Ford Ups The Stakes In The Gizmo Wars
Published: December 20th, 2010
Share
In his piece on the approved-for-America Ford C-Max, Jack noted that the compact minivan would offer a “hands-free liftgate.” Well, here it is in action…
More by Edward Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
It seems Ford and VW are continuing in their ways of using the same supplier based gizmos and selling them as their own. See Park Assist (though Ford took their time on that one), and now this system, which has recently been introduced on the Passat...
Is it just me, or does the dash look unnecessarily busy and even a little tacky (due to all that busyness)? Love the hide-away middle seat. But the evoloution of the Kinetic design language (which I loved up until recently) not so much (the progression, not the form, is somehow is beginning to remind me of the design dead-end that appeared on the DN101 super-ovoid Taurus/Sable twins)...
I like it a lot (I often haul equipment from work to offsite locations), but it still sports a HUGE center console (what's up with that these days? Are they stuffing the extra two gears for the auto trannys in there?), and all of those gizmos and sliding doors have to make this one hefty vehicle (I'd estimate 34-3500 lbs). The 4-pot will probably have its work cut out for it, and the "city" mileage is likely to be a lot less than advertised due to that heft. Still, it'll be 1000lbs lighter than a full-size "mini"van, (and have 75% of the interior volume) so should still be decently efficient with the turbo. If Ford offers a model with no gizmos for $20k, they may have a winner, because the Transit Connect is too much of a "School Bus", if you know what I mean.
Nice options, especially the middle folding seat and a panoramic roof However I am not amused at the apparently little legroom space on the 2nd row and that the sliding doors do not open fully due to the short '3rd window panel'. I'd like to find out the C-Max measurements in order to compare its inside volume vs 06-11Mazda5, all new Mazda 5, Rondo, Journey and 3row RAV4s. I hope a stick shift is offered for all versions and a turbo-diesel equipped version would be ideal I agree with Robert.Walter that the dash and console look cluttered and tacky, it reminds me of the non-classy stack of the 1st gen Matrix. I also find from the video the gear knob too close to the dashboard obstructing the lower part of it. Pricing should top $24K IMHO for it to sell