Ford C-Max vs Prius
 

We've owned our C-Max for approximately 1.5 years and have 34,000 miles on it. Most of the miles are for commuting about 80 miles a day to work. It is a mixture of speeds 50% at and 50% under 65 mph. The terrain is very hilly though not mountainous and the weather is hot in summer and very cold and snowy in the winter. In November we put snow tires on which are removed in April. I have figured the cost of gas for the C-Max to be about $290 more than the Prius using the average miles per gallon figures for the 2013 model year of both cars here on the Fuelly website,(49 mpg for the Prius and 43.9 for the C-Max).

Having driven both cars the Ford C-Max wins hands down and is totally worth the extra $290 in gas. It is a much more comfortable car in fact it feels almost like a luxury vehicle. Driving is a much better experience. The view out the rear view is obstructed in the Prius and the display in the C-Max is much less complicated.

That is good to hear. I have a lot of respect for Toyotas, and they are extremely reliable. I am just happy that American car companies are able to make great hybrids and small displacement engines recently. Ford really has been on the cutting edge lately and the C-Max is good looking and has impressive performance.

How much does the snow tires/colder weather drop your mpg?

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I cant help but feel "normal" Hybrids are fast becoming outdated by plug in Hybrids which seem to be taking over the Hybrid market. I mean even the Porsche hybrid is rated at 91 MPG, but im quite liking the new Volvo hybrid rated at 155 MPG, with figures like these, typical hybrids just cant compete.

Those numbers are based on using a fully charged pack over a certain distance. The EPA abandoned posting any such numbers after the first year when it became clear that any number would vary widely depending on the user's drive. More so than what the YMMV would cover.

Now they just report electric, or blended, consumption in EV mode, and the gas consumption of hybrid mode separately with EV mode range.

It is on page 6 of this PDF:
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/label...bel-052311.pdf

Its a good point, I mean you can switch between gas/diesel, electric and hybrid in most models, so the MPG will have even more varients that affect it depending on how the user applies them. I would probably use electric for the city, and switch to gas/diesel when cruising on the highway, and im sure the hybrid system would probably do the same.

When researching hybrids, its probably best to wait until the model has been out a few months, then see what the Auto journelists post about the economy in the road tests. Probably a better indication to economy than any government lab test. And in time, fuelly will be a good place to do homework :)

Plug in hybrids are incredible, I think for most people, it is a concept that works very well. Unfortunately for me I have a 50-60 mile commute daily, the added weight of the batteries needed for plug in become a hindrance for distance driving.
If I had the spare money, I would buy a plug in Prius, I really like the concept. Too bad the way Honda implements their version of hybrid, they are not viable for turning into plug in cars, I would love to run my Honda on electric only, but unlike Toyota, the Honda electric motors are not strong enough to push by themselves.

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You are thinking of Honda's old, though still in the current Civic, hybrid system. The new one in the Accord is capable for plug in. In fact, we got the Accord phv nearly a year before the hybrid. It is just for sale in Ca and NY.

There are soon to be plenty of plug in hybrids on the market, everytime I read an auto news website, there is story after story of manufactures bringing out a plug in. Audi, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, VW, Mitsubishi, Ford, Seat, Renault etc etc there will be hundreds, and i've noticed in the UK there are lots of places to quick charge plug ins too, especialy in Motorway service stations.

I looked at a C-Max last summer and didn't like the total lack of space in the back end. I was used to the Ford Escape Hybrid I had at the time and the battery just ate up too much space. When I looked at the Prius v (wagon) I loved how much space they had, almost as much as the Escape. We bought a 2014 Prius v and really like it so far (~2300 miles)