Ford C-Max or alternative Family Car

Darryl_1983

Darryl_1983

Darryl_1983

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Nottingham
Looking to replace my wife's 1.2 16v corsa, with something bigger and more pratical, so took her out to the local available car dealer to see if she fancied anything. Stand out was the C-Max. Ended up testing a 1.6 petrol from elsewhere which was dog slow with only 105bhp), so I'm now looking for a 1.6 ecoboost model which I'm hoping will provide a decent amount of oomph (150bhp). To an otherwise pretty good drive for what it is.

We've got a 9 month old girl and are currently trying for a second (plan is to stop after this). But I've also got an 11 year old girl from a previous relationship that we have once a week generally. We will need to be careful picking child seats but I'm confident we'll get all 3 in the back.

I understand these are basically a focus based car and the 1.6 ecoboost engine in it is basically the same as the 180bhp version (possibly just a map detune). Is there anything I need to be weary off? Going to look at a 2011 titanium spec tomorrow morning.

Also anything else we should seriously consider? Don't really want to go much bigger and with the car mainly being for my wife the looking are pretty important. She doesn't want something that she'd associate as an old man's car. Which has been a stumbling block on a few cars I've tried to point out for her.

This will be our family car for the next 5 years or so hopefully, and it also means I can get myself something cheap and fun for driving to work that doesn't need to be able to fit the kids in the back. Missing my old Clio 182 so that is top of the list at the minute.
 
I've had a C-MAX As a courtesy car before. Wasn't keen to be perfectly honest.

We can probably give some better advice if you know your budget, and if you want petrol or diesel , and manual or auto?
 
Although they're focus sized there's quite a decent boot due to the height and I'd say it seems like it's wider than a focus too so you might just be ok for 3 in the back.

I've had one or two on hire and tbh I can't stand the things, but purely as a shuttle for children you could do a lot worse. The ecoboost engines are pretty good too.
 
My dad has the new version of the Golf Plus - the Golf SV. He's got a 1.4TSI and has been very impressed with it so far.

He tried out the C-max, but opted for the Golf SV in the end. His main issue was the ones he tried only had the 3-cylinder 1.0L Petrol Ecoboost and you have to rev it quite hard compared to the old-school 1.6 in his previous focus.

If you're looking at the 1.6 Petrol Ecoboost, that's a 4-cylinder and has more grunt.
 
Budget is £8k tops really. The C-Max we're looking at is a 2011.

Ideally looking for a petrol I think, mileage will be around 10k at a guess.o St of which will be short journeys too.

It does seem larger inside than a focus and obviously there is s lot more headroom and boot space. I've currently got a 06 Jetta, which is definitely smaller inside than the C Max.

I'm surprised the comments are so negative given the focus is praised so much on here, but I'm guessing most will have been driving one with either an under powered petrol or diesel engine that they seem to put in this type of car to get a better tax bracket and higher mpg figure.

I think a golf plus is a little smaller, bit I'll check that one. To be honest my initial thoughts were along the lines of Honda frv, Nissan qashqia, etc. Wife wasn't keen on the Honda and the qashqia we tried didn't allow the seat to drop low enough for me to fit in and I'm only 6ft 2.
 
My dad isn't huge and his complaint about the Qashqui (or kumquat as the guys at work call them) was exactly the same - not enough legroom.

If it weren't for the small engine on the manual models, my dad would definitely have bought a C-Max. The 1.6 Ecoboost is a 4-cylinder, giving out 150bhp/180bhp. That's a lot better than the 1.0L but it only comes as an automatic, something my dad didn't want.
 
Is the 11 year old in any sort of a child seat. most likely once you have 2 child seats in the back, you wont have enough space to squeeze in another person, i certainly cant do it in my A4.

I would try your seats in the car 1st, ive been looking at new cars, and even some supposed big cars cant accomodate 2 child seats and a human in the back. Even the S max was a struggle, but that was using the iso fixings, if you used the belts then you could do it in a S max. Picasso was probaly best as a people lugger, i would say its a bit better than a C max, at the very least on a par.

How about an estate, maybe something like the skoda superb?
 
wohoo said:
Is the 11 year old in any sort of a child seat. most likely once you have 2 child seats in the back, you wont have enough space to squeeze in another person, i certainly cant do it in my A4.

I would try your seats in the car 1st, ive been looking at new cars, and even some supposed big cars cant accomodate 2 child seats and a human in the back. Even the S max was a struggle, but that was using the iso fixings, if you used the belts then you could do it in a S max. Picasso was probaly best as a people lugger, i would say its a bit better than a C max, at the very least on a par.

How about an estate, maybe something like the skoda superb?
Click to expand...

This reeks of truth. Even my 5 series would struggle with anything bigger than a young child between the 2 isofix child seats. If push comes to shove, my wife can just fit in there, if required, and she is only 5ft nothing.

The Seat on the other hand, has a full blow seat between them, and even I can fit between, and I'm a big guy (not so much height wise, but girth). If the middle seat also has isofix anchors, it will be big enough, but there aren't many "cars" out there big enough to accommodate someone in between 2 isofix seats on the back row (hence the big MPV for me). So make sure you try it out before buying.
 
I looked at mainly SUV motors, and out of the budget ones only the X-trail and CRV could do 3 across the back. CX5,Outlander, Qashquai,X3,Q3/5, all couldnt do it. Out of the estates, the A6 was ok, didnt bother with the 5 series, i tried the Passat and Superb and again it was a tight squeeze.

Even the zafira couldnt do it, if you want comfort for all 3 in the back then you really need the full size MPV. So Galaxy/Smax/Alhambra or like i mentioned before the Picasso. Ive ended up going for a Volvo XC60
 
Galaxy and s max both let you put 3 child seats across the back, or, two child seats, one on either side, or two together and a passenger in the outside seat. Both have isofix AFAIK.

I'd sway towards a Galaxy for that budget. Fairly solid cars & you'll get a better one at that price than you would an s max at the same.

A6 and 5 series estates were too tight in the back despite big boot space.

Go and test drive a few of the options and take the seats with, anywhere worthwhile will have no problem with you fitting them to the car to see how much room you have.
 
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