Frustrated and disappointed

[Mayday jay]

I have been driving my new Cmax sel since December 31. I have put almost 800 miles on it and have yet to see better than 35mpg. Not much better than my 2009 Toyota Venza. (32mpg average)I feel cheated and lured in by misleading claims. I only bought this vehicle because I am a hospice nurse and I drive most of the day, sometimes up to 260 miles a day, so fuel economy makes or breaks me. If I would have know I would have had to take a course just to learn how to get the mileage it advertised I would have by passed it all together. I didn't purchase it for its looks or because it was fun to drive! If I told my patients I was giving them 4 mg of morphine and I only gave them 2mg I would lose my license and my job, more importantly , their trust, like Ford just lost mine. I live in Florida so it's mostly flat and doesn't get too cold so these are a non issue as far as driving conditions and temperatures.

[RachelnLa]

I am sorry you are not getting better gas mileage. It does take practice and patience. You didn't get your license the first day, it takes a bit of learning. Hang in there!

[Maximus]

What are your braking scores?

[FoutsNC]

35MPG is not very good at all for Florida driving.  It is much cooler with hills here and I drive with a lead foot and you can see my numbers below.  If you are really getting 35MPG with normal driving around Florida, you might want to take the car in to get it checked out.  On the other hand, if you had a Venza that averaged 32MPG, you might want to pay a large sum to get it back!  The 2009 Venza had a EPA 21MPG combined!  Toyota might pay a hefty sum to use that Venza to do some marketing!

 

Seriously though, you should surely see better numbers than 35MPG in normal Florida driving without any fancy tricks.  If you were expecting 47MPG all the time, you are going to be disappointed.  Hybrids, in general, are very prone to MPG differences between drivers, speeds, and conditions.  On that point, if you are doing mainly Interstate driving in Florida and surpassing the 70MPH speed limit by a good amount, 35MPG might be expected.  When I was playing around on my last trip, 75+ MPH really hurt the MPGs as it would with most cars on the road today.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Welcome to the forum and I guess this forum bears the brunt of people who are either disappointed or in luv with their CMaxs. I'm sorry you're not getting the mileage that you are looking for but I think you've come to the right place to learn about your new CMax and improve your milege and learn about your new car.

 

Firstly, as with any new car, it takes time for the engine and the components to "break in" to reach an optimal level. Typically, for any new car this is around 1000 miles on the odometer. Our CMaxs apparently takes much longer to around 5000 or 6000 miles. It has 2 engines - an electric and gas. Even Ford says don't look at the mileage for the first 1000 miles. 

 

Hybrid driving is very different to gas driving. Ford in their wisdon, when they built the CMax and installed the hybrid/gas engines allowed for performance or mileage. They packed more kW into the engines to sprint from 0-60 in 7.5 seconds, or on the mileage end,in real world experience with my CMax, drive 124.5 miles with 51.5MPGs with 70% Freeway. There are no "sports" button to press in the CMax like a Prius - you decide which mode by how much you use the accelerator pedal (I was going to say gas for a moment there). The next question you ask is - what about these Prius? Well - the Prius is a different animal, it's designed to go slow and steady, optimized for economy mode. 0-60 is around 10 seconds (approx) for a car that weighs 300lbs less than a Prius so you are forced to drive in the economy mode. It does not handle as well or seat as well, in my opinion having driven both cars many times before I made my decision.

 

Hybrids are extremely temperature sensitive. The temperature has alot to say about how much mileage you get. Most of the complaints here are from brand new CMax owners in the north where its low 40s or below, sometimes snowing. Cold is the killer for any mileage for any hybrids even the famed Prius so its the same for the CMax. Since you live in Florida, this should not be an issue there - even on the coldest day there its a hot summer day in Ohio. Now, we do have an app for the cold weather drivers. Check out the Fuel Mileage section. 

 

The type of road you drive (street or freeways/highways) and your driving habits will also greatly factor into how much mileage you get. If you drive purely freeways with little or no street - get a diesel straight up, no hybrid is efficient above 65+mphs constant as their EV (pure electric mode) max out below those speeds. How you drive - whether you like to do above the speed limit or constantly screaming to the next traffic light, or pass that car in front of you - will determine mileage as well. 

 

So, here are some key simple tips right off the bat:

1. Be patient, your engine is still breaking in. Based on your mileage per day, it won't be long before it breaks in.

 

2. Enable eco-cruise and use it as much as possible.

 

3. Here is a super great and honest website that has some simple driving tips - take some time to play the vidoes: http://www.mpgomatic.com/2012/12/27/2013-ford-c-max-sel-hybrid-review/

Pay particular attention to the 3 speed tests he does with the eco cruise.

 

4. Ford, in their wisdom, decided to cut off the full EV at 63mph. So most of us typically set the eco-cruise to 60mph and stay on the right hand side. Trucks go at 55mph here in CA so it's not issue to hang with the big boys.

 

5. When you get more familiar with your car and understand it, there are more advance driving techniques such as Pulse and Glide. It's exactly that - pulse to a speed and glide down. Its a very common technique used by "hypermilers" or hybrid drivers.

 

6. There is also a Fuel Efficiency thread here in the "Fuel Mileage" section. Grill covers, Pulse & Glide, tire pressure to 42-45 psi. These are suggestions and you pick and choose. Be worth checking it out.

 

I hope the above suggestions help you to get better mileage.

 

I think the main crux of your issue is to be patient with the engine, allow time for it to break in and you'll slowly start to see improvements in the MPGs. In the meantime, its always fun to learn new things and you're already better than 3 MPGs than the Venza with a very efficient Toyota engine.

 

Cheers and Happy Driving.

[Mayday jay]

Thanks to all of you for your tips. I still own the Venza , my husband drives it now. My breaking scores are mainly 98 to 100%. Don't get me wrong, I do like my CMax, just disappointed. My only other complaint is that I got the 300a series package and the navigation is not accurate at all. I still end up using my garmin to travel to unfamiliar areas. I will give it some more time and have it checked out if it doesn't improve.

[shaners]

Mayday jay,  Everyones NAV is not very good at this point and Ford knows that.  They are coming out with a new update soon and it will include a new SD card for NAV.

Edited January 10, 2013 by shaners

[Laurel]

Mayday Jay I am sorry that you are so disappointed.  I think there is a very big difference in driving a hybrid to achieve good mileage.  It might be a point that salesman for Ford hybrids take the time to point out to new potential owners. I think today's drivers have gotten very poor driving habits--and I am not excluding myself in that observation.  We are used to keeping up with traffic and while doing that we have developed very poor driving habits such as jack rabbit starts and abrupt stops.  I am very observant and while driving I would estimate that 90% of the drivers are flooring it when they start up from stops at traffic lights, they tailgate, they race up on people's butts and stop suddenly at lights instead of breaking gently.  Nobody goes the speed limit on freeways.  It is our current driving culture.  I've had my C-Max for about six weeks now, and I have totally changed to a conservative driver.  I am not so conservative as to piss off most people, and I will modify my conservative techniques to avoid enraging others. i.e entering onto freeways I will put the pedal to the medal if I am with a big group of merging traffic who are hell bent to save 5 minutes commuting to work.  But when I have to join the frenzied drivers to prevent road rage, my mileage stinks.  I still love my C-Max and I enjoy the aspect of driving it conservatively to rack up good mileage.  Initially I was disappointed that the mileage was so drastically affected, but for me there are so many pluses to the C-Max that I am very accepting now.  I hope things level out for you.

[zhackwyatt]

I don't believe long slow accelerations help either.

 

The longer and slower you accelerate, the more the engine is running and will not kick into EV mode. If the speed limit is 45, and I accelerate from a stop light to 45 slowly, it will use the engine the whole time.  By that time, either I keep driving and sometimes the car will switch to EV sometimes it won't, but in any case, before long your at the next stop light waiting for it to turn green.  So you can do a long slow acceleration which is almost fully gas.

 

The better way seems to be accelerate quickly (what ever is reasonable) get up to that 45, then take your foot off the gas and put it back on, usually this will get you into EV mode. (P&G)  You will be in EV sooner instead of still accelerating using gas.

[MikeB]

I also think that accelerating too slowly isn't a good plan.  You don't want a drag racing start, but you really want to be in about the middle of your engine's output.

 

Check out this article on Brake Specific Fuel Consumption:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_specific_fuel_consumption

Notice the graph in the middle of the page, and especially notice where the best efficiency is: it's a pretty high load with moderate rpm. That graph isn't accurate for our 2.0L Atkinson engine, but the general pattern will be the same. So I think you really want to push the engine a little bit, but not enough to get above 2.5k or 3k rpm.

[ptjones]

I have been driving my new Cmax sel since December 31. I have put almost 800 miles on it and have yet to see better than 35mpg. Not much better than my 2009 Toyota Venza. (32mpg average)I feel cheated and lured in by misleading claims. I only bought this vehicle because I am a hospice nurse and I drive most of the day, sometimes up to 260 miles a day, so fuel economy makes or breaks me. If I would have know I would have had to take a course just to learn how to get the mileage it advertised I would have by passed it all together. I didn't purchase it for its looks or because it was fun to drive! If I told my patients I was giving them 4 mg of morphine and I only gave them 2mg I would lose my license and my job, more importantly , their trust, like Ford just lost mine. I live in Florida so it's mostly flat and doesn't get too cold so these are a non issue as far as driving conditions and temperatures.

If you are interested, check out 3MPG gained thread in mileage forum. I could send you a prototype grill cover set to try out. It would take 5min to install and see what you think. Then send it back when your done. Your MPG's will increase after 5-6k miles by a couple MPG. BTW check your odometer with your Garmin, mine is off by 1.5% or .5mpg to the plus. I get around 44mpg on the hwy at 70mph. Good Luck

Paul    

[Jus-A-CMax]

I don't believe long slow accelerations help either.

 

The longer and slower you accelerate, the more the engine is running and will not kick into EV mode. If the speed limit is 45, and I accelerate from a stop light to 45 slowly, it will use the engine the whole time.  By that time, either I keep driving and sometimes the car will switch to EV sometimes it won't, but in any case, before long your at the next stop light waiting for it to turn green.  So you can do a long slow acceleration which is almost fully gas.

 

The better way seems to be accelerate quickly (what ever is reasonable) get up to that 45, then take your foot off the gas and put it back on, usually this will get you into EV mode. (P&G)  You will be in EV sooner instead of still accelerating using gas.

 

Heres the kicker - if you accelerate too fast, say 60 to 70, Max won't allow the battery to recharge on this pulse phase. I find I need to back off the acceleration to kick in the recharge. So, it's a fine line between "slow" and "too fast" as you want the battery to recharge on the up and recharge in the glide phase.

Edited January 11, 2013 by Jus-A-CMax

[zhackwyatt]

Heres the kicker - if you accelerate too fast, say 60 to 70, Max won't allow the battery to recharge on this pulse phase. I find I need to back off the acceleration to kick in the recharge. So, it's a fine line between "slow" and "too fast" as you want the battery to recharge on the up and recharge in the glide phase.

Yes, when I made the comment I was mostly thinking about stop lights and city driving.

[Adair]

ZhackWyatt, How do you add the link to your Fuelly page so your stats show up? If I add the link, only the link itself show, not the picture/stats from Fuelly.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited January 11, 2013 by Adair

[zhackwyatt]

ZhackWyatt, How do you add the link to your Fuelly page so your stats show up? If I add the link, only the link itself show, not the picture/stats from Fuelly.

 

Thanks in advance.

Try this: http://www.fuelly.com/faq/23/Fuelly-forum-signature-badge

[Adair]

Exccellent!! Thanks ZhackWyatt

[zhackwyatt]

Exccellent!! Thanks ZhackWyatt

No problem, looks like you got it!

[Roggie 51]

Mayday Jay maybe this video can probably help you, I have not received my C Max yet but I appreciated this little lesson.

 

We must learn to drive a hybrid.

 

Edited January 12, 2013 by Roggie 51

[Adair]

That video is wonderful! He did such a great job with it, and it's so informative.

[FusionTX]

Mayday Jay maybe this video can probably help you, I have not received my C Max yet but I appreciated this little lesson.

We must learn to drive a hybrid.http://youtu.be/VrJjUYxncyM

 

I enjoyed the video, but I hope you don't have to drive 25 MPH to get good mileage. Because that's basically all he did.

And at the end of the video it flashed a 35 MPG Avg. i don't have my fusion yet, but looked like that was his tank avg?

[Tree63]

_{Mayday Jay, you can see how much support there is in the forum - wonderful folks who share and care.  Lucky you to be able to drive your new C Max in warm weather every day.  We've all had to change driving habits a bit for improved mileage but it's great to have performance available when needed as well.  My mileage is still improving into my second month with the car, and occasionally it does amazingly well already.  Hopefully your experience will turn out the same or better.}

[Wingrider01]

Love the car, badly disappointed at the mileage, my driving is 95 percent highway @ 60 MPH on cruise control with ECCO turned on, car has 3450.6 miles on it, overall fuel economy is 34.600 MPG breaking recovery normally sits at 94. When I saw this on the dealers floor I was actually in looking at a Focus Titanium fully blown out and it cost about 4K less and I suspect I would be getting close to the same gas mileage on it. Traded in a 2010 Ford Escape Limited that I averaged 29.058 MPG, again not a large difference in MPG but a lot more cargo space.

[Laurel]

We were just out sight seeing on a sunny cool day.  Temperature out is -1 C.  We went 56 kilometers all city driving but up lots of hills and we got 44 US mpg/53 Imperial mpg..  And hubby had his heat cranked up to 23C. and the car took a good 10 minutes to warm up before I got into EV.  I find my mileage improves with each trip and we are only up to 1300 kilometers on it since buying.  Ford Canada says we will eventually get 4.0 L per 100 kilometers but right now we are at 5.3.  So I am thinking we might actually achieve that when Spring comes. I am impressed at how much EV driving I get these days.

Edited January 12, 2013 by Laurel

[ptjones]

Love the car, badly disappointed at the mileage, my driving is 95 percent highway @ 60 MPH on cruise control with ECCO turned on, car has 3450.6 miles on it, overall fuel economy is 34.600 MPG breaking recovery normally sits at 94. When I saw this on the dealers floor I was actually in looking at a Focus Titanium fully blown out and it cost about 4K less and I suspect I would be getting close to the same gas mileage on it. Traded in a 2010 Ford Escape Limited that I averaged 29.058 MPG, again not a large difference in MPG but a lot more cargo space.

What outside temps are you experiencing? Have you checked your odometer with portable GPS? Mine was off by 1.5% or .5mpg. You lose about 2mpg for each 10deg.F drop from 70deg.F on your gas mileage. Look at mileage forum, 3mpg gained with grill covers thread for more info.

[dtorres]

Love the car, badly disappointed at the mileage, my driving is 95 percent highway @ 60 MPH on cruise control with ECCO turned on, car has 3450.6 miles on it, overall fuel economy is 34.600 MPG breaking recovery normally sits at 94. When I saw this on the dealers floor I was actually in looking at a Focus Titanium fully blown out and it cost about 4K less and I suspect I would be getting close to the same gas mileage on it. Traded in a 2010 Ford Escape Limited that I averaged 29.058 MPG, again not a large difference in MPG but a lot more cargo space.

 

I have to admit I'm surprised by your numbers.  My previous 2006 Ford Escape with the 4 cyclinder only averaged 21mpg.  My C-Max was averaging in the 40-41mpg range during the summer in So Cal driving at 65mph freeway speeds and 50/50 freeway/city driving.  Once the weather dropped into the 40's the average dropped to 39.5 to 40mpg.  I'm surprised that your getting such low numbers when your freeway speed is at 60mpg which should allow the electric to kick in.  I've done a few freeway runs at 60mph (at night when there was no other traffic) and can easily get mid 40's if I stay to 60mph and below.  During the day in So Cal though 60mph is not really possible unless there's heavy traffic.