Ford Galaxy test drive since 2010 Minivan

Move Your PEOPLE

Having made the public happy with the youth-kinetic S-Max, the gentlemen from the European Ford division have finally determined the niche orientation of their flagship. Having lost the intermediate position to the younger brother more active in its ideology, Galaxy became a pure puplmouver, that is, a first -class bus.
But you can’t say in appearance. No, Galaxy is at least pretty. But for a car approaching the ideology of a single-phase Transit, VW Multivan or, God forbid, Mercedes-Benz Vito, it is not strict enough. In his appearance there is too many frivolous iOssis, which the corporate status categorically does not accept. In addition, it is difficult to imagine a manager in a suit for one and a half to two thousand euros, huddled on a folding chair of the third row, so, as they say, Caesar Caesarean. But for not abusing various kinds of contraceptives of the Galaxy married couple, just right.
In a full salon, all passengers are offered separate chairs. Each of them, by the way, is easily brought into line with personal anatomical features. In front of the passengers, due to the initially great opportunities, to do this, of course, is easier, but the rest here will not feel deprived of themselves. What is characteristic, the legs for the legs are enough on the gallery. By the way, on the site of the model of the model of Martin Bulhof, the humble servant would leave the third row with the Ford place, which managed the inner space, but the Fords chose to preserve the traditional layout in the tail compartment. On the other hand, in this case, the comfort of the loss of functionality, which increased in this case, would definitely not compensate for.
The inner world of the Galaxy is wide, and so that the space behind the front seats should be measured not generally accepted liters, but cubic meters, of which there are almost 2.5 units, or, in the simple way, half of the railway container. The second and third rows turn into a cargo platform in size 2x1.15 meters.
Surprisingly, the designers themselves do not insist on recognizing the hard -wide abilities of Galaxy, modestly mentioning the nominal 308 liters remaining behind the gallery. But what they are talking about with pride is about three dozen additional containers, giving another 110 liters of additional volume. It is clear that the most powerful players here are still door pockets, a glove compartment and boxing in an armrest. But at the same time, the optional niches located under the feet of passengers of the second row, and (long in our case) 20-liter ceiling console, consisting of five different-made departments, in which not only sunglasses, but also several ubiquitous ones can easily be very useful. magazines.
In principle, the Fords have something else to boast. This is an active suspension that controls the damping, and the assistance system when moving to the mountain, and adaptive cruise control with the function of preventing and weakening the impact ... But the funny thing is that potential buyers of such machines such technical details usually excite the least. Almost the only position that can really attract attention, the engine. A Russified car can be equipped with one of four engines (two gasoline and two turbodiesels), but by and large, nothing new to the buyer will be offered here. The exception, perhaps, can be only a relatively fresh 2.3-liter gasoline unit.
This 161-horsepower engine is distinguished by a decent return, but fans will have to be disappointed: on Galaxy this engine can aggregate only with a new sequential 6-speed automatic.
However, the resulting tandem is also very good. Acceleration is even and confident, like a trolleybus, tremors are almost invisible. But at the same time, the sequential and sports modes here rather perform decorative functions of special changes in the behavior of the car, your correspondent did not notice. Both brakes and suspension work well here. In the latter case, it is worth noting that the car is primarily comfortable, but at the same time it does not reach strong rolls in corners. But the steering wheel did not like. More precisely, I did not like the turning radius of the turn is too big. Although, on the other hand, a 5-meter gunner is not a compact hatchback and he will never have other tasks.
Vladimir Zhidkov
Author photo: Yan Segal
 

A source: MKOMBILA magazine [February/2008]