Ford C-Max 2.0 TDCI Ghia 134 BHP Review

Overall Rating

Satisfying to Drive, High Driving Position, Lots of space, Verstile seating and tidy styling.

Worrying design for Power Steering and ABS system (fails without warning and extremely difficult to control). Poor Brakes, Unreliable, Loss of Power, Poor Fuel Consumption, Bad build quality, Expensive repair bills, Mean and restrictive Warranty, Poor After Sales Service & Low trade-in values.

We first liked our new Ford C-MAX 2.0L TDCi ZETEC - but it has turned out to be a poor choice. The most serious issue is safety - this car needs a major re-think on the Power Assisted Steering and Braking systems.
Last week, we were driving our children home on a dark country road when without any warning what-so-ever, the C-Max power assisted steering and ABS brakes simultaneously failed. I am not talking about heavy steering here " the brake peddle went hard and the steering wheel would not move more than 10 to 15 degrees from centre. Fortunately my wife was cool headed enough to eventually bring the car to a halt from around 35mph before careering into a ditch or having a 'head-on' with an on-coming articulated lorry.
We re-started the engine and managed to limp the car home the last half mile. I tried to start the car on our drive and noticed a burning electrical smell, I also got no response from the starter motor. We called Green Flag rescue services. They arrived within 20 minutes and their engineer concluded that the vehicle had suffered either a power steering pump failure or total electrical failure and in any case it was unsafe to drive. I called the local Ford main line dealer (I will not name them as they are not at fault) and explained our predicament.
The Dealer suggested we get in touch with Ford Customer relations re warranty and courtesy car arrangements. Ford were initially very defensive and their attitude unhelpful. Eventually they did start to soften their stance and we got the warranty repair and courtesy car we are entitled to.
The fault turns out to be a burnt-out alternator which was not charging the battery and subsequently not providing enough power to the Power Steering, Engine Management System, ABS or warning sensors (i.e. Alternator/Battery Charge Indicators). Ford appear to be back-peddling on their agreement to provide a courtesy car pending repairs (even though it is covered under warranty).
Our car is a 2006 model still under warranty with less that 24K on the clock and serviced in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications. Needless to say this will be our first and last new car purchase from Ford.