Ford's Prius fighter? C-Max Energi

Article's title caught my attention .....

C-Max Energi goes plug to plug with Prius | max, energi, plug - Cars - The Orange County Register

By SUSAN CARPENTER
2012-12-05 15:49:03
The C-Max Energi looks innocent enough, with its compact profile and
candy coloring. But don't be fooled. The new plug-in C-Max is Ford's bid to run its
competition into the ditch. Anyone who's spent any time driving anywhere knows the Prius as a
ubiquitous eco icon favored by the conspicuously well intentioned. Almost 2 million have been sold in the U.S. alone — a fact that was inescapable in San Francisco, where the streets were an obstacle course of Prius taxis during my daylong test of the C-Max Energi.
Ford clearly has its work cut out to beat Toyota at the very game the Japanese automaker commercialized, and it's going full-bore with its first hybrid-only nameplate, the C-Max, on sale since September.
Like Toyota, which has introduced three additional Prius models since 2011, including a plug-in, to help broaden the car's appeal beyond avid recyclers, Ford is following its new hybrid with a plug-in Energi version. Available at So Cal dealers this month, it gets the best fuel economy in the plug-in hybrid class (100 MPGe combined) for less money than its rival ($29,995 after applying federal tax incentives) in a style that isn't likely to sport a Save the Planet bumper sticker.
On paper, the C-Max Energi beats the Prius on some pretty significant metrics. The C-Max Energi can travel 620 miles when its tanks are filled to the gills, its battery charged to the limit; the Prius Plug-in, 533 miles. The slightly larger battery pack on the Energi means it can travel up to 21 miles as a pure electric vehicle, instead of the 6 to 14 offered by the Prius, allowing the C-Max Energi to claim a slightly higher federal tax credit, and lower purchase price, than the Toyota. The only thing that's missing from the C-Max, it seems, is a dashboard button to unleash marbles from the tailgate whenever its driver spots a Prius in the rearview, which is precisely where Ford would like to see it.
But is the C-Max a better car?
It certainly offers a lot for the money. Powered with a 2-liter gasoline engine that works in conjunction with an electric motor and 7.6-kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery pack that's fully charged with a plug, the C-Max Energi is designed as a versatile and efficient get-around that plays to Americans' "and" mentality. Buyers want cars that are fuel efficient and affordable without any compromises to their lifestyle. And the five-seat hatchback CMax Energi largely delivers it with a well appointed, roomy interior and a perky ride quality that offers the fuel
economy benefits of an all-electric vehicle without the excessive cost or range anxiety.
Its interior is a step up in style from the monklike aesthetic abstinence of its rival. The C-Max I tested came with a panoramic sunroof, allowing me to eyeball my car's impact on outdoor air quality. Its steering wheel and shifter were wrapped in tactile leather instead of callous-sheering plastic, its door pulls and cup holders washed in faint blue light.
Slogging through San Francisco traffic is not my idea of a good time, but it is for the Energi, where the constant stops harness the car's kinetic energy through regenerative brakes that help recharge the battery.
This extends the car's range and increases its city fuel economy to an astounding 108 MPGe. The hills, however, are its nemesis. In pure EV mode, on hills so steep they would've challenged Sir Edmund Hillary, the Energi begs for a gas boost and can be given one at the behest of a button.
While the Energi defaults to an "EV Auto" mode that lets the car determine the most efficient use of gas or electric power, drivers can also select "EV Now," allowing them to drive with all-electric power all the time up to a speed of 85 mph and a range of 21 miles, or "EV Later," so the car operates as a hybrid, preserving electric power until it's wanted, say, re-entering the city after a highway commute. Oddly, the button that's used to switch between these modes is placed among the climate controls in the center console and is somewhat hampered by the location of the gear shift, which, when parked, partially blocks the button.
The C-Max is not a car for Trader Joe's parking lots, but neither is the Prius. The turning radius is so wide it's likely to inspire games of bumper car. But getting the car going at a good clip in the twisties far into the sticks beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, the C-Max was compliant enough in the corners for hybrid drivers at this price point.
The Energi is most fun to drive in pure EV mode, when pressing the accelerator yields the sort of instant torque that's likely to win a juvenile green light skirmish. Alas, it's only available for a few short miles, after which the car seamlessly transitions to a hybrid mode with nothing to indicate it's done so except for the dashboard lights.
The dash on the Energi lacks the Technicolor pop and easy readability of the displays on other competitors' plug-ins, such as the Chevy Volt and soon-to-be-released plug-in Honda Accord hybrid, both of which are as bright and cheerfully dynamic as cartoons. The C-Max Energi dash has just as much information about drive mode and energy use. It's just more difficult to read, with muted colors and smaller gauges that could inspire drivers to divert their eyes from the road longer than is safe.
The C-Max Energi exemplifies the Ford strategy to reduce vehicle costs to consumers by sharing attributes among vehicles. Not only does the C-Max use the same dashboard as the battery-electric Focus, its battery pack is the same as the Fusion hybrid. Its interior styling is lifted from the Escape, and its footprint is the same as a Focus, all of which makes the C-Max a hybrid in a sense entirely different from its powertrain.
A compact that thinks it's a crossover, the C-Max feels almost cavernous from the driver's seat, which can be moved upward for visibility akin to a small SUV. Its 19 cubic feet of carrying capacity is surprising for a vehicleof its dimensions, though it's less than the non-plug-in C-Max, which has a smaller battery. The Energi's battery is five times more powerful and takes up twice as much space as the plain C-Max, which prevents the rear cargo space from being entirely flat when the rear seats are folded flat — a feat that's otherwise done easily with one hand and the pull of a lever.
There are a lot of user-friendly details to the C-Max that elevate the driving experience. The windows are treated to provide sun protection. Wind and road noise are diminished with noise-canceling sound waves emitted through the car's speakers that mostly did the job. The version I tested was equipped with a keyless lift gate that's activated with the swipe of a foot beneath the bumper and is intelligent enough to sense the difference between a human appendage and a stray Chihuahua.
Other trims include Active Park Assist, Ford's look-ma-no-hands, sensor-enabled parallel parking feature. MyFordMobile is standard equipment. The smartphone app works with the car's embedded modem to remotely arrange the charging of the vehicle through a cellphone and can also help drivers find nearby charging stations, even provide routes to get there, among other things. The charging port, located just to the left of the driver-side door, is ringed in light, providing drivers with a sort of visual shorthand on the state of the car's juice. Recharging the Energi's lithium-ion batteries takes 2-1/2 hours with a 220-volt, level 2 charger. It takes seven hours with a 110 outlet. That's a lot longer per kilowatt hour than other plug-in hybrids. The Prius Plug-in, which can travel up to 14 miles as a pure EV, recharges in 90 minutes with a level 2 charger; the Honda Accord plug-in, which can travel 10 miles in pure electric mode, recharges in 45 minutes.
Like all manufacturers of plug-ins, whether they're pure electric or hybrid, Ford has partnered with the maker of a residential Level 2 charger that can be installed through Best Buy for a cost that might prompt some buyers to pull the plug on their purchase plans altogether: $1,499. Drivers whose garages are already