2013 Ford C-Max HybridToday I made the first fill-up of my new Ford C-Max. The result was slightly surprising: 40.7 MPG; I was expecting between 35 and 38 MPG. A far cry from the advertised 47 MPG, but as I explained in my last post, I realized the MPG discrepancy when buying the new car, and my expectations are built around an average of about 36 MPG. Coincidentally, yesterday Ford voluntarily re-rated the 2013 C-Max from 47/47/47 to 45/40/43. Still more than I’m expecting, but more in line with a typical car’s posted MPG vs reality.

As with my 2007 Prius, I kept fuel records of my 2009 Prius, and have crunched the numbers:

  • 108 fill-ups between November 5, 2008 and July 23, 2013, with a total of 40,637 miles driven.
  • An average of 16 days between fill-ups (min 0, max 48).
  • 376 miles driven between fill-ups average (min 217, max 487), with an average fill-up of 8.962 gallons (min 6.613, max 11.466). The Prius had a fuel capacity of approximately 12 gallons (though it varied depending on the ambient temperature), and the low fuel warning usually came on between 8 and 9 gallons, so that 11.466 fill-up was cutting it very close (or the pump was rigged).
  • Gas price per gallon per fill-up was $3.268 average (min $1.849, max $4.499). Gas prices from one fill-up to the next changed an average of 16.6 cents. Maximum change between fill-ups was a drop of 66 cents, from a rural station in Southern California on May 23, 2011, to a Reno Sam’s Club (member discount applied) the next day.
  • Average fill-up cost $29.19 (min $16.63, max $40.12). A lifetime total of $3,152.66 was spent on 967.904 gallons. Fuel cost per mile was $0.0776.
  • Average MPG per fill-up was 42.018 (min 26.770, max 56.162). Lifetime MPG (lifetime miles over lifetime gallons) was 41.989.

If you are interested in the raw data, the spreadsheet used to generate these numbers is available here.