Ford Focus C-MAX 1.6i Duratec 16V SIV

...Until they came across the Ford Focus C-MAX, that is.

But I don't want to give over a negative impression straight away - far from it. Despite the regular chundering of a three year old boy, the C-MAX impressed me straight away and, as a family car, I'd struggle to recommend anything above it these days.

The Ford Focus C-MAX is part of that new breed of family car, the mini-MPV. Pioneered by the quirky Renault, the mini-MPV ...
...and interior quality of all Ford cars these days is vastly improved and they've taken many of their design techniques from much more expensive marques and today I wouldn't be ashamed to say I owned a Ford when just a few years ago I wouldn't have touched one with a long stick.

The car I had was a 1.6 litre Studio (or Trend as it is known in some other countries), Ford's entry-level version, and I was immediately struck by how much ... more

It's important to note, before I go any further, that neither of my children have ever suffered from any form of travel sickness, and these two kids have spent a lot of time travelling - cars, trains, planes, boats. They've travelled on pretty much all sorts of modes of transport short of the Space Shuttle and never got sick. Until they came across the Ford Focus C-MAX, that is.

But I don't want to give over a negative impression straight away - far from it. Despite the regular chundering of a three year old boy, the C-MAX impressed me straight away and, as a family car, I'd struggle to recommend anything above it these days.

The Ford Focus C-MAX is part of that new breed of family car, the mini-MPV. Pioneered by the quirky Renault, the mini-MPV is basically a taller car designed to hold a family of five and a modicum of their luggage in reasonable style. The success of the Renault Megane Scenic in the mid-nineties forced other manufacturers to quickly reassess their brand portfolio, because the development of this type of car is relatively inexpensive in motoring terms. The original Scenic was built on the same platform as the Megane hatchback car, meaning that all the running ground components were shared, thus reducing costs. These days, with so many different manufacturers challenging them for market share, Renault's Scenic is now a car in its own right, sharing little with it's smaller sibling; the rest of the market place, however, are still using the original concept of chassis-sharing. Citroen's Xsara Picasso is a good example and last year was the market leader in this field and Ford's C-MAX takes much the same line of attack, using the underpinnings of its excellent Focus to make a great little family car.

I drove the C-MAX's slightly bigger brother, the Focus Estate, last year but unfortunately never got round to reviewing it, but I was as impressed with the Estate as I was with the C-MAX. The latest incarnation of Fords are far more impressive than earlier versions. The rep-mobile tag might still plague the Mondeo, but the build quality and interior quality of all Ford cars these days is vastly improved and they've taken many of their design techniques from much more expensive marques and today I wouldn't be ashamed to say I owned a Ford when just a few years ago I wouldn't have touched one with a long stick.

The car I had was a 1.6 litre Studio (or Trend as it is known in some other countries), Ford's entry-level version, and I was immediately struck by how much space the car offers you. Compared to many of the competitors in this market place, the boot space is immediately striking, offering you 855 millimetres of loading space length with the rear seats in place and 1734 with the seats removed; for the techies amongst you this equates to 0.550 cubic meters laden to the roof with all five seats in place and 1.620 with only the front seats in place. For those of you uninitiated in the finer points of car measurement, for us it meant that a family of five, including two large suitcases, two small suitcases, five small bags of hand luggage for the plane a buggy and our jackets were all able to get in the car without the need for the kids to have stuff on their laps or under their feet. The next thing that struck me was the high roof line when we got in the car. From the outside, the C-MAX looks no bigger than its brethren, but inside the higher roof meant that we all immediately felt comfortable, with no sensations of being cramped or claustrophic, despite their being five fully fledged adults and one child (one with a booster), sat in the cabin. The rear passengers had plenty of leg room even with the driver's seat in the perfect position and, like the Scenic, flip-up airplane-style tables are mounted in the backs of the front seats to allow kiddies or adults to draw or store a cup or packet of crisps.

In the front the car is roomy and the controls are nicely laid out. The switchgear and dashboard has an almost Germanic feel to it, as if Ford have been taking many of their styling queues from BMW or Audi of late. The switches are simple to operate and turn or push with a solid, responsive feel to them. Of all the controls the one that frustrated me most was the steering-mounted remote for the radio. This is another set of controls where Ford have obviously studied the competition and Renault have always been excellent with the layout of the paddle for operating the radio; Ford have taken many ideas from this concept and made their remote similar to Renault's, with buttons for increasing and decreasing the volume, seeking through radio stations or changing CD tracks and a simple button for flicking between the radio's modes. On the Focus C-MAX, however, the housing is a little too big and unwieldy and on more than one occasion I found myself catching the radio remote when I wanted to be turning on the indicators.

Another odd switch but one that simply takes a little getting used to, after all bad habits are hard to break, is the operation of the wash/wipe function. On most cars, to wash the front windscreen you pull the stalk towards you and to operate the rear windscreen functions you either push in or twist the stalk - on this car it's the other way round: you pull the stalk to operate the wash/wipe function of the rear window and push in the end of the stalk to do the front. It is clearly marked on the stalk, so Ford are not at fault here, but it is unusual and I found myself washing the wrong window one too many times.

Control wise, even for an entry level model the C-MAX is well equipped. Front electric windows, air conditioning, CD player and on-board computer are all part of the specification list. The computer displays outside temperature, average speed, average fuel consumption and distance remaining in the tank before empty; a nice feature of this last function is that when the fuel is getting low and the warning light comes on, the display automatically switches to the "Distance To Empty" display to give you immediate information. The computer beeps annoyingly with every warning, whether it is low-washer level, door open or fuel-low as well as reporting the information on the screen in the dashboard, but you can switch this function off in the computer settings; personally, although I find it annoying I do also like it as it gives me an audible warning when I may otherwise have missed something.

To drive, the C-MAX handles like any other small to mid-size car. The high roofline does not make the car feel top heavy, although in strong winds the car can be easily blown across the lanes and it does require a little extra concentration than some other, heavier feeling cars. The gear lever is mounted higher, on the dashboard - again as is common in many of these cars today - and the gear change is precise and easy, with the lever selecting gears neatly and with a nice feel. The clutch pedal is a little too high for my liking but I'm sure a trip to your Ford dealer could get this adjusted for you. The steering adjusts for reach and rake, so you can get it into the perfect position for your style and the electrically adjusted mirrors are easily operated from a control on the door panel. The car handles well, feeling perfectly poised on the road and there is little threat of understeer, although I'm sure if you pushed it hard you could upset it easily enough. I found the brakes had a spongy feel to them, though they were effective when needed and the steering itself had a woolly feel to it, giving little information back from the road. It was enough to make you feel comfortable, but none of the feel through the controls was sharp enough to make you feel confident of going too fast in the car.

The car's safety features include ABS and Emergency Brake Assist and the car is fitted with driver and passenger air bags plus side impact airbags that cover the length of the side of the car, an excellent feature in this class.

Of course, speed is not really of the essence in this particular model. The 1.6 litre engine might provide a good, cheap entry price, but its wheezy and emphysematous in its approach, especially when pushed hard. Don't try to race people from the traffic lights as, even with a light load on board, the car is likely to simply trundle forward at its own pace. Squeezing the throttle doesn't seem to make it gee-up further, either - like a lazy pony, the 1.6 version of this car will simply get there when it gets there, don't rush it. Over 559 miles the car returned 30.9 miles to the gallon at an average speed of 39 miles per hour; not stunning but I think you'd get a better yield out of the 1.8 litre petrol engine or certainly Ford's superb 2.0litre TDCi diesel, plus you'd get better performance too. The lowly 1.6 just wasn't up to the game of high-rev, distance driving with a full load on board. Ford's own figures quote a combined fuel economy figure for this engine of 40.9mpgs, but we simply didn't see that, and they reckon the all-important 'how big is yours' question of 0-60mph time comes up in 12.9 seconds, but again I'd argue that - this car was probably getting there in about sixteen seconds on average.

But this car is less about performance and more about functionality. The rear seats are actually three independent seats that can all tilt, fold or be removed independently; the middle seat in the rear acts as an arm rest and further storage or cup holding if it is folded flat between the two outer seats, giving extra room if there are just four of you in the car. All round visibility from the driver's seat is good but not excellent as the long rake of the windscreen might give you an air of space inside the car but it denies you sight of the bonnet, making it difficult to judge where the front of the car is when parking.

Don't let this put you off though. If you're looking for this type of car there are far worse alternatives on the market. You're backed up by Ford, who have dealerships the length and breadth of the UK, it has a full three-year warranty and entry prices start at £13'995 for this particular model. If you could, though, I'd suggest stretching your budget to one of the bigger engines, not so much for performance but more for comfort and economy.

Besides, if you do get this lowly 1.6 up to its manufacturer's claimed top speed of 107 miles per hour it shakes and judders, rattles and howls just like the Space Shuttle on its launch platform ten seconds before the off. Not that this has anything to do with my kid's being sick, you understand... 

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