Any modern Ford hybrid/PHEV experience?

I'm seeing some decent deals on Fusion Hybrids and even the Energi PHEV variant. This is convenient because I also need a modern, more practical part-time baby/dog hauler that will be miserly on my 50 mile round trip commute. Seems like all of the Fords use the same basic hardware between the Focus, CMax and Fusion, and a bunch of that is licensed Prius stuff. Tell me about your experience with electrified modern stuff from the Blue Oval. Driving experiences? Reliability? Ex's cousin's second hand anectdotes? Bring it.

I commented on our CMax experience in this thread:  https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/teach-me-the-ways-of-the-hybrid-o-great-ones/137016/page1/

I test drove a Fusion Energi about a month ago. Halfway through the test drive I was convinced I was going to at least start negotiations or really look hard for one. Then I got back to the dealer and opened the trunk. That ended my want of the Fusion Energi pretty quickly. 

Still considering the C-Max. That is all I have to add here.

pkingham said:

I commented on our CMax experience in this thread:  https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/teach-me-the-ways-of-the-hybrid-o-great-ones/137016/page1/

And I followed up with DD#1's experience with her new-to-her 2013 C-Max SEL hybrid.  It is the non-Energi (non-plug-in) version, which is about 300 lbsd lighter and gains 3" +/- of hatch height due to smaller batteries.

It's a really nice commuter / utility car - smooth, quiet, responsive, doesn't handle badly, pretty darn pleasant inside.  It just happens to turn in 42 mpg in mixed commuter driving.  Plug-ins will do even better, but have the weight and space penalty noted above.

Hers had 60-something thousand miles on it at purchase, pretty much drove like it was brand new, and almost looked it.

Don't know about longer term reliability, but if I can't get a silly rental car like a Challenger, I tend to pick whatever Fusion Hybrid the rental car company has hanging around (or a Kia Soul). I like them as comfortable appliances, they're OK to drive and pretty decent on fuel. For me, the size of the trunk isn't that big a deal, but make sure you do check that to see if it's big enough.

I also participated on the Cmax thread, our experience has been very positive.

IMO you want the Cmax over the Fusion Hybrid - even the non-Energi models have a lot of trunk space taken away by the batteries.

mtn said:

I test drove a Fusion Energi about a month ago. Halfway through the test drive I was convinced I was going to at least start negotiations or really look hard for one. Then I got back to the dealer and opened the trunk. That ended my want of the Fusion Energi pretty quickly. 

Still considering the C-Max. That is all I have to add here.

The (lack of) trunk space seems to be the most consistent complaint that I've read. Normally, that wouldn't be a deal breaker. This will just be the secondary baby hauler and we can use my wife's Santa Fe for cargo. However, I'll be watching the kiddo alone one day per week, and I just don't know yet if I'll be able to get by with folding the rear seat down or not when the need to haul baby and baby stuff comes up.

Ill have to see one in person to really know I guess.

szeis4cookie said:

I also participated on the Cmax thread, our experience has been very positive.

IMO you want the Cmax over the Fusion Hybrid - even the non-Energi models have a lot of trunk space taken away by the batteries.

Noted. My biggest concern with the CMax is legroom. I'm 6'1, MrsSTM is 5'10, and we need to be able to fit a rear facing car seat behind us so interior length can definitely be a limiting factor and is prioritized accordingly. I think the Fusion has an 8 inch longer wheelbase, 1 inch more front legroom, and 2 inches more rear legroom compared to the CMax and that can all add up when you've got 2 tall people and a baby seat that can survive reentering the Earth's atmosphere.

Any of the Ford guys have any insight? Behind the scenes stuff, or reliability from a tech's point of view?

In reply to STM317 :

That's fair. My wife and I are both pretty short, and by the time we bought ours both of our kids were facing forwards, so I don't have any insight for you on this.  I believe there's also an Escape hybrid that has the same hardware, if it helps...

I'll throw an alternative in here. My son has a Kia Niro. Currently has 4700 miles since new and has averaged 44 mpg. On  a run from Ann Arbor to Mid-Ohio Saturday it was 47 mpg.  We were three adult males and rear seat room was fine with one side occupied by the baby seat. I'm 5'11" and was sitting on the passenger side in front of the baby seat. Lots of leg room for me. Storage in the hatch was roomy enough for all our coolers and lawn chairs, etc. A decent, but not exciting vehicle for a list price of around $24K.

Normal Caveat as I'm employed by Ford Mo Co.  But I love them.  For my second company car I have a C-MAX Energi for my daughter.  She doesn't live with us so I don't' see/drive it every day, but she's had it about a year now and probably 12K miles.  It's been perfect for her.  She plugs it in over night, just to a regular 110V outlet, not a fast charge.  Her normal daily use is 100% electric and it only runs on gas outside her normal daily stuff.  Still get's over 40mpg even on a 250 mile  trip.  We have other friends who bought one of the first regular hybrid ones in 2013.  It was passed down to the grandson of the original owner about two years ago and to the best of my knowledge it's still running perfectly fine with nothing but regular maintenance.

STM317 said:

Any of the Ford guys have any insight? Behind the scenes stuff, or reliability from a tech's point of view?

I don’t. Never drove one, even for work. 

In reply to DeadSkunk :

That's a decent suggestion. I like the more recent Korean things, especially after a couple of years of depreciation. However, that's a bit more than I'm looking to spend. I should've mentioned that in the first post. Budget is $10k-15k. It's not too difficult to find low mile Ford hybrids and even Energi PHEVs in that price range which strikes me as a decent deal considering some of them cost $45k new.

We have 4 1st gen Escape hybrids in my office pushing 100,000 miles they’ve accumulated in Manhattan.  They have the typical interior trim issues you’d expect of cars worked 2-3 shifts 7 days a week but mechanically they’ve held up very well.  I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one myself.

I hated the C-Max that I spend hundreds of miles in. God, I'd never drive one of those by choice.

STM317 said:

Any of the Ford guys have any insight? Behind the scenes stuff, or reliability from a tech's point of view?

I don't personally have one but several of my coworkers have the C-Max. They've all been very pleased from what I've heard. IMO that says something as we all work in internal combustion engine design. 

STM317 said:

mtn said:

I test drove a Fusion Energi about a month ago. Halfway through the test drive I was convinced I was going to at least start negotiations or really look hard for one. Then I got back to the dealer and opened the trunk. That ended my want of the Fusion Energi pretty quickly. 

Still considering the C-Max. That is all I have to add here.

The (lack of) trunk space seems to be the most consistent complaint that I've read. Normally, that wouldn't be a deal breaker. This will just be the secondary baby hauler and we can use my wife's Santa Fe for cargo. However, I'll be watching the kiddo alone one day per week, and I just don't know yet if I'll be able to get by with folding the rear seat down or not when the need to haul baby and baby stuff comes up.

Ill have to see one in person to really know I guess.

I think that the Miata may have as much trunk space. I'm exaggerating slightly, but it really has no cargo space--and I don't think the seats fold down. If they do, you can't fit anything taller than a hockey stick through the opening.

yupididit said:

I hated the C-Max that I spend hundreds of miles in. God, I'd never drive one of those by choice.

Why?

mtn said:

I think that the Miata may have as much trunk space. I'm exaggerating slightly, but it really has no cargo space--and I don't think the seats fold down. If they do, you can't fit anything taller than a hockey stick through the opening.

The rear seats do fold down from what I can tell based on a couple of owner tales and sparse articles, but your point about it's usefulness is valid.

Edit: Here's a pic of the Fusion Energi trunk with the rear seats down. Probably won't know until I see it, but it looks like it might be an opening 8-10 inches tall? It's not ideal. Ideally we would've gotten the Mondeo/Fusion wagon in the US, and it would've been available in a PHEV, but neither of those things happened. Honestly, I could probably deal with that for the occasional situation where I'd need more cargo room in a pinch.

STM317 said:

mtn said:

I think that the Miata may have as much trunk space. I'm exaggerating slightly, but it really has no cargo space--and I don't think the seats fold down. If they do, you can't fit anything taller than a hockey stick through the opening.

The rear seats do fold down from what I can tell based on a couple of owner tales and sparse articles, but your point about it's usefulness is valid. Probably won't know until I see it.

You're right, they do. You'll have to see it for yourself though--like I said, I thought it was an excellent car and would have at least been negotiating on it had the trunk been bigger. You can google search for images, most look bigger than it did IRL to me. But you probably have different priorities than I do; I wouldn't have been able to fit a hockey bag in the trunk. 

STM317 said:

mtn said:

I think that the Miata may have as much trunk space. I'm exaggerating slightly, but it really has no cargo space--and I don't think the seats fold down. If they do, you can't fit anything taller than a hockey stick through the opening.

The rear seats do fold down from what I can tell based on a couple of owner tales and sparse articles, but your point about it's usefulness is valid.

Edit: Here's a pic of the Fusion Energi trunk with the rear seats down. Probably won't know until I see it, but it looks like it might be an opening 8-10 inches tall? It's not ideal. Ideally we would've gotten the Mondeo/Fusion wagon in the US, and it would've been available in a PHEV, but neither of those things happened. Honestly, I could probably deal with that for the occasional situation where I'd need more cargo room in a pinch.

This is the hybrid, not the Energi. 

Here are 3 pictures showing the size of the Energi trunk. 

In reply to mtn :

Ahh, you're right. Thanks for digging those up!

mtn said:

yupididit said:

I hated the C-Max that I spend hundreds of miles in. God, I'd never drive one of those by choice.

Why?

I'd honestly like to know as well.

When the C-MAx was launched here I drove it back to back with the Prius.  My honest thought at the time was if every one who bought a prius had driven a C-max first then Toyota would never have sold another one.  It road better, handled better, the seater were far better, the interior was better materials.  On road performance felt similar, but according to the on board computers (I zeroed both when I got in and drove the same loop) and the C-max got better mileage too.  I'll leave out Design language as style is such a personal thing, but I honestly would like to know what was so aweful.

Yeah, DD#1 bought the new-to-her 2013 C-Max after long morning consisting of a 3-hour train ride from Philly to Virginia, a bit of hassle getting to the dealership, and the test drive / final negotiations.  We hopped in and drove 3 hours home through DC traffic and were comfortable and happy the whole way.  I can understand not thinking it is the most fun car to drive, but I can't imagine hating it.  But that's why they make different cars.