Geordie Mick in Wigan

In the last three years I've had a 2.0 Zetec, ST220 & a Zetec S TDCi ALL ESTATES and loved every one of them. Think they are starting to look a bit dated with most other manufactureres models getting facelifts in the last year or so. Even with the Mk3.1 facelift, the current Mondeo Estates rear end is stil the same since 2000. That's why I fancied a change and went for a maxie. The mondy has better driving dynamics, better cruiser, even the ST 220 and Zetec S versions running on 225/40/18's are quiter on the motorway than my maxie running 16's. The maxie is a better lifestyle car th

No labour cos I bought them from the parts dept!! They did only take about 3 minutes to fir though.

I seriously considerd a full blown seven seater, albeit a alhambra cos they are far better value than a galaxy, but don't really need a car that big. Thought maxie would offer a good compromise between car handling and load lugger. The gear change has always been the same. Dealer told me it is cable operated gear change and they may adjust it at next visit.

i've got a squgee!!!!!!! Neighbours think i'm a nutter cos it looks like I'm clearing ice in the middle of October????? Interesting about the wind noise cos it annoys the hell out of me. Have had privacy glass put on my windows (inc the front windows NOT WINDSCREEN)and thought that they may of been weakened when removing the glass.

Here goes, get a brew and sit tight, it's gonna be a long one :shock: Great car, love it to bits and does what I want it to, but who are Ford trying to sell it too? It can't compete in its own market sector because Picasso's are cheap and nasty and discounted to death. VW Touran's are 7 seaters and have higher residuals, better brand image/loyal punters. Zafira, again discounted, cheaper running costs and 7 seats (although they are horrible). Megane Scenic's are about its only competitor and the scenic is the daddy of the mini MPV. Ford can't give the C-Max seven seats incase it de

I know mate!!! I'm stupid for saying yes to it, as usual time restraints etc. stopped me from being a sensible person and shopping around. They cost nearly half the price of an intermediate service!!!!!!!

The fix is to get rid of the clock re-setting itself. I had that problem, but the RDS just doesn't work. I have given up on it. If the clock is on the RDS system it resets itself if you lose the RDS signal. So I put in onto manual and it has stayed correct ever since. Another great feature of the beloved C-Max BTW, there is a seperate sheet with the owners manual for the ealier models explaining that a page was left out and it explains how to set the time. Presume most people havent got it?

My Fraud dealer has just charged me £61.08 fro three wipers for my C-MAX :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: It's just so expensive i'm not even gonna get upset about it. Infact I think thats its quite amusing that in 2004 people can can get away with charging that for three bits of rubber!

Does anyone elses C-Max's rear view mirror vibrate when accelerating hard. Honetly, when 50mph up, you can only see a blur when accelerating, can't see any rozzer cars!

agree with Chris on the kids/car sick issue. I have a reputation for taking my kids up on their invatation to 'press on'. When we go back to geordieland i can't through the max around like I did with the Zetec S and type R I had previously. Done three trips up north in the max and not once did the kids turn green :shock:

Got it booked in for the 28th of this month, had to wait to the so i can get the warratny work done in sync with its first service. They reckoned cos i removed the stereo that I may be charged for update of can BUS thingy. Told them to foxtrot oscar and considering I spend a fortune with them they should do the update FOC.

Chris, have great experiences of all three derv lumps. Had 1.9TDi A4 130PD before Mondy! Youre right about the PD, it has 130 BHp but doesn't match the Mondy for performance. Reminds me of a 'duel' I had in 1996 when me and a colleague both had new cars. Me a 1.8 mondy, him a 1.8 vectra. Both 113BHp but the vectra destroyed me! The ford TDCi is quicker than the 1.9PD but the PD is more frugal. Cruising as I do at 90-100 the PD would return 42mpg whereas the mondy about 38mpg. So the PD is less on perf but more on economy. The PSA 2.0 TDCi in the max doesn't quite have the fith gear

Hi Chris since I had my stero taken out to have a handsfree kit fitted, mine has sounded rough and not as responsive. I was told (after it had been done) that the can bus in the stero stores all the patches for the ECU and before removing the stereo they should be downloaded first. Do you think i've lost all the patches cos the setero wasn't 'recorded' before we removed it to fit the handsfree? Today the blighter started to run really rough and had to switch off and restart. Havent had to do that since I bought, seems odd that it's gone a bit rough since removing the stero last week. W

Hi Chris since I had my stero taken out to have a handsfree kit fitted, mine has sounded rough and not as responsive. I was told (after it had been done) that the can bus in the stero stores all the patches for the ECU and before removing the stereo they should be downloaded first. Do you think i've lost all the patches cos the setero wasn't 'recorded' before we removed it to fit the handsfree? Today the blighter started to run really rough and had to switch off and restart. Havent had to do that since I bought, seems odd that it's gone a bit rough since removing the stero last week. W

T Max, I had a V6 Zetec S and swapped for a TDCi Zetec S and apart from off the mark, the diesel is about 90% as competent on the open road as the V6 but with 20mpg more. I went for a 2.0tDCI C-max, the C-Max's pug engine isnt as keen as the ford TDCi in the mondy but is is still a very quick car, Still a great cruiser and you dont get the constant drone of those 19" tyres all the time! You wont be dissapointed.

Coming back to the E270CDi! My missus has one as company car and we often ditch the C-Max for our bi monthly trip up to the Toon to see the family and her 5 cylinder 170BHp oil burner will average 40mpg on a 80-90mph run! Even th e cmax struggles to beat that! Having said that the turbo went on her motor with 9K on the clock :lol: Being a woman she had no idea until I drove it and wondered why it kept going into limp home mode!

Think Renault kicked this one off about 10 year ago in the clio. They had an advert on TV of some clio thrashing through a ford/river and someone did the same and wrecked the engine. When Renault refused to cough up they person wrote to top gear mag and they reminded the manufacturer that this fella did exactly the same as to what was done in the ad. Needless to say, Renault relented and paid for new engine. Most air intake are higher than the bottom of drivers door. Most people wont want water in the cabin so generally speaking, as long as the intake is higher than the bottom of the do

Getting more cold air in is only half of the issue. Getting the intercooler to process it optimumly is the other half. To get the extra cold air used the intercooler has to be optimised by the engine management system. After all the ECu is only expecting air to be within the temperature the standard intercooler will deliver. If you make the air more dense and colder, the mapping of the engine is still only anticiptaing it to be standard, therefore the engine needs to be remapped to get the best. If you want a super fast mini MPV get a Zafira GSi! I had a super fast Zetec S Mondy Estate

I had a bromleys tunit box and then a bromleys uprated intercooler. After a few months of havinf truly awesome power, the reality of tuning a ford diesel became al too aparent. This is no exageration. 0-35K no probs whatsoever. 35K - 51K with mods: Clutch Clutch + Flywheel OSF driveshaft 3 X fuel rail bursts many sets of 225/40/18 Pirelli P Zero's as * * * * mondeo didnt have TC Had to uprate brakes to cope with power as standard brakes couldn't cope. IMIO if yo want extra power buy a bigger engined car. It would match a 330D up to about 125MPH. Destroy my Accord type R that has 24

To jump in on the air filter issue: I had a Mondy Zetec S TDCi before the C-Max and had it chipped which took it to 163BHP. Then had uprated intercooler put on it which took it to 181BHP. When I added the K & N induction kit, the tuners couldnt eben get more than 1BHp out of it. It seemed to tickover rougher as too. Took it off and the idle seemed smoother and I lost a slight flatspot at 3000rpm. Don't be fooled by the marketing bumph. After all, the way to get power out of a diesel is to draw COOLER air, not more air. The jetex (if a cone) will draw warm air from engine bay whic

Chris Elaboration!: Not worked out exact bhp per tomnne but heres an example: C-Max 2.0TDCi weighs in at 1506kgs and has 136bhp. = 11.07 kg per bhp. Focus 1.8 TDCi Zetec 115 weighs in at 1292 kgs and has 115bhp = 11.23 per bhp. So both cars are power to weight wise, evenly matched. The focus is probably a little more torquey cos its a 2.0 litre, yet again that advantage is slim cos it got a lot more bulk. Where our beloved C Max strugggles is aerodynamics. This things are no way as bad as a discovery or any 4 x 4, but when you have a car that is a tall and steep fronted as a c-max

He was looking at an internal publication and i think that the feature didn't make into production. Lets face it, ford didn't even put leccy rear windows on the zetec which most cars have on a mid range model, so I doubt they'd but flashy bluetooth in a stereo.

PM'd you mate!

What makes me laugh is this pathetic, antiquated and pointless test doesn't even cover enough miles to use a gallon of fuel. example: Ford claim 50ish mpg extra urban. So why doesn't the test drive the car for 50 miles and measure the amount of fuel used? Bet its a lot more than Fords claim. If a manufacturer claims a certain mileage to the gallon, the test should at least cover the distance claimed. The gov't test is a SNAPSHOT of an actual journey. TBH we have known for years that the MPG figures are way off and anyone who expects to get needs to wake up and smell the coffee!