positively engaged the desired transmission position.

I had issues with getting the right gear position too for drive.  Then I learned that if I press the button to release the shifter from park and let go of the button, I can continue to move the shifter but it will stop at drive.  Now I don't even look anymore. I know I am always in drive and not low. 

[plus 3 golfer]

...

What could be better?  In a nutshell, not much.  I really consider this vehicle to be as close to perfect for me as I could reasonably ask for.  Having said that though, Here are a couple of relatively minor picky things on my wish list:

         ...

         Tighter turn radius:  It doesn’t' seem like a big difference on paper, but the turning radius is functionally not as nice as my old hatchback or my wife's Accord.  It's very workable, but I really liked the tight radius on my Civic.  (I'm guessing it is constrained by the fancy vectored torque differential transmission driving the front wheels.)

         ...

         Smaller gas tank:  I understand that Ford probably has one gas tank that goes into several car models to reduce costs.  However, I don't really need to go 550-600 miles per fill-up.  I was used to doing 300-320 miles per fill-up.  So, if the gas tank were say 7 gallons instead of 13.5 or 14, and that extra space could show up as usable trunk space in the form of a lower floor, I would be fine with that tradeoff.

         ...

Just a few comments:

 

Tighter turn radius:  The wheel to wheel turning circle isn't the issue.  It's the  bumper to bumper turning radius which is quite large. Consumer Reports it at 41 feet. When Edmunds tested the car they said:  "Although the C-Max's steering feels normal and not artificially electric as in some hybrids, the car feels like it has an exceptionally wide turning radius. We find ourselves doing multipoint turns just to get into the Starbucks drive-thru. When we look up the actual turning circle reported by Ford, we're genuinely surprised to see it's just 35.8 feet, a typical number for a car this size."  Quite a difference between 41 feet and Ford's reported 35.6 feet.

 

Smaller gas tank: a seven gallon tank? REALLY???  Evidently you don't travel the freeways at 75+ MPH.  You'd be lucky to travel 250 miles between stops.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Plus 3 Golfer

[Adrian_L]

Leave the gas tank alone, please.  One of the perks of this vehicle is infrequent fill-ups.  

[Smiling Jack]

I had issues with getting the right gear position too for drive.  Then I learned that if I press the button to release the shifter from park and let go of the button, I can continue to move the shifter but it will stop at drive.  Now I don't even look anymore. I know I am always in drive and not low. 

 

Scott:

 

GREAT TIP.  Thank you very much !!!

[Smiling Jack]

Very well thought out review - kudos! 

 

My C-max Energi has an inside rear hatch release. Maybe it came with my 303a pkg. I absolutely love the option to move my foot under the bumper. It is REALLY nice when my arms are full of junk.

 

I think I am on my 5th fill up as well but that has been in about 5 weeks. My average FE until this point was 40 mpg under pretty much terrible conditions. This tank is markedly better. Partly because I've been actually able to plug it in but also because I've learned how to drive it better.

 

Glad you are enjoying your C-max so much. I fell in love with one when I had it in Europe with a diesel. Really wish they would bring that model to the US. I probably would have bought it and not my Energi at the time. Now i realize the Energi is a great choice as well.

 

My Energi is on it's 5th fill-up as well - and that is in over 2 years ! - and I usually fill up at about half empty !!

[C-MaxSea]

The Dashboard readout claims that I'm getting 48 MPG, but based on the tank fill volume, it's 46 MPG.  That "heavier vehicle getting better mileage" reality has taken me a while to get used to.  It's simply a testimony to the systems engineering that's been put into this hybrid vehicle. 

 

Things I like about this vehicle:

         MPG (goes without saying) - I expected that I would have to get a much smaller, lighter, less comfortable, less versatile vehicle to achieve the 46 MPG that this gets, but not so!  This vehicle is consistently giving me 46 MPG.  I do not understand how it gets rated at 42/37.  This MPG rating number has been a big (and costly) issue for Ford.  So I get it that they can't and don't want to over-rate it, but those low numbers were one of the main reasons I did not spot the C-Max in my initial searches for suitable vehicles.  It shows up in position 72 out of 78 at one of the main automotive websites when searching for cars over 40 mpg.

         Power when you need it - there is no compromise on power for the very good MPG performance.  When you need to move quickly on the highway, this will move.  (…and I have only pushed the pedal about 2/3 to 3/4 of way down!)  Also the torque at startup from a dead stop is very very nice.  That's the benefit from the electric motor, and is common to the hybrid and electric designs. 

         Smooth and quiet ride - It has a nice smooth and very quiet ride.  It's not a sloshy suspension that makes me seasick like some big American cars, and it's not a "water on a hot skillet" tight ride like my Civic hatchback.  It's just very stable and smooth.  I drove it on some winding mountain roads on one trip, and I could swear it handled better and rolled less than my little Civic hatchback.

 

................................................................

        

Yes indeed, the C-Max has always been a 45+ mpg car in a moderate climate - and with the appropriate power & agile ride .............................................................. to go along with it.   Nick

Edited August 6, 2015 by C-MaxSea