Nay. The C-Max is the size of a roomy hatchback.
proportionally it’s more or less like a somewhat larger Honda Fit. Kind of a “tall wagon” or “small minivan” type of vehicle.
Thanks - it’s so hard to tell from pictures! 
The C-Max Energi is smaller than you think and than it looks. A bit less length and bit wider than the Prius (173.6x72" cf to 176.4x68.7"), and significantly less length than the Prius V. It is taller than each though. The headroom makes it seem bigger inside than it practically is. Heavier - the battery weighs a lot. And the battery also takes up some of the behind the rear seat storage space. Nice build feel. Very peppy off the line.
The annoyances I have with it in winter wouldn’t apply for you in WA.
But then again the limitations of the Leaf don’t apply much to you either and the C-Max battery might be a bit too small to be considered “right-sized” for you - you need a 30ish range to avoid daily gas use and it will only give you 21 to 23. So unless you can charge at work you will use gas every day with a C-Max Energi. Really the Volt is right sized for you (and its limitation for those of us with kids - only seats 4 - is of no matter to you) but that is out.
Battery life like range is impacted by temperature. Your year round fairly mild conditions should maximize it and it is completely possible that you will have enough range for your needs with a Leaf for a 20 year vehicle lifetime (which really it should otherwise last). Most sources say that in a hotter climate 10 years is more realistic. Right now Nissan is quoting $5500 to replace the battery but costs are expected to drop over the years. That said both lifetime and cost are unknowns, just best guesses.
Another factor to consider is whether or not you want to make a statement. Like a Prius a Leaf (and a Volt for that matter) advertises what it is to those around you. Some people like that or feel it helps the cause of making driving mostly off grid power more mainstream. I do not want any attention called to me in that way and I enjoy the fact that few recognize that I am driving anything other than a standard vehicle unless they see me plugging it in. Most don’t know that the Energi line exists let alone is battery powered for most miles. Heh, YMMV.
Enjoy whichever one you get!
Why not rent a leaf for a year or 2 first? Last I heard, Nissan was leasing the Leafs for what has to be at or below cost, or about $199 a month. Basic pencil test - that’s only 2.4k a year, or 24k a decade. MSRP is $29k. Since the lease means they also pay for maintenance, I’m not seeing a value proposition in buying. Just the interest on 29k alone (even if you don’t finance, you bill the interest to yourself if you can pay 29k cash because you could have invested that money instead) over a decade of compounding…
I hope you post the results from your test drives!
I would love to hear what you have to think
Just fyi, WA is not just the thin strip of the state that is the Puget Sound region. It has extensive mountain regions, and the eastern portion of the state gets plenty of snow and ice, I assure you.
However, such a car works just fine in snowy regions. If necessary, put some winter tires on it (not studs, just winter tires). Both of our cars are FWD (one a Ford Fusion hybrid, the other conventional) and both do just fine in the snowy hills of eastern WA.
If you haven’t bought yet, check out the Fiat 500e. Much nicer looking than either the Fit or Leaf!
ETA: I saw one yesterday and it’s much nicer looking in person than the photos. It was orange and it looked sharp.
I missed the edit window for adding this:
ETA2: Talking with the owner, he said it’s a leased vehicle, was only $1,000 down and $90 a month. Battery range is about 90 miles on a full charge. Of course you’re limited to 12,000 miles a year but if your commute fits in those parameters, at those prices they’re practically giving them away.
Not an option for the OP, unfortunately - the 500e is only available in California and Oregon.
According to the Fiat website, these are only available in Oregon and California. That’s a 3 hour drive for a test drive. Cute car, though…
And while Knorf is right about Washington State, I do live in the Seattle area where weather is clement, most of the time.
The issue is not snow and ice but battery performance (and in the C-Max case therefore how often the ICE turns on, be it because of battery deletion or for some algorithm they have for “engine performance”) in colder temperatures. So yes, in a northeastern town like Winthrop, where December and January temperatures can hit lows in the teens, some of those issues might apply
That said, the vast vast majority of the population lives along the milder weather and charger replete Interstate 5 corridor with a smaller cluster in and around Spokane (which only gets lows down into the low 20s even in January). California it aint, but relatively mild temperatures it be, for most who live there.
It gets into the teens and lower all the time in Eastern WA. You clearly have never lived here and have no idea what you’re talking about. Temperatures are predicted to hit around zero F tonight in the Palouse, for example. Yes, the majority of the state population is in the Puget Sound region, but far from all of it.
As for mild, even in the Puget Sound area the winter is usually not what anyone would call warm, highs often hover in the mid-30s, and freezing temperatures and snow occur once or twice almost every winter. Certainly sufficient to impact charge levels, although plug-in hybrids still work just fine as they can in almost any temperature, albeit not quite as well as in warmer climates.
In any case, my hybrid, which I drive in sub-freezing temperatures all the time admittedly does not perform quite as well as in the summer, nonetheless performs very well indeed in any temperature in terms of economy.
Incidentally, California also has multiple different biomes, including alpine tundra and high mountain steppe. Go hang out in Susanville or Shasta and tell me it’s not cold in the winter, sometimes as extreme as you could ask for anywhere outside of polar regions.
Speaking of which, ever hear about the “Donner Party”? That happened in California. Not all of CA is mild.
In addition to taking exception to your narrow understanding of geography, it’s simply false that hybrids and plug-in hybrids can’t perform admirably well even in colder climates. Yes, less than when it’s warm. But still far better than conventional vehicles, whose performance is also impacted by cold weather.
Merely quoting from U.S. Climate Data. Average lows Dec through Feb are 14 to 18 degrees.
“All”? No of course not - but check out this population map and you will see that *almost all *do. Outside of those regions the average population density is less than 25 per square mile pretty much all over.
And merely speaking from my own experience with my own hybrids and PHEV - still great cars and ICE performance goes down in cold temps too - but there is no denying that range is decreased substantially in the cold. And my car does turn the ICE when I turn on the heat or defrost and does this turning the ICE on for “oil maintenance mode” in cold weather sometimes too - which has me using some gas even though my commute is with my battery’s EV range - which I find annoying. I case you cannot tell, I am a fan of driving off of grid-derived power and of these vehicles. But the right car for the right need. In a hot climate probably going with a water cooled battery makes more sense, for example. Cold weather will impact your range which matters when you are deciding on what battery is the right size for your needs. Seattle is pretty ideal for battery range and length of life. Phoenix not so much so for an air cooled battery’s life length and Alaska not so much so for range.
So step outside, enjoy your dropping temps, and chill dude. 
I had to think about that - then I remembered the US gallon is arond 20% less than the UK gallon And I use litres!
Fwiw, to a UK gallon in a 2013 Prius, my milegage is around 55-60mpg in town and almost 70-ish on motorways.
Lov, love the Prius - zero maintenaince, low depreciation, mpg!
The test drives went well.
2015 Honda Fit LX: Drives like my 2009 did when it was new. We knew we’d like it, and we did. A good benchmark car, and our fallback position if we can’t find anything we like better. They also had a couple 2014s on the lot, but the price wasn’t significantly better. But the Fit is not an EV, which is the point of this exercise.
2015 Ford C-Max Energi: I like the idea of a fuel tank as a backup, and it would gamify trying to run on electric only. The battery is right-sized for my commute. The interior feels flimsy compared to the Fusion (see below). Seems to lack pep when accelerating to freeway speeds. Really lacks pep going uphill.
2015 Ford Fusion SE Energi: Similar to the C-Max with range/fuel backup/battery size. Much nicer interior finish. Has the pep the C-Max lacked. Terrible visibility out the back, and a very small trunk (but I’m used to a hatchback, so this could just be me). Actually got to talking price with the dealer on this, and was surprised how little they were willing to come down, even at the end of the year.
2015 Nissan Leaf S: Wow, has this car got pep! It its least efficient mode (eco and brake mode off), it’s feels like more power than my Fit. Great trunk space (but no spare tire) and low center of gravity. No fuel tank backup, and the battery is probably more than we need. Lots of controls I’m not sure I need and would have to learn more about - I can’t imagine if we tried for one of the higher-end models! We did this drive at night, which made it a little more difficult to understand how everything works. Dealer seemed eager to make all kinds of deals - offered us $3500 off to start, and told us flat out he could do better if we asked.
The bottom line: We’ve narrowed it back to the Leaf and the Fit, based mainly on the Ford dealership’s lack of interest in lowering the price on the Fusion. We’re going back to Nissan to do a daylight extended drive and test it out on the steep hill I have on my daily commute.
I’m surprised you perceived such a difference in the performance of the C-Max and the Fusion; the C-Max is lighter and they have the same powertrains.
Did the dealer have a Focus EV on hand? If so, might be worth giving it a look.
I wonder if they drove it with the battery depleted. The dealers generally know very little about selling the EVs and when I first test drove the C-Max Energi that was my experience - when battery depleted and running as a regular hybrid it is unimpressive off the line; on electric my experience was peppier than the Leaf.
Having recently test drove a fair number of cars when one of my kids was looking there is no comparison between the Leaf and the Fit … the Leaf is much more fun and high end with the only advantage to the Fit being its Tardis like bigger on the inside than the outside due to the ways the seats move around.
Good luck making your choice!
So did you buy something?