Learn me Ford C-Max, or what car?

I have chronicled the saga of the cooling issues I'm having with my 324k mile Prius C.  I've now got a good explanation what's going on with it.  My wife and I are still debating whether to fix it.  Regardless of our decision, the car will be exiting our driveway relatively soon as it had been earmarked for my daughter when she got her license.  We're deciding what to replace it with.  The C-Max is coming up as a contender.  Who has familiarity with them?  Do they have an Achilles heel from a reliability standpoint?  How roomy are they?  What has your real world mpg been?

We've had the Prius C for a bit over a year and put 33k miles on it.  It was a perfect appliance for us.  45+mpg easily, not offensive to drive (though not fun) and just did its' job.  The one negative is that it's too small for our needs.  We travel a lot.  We are constantly transporting two large suitcases, one carry on suitcase, backpack and one 70lb dog.  If we're not doing that, we're transporting one or both of my teenage twins.  Sometimes we have the luggage, dog and a kid in the car...though not often.  The Prius is just too small.  Once my twins turn 16 the need to transport them will drop significantly.  However, our need to run back and forth to the dog sitter and the airport with a full load won't.  I can get a mid-high mileage C-Max in the $6-7k price range.  I'm not interested in diving into the deeper end of the used car pool right now, so I want to find something around $6k.  Other options in consideration: older minivan.  Wagon such as Magnum or older German (though not sure I want to deal with maintenance).  Ford Taurus X or similar.  The only negative to those is fuel mileage is mid 20's or less.  

I'd love to hear input on the C-Max.

The C-Max is the external size of a Mazda5 with 25% less room inside, no sliding doors, and terrible parts availability. They also got a massive lawsuit/recall/settlement about gas mileage being significantly worse that advertised (like 30-40% less).

A close friend has a C-Max Energi, and likes it. She gets free charging at work and has a level 2 charger at home and mostly commutes on electric. Her spouse has a Bolt so for road trips they default to her C-Max. It's a nice place to spend time inside of, and they've had no major mechanical issues that I've heard of - and I would have heard - in the several years she's owned it. The cargo space is reduced over the base C-Max due to the battery being in the floor of the hatch bay. (Under trim, of course!)

On the flip side, DD#1 has a 2013 C-Max hybrid (non-Energi) with probably 100,000 miles on it. I wouldn't know anything about parts availability because it has never needed any.

She gets 44mpg like clockwork in mixed traffic, which is her usual drive. I don't know how it is on the open freeway.

It seems pretty spacious inside. The Energi version has battery-only capability but is is heavier and loses about 2-1/2" of interior height in the back, for extra battery capacity.

It's pretty pleasant to drive.  It's nicely appointed inside and seems like a great utility runabout for someone who doesn't need to take 3 kids to hockey practice every day.  

My buddy has two of them - one for him, one for his wife. They have a charger at home, and she has free charging at work. I get the impression they can be quite cheap to operate if you think carefully about charging, and are in an area that has the infrastructure to support it. I drove one of them once - it was nebulous. The only think that stood out was how grabby and abrupt the brakes felt.

We have a 2013 C-Max we bought new.  Not the Energi plug-in version.  It's reasonably roomy for a smaller car, but the Energy is a lot less so.  We took our 75 lb dog when we went shopping, and he was (and is) fine in the base version but wouldn't be happy in the Energi.  I don't think he'd like having to share the space with a suitcase, though.  There's plenty of room in the back seat for suitcases, but not with additional passengers.

We get 39.5 mpg in mixed driving.  The only reliability issue we've had is the 12V battery which has been replaced twice.  There have been a few times when something electronic/electric didn't shut down right and that battery was dead a day or two later.  When that happens, the car is dead and requires a jump just to get the hatch open to get at the battery (there are jumping points under the hood, but I've found that it works a lot better to disconnect the battery and charge it directly so that whatever is causing the drain isn't stealing juice from the charger.)  The first replacement was a year or two in and under warranty (I think the original battery wasn't great), and the second was at about 100K mi after a few hard drains to very low voltage, and we're currently at about 135K.

It drives ok, not a slug, but hardly a sportscar.  The CVT can make the engine drone while accelerating, and the car isn't particularly quiet on the freeway.  My wive loves it, and I find it to be a practical appliance.  I wouldn't hesitate to drive it across country at this point, but I'd lean towards a quieter car in our fleet for that purpose.

Just to expand your Ford choices, in Energi, there  was also Focus and Fusion. In hybrid there was Fusion, Milan, MKZ. 

Generally, I have nothing negative to say about the C-Max but I have no experience with them either. 

Thanks.  None of the sedans would be big enough, Focus is probably too small also.  Want to fit the gear at least semi comfortable 

Ah, I must be thinking of the energi only. Carry on, the hybrid and regular versions sound much better. 

I bought a non-running 2013 Cmax a couple years ago and had trouble finding much diy info/forums. I called around to several indy repair shops and multiple Ford dealers and pretty much none had any experience working on/troubleshooting issues on a Cmax. 

Ended up towing it over an hour to a Ford dealer that claimed to have experience. They kept it for 2 months and never could find out what was wrong with it.

I have the same powertrain in my Fusion energi and it's been the most reliable vehicle I've owned. The CVT can be a bit drone-y at times, but it's been a great appliance and needed nothing but fuel and oil changes. The concept is very similar to your Prius C powertrain.

The base hybrid will probably return fuel economy in the high 30s to low 40s. Anything in the upper 40s or higher can be attributed to the energi PHEV model:

I'm not sure they're going to be spacious enough for you, but you won't really know until you see one in person.