"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein)
06/19/2014 at 11:50 • Filed to: Sittin Waitin Wishin, Opporeviews
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"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein)
06/19/2014 at 11:50 • Filed to: Sittin Waitin Wishin, Opporeviews | 1
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To the mom mobiles we go! This !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! represents a class of car that I never thought I would ever even step into, the van segment. I know, a bunch of auto journalists like vans, but to me they have always seemed to be how you could tell if a person has lost the will to live. That they just decided one day after having their brood of children that "that'll do." Just the thought of that idea weirds me out. This might be because I don't have kids yet, or it could be that vans are my version of hell. Hell: vans, traffic, and the coming pains of a recently eaten taco making its way back out of me while in traffic. So what would I think about a Euro van? Because that's essentially what we have here, a Euro Ford van.
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Sadly, it's not Ford's bonkers Transit race van. (Race vans get a pass because racecar.) Nope this is the Focus based C-Max van that has actually had a fair bit of press lately, not because it was winning awards or anything like that, rather because Ford decided to fudge the MPG figures a bit. Then got caught. Then had to pay some people back for those non-realistic numbers. But other than the sticky situation they got themselves into, how does the car stack up to the mostly excellent car reporting of SWW? Let's find out!
The first thing you notice, or at least I did, is that the seats are entirely too high and make you feel like you are driving a bus. Maybe the soccer moms and soulless dads want to pretend they are an underpaid public servant. Maybe they want to reenact their Keanu Reeves Speed fantasies?
Who knows, stranger things have happened, like the placement of the Engine Start/Stop button. Which is conveniently located nowhere close to where every other manufacturer has them. Even in other Fords, the button is not so awkwardly placed. For some reason the Ford engineers decided that the perfect spot would be to place the button right at knee height on the interior of the center console. It makes it extremely easy to knock the button and turn the car off or on. How this hasn't made National News, especially in the wake of GM Keygate, I have no idea. Maybe if there is someone here that has a C-Max, they can shed some light onto this?
( Must keep looking like I am not thinking.... )
Moving on, the interior is perfect for a car that's priced $25,000. It's nothing special and nothing to write home about, but it is made perfectly for people with messy little grubby handed children. Things in the interior seem to be easily cleanable, like if you need to wipe up spit up Cheetos, or vacuum 2-week-old French fries that have turned into their own little eco system; this is the interior for you. Well this and maybe if you just Line-X'd your entire car? Maybe Line-X your kids?
I sat in two of these cars while there, first was for the family with wild boars, the second I can't think of who it's made for. The second had tan faux leather. No parent in their right mind would ever get that car. Hell, I have two dogs, and I know I would never get an interior that is tan. So here is the question? Why offer a family run about that can't be used by a normal family? Is there some sort of weird family that never has dirty children or dogs? If so, there is something wrong and you live in a cult.
Two things strike you when looking at this dash. First, the steering wheel, it sucks. It doesn't come out far enough, there is a real lack of quality feeling, and the amount of buttons on the wheel is just simply ridiculous. I know the last comment will catch flack, but really how flipping hard is it to just move the volume up or down a bit without looking. It's not as if it's some kind of brain surgery? Second, is the gear selector placement. It's in the middle of the dash right between the HVAC controls. So when you want to change the temp settings, you have to reach down and in to get at them. Because that's not as dangerous as turning the volume knob?
The seats aren't great, but they aren't as horrible as some of the other seats sat in at the Auto Show. They are actually really good for the overall price of this car. However, what isn't adequate are the harsh and gritty plastics in the car. In my opinion, the exterior succeeds by masking the fact that this is a van, however, the interior falls short of hiding its true nature.
How does this rate then on the SWW scale of Hell Yeah to Oh No my eyes? Firmly in the "Meh" spot. It's not perfect, but it's not outwardly terrible. The exterior is probably the best part of this car. It allows the owners to pretend they haven't lost their souls, that they haven't given up on life, and that they still want something cool! But then, as soon as you open the door, all of that fades away back into the self hating, 9-5 working, dream compromising indentured servitude that they accepted when they became parents. Ok so that last bit was more me getting a bit off my chest from something one of my coworkers told me. I'm sorry, if you have a family, you don't need to get a van. There are plenty of options out there that can fit a full size family without having to get some boring car or van. Go out, look around, and if you still go back to a van, fine, but realize there are other better options.
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DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully
> Jonathon Klein
06/19/2014 at 11:54 |
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I really prefer the Mazda5 over the C-Max, not least of which because it comes in manual form, stateside. Also, the 5 seems, to me, to have a very natural layout, similar to my 3, and that's a good thing.