RTV

Phew just finished reading your post Rob. Here goes. Both Maxes are identical 1.6 TDCI Ghia. I drive the silver one and the wife drives the red one. Both cars cover approx 50 miles per day up and one up and down the A1 the other A and B roads both in rush hours hardly ever reaching 70mph. I check the pressures every two weeks when cold with a Accutire Tire professional monitor.Never done any towing. The wife is a slow careful driver and I'm Mr average driving a bit faster the wife and achieve 55-62mpg. The fronts have all worn evenly. What I'm sure about is that it's nothing to do w

So is the Ghia model still available?

I don't think that the problem is related to either the tyre type or the manufacturer as the effected sets of tyres were: Continental Sport Contact 2's Goodyear F1's Pirelli P6000 It's more likely to be the cars.

Are they still doing the Ghia model, it's not listed on the Ford website? I'd miss the electric handbrake, I think it's great.

Both our C-Maxes are suffering from rear tyres that go out of shape on the inside edges. The last two sets of tyres have gone lumpy and have worn slightly on the inside edge. It's only noticable when running your hands round the tyre or if the wheel is off the car. I have had a 4 wheel alignment by Ford after the first set wore out. The tyre fitters said it may be a characteristic of the car. Has anyone else had this problem.

4.5k sounds like a complete new engine. I hope they can repair it otherwise I doubt your extras will be reflected in the settlement figure.... Insurance companies use varying criteria for assessing if a car is a write-off. Most of them work on a principle that once the repair costs exceed roughly 60% of the car’s value, it is not worth repairing. However, some go as low as 50% for a write-off value.

Some idiot run in to the back of me, I claimed through my insurance but the other guy couldn't be tracked down so instead of effecting my insurance I bought the claim off the insurance comany, in effect I just gave them a cheque totaling the repairs and they removed the claim. It was about 18 months after the accident, insurer was Priviledge.

If it's the same problem we had then there is a warranty fix for it. Both or C-Maxes had this problem. The grinding noise was most noticable when stationary and turning from full lock each way. The fix involved fitting new suspension mounts or suspension parts which were lubricated, completely silent now. I just happened to mention it to the service manager and he knew straight away what it was.

Good choice I think you've got the right compromise of power and economy, it's a great little engine. TDCI Sno, The Plus system has built in electronic hot and cold timer delays - the unit does not initialise until the engine has warmed up. Also, the clever ignition switch activation system, where the unit can be set to remain passive until activated by the driver using a coded input to the ignition key.

The following tuning boxes increase the 1.6 90bhp to 115bhp and the 110bhp version to 130bhp... Having had 2 of my previous cars remapped with excellent results and no adverse effects I think I may go for one of these. http://www.dragonperformanceuk.com/stor ... p?cat=2098

I'm all for pull, it's just i think to call the 30-62 a 4th gear motorway pull is daft. Why test something thats only used when you've slowed down in a higher gear, otherwise your much more likely to be in 2nd or third gear when accelerating up to motorway speeds and wthis will be used more often by the majority of people so why not test the 30-70 through the gears as well. May be they should change the 0-60 times and call it the B road pull and you have to use 2nd gear..???

Comparing the 1.6 (90bhp) and the 1.8 TDCI is not a fair comparison. And 8skellerns, whether you think the 1.8 is economical or not it is still nearly 7 miles per gallon less economical than the 1.6 (90bhp) fact. The 30-62 motorway pull test is about a much use an ask tray on a motorbike. Since you're mostly doing more than these speeds on a motorway it seems a strange comparison. And if you are on a motorway and you slow down to 30 you were most likely in 5th anyway and would need to change down. I should think the 1.8 is faster as it has 25bhp more! Surely the time taken between 50-

http://media.ford.com/article_display.c ... e_id=19378 Does that sound like a "cheap and nasty" engine? I don't think so! Could someone explain exactly what a "4th gear motorway pull" is? Not seen or heard of anyone on this forum with the 1.6 having blow by on the injector seals???? I agree the 1.8 tdci is old, crude, noisy and not as economical being nearly 7mpg less.

The 1.6 TDCI is an excellent next generation 16 valve diesel engine which is extremely refined and quiet and as a bonus only needs the cambelt changing at 150,000 miles or 10 years. The vast majority of problems have been with the early 2 litre TDCI's and the EGR vavles of which the design has now been changed. Having owned both 1.6 and 1.8 TDCI I would reccomend the 1.6 without hesitation although that would be the 110bhp version.

Sorry to hear your bad news. If water has got in to the engine then there's a chance that it may have warped the block, this happened to someone I know with their BMW and it was very costly.

The maf sensor is the air flow sensor attached to the air intake pipe. Mine was replaced because the delaers computer flagged it up...They actually replaced the whole pipe the sensor and the air filter....

How do you find out the level of software? maxc, 40mpg that's terrible, is that mixed driving or town? Something else that helped the MPG was when the dealer replaced the maf sensor..

Completely agree, it's a cracking family car and also probably one of the most comfortable cars I've owned. Probably due to the driving position and ergonomics. My previous MPG was also 47, but by changing my driving style which involves stiicking to the speed limits it's now gone up to 61 :D

Positive Post Alert ! I thought I would just let you all know that I'm getting 61.5 MPG from my 1.6 TDCI from the last 3 tanks of fuel which i'm very pleased with....

There is a fabric protector in the Dimond Brite pack see below, this is similar to scotch guard. You also get the paint selant as well which is excellent. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jewel-Ultra-Diamo ... dZViewItem

No not at all. All those problems need to be fixed.

My advice would be to go for the ghia rather than Zetec, having had both I much prefer the extra toys and middle console layout on the ghia. Also the seat material is far better and doesn't stain as easy, the Zetec seats stain with just water. The ghia spec has in addition to Zetec Cruise Control H/Screen Auto H/Lights Auto Wipers Blinds in the back Elec windows in back Puddle lights Dipping rear mirror Mud flaps Auto Handbrake

Very simple to change, takes a couple of minutes. Undo the top torx screw with a flat head screw driver and then push down on the two clips, which are located on the bottom left and bottom right at the back of each headlamp. Then wiggle the headlamp unit out and remove the the back of the light and change the bulb, sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is.

I've got two, they attach to the seat fixings and they work perfectly. Very useful. But you would have to make a choice, the kids or the bikes. If you need interior space then roof mount them, the bikes that is.

Do you have any tips on how to modify the tool ?