Ford Grand C-Max test drive since 2010 Minivan

Focus with the prefix s-mah

Ford presented the new generation Focus
The new product of the Ford Ford compact minivan Focus C-Max is of particular interest to fans of the brand, as well as today's owners of Ford. This car shows what qualities the popular Ford models (including Focus) will have the next generation. At the C-Max's sled presentation in Austria, the observer KO Igor Komarov visited.
The premiere of Ford Focus C-Max took place in March of this year at a car dealership in Geneva. I must say that the static demonstration of the car did not cause journalists (if you recall the reports of auto -publications about the exhibition) of special emotions. The S-Max was perceived as a belated attempt by the Fords to conquer a piece of extremely popular segment of multifunctional cars from competitors (in our country they are called micro- or compactweons). And the point is not only that the attitude to copies, even the most perfect, is somewhat different than to the original to the ancestors of this class Renault Scenic and Opel Zafira. The main thing is that the s-Mach sparkling in the rays did not stand out from a number of competitors by any chip
But you should not judge the car by photographs and exclusively visual impressions. A whole and truthful image of any car develops only when you wrap a certain amount of kilometers on its odometer. How? For different machines differently. Ford Focus C-Mah (such is the full name of the model) opened to me after two or three bundles of turns. The main feature of the car immediately appeared: C-Max, despite its belonging to the Van class (albeit micro), is controlled as a thoroughbred golf-class hatchback. Sharp, with sports notes, driving does not interfere with a high roof or a vertical landing of the driver. Moreover: the C-Max keeps the road on a straight line and in corners is much more confident than the usual Focus. Is it strange that Mikroven is better controlled than a sedan or hatchback? Not surprising. After all, the usual Focus (the one that is done, in particular, at the factory in Vsevolozhsk) and the Focus C-Max unites only the name.
However, the Fords do not focus on the fact that the C-Max is a representative of the new generation of tricks. Apparently, marketers considered that the time for the loud debut of the new Focus has not yet arrived. Nevertheless, in personal conversations, representatives of the European Ford branch did not hide that the car was based on a new platform developed for Focus II.
What is in your name
At the presentation of the car, the Russian brand manager of Focus, at the presentation of the car, argued that the main qualities that engineers and designers sought during the development of C-MAX were the preservation of the Focus style and the new quality of driving. It is hard to believe in these words familiar with the features of the layout and manners of the behavior of compactwenes. Indeed, the competitors of C-Max Renault Scenic, Opel Zafira, Citroen Xsara Picasso are not very similar to their ancestors of models, on the basis of which they were created (Megane, Astra and Xsara, respectively). This applies to appearance, and interior, and especially sled qualities. Before C-Makh, all cars of this class were different either extravagant or practical, but not in any way with a rapid design. The main feature of the ergonomics of the driver’s place of all models is the bus planting of the driver and passengers and the steering wheel is close to the horizontal setting. This circumstance makes drivers who love the active style of driving, bypass these cars, even despite their indisputable practicality and convenience.
S-Makh was actually developed from scratch and therefore deprived of compromises (except for the gasoline engine strangled for the sake of ecologists, but more on that below). At the wheel of a new Focus you feel just like behind the wheel of a hatchback or sedan. Even a little more convenient.
In the design of the exterior of the old and new Focus, only the style remained general, all the details took a different form. The overall impression of the appearance of the novelty is as follows: despite the high roof, the car does not look either Gulliver or the colossus on clay legs. The car is difficult to call Van even with the prefix micro-. Rather, C-Max resembles a high roof hatchback, which include, for example, such popular models as Peugeot 307 or Mitsubishi Space Star.
In the interior of the C-Max from the New Age style, which, in particular, became famous for Focus, there was no trace left. Ford designers gave the dashboard and a shield of devices of the new car strict straight forms without unnecessary frivolous and bends. The quality of the interior materials and the thoroughness of the adjustment of the upholstery panels are many times superior to the execution of the internal space of the current Focus. In this regard, the C-Max stood one step with more expensive cars, for example, with his eternal competitor VW. The solidity of the interior is emphasized by the four-spokes, which C-Max borrowed from the more prestigious Mondeo model.
I happened to test Focus from Vsevolozhsk during his Russian premiere in Sochi. Mountain serpentine allowed to evaluate the excellent handling of the car: Focus sharply attacked turns and clearly prescribed the trajectory. However, if poor asphalt turned out to be under the wheels, then the behavior of the car in fast turns and when moving at high speed in a straight line became uncertain: an unpleasant longitudinal and transverse rise appeared. C-Max is deprived of this drawback. The 400-kilometer highway of the test races was laid along the winding roads in the foothills of the Austrian Alps, where the asphalt was not always perfect, which allowed in real conditions to evaluate the advantages of driving.
Due to the enlarged wheelbase, wider (40 mm) compared to the usual Focus rut, an increased course of shock absorbers and the stiffness of the springs, the car entered the turns as if along the rails. Many thoroughbred hatchbacks have this quality today, but before this nature of controllability has never been inherent in representatives of the utility of the microvoen (with the exception of, perhaps, Opel Zafira, whose pursche engineers worked on the labeling of the running qualities). A tenacious, but at the same time, the very comfortable mode of the suspension was emphasized by the pronounced rollers of lateral support in the seats of the driver and passenger: they did not allow them to fall out of the chair on steep turns. By the way, the stiffness of the body of the new C-Mach is increased by 20%, which also most favorable affects the accuracy and comfort of car drive.
True, the overall impression of the dynamics is lubricated with a too calm engine. Only gasoline versions of C-MAX with a volume of 1.6 liters, 1.8 liters and 2 liters will be delivered to the Russian market. At the presentation in Austria, the only gasoline engine was presented with a volume of 1.8 liters. This engine corresponds to the strict environmental standards of Euro 4, but does not meet the requests of an active driver. Unfortunately, C-MAX with diesel engines will not be delivered to Russia (the Explanations of the Fords are traditional: the low quality of the Russian diesel fuel). These engines were created in collaboration with the recognized guru of diesel engineering from the Peugeot/Citroen concern and in traction dynamics noticeably surpass gasoline motors.
So far, only an option with a 5-speed manual gearbox is proposed (cars with a diesel engine are equipped with a 6-speed box). Next year, an C-Max will appear on the market with an automatic box (variator).
Focus C-Max will appear in the November October car dealerships in Russian dealers. Today, only approximate prices are known. The most affordable C-Max with a 1.6 liter engine will cost about 15,500 euros. Prices for a 2-liter modification will start from 19,000 euros. It calms that this proposal in the Mikrovenov class is the most attractive.
Igor Komarov
 

Source: Wheel (company)