Test drive Ford Focus C-Max 2003-2007 Minivan

Focus on MAV

When the young designer Daniel Pauline was entrusted with the development of a new Ford car, he hardly believed in the reality of what was happening. Is it a joke, to entrust the project of the first company in the autistic of the company and the most promising car to yesterday's student.
 
Two incomplete years passed and to the mutual pleasure of the 100-year-old Ford and a successful debutant, it became completely clear that they, as they say, found each other. The formation of a technical task for the development of a new car was preceded by a large analytical work. We can say that the multifunctional Ford Focus C-Max was born from a calculator. The explosive growth of the dynamics of the MAV category market in the segment C and the six times increased volume of their sales in Russia practically did not leave the company's management in determining technical policy for the coming years.
I needed a car worthy of a golden anniversary and capable of eliminating the lag in the market neighbors who declared their ambitions in this segment. It was decided to lay the new car on the Focus platform, universally recognized authority in its class.
 
The machine was designed as an indispensable assistant in the household, not devoid of dandy and sports nature. She noticeably strengthened the front and rear suspensions, 16-inch wheels were used, the diameter of the brake discs was increased to 300 mm, and the width of the pads was brought to 25 mm. The track was expanded by 40 mm, the base was increased. A conventional steering electric power amplifier was replaced with hybrid electrohydraulic. The body of the newborn is undoubted designer luck. Potential buyers got the opportunity to acquire a working assistant for quite reasonable money (which we will talk about). In order not to take excess from them, they decided to get by five places, abandoning the seven -seater layout in standard MAV dimensions to sit with the same comfort of seven passengers anyway, and paying for two seats prescribed in the garage is unreasonable.
 
Found design and technological solutions, in the words of the communist editorial, are permeated with concerns about the good of the buyer. Thanks to excellent sound insulation, you pay attention to the engine present under the hood only due to timid noise somewhere around 4000 rpm. Ergonomics and layout of the driver’s place is super -rational, the right hand itself finds the gearbox lever. A high urban landing, complemented by an excellent view and availability of lateral mirrors, provides easy maneuvering in the city stream, on a mountain road, in the yard or garage. If you add an informative steering with an electro-hydraulic amplifier to this, it will become obvious that maneuverability and controllability are one of the main trump cards in the S-Mah sleeve. Basic, but not the only ones. The possibilities of transforming the salon allow the owner’s imagination with might and main. The car can be easily turned into an almost standard station wagon, a small table for two passengers on the rear seats, with a light movement of the hand, move the rear seats 100 mm ago, if the passenger’s growth does not fit into any norms. And you can simply remove removable chairs from the cabin weighing only 16 kg (noticeably smaller than the main competitors), and turn the car into a regular van.

  

It seems that S-Maly will surprise vigilant customs officers: rationalism in the approach to the use of hidden cavities of the body reached the level of virtuosity. The departments for storing road trifles are located under the seats, in the sidewalls of the luggage compartment, under the feet of the passenger on the front seat, in the cover of the instrument panel.
Under the hood of S-MAMs, a gasoline injector 16-valve Duratec engine with a volume of 1.8 liters with a capacity of 120 hp can be installed. At 6000 rpm and a torque of 185 Nm at 4000 rpm, as well as diesel power units Duratorq TDCI. The power of the smaller (volume of 1.6 l), which is 109 hp. With a maximum torque of 240 nm, a larger (two -liter) 136 hp With a torque of 320 nm.
 
When driving along the plain sections of the road, the Duratec 1.8 L engine with a capacity of 120 hp. With five -speed mechanics, it seems to be somewhat strangled norms of Euro IV with ideal, from the point of view of ecologists, the exhaust is a clear lack of gasoline in the working mixture. But the diesel Duratorq TDCI 2.0 l. With a six-a-way, he showed the miracles of renewal. Turbilno did his job properly: in the range of 2000-3500 rpm, the car accelerates perfectly, and it is quite enough for four out of six to confidently bypass the software at speeds of more than a hundred. The maximum speed of a machine with a gasoline engine is 193 km/h, and with a diesel almost 200 km/h.
 
Small climbs are overcome in the third or fourth gear in almost one mode. As the steepness of the rise increases, the difference in the torque of gasoline and diesel engines is noticeably felt. Speaking objectively, on mountain roads, Diesel behaved more confidently. In the Russian configuration, the environmental characteristics of the Duratec engine promise to lower from ecological heaven to earth, and it simply must become more painful.
 
Boxes of gears behave a little differently. The five, coupled with the injector engine, requires more frequent lever manipulations, the six -a -a.m. paired with a diesel engine works in more stretched modes and, by and large, the need for higher gear does not often arise.
 
There can be no complaints about controllability to Ford C-Max. During a test drive, recently conducted in the foothills of the Austrian Alps, it was repeatedly given the opportunity to make sure that the modernized focus suspension still does its work quite qualitatively.

  

If I managed to do without comments on the S-Mah, I would be suspected of undisguised subjectivity and hidden advertising. There are problems, although not very serious. The fact is that s-Maly is characterized by some roughness. The clutch drive, especially in the gasoline version, is so soft and thoughtful that it takes some time to get used to this feature.
 
With a quite affordable price for the basic version ($ 15500), the company has prepared two more Ambiente and GHIA models, which are equipped with the interior equipment and interior design, larger 18-inch wheels in GHIA, improved external design and plastic body kit. Thus, the entire model range of S-MAMs is able to block the requests of almost any category of owners from a caring housewife to the head of a company who wants to acquire a comfortable mobile office.
 

Photo: Ford and author
 
For help in organizing the test, the magazine thanks the Russian representative office Ford Motor Co.
 
Text: Leonid Kruglov
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 72/2003]