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Used 2014 Ford C-Max Hybrid Consumer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
172 reviews

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We have a limited number of reviews for the 2014 C-Max Hybrid, so we've included reviews for other years of the C-Max Hybrid since its last redesign.

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Pros
Cons
4 out of 5 stars

Great for in town

Lmcd, 09/11/2018
2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid SEL 4dr Wagon (2.0L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
2 of 3 people found this review helpful

This is a really good little car for putzing around town but is not at all comfortable on the highway. The leather heated seats are well padded but the car is so small that you feel the highway. Gas mileage is phenomenal with highway mileage at 40+mpg. The amount of space in the car is quite surprising given the overall size of the car. There is ample headroom.

Safety
3 out of 5 stars
Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
4 out of 5 stars
Comfort
3 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
4 out of 5 stars
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3.13 out of 5 stars

2013 CMAX - so far overall dissapointed

grayman3, 12/16/2012
2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid SEL 4dr Wagon (2.0L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
2 of 3 people found this review helpful

I've had the car for about 2 months. After first 2 days with it, had to take into dealer to fix stuck hazard light and replace some electronic command module. Also the microphone when using touch-free calling is terrible - people I call report harsh blowing noise. Biggest dissapointment though is the MPG - after driving over 1000 miles still averaging only 33-34MPG (combined highway/city). I know that Ford is saying must drive 3000 mi to see higher mileage, but I doubt this. I have not gotten anyware CLOSE to the promised 47MPG. I have a feeling if this continues and is happening with other people, there's going to be a class action lawsuit in the future (as happened with Honda civic hybrid)

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3 out of 5 stars

Honest + unbiased as can be with opinion

Hafro Samurai, 02/27/2023
2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid SEL 4dr Wagon (2.0L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
3 of 6 people found this review helpful

After reading some clearly biased and lack of experience based reviews, I want to offer some clerification with honesty and having learned many new car knowledge/skills through doing much of my own work on my car. I inherited the car in 2021 with under 17,500mi on it (presently I'm shy of 43,000mi). I want to state that the age vs the mileage wear on parts made troubleshooting issues a challenge, I should share that I have a degree in instrumentation and control technology as well. This quickly became relevant as I learned that modern (newest car I've owned is 2001) cars now utilize the CAN bus protocol which operates kind of like the nervous system in how it interconnects each module and circuit and monitor most of them so when a fault occurs it can report that and report it to the operator (ex. Check engine light). It does not however report many issues that you might be aware of, you might feel or hear that something is wrong but no light comes on. This is where I found owning specifically a bidirectional ODB2 scan tool is crucial in aiding with vehicle health. Whether you decide to do your own work and repairs or not, these will allow you to not only scan for fault codes present, but show you extensive live values in respective modules, ability to actuate components/sensors/circuits from your phone or scan tool screen. This is exactly what resulted from experiencing, like other C-max owners unfortunate to aquire one of lesser quality like me, a general lack of competent knowledge of the vehicle. General/Ford mechanics/technicians alike have repeatedly been unsuccessful when troubleshooting issues let alone remedy them based on the symptoms I provide. I began having suspension failures around 36k or 37k miles sadly not a month after having shop specializing in Fords do a thorough inspection with a focus on the suspension and brakes, my rear shock completely blew. This was the fourth shop to inspect the car and give me that "couldn't hear the noises you mentioned. Couldn't find anything wrong, everything's in great condition!" They also failed to clear a continuous fault code P0304 that was still present after the fact after a specific request. And so since I've done my best to work on it myself as I now feel like I going to end up paying someone to rack up labor time to not find the issue or tell me, "oh yeah that's going to cost $X plus 5 hours labor because we don't really know what we're doing." My recommendation is get some tools and do what you are comfortable doing yourself. Several things are easy to replace on your own and not only can you find parts much cheaper than shop prices but labor costs too add up quick. At the very least you can scan your car and generate a PDF report of it and show up to a shop that should take it and should save you on labor for them to do the same thing with their scan tool. I will honestly say that while some of the features are neat and convenient, this leads to very expensive wear items to fix (ex. Electronic liftgate and foot activation). The replacement of regular manual liftgate struts are maybe $30ish each, while the electronic strut are almost $200 each new. Used was still over $100 just for the strut. Don't forget the actuator can fail now too. My dislike of CAN bus is you can't necessarily just remove or disconnect components with minimal affect to the car like older cars each module is programmed with these features and options. Yes, there are some components and circuits you can disable that aren't control circuits and unmonitored meaning it may or may not throw a code and will not have any impact on performance. (I pulled the fuze for the foot actuated liftgate circuit with no trouble code). So after the issues I've had well before the parts should fail is not going to be the case with every C-max, I would like to bring up some gripes and things I do quite like. -While I do agree with others on the awkwardly wide turning radius which was among the first oddities I noticed , I have actually managed to parallel park into some very tight spots. I'm reminded while frantically waving sorry to everyone as I Austin Powers 15 point turn hah! Not a car for those who double park rather than taking the extra few seconds to be a decent human and correct. -I personally dislike how the exterior lights come on and stay on for quite long time after unlocking the car and when a door is open. I've covered my puddle lights until I find a more permanent fix. Interior lighting and screens illuminate with my guess as max intensity at night non dimmable until parking lights are switched on. The timer isn't adjustable nor a disable for it. Though it sounds like it maybe changed by reprogramming new parameters, the c-max isn't very popular with how to guides sadly. -Whoever read reviews bashing the braking distance or driveability in snow they clearly have little to no experience driving a manual transmission and don't understand engine braking. At first I was bummed having only 1 Low gear, however once I read about it in the manual it say you can drop it into L at any speed. So if you need that extra stopping power whenever. You don't really need to use your brakes in the snow and it's sad people don't know what engine braking is because so few people learn to drive a manual first. Combined with being over 3600 pounds gives you some grip. Wanna have a butt ton of fun? Put on a track that makes your body move and turn it up loud, crank the heat, roll down the windows, turn off that traction control, get rolling and lots of space from any cars, hold your e-brake button and yank it into a slide! Laugh your butt off while practicing your controlled slides! Also there is a thumb button on the shift knob that is amazing for negative grades that maintains current speed. Instead of having to ride the brake. -I think Spock would agree with the illogic of using halogen/incandescent bulbs for the exterior lighting and LEDs for the interior and puddle lights (lights under the side mirrors). One would think utilizing LEDs would help extend battery charge, especially if the lights unnecessarily illuminated. I chose to upgrade to them which required wiring parallel load resistors into several of the circuits. CAN bus (more like CAN fuss haha) doesn't like seeing irregular circuit loads. -The rear suspension will start to rest lower and lower over time and of course they don't include efficient camber adjustment to correct for this so that's a sign your rear springs are sagging and time for new ones. You can always just get adjustable rear upper control arms and correct for the too negative camber which will start wearing the inside tread. -I think it bad form to remove both a spare tire AND a scissor jack. Instead you get a 1 shot sealer tire inflator which by now is years past expiration. -If or when you do decide to jack up the front and do any work involving the wheels, be aware that to my knowledge (cannot confirm this), I've not found a steering lock. They do pretty much want you to disconnect the negative terminal on the 12v anytime you work on something electrical and those from wheels. I wired up a kill switch between negative and body ground to make this process as quick as turning a switch. Also handy for parking for longer periods. Really, I like the car other than all of the issues and now dealing with new coilovers having failed within less than 2 weeks and replacing most of the suspension. Do your research and maybe go newer

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5 out of 5 stars

95K And All Is Great

nsteblay, 08/13/2014
updated 02/14/2017
2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid SEL 4dr Wagon (2.0L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
8 of 19 people found this review helpful

I bought the C-Max under the pretense of getting 47 Hwy / 47 city. I soon discovered that the EPA doesn't require testing in cold weather. The C-Max relies on EV mode to get mileage. Living in Minnesota during the winter the engine needs to run almost constantly to keep the car warm. Hense overall I'm averaging 43.5 MPG per year. In the summer I've been averaging 50+ MPG for commutes to work. Car has been awesome and met all my expectations.

Technology
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
4 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
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3.5 out of 5 stars

Good car, don't buy for mileage!

ddd13, 12/22/2012
2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid SEL 4dr Wagon (2.0L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
6 of 14 people found this review helpful

Edmunds! How about correcting your review regarding the stellar mileage? Ford - how about changing the deceptive commercials representing that mileage is better than a Prius V? This is nice little car, but it is abundantly clear that its real world mileage is in the 36 to 37 mph range, while the Prius V can expected to yield 42 - 44 with similar driving. Really disappointing is highway mileage if you expect to drive more than 63 mph. Over 3000 miles of very moderate driving and often attempting to manage the EV mode, we can't exceed 36 for any reasonable distance. Recent 300+ mile trip at 70-75 maxed out at 36 mph. Could be driving a non-hybrid. High 40's for Prius V at speed???

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