October 20, 2012
After spending a full day test driving several different hybrid cars from several different dealerships, and dealing with a few rather unfriendly dealerships, my wife and I stumbled upon a 2013 Ford CMax Hybrid. Even though the salesman was rather busy at the time, he made time to arrange for us to test drive one rather basic 2013 Ford CMax car on the lot (we really liked the more luxurious one on the showroom floor). The test drive was great! Very low road noise, lots of bells and whistles inside (the luxurious version on the showroom floor, that is), and the EPA estimated fuel economy was listed at 47MPG. Because we were trading in a 2005 Ford Explorer that averaged 15 MPG, I calculated we could afford slightly higher monthly payments thanks to great savings in fuel costs. I based that upon an assumed average fuel economy about 10% less than what the EPA estimated, or about 40-42 MPG during non-winter driving conditions, and 20% less (about 37-38 MPG) during winter conditions which is typical for Minnesota.
It was the end of the day, and the car on the showroom floor was the one we wanted, so that's the one they arranged for us to take home that night, although it required a jump start to get it going due to all the people testing various electric features I'm sure.
What a great feeling it was to be driving something new again, and not
worrying about things failing, or breaking down unexpectedly. I went
home, and read the Owner's Manual (I know, who does that?) because the
car had so many features that were new to me.
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