TL;DR: Driving electric is sublime and among the 3 you listed, only the Volt lets you do it for a significant number of miles.<p>Disclosure: extremely satisfied 2013 Volt owner here.<p>I test drove every form of electric-augmented automobile available for sale in the midwest (some plug-ins are for sale only on the coasts, so don&#x27;t have trained repairmen near me).<p>The C-Max had a useful form factor.  It would fit my family with legroom in the rear, although the energi&#x27;s trunk space was severely compromised by the extra battery.  Loading groceries would block the lower 30% view.  The C-Max&#x27;s engine was noisy, annoyingly so.  Also, Ford was caught misrepresenting their MPGs and had to readjust them.<p>I drove a C-Max and a C-Max energi (the plug-in).  Between the two, I&#x27;d prefer the energi because it runs 100% electric some of the time (but nowhere near what the Volt can do), but the price difference was not justified.<p>www.gm-volt.com is a great resource for prospective and actual owners.  From there I learned that buying a used Volt was a good idea and a great deal for these reasons:  1) used Volt prices are outrageously low for a high-quality car, albeit compact.  2) Reading the dash computer&#x27;s &quot;lifetime mpg&quot; will let you know (with some reverse math) how many of the miles on the odometer come from the combustion engine vs electric.  This is important because a Volt with 30K miles may only have 10-12K miles on gas; the rest electric.  And since the electric drivetrain has a 8yr&#x2F;100,000mi warranty, you&#x27;re covered.  3) There are guys reporting their Volt&#x27;s battery still taking 90% of their original charge after reaching 100,000 miles.  4) The guys taking ownership of the 2016 Volt are reporting 50-60 miles all-electric range and quite a bit more punch when putting the pedal down.<p>edit: Added TL;DR