Ford C-Max 112 Miles, 2.2 gallons of Gas

I finally got the chance to spend more than a few minutes in Ford's CMax. Nice Car.  Really nice car, rides, drives and handles like a small SUV, not your typical hybrid.  If that was the point behind this car and Ford knocked it out of the park.

I was loaned a 2013 Ford CMax for 3 days while my Focus was in the shop.  This was a nicely loaded up to the gills SEL version.  MyFordTouch with Navigation, Sony premium sound, leather heated seats...the only thing missing was a sunroof and really who needs one of those?

My time with the car I was the primary driver, my wife "didn't want to learn how to drive a hybrid".  I explained its really no difference.  Instead of coasting to a stop you lightly tap the break and use regen braking to recharge the battery.  Other than when you have to romp on it to get on the freeway and/or climb a hill light peddle pressure is all you need to move along yet keep it in electric mode.  I even showered her the snazzy regenerative braking coach that shows you how effective you are (I hit consistently 93-99%).

She did really like the automatic liftgate action.  No fuss or bother and activates with a wave of the foot under the rear bumper or the key fob...and voila liftgate open and your nails are in one piece.  She wants to know why Ford didn't put that option on the Focus.  I do too.

A pleasant surprise was how much room it had behind the rear seats.  Looks are deceiving.  I had 4 gallons of milk, a back pack and the Grand,s 3 wheel jogging stroller back there with no issues!  I really liked the load capacity of this car, better than I had expected.

This is so much more car than its nearest competitor. Standard features of the Prius V and the CMax are night and day.  The prius is nicely assembled, great fit, but the materials are all hard nasty plastic.  The CMax gets premium feel materials through out and looks like a small luxury utility not the bread and butter hybrid it is. Advantage here still is the CMax...it has stuff Prius owners only wish they could have.

Without much effort its possible to rack up some impressive MPGs.  On one trip alone I registered 67, but to the cars credit it was mostly downhill urban driving and I never broke 35mpg...still an impressive number.  After my time was up and it was time to turn in the car I averaged 50.90 mpg which compares very favorably with its EPA estimates of 45City/40highway/43 combined.  If you know how to drive a hybrid and maximize regen and keep the gasser from kicking in around town you can ger some outright amazing numbers.




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