C-Max. Anyone drive one?

[GrumpyGregry]

Frau Collins, the lovely Helen, wants a EDIT: replacement WAS: new motor. She has grown tired of my penchant for Saab's, and wants something more versatile. "You don't want a car Gregry so you get no say" In years gone by we've run a kangoo and a scenic. We hired a new C-Max when in Geordie land a few weeks ago and she thought it the dog's doodles!

Anyone owned one longer-term? Good bad or indifferent? Recommended alternatives?

 

[alicat]

I have had one for almost a year and done 18,000 miles in it. It's a petrol 1.0L Eco-boost 63 plate, the higher horse power version. It averages 42.5 mpg in real time, mostly motorway and dual carriageway driving in rush hour.

It's very practical and everything falls to hand nicely. It's a good load carrier. Nothing has gone wrong with it so far. Passengers say that there is plenty of room in the back and it just glides along. The only niggle is that with six gears I am constantly changing gear or changing two at a time and being slightly in too high a gear for a few seconds. Also, the steering seems to become too light under heavy braking.

 

[mybike]

Frau Collins, the lovely Helen, wants a new motor. She has grown tired of my penchant for Saab's, and wants something more versatile. "You don't want a car Gregry so you get no say" In years gone by we've run a kangoo and a scenic. We hired a new C-Max when in Geordie land a few weeks ago and she thought it the dog's doodles!

Anyone owned one longer-term? Good bad or indifferent? Recommended alternatives?

I've had a C-Max Ecoboost 125bhp for about year too and been very pleased. It handles much like the Focus 1.6 I had before it. The boot will take two cases, which the Focus didn't, although part of that is due to the absence of a spare wheel. I love the park-assist and the sensors. The OH likes it because she doesn't have to get down into it. Consumption around town is comparable to the Focus but is noticeably better on long motorway journeys.

 

[screenman]

The word New might have been an important one there.

Not a lot wrong with the Ford, they were on my list when recently changing.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The word New might have been an important one there.

Not a lot wrong with the Ford, they were on my list when recently changing.

Good point, replacement car would be a better way of putting it.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Both kids have them..an 08 and a 12..both seem good..
steering rack failed on the 08 but a cheap fix..quite common apparently.

i dont like going in them as i find them a bit lardy and gutless..the 12 is a 130bhp petrol and better but not my thing..son in law is bored with it too

 

[biggs682]

Got a 58 plate older style one it does what it says on the can .

Can get 3 road bike's in with seats down.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

We had one, a '57' plate, named the 'blue-van' (the least derogatory term I used for it)

A 1.8 petrol, which was maybe a bad choice, but SWMBO bought it, whilst I was at work

Gutless, vile to drive, you might as well have driven between filling stations only, it was appalling
Uncomfortable seats, constantly misting up - unless A/C was left permanently on (as far as we know, there were no rain-leaks into it)
I even got to the point of leaving f**tball posters in it, hoping some rival fan, would deal it a beating with bricks (I hate f**tball, & hoped that no-one I knew saw the pictures & asked why I like that team)

It had 3 windscreens in the 2 years we had the misfortune to own it, with 2 cracking on rough roads (no flying road-debris)

This is the only photo I have of it, as it wasn't worth snapping



An absolutely horrible vehicle, whose only redeeming factor was the LED tail-lights


It was unceremoniously p/x-ed for an Octavia estate in March 2012
Which is what I wanted, before getting the 'blue-van'

We've just got the Octavia to about 95,000 miles (had about 7,000 showing, when we bought it)

Photographed yesterday, after marshalling the Ackworth Half-Marathon, & parking in the fields

 

[GrumpyGregry]

We had one, a '57' plate, named the 'blue-van' (the least derogatory term I used for it)

A 1.8 petrol, which was maybe a bad choice, but SWMBO bought it, whilst I was at work

Gutless, vile to drive, you might as well have driven between filling stations only, it was appalling
Uncomfortable seats, constantly misting up - unless A/C was left permanently on (as far as we know, there were no rain-leaks into it)
I even got to the point of leaving f**tball posters in it, hoping some rival fan, would deal it a beating with bricks (I hate f**tball, & hoped that no-one I knew saw the pictures & asked why I like that team)

It had 3 windscreens in the 2 years we had the misfortune to own it, with 2 cracking on rough roads (no flying road-debris)

This is the only photo I have of it, as it wasn't worth snapping
View attachment 123110


An absolutely horrible vehicle, whose only redeeming factor was the LED tail-lights


It was unceremoniously p/x-ed for an Octavia estate in March 2012
Which is what I wanted, before getting the 'blue-van'

We've just got the Octavia to about 95,000 miles (had about 7,000 showing, when we bought it)

Photographed yesterday, after marshalling the Ackworth Half-Marathon, & parking in the fields

View attachment 123111

Not a fan then?

tlh doesn't do estates unfortunately.

 

[Wafer]

My mum's had one for several years, seems to have been fine for her, she's thought about changing it for something smaller as she got it to tow a caravan but replaced that with a camper van as she was struggling to hitch up on her own.... She's kept the cmax because it's versatile and reliable though it seems. Useful for runs to the tip etc...

I prefer an estate but I think she's always preferred the more upright driving position.

I'd think there were quite a lot of options on the market for cmax like cars....

 

[russ.will]

I had a 1.0L Ecoboost C-Max as a loaner whilst my Insignia got repaired, courtesy of a badger strike.

I found it to be a really well thought out little car, with lots of handy cubby holes for this and that. Handling was typical Ford direct and fun. The 1.0L Ecoboost is a stunning engine for it's size, although I would say go larger/diesel if you do a lot of motorway/dual carriageway driving. Not that the 1.0L doesn't have enough zip for the job (it does) but because 42mpg was the best I got on my commute, whilst my considerably larger and heavier 2.0L Insignia turns in 52mpg.

BTW, if she doesn't do estates, then don't tell her the C-Max is just a tall Focus Estate, which is exactly what it is!

I'll throw in the left field suggestion of the Kuga, which is essentially a C-max in a posing pouch. I had one as a company car a few cars back and did over 120,000m in it. It went down to Spain a couple of times and over the Alps into Italy. It was a great fun car to drive, the family loved it and it (2.0L diesel gain) typically returned 46mpg. The large flat load space was seriously handy too.

Russell

 

[mybike]

What amazes me is the variety of insurance quotes I've had, from £150 to over £500!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

BTW, if she doesn't do estates, then don't tell her the C-Max is just a tall Focus Estate, which is exactly what it is!

I told her it was the crossbreed of a Kangoo (van like accommodation) and a Focus Estate (car like handling)

 

[srw]

It's a great car. There's a very good reason you see a lot of them. We had a 53-plate version (bought second-hand for £4,000) for six or seven years, and when that finally began giving up the ghost got an accidentally personalised (number plate ending RVW) 61 plater last year for quite a lot more. The first one was a 1.8l petrol which went at just under 40mpg; the current one is a 1.6l petrol which does just over. Its main use is alternately storming and crawling around the M25 and A3.

The 1.8 accelerated quickly; the 1.6 doesn't, but it's rarely slow enough to worry about. The boot is very capacious - with the seats folded down you can easily get two bikes in; with the seats taken out (the operation of a couple of minutes) three wouldn't surprise me. With a saddle lowered and front wheels taken out we've carried two full-size bikes and three full-size people.

It's very comfortable to drive - the seats are very adjustable - and very reliable. Apart from standard maintenance I think our old car needed attention twice, once to upgrade the computer software (something we probably could have ignored) and once to replace the boot catch. We bought it at 60,000 miles odd, and sold it at 115,000 or so.

Our first CMax was bought because the tandem (split in two) comfortably fitted in the back; our next car will probably also be a CMax because there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[Crackle]

In similar vein, try a 3008, also very popular and probably cheaper.