USED Ford Focus C-MAX MPV (03 - 07)

My car

Having just purchased a 1.6 Tdci Zetec for my wife (trading in a fully loaded Mini Cooper S), I am pleasantly supprised at how enjoyable the C-Max is to drive.

An impending new arrival imposed the change on us, but I can honestly say that my wife and I have not missed the Mini, which was not what we were expecting!

Superb ride quality (better than my Jaguar X-Type!), comfortable seats, decent build quality, good fuel economy and so far a pleasant experience.

The experience has been enhanced by the good deals available at the moment. We paid £12,695 against a list price of over £17,000 with the options on the car. This is for a 2004 model year build as well. Terrific value, and questions the real value of my X-Type at double the money.

The only downside is that I was extremely happy with the X-Type, now I would have a problem spending the same amount on a car after the C-Max delivers so much for half the price.

My car

Very good to drive.

Could anybody explain the cruise control? When you press on, the light fails to come on the dash until you press set or increase. The drivers manual says the light should come when you press on, the dealer says the manual is incorrect.

My car

This is an excellent towing vehicle, with more than adequate power for all towing conditions on either country roads or motorways. Towing in sixth gear is possible, only having to change down on inclines.

On steep hills, in fourth gear, it actually accelerates up the hill even with a largish caravan on the back, without any undue effort.

There's no noticeable sway when it's being passed by larger vehicles, in fact it's rock steady.

The extra height of the car gives a better all-round view, which together with the comfort of the cabin gives a less stressful journey on the longer runs.

Although I did acheive 36mpg once, when towing the general figure is around 27mpg. The advertised mpg specifications for the car solo are 37mpg town, 62mpg on a run and 50mpg combined.

I have yet to get within 12% of these high-mileage consumption figures.

All in all, it's a very good car for both solo drivng and towing the caravan.

My car

Expensive and disappointing.

It's been returned to the dealer four times since new (June 04), twice to fix water ingress, exterior door trim panel coming off and seat belt height adjustment inoperative.

It's top of the range but has some cheap and nasty trim materials (carpet and wood effect plasic in particular).

Rather slow and very notchy gear change. First and second gears are nothing special, third fourth and fifth have plenty oomph. An occasional annoying flat spot on acceleration in first and second.

The road holding and ride okay.

The rear seats are a pain to remove - heavy and awkward. It would be near impossible for most women.

It's done 42.13mpg over 3730 miles (75/25 around town/motorway). It's never been driven hard.

The design of the alloys is poor - it takes ten minutes to clean each one!

I will not get another. My previous car (Scenic) was better in almost all respects.