What’s hot?
- Let’s start with practicality: it’s highly versatile and those sliding doors are the real clinchers…
- …if you have small children, no strained back getting them in and out of the rear…
- …for larger children there’s no fear of them opening the door and crunching the car next to you.
And the other huge tick for carrying kids is sliding doors. Easy on the back when they’re little, and much easier on the doors when they start to push them open - The rear seats can be folded down to create a flat load area (although they do take some figuring out).
- Or there’s the option of seven seats for occasional use…or split 60:40 folding.
- The driver’s seating position is comfortable and commanding with a good all-round view.
- And the seat material is smart and durable – rather like the rest of the car’s interior.
- Despite the carrying capacity of the Grand C-MAX, it retains all of Ford’s good-to-drive road handling and ride comfort.
- All helped, of course, by the thrilling urgency of the three-cylinder EcoBoost engine working away below the bonnet.
- In terms of company car tax, this is definitely the Grand C-MAX to choose: a 20% tax payer will pay £636 company car tax a year in the car reviewed here; a similar spec 1.6 TDCi model will cost the same tax payer £843 in company car tax.
- Helped by fuel saving stop/start technology, official fuel economy is 54.3mpg – you’ll see close to that on long motorway journeys but expect around 40-45mpg in general use.
Overall credit for the spec – Bluetooth, dual zone climate control, DAB etc – but no standard sat nav even in Titanium trim - Standard specification includes Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity, digital audio DAB system with USB; 16 inch alloys; dual zone climate control; folding tables on the back of the front seatbacks; and Ford’s excellent Quickclear heated front windscreen (you’ll love it on frosty mornings).
What’s not?
- That 1.0-litre engine has to work hard at times…you’ll find you’ll need to downchange on inclines to keep the pace going.
- If you’re too enthusiastic with your right foot thanks to the raspy urgency of the three-cylinder unit you’ll notice mpg dips (trust us, you will want to).
- That big cavernous space inside makes it boomier than it should be on motorways.
- Despite the Titanium trim, there’s no standard sat-nav.
