To give a little perspective, I'm 5'7", 155 lbs. and coming from a 2010 Toyota Matrix. I've had Toyotas for years mainly because of their superb reliability. I've had 3 Fords in the past and swore I'd never get another one, again, mainly because of their reliability or, more precisely, their lack thereof. However, Toyota no longer makes a Matrix and its CH-R has horrible visibility and acceleration - two qualities very important to me. The Ford C-Max, by contrast, has both excellent visibility and very good acceleration - 8.1 seconds 0-60 mph according to Edmunds. I was leery about buying another Ford because of my concern with reliability, but given some of the other qualities I was looking for in a car I decided to take a chance on the C-Max. For example, it has very good gas mileage. I bought it on 8-17-17. Back then I was getting 52 mpg driving locally (far superior to the EPA estimate of 42) and 38 mpg on the highway. I live in MA and in the cold, e.g. 15-30 degrees F, the mpg has dipped considerably to about 36 locally and 34-37 on the highway depending on how fast you go. On a trip up the Maine turnpike at Christmas I got 34 mpg going 75 mph; on the way back and going 65 mph I got 37 mpg. Basically, when it was warm I was getting over 700 miles per tankful (13.5 gal. tank) with mostly local driving and now that winter has arrived I'm getting about 485 miles per tankful with mostly local driving. As you can see cold weather and high speeds really knock the mpg down. Another quality is its visibility in both front and back unlike several of the Japanese designed cars. As mentioned above, its acceleration is very good as well. With the Matrix I was fearful every time I had to merge onto a highway with oncoming traffic or get through an intersection with oncoming traffic. Those fears have been allayed with the C-Max. Also, the seats are very comfortable. They have adjustable lumbar support and they also sit higher than my Matrix did for a better view of the road, but not as high as an SUV. It is by far the most quiet car I've ever owned and feels very smooth. Steering is responsive. The brakes are fine. Headroom is terrific for anyone over 6 feet tall. In the snow it's fine. While home for Christmas I had the opportunity to test it out a bit. Where my sister lives she has a long and rather steep driveway. It was plowed and sanded, but my car did make it up with no problem. Granted, this car does not have awd, but for a fwd vehicle it's fine. I'm sure the weight of the car helps too. It's very heavy. One can feel it just in the weight of the doors. It weighs 3640 lbs versus 2830 for my Matrix. The C-Max has the same power train as the Fusion hybrid which is awful in the snow because of its rear wheel drive, so if that's a car you're considering you might want to look at the C-Max instead. I'm approaching the 6000 mile mark and have had no problems thus far (knock on wood). Long term reliability remains to be seen, but so far so good. As far as negatives go, I wish the ground clearance was higher. I believe it's about 5.5 inches comparable to a VW Golf, Honda Civic, or Subaru Impreza which means I need to be very careful when going over speed bumps. A second negative is the lack of wiper fluid for the back window. Coming back from Maine after a Christmas day snowstorm my windshield and back window were constantly covered with salt and mud. There is fluid to wipe away the filth on the windshield, but not on the back window. I also wish it had a spare tire. The battery is located where the wheel well is located for most cars leaving no room for a spare. That means that whenever I travel up north, e.g. through the White and Green Mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont respectively, I have to pray I don't get a flat because the chances of driving into a dead cell are good, thereby making it impossible to call roadside assistance or AAA to get towed. There has to be some way Ford engineers can make room for a spare. If they did I'm sure they would sell a lot more of these cars. An uncle of mine recently told me he had leased a C-Max and loved it, but chose not to get another one when his lease expired precisely for its lack of a spare tire. If the lack of spare doesn't bother you, I highly recommend the car. As far as price goes, the sticker price on my SE model with the cold weather package was about 25.5K. I got it for 20K. And the Ford dealer gave me what I wanted for my Matrix in trade - Kelly Blue Book value for a car in very good condition. Why Ford doesn't advertise this car is beyond me. So far it's been a real pleasure to drive.
