Ford C-MAX

Maybe it's because, as with the good-looking SEAT Altea, the C-Max only offers seating for five in a class where seven seats are now the norm.

Ford hasn't addressed this omission for the C-Max mid-life up-date, preferring instead to improve the car's oft-criticised bland looks and fiddle about with cabin materials.

Now known simply as the Ford CMax, rather than the Focus C-Max, this agile and compact family runabout sits alongside the larger S-Max to create a new family of stylish and flexible people-carriers.

Externally, Ford has re-styled the C-Max along the lines of the sporty SMax.

The front end now incorporates elements of the company's kinetic design' language. This combines hard lines with muscular, flowing forms that are supposed to suggest energy in motion even at a standstill.

First seen on the S-Max and the Galaxy, kinetic design is now filtering down through the Ford range. The latest Mondeo uses it to good effect and the Focus is next in line for the surgeon's knife.

The re-skin works well on the CMax, giving it a sporty, more expressive face and hinting at the excellent driving dynamics lurking within.

The overall effect is very pleasing and finally gives the C-Max the personality that was so conspicuously lacking when it launched. At last the car looks the way it drives.

At the front the bumper, grilles, bonnet, head and fog lamps have all been changed, bringing the C-Max into line with the S-Max.

The sculpted front bumper incorporates the corporate trapezoidal grille that also helps visually lower the car as it sits on the road. The lower sides of the bumper also integrate new vertical fog lights.

Changes at the rear are less radical.

There's the obligatory new bumper and refreshed vertical tail lamps, which use trendy new LEDs (a first for a Ford) shining through clear lenses.

The front headlamps can be specified as bi-xenon units, which have a distinctive light strip running along the top for parking light duty.

Higher end models also have folding door mirrors, handy in car parks, with integrated indicators.

The test car was fitted with Ford's optional panorama glass sunroof - a whopping piece of toughened glass that runs virtually the full length of the car. On sunny days it really brightens up the interior. Sadly it doesn't tilt or slide for extra fresh air but Ford thoughtfully provides sliding blinds that prevent the cabin getting too hot. The blinds themselves are a bit fiddly to operate - requiring a pull/push motion to retract - and more than once I nearly lost a fingernail as I struggled to open them.

The rear doors have integrated sunblinds.

The glass also has a solar reflective coating to minimise heat intrusion.

For added safety it is made from laminated layers to prevent the glass shattering in a smash or roll over.

Our Titanium model's glazing had a slight blue tint. Ford reckons this enhances the modern techno' image it is hoping to create for the C-Max.

Inside the changes extend to a new centre console (now called a centre stack) that incorporates the stubby six-speed gearshift, the climate control system and audio/comms systems.

The dual electronic automatic temperature control system, fitted as standard to Titanium and Ghia models, uses the colour screen and an array of knobs and buttons to provide alternative temperature settings for the driver and passenger.

It's mind-bogglingly hard to use and not at all easy to set because critical information, like the temperature adjustment, is seemingly scattered all over the place. Give me old-fashioned dials or even Toyota-style push buttons instead.

Some of the plastics have been up-graded. Once again it's the Titanium and Ghia models that get the best bits. Soft-feel plastics are used on the doors for the first time. They also benefit from new grab handles shaped like boomerangs in brushed chrome (on the Titanium). These also serve as useful armrests.

Other changes include a new steering wheel that's nicer to hold with detents for your thumbs and a handbrake designed to save space. This means the centre console now has a cubby hole that's big enough to swallow a 1.5-litre bottle of pop.

The audio system has a 3.5mm socket for plugging in an iPod or other MP3 player.

Ambient lighting is a popular addition to contemporary cars these days. In the C-Max, soothing light shines down on the centre console from the roof.

The sculpted front sports seats are firm but comfortable. The rears are less impressive. In particular the flat bases mean that anything placed on the back seats that isn't tied down (such as my briefcase) goes flying forward the first time you brush the brakes.

To make up for the lack of a third row and enhance the CMax's MPV appeal some models are fitted with the grand-sounding Comfort Seat System.

This offers the unique ability to fold away the central seat, thereby allowing the outers to converge diagonally, thus providing masses of leg and shoulder room (albeit only for a maximum of two rear passengers).

Each of the rear seats can be tipped, tumbled or removed altogether.

Sadly they don't fold into the floor like the S-Max or the Vauxhall Zafira. I've never come across an MPV owner yet who admitted to removing their car's seats because it's too much of a chew on.

Allergy sufferers will be relieved (in more ways than one) to hear the C-Max interior is one of the first anywhere in the world to receive an allergy-tested seal of approval by the German TUV organisation.

The C-Max is available in four guises - Style, Zetec, Ghia and Titanium.

In a blast from the past, top models can be given an XPack' up-grade that consists of the panoramic roof, part leather trim, bi-xenon headlamps and a lighting strip. Long-time Ford fans will remember the old XPack Escorts and Capris.

The Titanium stands alongside the Ghia at the top of the tree.

It offers a high-tech alternative to the Ghia's traditional wood and chrome. In its place is blue tinted glass, 17-inch alloy wheels and brushed chrome cabin enhancements.

The sports pack takes this even further, adding S-Max-style 18- inch wheels and lowered sports suspension.

I drove the 2.0-litre TDCi Titanium and it proved to be a revelation.

The four-cylinder engine, developed with help from Peugeot, has loads of mid-range, which makes the C-Max a top vehicle for speedy overtakes. A quick glance at the torque figure is all it takes to see why - there's a huge peak of pulling power from less than 2,000rpm, in contrast to the 2.0- litre petrol that doesn't make maximum torque until 4,500rpm (and then it's still 100Nm less than the diesel).

So if you like torquey performance cars (a combo almost always quicker than a high-revving screamer in the real world) then the TDCi is the way to go.

Carefully judged suspension and nicely weighted steering makes the C-Max the best handling midi-MPV by quite some margin. But will that be enough to make the C-Max a class bestseller?

The new looks certainly go some way to improving the car's chances and the driving dynamics are as good as ever.

If you don't need seven seats then the C-Max could be just the thing.

SPECIFICATION

Engine: 2.0-litre turbo diesel
Max power: 136bhp @ 4,000rpm
Max torque: 320Nm @ 2,000rpm
Max speed: 124mph
0-62 mph: 9.6 seconds
Combined fuel consumption: 48.6mpg
CO2 emissions: 154 g/km
Standard equipment: Electric windows, power steering, power mirrors that fold, premium audio system, six speed gearbox, alloy wheels.