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Why would anyone NOT buy the energi model?

9K views 28 replies 21 participants last post by  SFLVoltOwner 
#1 ·
I am not personally interested in buying a C-Max energi, but I was looking at the numbers and something occurred to me.

C-Max Hybrid - $25,200
C-Max Energi - $32,950

The difference in the price tag is $7,750. But factor in the $3,750 tax credit and that brings the difference down to only $4,000. And from what I've heard, Ford is giving their own $5,000 incentives on these cars. Which means you could literally buy a C-Max Energi for less money and they are better equipped than the regular hybrid. Heck, even if I had no place to plug one in, I'd still want the Energi model.
 
#3 ·
Yup, it's a ford.....
I bought a Volt because tru gm-volt.com, i followed the developement of the car everyday since. It buit my confidence and trust toward GM.
When i learned that the Volt could travel 25 to 50 miles on a charge, i told myself that those numbers are honest.
That transparency from GM inspired my confidence in the Volt and the boosted numers for the Leaf were inflated so much that now, i dont beleive their marketing numbers. As for Ford, would you beleive any numbers they give you? I dont.
GM were very conservative in the AER while Nissan way overpromised with the Leaf.
Ford followed the path of Nissan and cheated the buyers.
I will buy from a seller i can trust, and both Nissan and Ford have failed at that game.
I suspect many people share my vision of things.

My father used to say, there are 2 kind of people, those who have a GM and those who dont.
 
#8 ·
Worse yet, those are FORD mileage estimates. If their 47 MPG turns into 38MPG real world driving, that means the 21 miles EV range of the Energi could be as little as 17 miles in real world driving! :eek:
 
#7 · (Edited)
Well when I bought mine last spring, the energi was still few and far between (my local dealer won't carry them), no incentives (other than the fed tax), and it has much less cargo room than the hybrid. The latter was the specific reason along with a much larger passenger section that I gave up my volt for a CMax. If it were today? Yeah, I'd seriously consider the energi since I discovered that a hitch and cargo carrier can solve many capacity issues.

Another thing: the energi only comes in the higher level SEL trim so the price diff is even closer if you compare it to the price of the hybrid SEL trim which starts at $28,365 vs energi @ $29,995 with all current incentives.
 
#9 ·
Ford makes a great product and the Sync system blows way the lame infotainment in the Volt. Friend just bought the C-Max Hybrid and I have driven it, much roomier than the Volt and I like how in the C-Max, your much more upright in the seating position.
 
#10 ·
Sync is great when it works. I have three friends with Ford Sync (3 different vehicles from the last 2 years) and they're all experiencing numerous hangups and having to reboot the system by pulling over and restarting the car. It's a common occurrence, apparently.

I agree though, Chevy could've done better with the infotainment, but given the other benefits of the Volt, i can live with it.
 
#12 ·
I agree while Mylink is far from perfect at least it works most of the time. I have three co-workers that have Ford's with Sync and they talk almost daily about new issues that keep coming up (and all three work in my engineering department).

The latest generation of Mylink that came out on the new Impala is apparently very nice.
 
#11 ·
I would like to clarify on my original post. when I asked why not buy an energi model, I was really referring to why somebody would buy a regular C-Max Hybrid instead of the Energi model. I wasn't asking why somebody would buy a Volt instead (this much is obvious)
 
#13 ·
The trunk space in the Energi is a joke. I also think some people are afraid of the batteries - fire rumors and such. A neighbor of mine was buying a car the same week I bought mine. She also has a long commute so I was trying to sell her on buying a plug-in. She's a Honda and Toyota girl, so I told her to check out the PIP. She is afraid of getting cancer because of the batteries. Not kidding.

You can't fix ignorance. To each his own I suppose.
 
#14 ·
The trunk space in the Energi is a joke.
There's the biggest detriment to the C-Max Energi versus the C-Max hybrid. The C-Max was not designed with any kind of electric motor drivetrain in mind, so all of that stuff was squeezed into a non-battery type chassis (there are non-battery C-Maxes in Europe). This is most apparent in how the batteries were wedged underneath the rear cargo area.

While the C-Max hybrid's smaller battery intrudes and raises the floor a bit (with the rear seats folded, you still get a flat floor, albeit not flush with the rear hatch latch), the C-Max Energi's rear cargo floor is really raised, creating a two-tier effect when the rear seats are folded.
 
#16 ·
We were considering the Fusion Hybrid, Fusion Energi and the Volt. Really like the new design and the (overstated) MPG of the Fusion. I was upgrading from a 2dr Civic and size was a huge part of our decision since baby #2 was on her way.

After seeing the Energi's trunk, it was automatically out. There is NO trunk, end of story. The Hyrbrid was still a contender, but eventually lost out, as the Volt seemed more high end and rode nicer for just a bit more money.

I do wish the Volt could seat 5, but I can't have everything.
 
#20 ·
We strongly considered the CMax and Fusion hybrid vs the energi. Ford has done a nice job with these cars. I prefer their interior fit and finish to the Volt's. It has a European feel, more like the Cruze. And I prefer Ford's climate controls on these models. But the lower range and in particular the huge battery eating up trunk space (and losing a flat floor) was a deal breaker. We have already used the Volt with back seats down a few times. This is important to us. The Volt is built from the ground up to be an electric car. The Fords are gas ICE cars retrofitted with battery tech. The range is insufficient for most of our driving where as the Volt is almost perfect. Also, there was no price advantage. By the time I had similarly equipped a Fusion I was at the Volt's price - before the $4K GM discount.
 
#22 ·
I guess I'm going to find out from my parents when I visit them. :(

In their case, I think I know why. They wouldn't qualify for more than part of the Federal rebate, the payments would be too much higher, and they need a little more space. Also, small electric range isn't very effective, because their minimum trip distance is 80 miles. But, hey, they are replacing a < 20 MPG Explorer with the C-Max, so that's at least something.

Plus, they apparently got 46 MPG on their trip home.
 
#23 ·
trunk space was a killer for me... as a pretty avid bicyclist I wanted a way to put my bike INSIDE the car... with my Volt its very easy... take the front wheel off.. fold down the seats, drop a sheet in and bike fits perfectly.. with Cmax ENERGI it just plain WONT fit.. with the hybrid it was a squeeze...

I know there are bicycle racks.. but I havent found one yet that with repeated use didnt end up ruining the finish on the car.. oh unless I wanted to pay huge $$$ for a hitch rack.. so I could carry "1 bike!"..
-Christopher
 
#24 ·
The cmax energi was a real contender for me. I was really torn. The volt had greater range, but wasn't as roomy. I didn't care about the lack of cargo space, because the only thing I ever haul is groceries. The volt, however, had been around a little bit longer and had a track record. A very good track record, in fact. The cmax on the other hand was newly introduced, so no one really knew yet if the bugs had been worked out. I'm no engineer, but my sense of the volt was that it was a superior technology (and several thousand dollars more).

Like I said, I was torn. When Chevy announced its 5000 dollar cut on all 2013s, the decision became a whole lot easier. Taking that into account and the 7500 dollar tax credit (cmax gets 3750 tax credit) AND the Illinois rebate of approximately 3900 dollars which the cmax doesn't qualify for, the volt comes out CHEAPER by a few hundred dollars. For two vehicles at about the same price, of course I'm going to pick the one with twice the electric range. Once all is said and done, my fully loaded new volt will have cost us about $25,000 - $26,000.

I'm sure I would have been happy with the cmax, but I love my volt. One full week of driving now and it has been all electric miles. I may have been able to pull that off with a cmax, but I doubt it.
 
#25 ·
Well, after seeing the standard C-Max, the Energi would have to be far superior in order to be worthy of comparison to the Volt. I know that my parents bought the non-Energi C-Max, but I was not all that impressed. Fifth seat, yes, but you'd need very small passengers in order to seat five. I'm not convinced that the extra space is all that useable (mostly headroom), and the only areas where the C-Max are superior to the Volt are in rear leg room and (depending on the person) aesthetics. In my short experience, the C-Max was getting 32 MPG on the same roads and conditions where my Volt typically sees 36-38 MPG in CS Mode, so even the "superior" fuel economy is suspect, in my opinion.

That being said, I asked my parents whether they looked into the Energi. They said they did; however, they didn't go that direction because they would not qualify for the tax rebate, and none of the dealerships in their area were selling the Energi models. In fact, they were told that it would be several months before those dealerships would even be able to sell them.
 
#28 ·
One of the criteria in my recent home purchase was "within electric range of anyplace I'd expect to work in the next 5-10 years". The weak-tea plugins all fail that test at the moment. Perhaps in 1-2 generations batteries will allow cheap Voltec or Accord-style proper EREVs to have that range with no impingement in interior room.
 
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