Photo: Ford
There are many advantages to driving a hybrid car, of any sort, as long as it is a more modern car, and not a 1990s model. Once you get past the high asking price, you realize that there are a lot of perks to owning such a vehicle, and one of these is the fact that you gain access to special lanes, and areas of cities, which are usually off-limits to any sort of car.
Now, the Ford C-Max Energi Plug-In hybrid has been granted access to New York’s HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) carpool lanes, which includes a 40-mile (60 km) stretch along the Long Island Expressway, which is a very important way into the city.
The C-Max has met all of the stringent emissions standards, and has now been classed as a super ultra-low emissions vehilce (SULEV), and with EPA-certified efficiency numbers of 108 MPGe in town and 92 MPGe on the highway, it is one of the most frugal vehicles on sale in the US today. Furthermore, it has Ford’s excellent chassis tuning, and is decently powerful for what it is, which makes it surprisingly fun to drive for a vehicle in this niche.
It is interesting to see if once the EPA concludes its investigation of Ford’s possibly-fake efficiency figures, and the result is a bad one for Ford, if the HOV lane access will be taken away.
The C-Max has met all of the stringent emissions standards, and has now been classed as a super ultra-low emissions vehilce (SULEV), and with EPA-certified efficiency numbers of 108 MPGe in town and 92 MPGe on the highway, it is one of the most frugal vehicles on sale in the US today. Furthermore, it has Ford’s excellent chassis tuning, and is decently powerful for what it is, which makes it surprisingly fun to drive for a vehicle in this niche.
It is interesting to see if once the EPA concludes its investigation of Ford’s possibly-fake efficiency figures, and the result is a bad one for Ford, if the HOV lane access will be taken away.
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