You get out of them what you put into them.

Perhaps Ford could offer a free or low-cost "fuel economy school" showing how to get the most out of their hybrids.  If people failed to apply the lessons, they would have no one to blame but themselves.

Could Hybrids and EVs have built in driving programs to help wild, uncompromising, uncouth, inexperience drivers to change and/or improve their driving skills?

The on board Black Box in passenger planes are used to detect pilots faulty, inefficient skills. They are fed back in ground simulators for corrective measures. Many modern planes have immediate feed back to inform pilots that they are not using the best technique.

It seems that more driver assistance will be required to reduce energy consumption, oil imports, pollution, accidents, damages, fatalities, car insurance cost, etc.

The 30,000+/year fatalities from guns and even more from vehicles is not very democratic?

A friend has a Ford Fusion Hybrid, and it came standard with a continuous fuel/mileage readout on the dash. If drivers can't learn how to drive economically from that, there is nothing that will help. My friend said his driving style changed within a week.

"Could Hybrids and EVs have built in driving programs to help wild, uncompromising, uncouth, inexperience drivers to change and/or improve their driving skills?"

Ford offers "Mykey" in some of their vehicles, its a second key with restricted privileges that you hand to your teenager..

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=29172

FORD’S INNOVATIVE MYKEY SYSTEM HELPS TEENS DRIVE SAFER, CONSERVE FUEL; GIVES PARENTS PEACE OF MIND

"MyKey®, another innovation from the company that introduced SYNC®, allows parents to limit speed and audio volume to encourage teens to drive safer and improve fuel efficiency
Harris Interactive Survey shows that many parents would allow teens to drive more often if their vehicle was equipped with MyKey – helping young drivers build road safety experience

MyKey debuted as a standard feature on the 2010 Ford Focus and is now a no-cost feature on nearly all Ford and Lincoln models

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 26, 2011 – Ford Motor Company’s innovative MyKey technology is designed to help parents encourage their teenagers to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, and increase safety-belt use.

Ford’s MyKey feature – which debuted as standard equipment on the 2010 Ford Focus and is now standard on nearly all Ford and Lincoln models – allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle’s top speed and audio volume. MyKey also encourages safety-belt use, provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound chimes at 45, 55 and 65 mph."

Go to fuelly.com. CMax is getting 39mpg real world (EPA says 47). Prius is getting 49+, real world (EPA says 50). Check out fueleconomy.gov: 33 2013 CMax owners report average of 39.4mpg (range is 34 to 47); 22 2012 Prius owners report average of 51.1 (range is from 44 to 64).

CMax just does not get 47 mpg without hyper miling. Prius owners get 50 mpg just by driving their cars. I test drove a CMax and couldn't get the on board mileage display to show anything approaching 47 mpg, even while driving at a steady 60 mph. I liked the car, but it's just not what it's cracked up to be.

Nick, its just that the Prius automatically hypermiles for you.. whether you want to or not.

“I test drove a CMax ”

Gosh Nick, keeping an open mind and collecting information will get you labeled as troll at GCC.

@TTom
“sacred Consumer Reports is biased against US automakers ”

CR is biased against over power cars with poor handling, blind spots, poor quality, and expensive frequent repairs. I do not think the rule out non-US automakers but Detroit sure is good and fleecing consumers. There are some over priced cars out of Europe that give Detroit a run for their money when it comes to junk. When I lived in Spain we owned what had car that was really underpowered. How ugly was it? However, the first panic stop where are lives depended on stopping hard in straight line resulted in falling in love with it.

Being a smart consumer, I read CR at the public library when ever I make a major purchase. Since that result in a large degree of satisfaction with what we buy. We do not have to buy big ticket items very often. I needed a washer, dryer, frig, lawn mower when we moved. Off to library to read CR. Arriving a Sear just in time for a sale (who knew?), the sales person showed be the top of the line washing and matching dryer, in RED! Out of my folder, I showed her a a piece a paper that said last years model which was a CR best buy was half the price in white and was in warehouse at half the price. Then she tried to sell me the marching dryer which was not a best buy. Why does a dyer have to match the washer CR asked. Out of my folder, I showed her a a piece a paper for a better dyer at $200 less.

Before I could whip out a piece of paper for the Frig, she takes me in back and shows me last years best buy in polished stainless steel that she can give me a really good deal on it. Then she tells me that a lawn mower was just returned. It looked like it had never been run, $75.

My point is that CR is helpful in making an informed and not emotional choice. Before buy I car the first stop is to the library to check CR to see if what they think is a good choice. Then rent the car to see if is comfortable during a long trip. When you go to the dealer, take a folder and tell the dealer what you want. Get up an leave at the first hint that extras include undercoating for $200.

"Your Mileage May Vary"

I've have a 2000 Focus, in the summer I get better than EPA rating.

@Anne

"My lifetime usage (measured from the fuel tanked, not the dash) now stands at 4.22 l/100 km (56 mpg) after 3.5 years."

You are not very credible. First you so not seem to be aware that your Pious has an ICE. I suspect that there are just a few tanks of gas that were somehow not written down. Just human nature.

"I accelerate faster than most other cars."

Most people get to the next light faster than I do. It has nothing to do with my car.

I agree with Anne regarding the actual mpg of the Prius gen III. My actual mpg calculated from fuel payment receipt averaged about 56-58 depending on the season and whether short or long trip, etc. I did not attempt to hypermile, although I was careful with the gas pedal and avoid sudden braking.

This bodes well for the actual mpg of the C-max, since it is a heavier, larger and a more powerful than the Prius that is capable of 57-mpg real-world driving, the C-Max should be capable of 47 mpg of real-world driving in the hands of either Anne or myself. The Prius and the C-Max have very similar technology. The Lithium-ion battery in the C-Max should improve energy recouperation efficiency somewhat.

The fact that the C-Max falls short of the 47-mpg EPA rating may have to do with perhaps suboptimal firmware programming, or something along that line. I believe that Ford can re-tweak the C-Max to deliver around 47-mpg real-world driving in the hands of careful drivers in the near future. May be the earlier batch have faulty programming.

It is equally possible that there is nothing wrong with the current C-max's firmware programming, but the discrepancy in the rating was due to the Prius' rating of 50 mpg is done for the average driver,and 56-58 mpg for more careful drivers like Anne and I, while the C-Max 47-mpg rating is calibrated for more careful drivers like Anne and I, such that we would be able to get 47 mpg out of the C-Max as it is sold today.

At any rate, an EPA rating of 40-mpg is still very good for the C-max, consider the 188-very-willing ponies on tap and the larger interior and heaver weight.

I'm expecting the Fusion Hybrid Energi to have highway mileage roughly equal to the equivalent VW diesel, but burn fuel that's 20% cheaper.  Local driving would need no fuel at all.

The packaging IS compromised, but until there's enough volume to justify a Tesla-style design with the battery in the floor pan, it's the best we're going to get.