New member from Michigan

[pmtiny]

Hello all,

  I am a new member to this forum who is planning on purchasing another vehicle in the next year.  I currently have a 2104 Ford Focus w/193,000 miles on it, but not sure how many more miles I will get. My sister has a 2016 C-Max Hybrid that I really like.

I have been doing some research on the C-max, and I am not sure if this is the right vehicle for me. 85-90% of my driving is highway miles, 70-80 mph. I have been looking at the 2016-2018 models.

•  
• Is  the Cmax hybrid a good car if I am doing mainly highway miles?
• Hybrid vs Energy?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

[markd]

After five years the best I can do at hi way speed is about 40 mpg. If you can live with that it's a great vehicle.

[stolenmoment]

Energi isn't a win for mostly highway miles.  No worse than the hybrid except for being a marginally heavier vehicle.

[plus 3 golfer]

Make sure you understand about High Voltage Battery degradation before you buy an Energi - both how to determine existing battery degradation of a used Energi and how to mitigate battery degradation (all the hoops you have to jump through to preserve the battery).  Also, a few early MY C-Maxes have had transmission failures (bearing issues) out of warranty ($7k+ for new and $3k+ for used transmissions).  Look for a later MY - late 2015+ build date and lower miles.

 

I also drive lots of freeway and interstate miles at Eco-cruise set at around 78+ mph.  You will be doing well if you can get mid 30s actual mpg (not car displayed mpg) and great if you can get upper 30's doing an average speed of 75+ mph (not what speedometer says as it's usually at least 1 mph slower than actual).  I figure if I ran 3 mph slower (75 average), I'd increase FE by about 1.5 mpg.

 

IMO, the C-Max is a great cruising vehicle at high speeds. I don't like the OEM Michelin Energy Saver tires as the tires are built for FE not performance especially in the rain. The ESs will provide an increase of 2-3% in mpg over many other tires.

[ptjones]

If you are into improving your gas mileage you can watch my video's from my thread: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/6568-how-to-drive-a-cmax-hybridffh-to-get-great-gas-mileage/page-1

 

Paul

[jmcgliss]

Good luck with your C-Max search. On the Fuelly.com website you can view graphs of real-world mileage experience by C-Max users, by month, and by model year.  

 

My wife's 45-minute commute on county roads with some stop lights is ideal for our C-Max hybrid. Averages 54+ mpg in warm months and 46-48 mpg in winter.  On occasional expressway trips, mileage drops about 10 mpg.  Tire inflation in the 48-50 psi range helps as well. Even without the above-average mileage she gets on weekdays, we love the car.

 

P.S. We've seen the occasional 10-20 mile trip average 68-70 mpg.\ - not at highway miles but that shows you what is possible under good conditions.

Edited July 3, 2019 by jmcgliss

[fbov]

 

Given what we know today, the Energi/Hybrid question is Hybrid. Plus 3 talked about the reason; falling battery life with the common plug-in charge/discharge cycle. Hybrid c/d cycle is less stressful. 

 

There are better hybrids for highway, even if the C-Max is hard to beat in city and rural driving. I find it hard to get out of the mid-high 30's on interstate highways, while I had no problem getting low 40's in the wife's Hyundai Sonata Hybrid yesterday. Hyundai uses a conventional transmission, low-speed electric motor and variable valve timing, in a sedan body with very low Cd (0.24 claimed). At speed, valve timing switches the engine to Atkinson mode in top gear for more efficiency, or uses EV if HVB charge is high and throttle use light. You do get some throttle lag if you punch it, but so does the C-Max. 

 

Conversely, there are things about Hyundai engineering that I don't like, even as my wife seems pleased. HID headlights are as bad as it gets. I have had the head lights go out at night on twisty roads trying to find high-beams. Neither factory nor dealer can aim them properly, even using the very nicely engineered adjustment mechanism. Aim the low-beams right and the high's still aim for the trees. 

 

Conversely, the C-Max headlights are among the best I've ever driven, right from the factory. Safe in a white-out because you can see the road. 

 

Finally, there is (was?) a web site with data on hybrid and EV performance and reliability. 

https://avt.inl.gov/

Sadly, has been gutted, five years after it was prematurely truncated. Not all cars made the 160K mile goal, so they never did the high-mileage battery testing. The big message was that 2013 C-Max reliability was excellent, save for the transmission issue, resolved by 2015. Here's a sample report I had downloaded. 

 

batteryCMax2158.pdf

 

Welcome!

Frank

Edited July 8, 2019 by fbov

[ptjones]

It seem to me that I get instantaneous torque from electric motors when I step on the gas, other Hybrids can't keep up with CMAX.  Interesting that the worst mpg's I get is 45 mpg's with A/C on temps in the 90's and going 70-75 mph and I usually get low 50's doing 60-70 mph.

 

Paul

[16redsel]

Welcome pmtiny!

 

   I have a 2016 Cmax (SEL with the 302A option package) and I'm VERY happy with the car overall. It's true you get better MPG in city driving, but there

are many other reasons to consider buying one. High riding position with great visibility, really good interior quality and also comfortable and very quiet inside.

   As stated above, consider only the 2015 or later models - they got most of the bugs out by then. I have only had one incidence where the vehicle's

software had a hiccup and the instruments indicated a problem with a wrench icon and told me to "STOP SAFELY NOW". This was completely fixed after a trip

to the dealer and covered under warranty. 30,000 more miles and problem has not repeated.

   There are a couple things that are bothersome about the car: NO spare tire! NO jack!. The manual doesn't even give jacking instructions, although there are two tiny

triangles on the rocker panel that indicate safe jacking points. There is an air compressor/sealer kit under the passenger seat that might take care of minor tire punctures. Also, the car's turning radius is a bit wider than most cars this size, so you may find yourself executing more "K" turns and fewer "U" turns in tight spots., and if you get one with the "Panoramic" moon roof, it's great but doesn't open - fixed glass (but the powered shade for the roof is pretty cool and essential in hot, sunny weather). Also,

this is my first car that I'm not doing my own oil changes on...there's a 12 bolt panel underneath that has to be removed for drain/filter access. I'm retired now and am happy to let the Ford dealer do it. My last two trips to the dealer were under $100 so pretty happy.

   Here in Ohio, you'll see about 1-2 Cmax-es for every 50 Ford Escapes. Most people are not even aware this car exists - "...it's a Ford what..?", but after a recent trip in

British Columbia (not driving the Cmax), I noticed that, Canadians being on average a bit more intelligent than Americans, they have a much higher percentage of them on the road up there! ....(could be the legal weed....)

   

Anyhow, I would buy another one of these cars in a heartbeat, but I'm saving up for a Tesla because Gull wing doors and Ludicrous mode!

[C-MaxA2]

Welcome from another SE Michigander (A2).

 

We have a 2016 C-Max hybrid SE that we bought last June (with very low miles) and love ours.  We also have a 2004 Ford Focus ZTW wagon.  We used to think it got great gas mileage (it's a 5 speed) but the C-Max showed us not!

 

I bought ours used and after we got it I noticed that we had one odd tire (a Kelly) and since there was no spare I made that into the spare and got a new wheel and Michelin tire to match the other 3 OEMs. I got a jack and on long trips take the 'spare' tire and kit along.  The little electric pump that Ford gives you (under the passenger seat) is a poor excuse. I tried it out and couldn't get it to inflate a tire. I always carry a manual pump that works just great so I don't have to search for a gas station with air if I need to inflate a tire.

 

We keep the tires at 50 lbs. and it feels fine (and is OK with Michelin) and that helps the gas mileage.  

 

Have fun with your Max!  

[stolenmoment]

Ouch, I use my CMax's pump for everything now, bikes, other cars, you name it.

[C-MaxA2]

I can get out my manual pump and have something pumped up in the time it takes to reach that little compartment, get it out and plug everything in, etc.  And I can take that pump anywhere without cords, etc.  Sometimes simple is better...

[fbov]

Perhaps my response was too specific, given I spent Sunday in a Sonata Hybrid trying to get it to perform. But we only took the Sonata because it has newer tires. I'd take the C-Max any day. They got the aero right; it's very stable at speed. 

 

... I get is 45 mpg's with A/C on temps in the 90's and going 70-75 mph ...

In fairness to the OP, you should mention the many aero modes you've done that enable this kind of result. 

 

Frank

Edited July 11, 2019 by fbov

[ptjones]

I mentioned my videos in Post #5, I drove about 850 miles yesterday. I filled up in Valdosta, GA at Sam's getting Premium for $2.69, then drove to Deltona, FL and back to Newnan, GA about 640 miles and still have 50 miles to Empty.  My average was 51.5 mpg, not bad considering I drove through two thunder storms which can wreck your mpg's.  :)  I ruffed it out and didn't use the A/C even though temps where up to  93*F and high humidity. BTW my Life Time Scrore went up to 50.4 mpg.

 

Paul