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New very disappointed owner.


Chris
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have had a CMAX for about a month in MN.  formerly had a civic hybrid with great mileage so I am used to driving a hybrid.  Wanted to give Ford a chance.  I am getting about 31mpg combined driving.  Ford dealer NOW says that is within an acceptable range and not to expect too much in MN  winter and to wait for more break-in time but this is really really disappointing.  Anyone ever get improvement after such a disappointing start?  Tips?  

 

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Move somewhere warmer.

 

Seriously, I don't understand why people don't do *any* research before spending $30k on something...

 

Cold weather decreases fuel economy on all vehicles and hurts hybrids more than regular vehicles. Cold is hard on batteries and gasoline engines which are designed to shut off when not in use have trouble staying in efficient temperature ranges. Add to that the parasitic losses from heaters and efficiency drops a lot - we took for granted these past 100 years all that waste heat that engines produce - until we turn off the engine and we get cold...

 

Preheat the car in a garage if possible, and check out the grill cover thread - those may help you significantly in the extreme cold.

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have had a CMAX for about a month in MN.  formerly had a civic hybrid with great mileage so I am used to driving a hybrid.  Wanted to give Ford a chance.  I am getting about 31mpg combined driving.  Ford dealer NOW says that is within an acceptable range and not to expect too much in MN  winter and to wait for more break-in time but this is really really disappointing.  Anyone ever get improvement after such a disappointing start?  Tips?  

Your problem is the engine never warms up so it is wasting gas to heat the engine. Check out the 3mpg gain thread in Fuel Mileage forum. You have got to close off the grill openings to allow the engine to get to opperating temp (202-212deg.F). Look at your coolant temp gauge, It needs to read in the middle before your MPG's are going to get better.

MPG Grill Cover prices are going up soon.  They're $50 now but only a few sets left at that price. Each cover set is custom made so I'm losing money at $50ea so the price is going up to $100per set plus S&H

We are using PayPal for payment. My email: paul@star-instruments.com Any questions email me. Thanks

cmax grill cover1

Edited by ptjones
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Chris,

 

I seriously feel your pain. I live in Michigan and we've had some really cold days in the past couple of weeks. (I've also lived in MN.....Duluth....so I know about COLD.) I've had my C-Max since the end of November. My lifetime average MPG is about 38. That said, I've had some trips of 44, 45, 47, and 54 MPG.  Is it every day? No. Is it every trip? No. But enough to convince me that it is possible. The cold that we live with, that others can't even imagine, does us in. I'm completely convinced that when the weather moderates that we'll see much better mileage. I've learned a lot from this forum, as well as CMAXchat.com about how to drive a hybrid vehicle. I came to my C-Max from a Jeep Liberty that got 17-21 MPG. I'm sorry that your dealer is now changing stories on you. That's completely not fair. I hope you are able to hang on, read and learn, and come to appreciate and enjoy your C-Max as much as others have.

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have had a CMAX for about a month in MN.  formerly had a civic hybrid with great mileage so I am used to driving a hybrid.  Wanted to give Ford a chance.  I am getting about 31mpg combined driving.  Ford dealer NOW says that is within an acceptable range and not to expect too much in MN  winter and to wait for more break-in time but this is really really disappointing.  Anyone ever get improvement after such a disappointing start?  Tips?  

 

Have you ever owned or driven a hybrid before?

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Darrell have you been drinking? LOL
;)

 

Rhetorical question related to how all hybrids are known to perform in cold weather. Additionally you cannot rationally compare different size classes of vehicles and expect similar fuel economy.

Edited by darrelld
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YOU two are funny.  I had expected this car to perform as well as the Civic which only dropped a few mpg in the winter- even with snow tires.  I appreciate all the comments.  I have driven a hybrid for years of course, but just visited the ford sites before I bought it so I really failed on the research front.  I may buy the grill cover.... have others found that valuable?

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The Civic is not exactly a full hybrid, it's electrical system is much less significant to the operation of the vehicle. Basically the Civic has a smaller-than-normal gasoline engine which is augmented by a small electric motor to give power when needed and allow for regenerative braking. The Civic really doesn't shut off the gas motor and run on just electricity the way the Prius and C-Max do. So battery performance is less of an issue for the Civic - but the Civic also posts lower numbers in general as a result however will have less drastic swings in its numbers.

 

This is way over simplified, but it's just not the same type of drive system.

 

The Prius and C-Max should yield much better city economy since they can shut off the ICE completely as needed.

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YOU two are funny.  I had expected this car to perform as well as the Civic which only dropped a few mpg in the winter- even with snow tires.  I appreciate all the comments.  I have driven a hybrid for years of course, but just visited the ford sites before I bought it so I really failed on the research front.  I may buy the grill cover.... have others found that valuable?

 

I can appreciate your frustration but the C-Max has more mass to move than any other hybrid besides something in the Camry, Lexus 400h, and Sonata class of vehicle. One of my coworkers owns a Civic Hybrid and recently had to fight with Honda for a battery replacement because her mileage dropped so low it was compatible to a regular Civic. She stopped driving it during the summer because with the battery problems the AC wouldn't cool.

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There was a lawsuit here in the valley against Honda hybrid. The woman was so frustrated with the crap MPG she took the unusual step of taking it to the small claims court and won (less than $10K). I believe she was an attorney as well. Then Honda got whiff of it and then took it up and another battle ensued. One of the reasons Honda hybrids never, ever came into my potential buy list.

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/01/business/la-fi-mo-honda-loses-civic-lawsuit-20120201

Edited by Jus-A-CMax
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