Test drive Ford Focus C-Max 2003-2007 Minivan

Max's buddy

This focus is unusually comfortable, especially when the family is nearby
 
We have been familiar with Ford Focus C-Max since 2003, since the first presentation and the first official test drive. But only now, having spent this compactwane for more than a month, I first recognized him and, I admit, fell in love. I liked him more than all other tricks. Although I used it, one might say, not for its intended purpose - as a family vehicle, but for the most part for official purposes. What's the difference? - You can ask. - Almost any car in which at least five seats are suitable for trips with households. Don't tell me. Not everyone will be comfortable in everyone, as in S-MAMS.
 
Small, but spacious
 
Yes, the designers were a well -known, but therefore no less deft trick: outside the car seems less than it really is. It hardly makes sense to talk about the appearance - s -Mahs became familiar for a long time, but one feature of the exterior emphasizes - it has it, looks friendly. Any baby will be happy to get inside (I even somehow watched it), as if in a toy house on wheels. And sitting in this house is easier than in the sedan: wide and high doorways, seats at a level at which the adult will not have to squat and bend too much, and the children - dive, risking to fill the next bump or, conversely, climb into the chair. All this is well thought out.
 
Inside, due to the shape of the body, it is very spacious and light. There is enough space above the head, and for the legs, and on the sides. In this model, Ford relied not so much on practicality (although this is not taken away), but for comfort. First of all, the C-Max is a five-seater car, while in terms of dimensions it is not inferior to some 7-seater compactives. The refusal of the third row of seats allowed to ensure more than decent conditions of existence in the way to the rear passengers. Perhaps three adults in the second row will be crowded, but two can get a great job. By the way, if the car is equipped with a special system of transformation of the rear seats (in the tested version, the GHIA equipment, it took place), then it is easy to turn the central seat into a wide armrest - a table with cup holders, or even move into the trunk, while the extreme seats move not only forward - Back, but also to each other. The volume of the trunk is 582, and with the rear seats removed - 1692 liters.
 
Well, the two children will be behind the two children. My baby has already grown up, but the fathers of families can undergo a machine, say, a multimedia affair system specifically for those who travel from behind - with headphones, games, and displays mounted in the roof. DVDs, books and any other trifle fit perfectly in two boxes under the rear seats. In total, in C -Max - 11 different compartments, including a 10.5 liter glove, underground niches, open boxes. Moreover, on the road, it is not at all necessary to let the children from the field of sight, especially if they need a supervision: in the front of the ceiling, in the center, there is a hiding spherical mirror. Both the driver and the front passenger can look at him.
 
As you know, the reader, I know, there was not the slightest need to look at this mirror, so I simply removed it, hid it in the protruding part of the ceiling, slightly pulling behind the lower edge and up. But since all these family values, if not alien to me, then at the moment, somehow, that it attracted me so much in the s-ma? His running qualities.
 
Rezdability and comfort
 
Believe me, reader, I happened to travel on different cars, and in life I prefer not compact, but in this case I experienced true pleasure from driving.
 
First of all, the driver's place is well organized in the S-MAM. A relatively high landing provides an excellent review, the steering column and the seat have very decent range of adjustments, the steering wheel itself is a car, and not the Wanovskaya - without a noticeable tilt, small in diameter, leather, with comfortable grip and knitting needles for aluminum. Such a wheel can be quickly rotated, and I want to do this - in particular, because the algorithm for the operation of the electro -hydraulic steering wheel amplifier is very successful. At low speeds and during parking, it is light, and in turns and at decent speeds gives the driver a fairly clear picture of what happens between the wheels and the road. Not the slightest slurry, the steering wheel conscientiously and quickly transfers commands to the front wheels. In other words, sets up for a quick ride. And such pleasure is quite affordable.
 
The 145-horsepower 2-liter gasoline engine, which during the debut of the model was not yet, gives Max's buddy a very cocky character. It allows you to start not bad, but the main thing is eagerly spinning, providing a breakthrough almost at any speed. I would even say that this motor is endowing a family, in fact, car with such a dynamic potential that you do not even expect from it. And the mechanical 5-speed gearbox allows you to fully realize this potential. It is tuned in Fordovsky clearly, the lever goes briefly and strictly. In addition, it is located very well, on the tide of the central console. Which, however, has already become a tradition in cars of this type.
 
Of course, for a complete sense of sports, the luggage of the adhesion pedal is lacking. But even the pedal that is, quite tolerably informs about the moment in which the power of the power unit is transmitted to the front drive wheels. So you get used to it quickly. And the brakes are simply good: the front ones are ventilated, with the ABS and the electronic system of distribution of brake forces, guaranteeing a stop at a speed of 100 km/h at a piece of only 40 meters. Among the active security systems are also Brake Assist and the course stability system. Passive c -max safety is the front and side airbags, as well as side curtains and three -point belts for all five crew members. In addition, the pedal node is folding during the frontal blow, and the steering column drives forward.
 
But I was distracted from the story about pleasure at the wheel, but it should be especially said about pendants. But it is they who provide s-Mans with the amazing smoothness of the course, which most of all conquered me. The best business class sedans have such a move. At the same time, I would never say that the body rolls even in steep turns are able to frighten - no, the car behaves quite decently and predictable. Despite the fact that it is quite high. It is without reason that in the bow there is a subframe that increases resistance to twisting. No wonder the front suspension on bumps is perhaps even harsh, and the rear, with a reptile stability stabilizer, does not seem excessively soft. It is all the more amazing that comfort is at a very, very good level.
 
Cozy in the cabin is facilitated by a number of circumstances. Excellent sound insulation is first. Wheelled aerodynamics (CD \u003d 0.31, and this is a very decent indicator for compactwane), which does not allow the wind to get confused in the bends of the body - secondly. And, of course, the excellent equipment of the cabin in this configuration is third.
 
And buy - who?
 
They have been bought for a long time. Let me suggest - those who understand a lot about cars and are committed to family values. Who is wealthy enough to afford to distinguish between the advantages of ordinary Focus and s-nas. And who did not lose the driver’s spirit behind family concerns. There are other modifications for others.
 
Text: Oleg Osipov
 
 

Source: "Automobile Izvestia"