Road Test: Ford B-Max 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium

Price as tested: €23,170

+ Doors, comfort, engine, chassis, quality
– 1.0 not economical enough, needs more space in the back
= Better than the diesel version but still flawed

News: Car sales off to sluggish start in January

It hasn't been a good start to the year for car sales in 2013, as figures released by the Society Of The Irish Motor Industry show. Volkswagen sit atop the sales pile, following on from its best-selling performance last year, while Ford occupies second place in the charts with Toyota in third. 

News: Fuel cells a step closer to reality?

Generally, the accepted wisdom on useable fuel cell vehicles is that they are always 15 years away. It has been that way for almost as long as anyone can remember, and while the zero-emissions technology is certainly alluring, the investment and technology needed to make it palatable to customers always seems to be just out of reach.

That could be about to change though, following an alliance between Renault-Nissan, Mercedes and Ford to jointly share development of future fuel cell systems. Mercedes has already committed to having fuel cell cars on sale to the public by 2015 and last year, a trio of fuel-cell powered B-Classes managed a complete round-the-world trip to prove the reliability of the technology.

A fuel cell is a relatively simple thing, and they've been around for more than a century. By chemically combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce water, they generate an electrical current and the only emission at the tailpipe is water vapour. Simple and brilliant, but making them work in a car has proven difficult, and the arguments over creating a hydrogen refueling infrastructure still rage.

“Fuel cell electric vehicles are the obvious next step to complement today's battery electric vehicles as our industry embraces more sustainable transportation,” said Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Member of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice President of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., supervising Research and Development. “We look forward to a future where we can answer many customer needs by adding FCEVs on top of battery EVs within the zero-emission lineup.

“We are convinced that fuel cell vehicles will play a central role for zero-emission mobility in the future. Thanks to the high commitment of all three partners we can put fuel cell e-mobility on a broader basis. This means with this cooperation we will make this technology available for many customers around the globe,” said Prof. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

“Working together will significantly help speed this technology to market at a more affordable cost to our customers,” said Raj Nair, group vice president, Global Product Development, Ford Motor Company. “We will all benefit from this relationship as the resulting solution will be better than any one company working alone.”

Engineering work on both the fuel cell stack and the fuel cell system will be done jointly by the three companies at several locations around the world. The partners are also studying the joint development of other FCEV components to generate even further synergies.

News: New Fiesta bought every 2 minutes

 

Consumers bought a new Ford Fiesta every two minutes on average last year, making it the best-selling small car in Europe, according to automotive data intelligence provider JATO Dynamics.
 

Ford last year sold 953,174 cars in the 30 European markets monitored by JATO, including 306,405 Fiestas. Ford recently announced that during 2012 more than 1.4 million Ford vehicles were sold across all of the 51 European markets in which it operates.
 
The Fiesta also was the best-selling B-segment car (sub-compact) globally for the first nine months of 2012, with more than 560,000 Fiestas sold worldwide, according to the latest Polk new vehicle registration data.

“The Fiesta had a fantastic 2012, both in Europe and across the world,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “This iconic car has come to define what customers desire from a small car – style, quality, efficiency and great technology.”

Ford has sold more than 15 million Fiestas worldwide since the vehicle first went into production in 1976. The Fiesta now has been the top-selling small car in Europe for three out of the past four years. During that period, more than 1.7 million Fiestas have been sold in Europe and 2.1 million globally.

The U.K. was the most successful European market for Fiesta in 2012, with 109,250 vehicles registered according to Ford figures. Across Europe, Frozen White proved the most popular paint colour among Fiesta customers.

Ford is currently launching the new Fiesta in Europe – which is coming to dealerships now – the new model is redesigned inside and out and offers the 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine – the 2012 “International Engine of the Year”. An ECOnetic Technology version powered by a 1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi diesel engine achieves 87 g/km CO2.**

The new Fiesta also offers MyKey, a Ford-exclusive technology that allows parents to encourage safer driving and limit their teenager’s exposure to risk at the wheel. Ford also has equipped new Fiesta with Ford SYNC, a voice-activated in-car connectivity system, and SYNC Emergency Assistance, which directly connects vehicle occupants to local emergency services operators after an accident.

In addition, Fiesta offers Active City Stop, which can help avoid or mitigate low-speed collisions.

“The new Fiesta has some big shoes to fill in 2013 but is perfectly equipped to do so,” said de Waard. “Being acclaimed as Europe’s best-loved small car in 2012 is a great achievement and we thank all of our customers who continue to put their faith in the Fiesta.”

Road Test: Ford Focus ST

Price as tested: €36,800

+ Massive grunt, lairy soundtrack, chassis, solid build, practicality
- Styling doesn't look premium enough inside or out, not well enough equipped
= Ford's working class hero for the 21st Century rekindles old Cosworth romance


Like so many of my age group, I grew up on fast Fords. My first motoring memory is of standing on a ditch, somewhere near the village of Ballydehob, where my dad had taken me to see a stage of the West Cork Rally. Now, my dad's a football nut, not a car nut but he still seemed excited to be there, and as a curious six year old, I wondered why. Then I saw, for the first time ever, Billy Coleman gunning, slipping and opposite-locking a MkII Escort between the hedges, BDA engine burping, farting and snorting away like a cage of warthogs with IBS. I wondered no more.

If by then the MkII was already something of a dinosaur, then I didn't have to wait long for more iconic hot Fords to come along and trawl for my desire. First came the XR3i, then the short-lived RS200, then the mighty first generation Sierra Cosworth. By the time I came to driving age, I was fully convinced that a Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 was the ideal and perfect car for me. Sadly, in lieu of a Lotto win, I was relying on my dad's generosity of spirit and he duly let me learn how to drive in his Sierra. A hatchback LX with the 1.6-litre engine. I think it had about 12bhp...

Still, by the time I passed my test there was the Escort Cosworth to lust over and then... And then there wasn't much at all. The Escort Cossie was the apogee of the hot hatch, a car which cost more to insure than it did to buy and for a time, Ford more or less entirely retreated from the affordable hot car market. A few trickles came along, such a the Mk1 Focus ST (sweet chassis but not actually much more fun than a diesel 1.8 TDCI) and a few ST Mondeos, but it too until 2003 and the arrival of the Mk1 Focus RS to really kick-start the fast Ford revival. Since then, we've had an even more extreme (properly Porsche-quick) Mk2 Focus RS and a warbling, five-pot ST (lovely but too thirsty by half). And now this, the Mk3 Focus in ST spec, with a new 2.0-litre 250bhp four-cylinder turbo EcoBoost engine. It's a five-door only model (in direct contrast to most previous Ford hot hatches, although there is a rather anti-cool estate version) and seeks to finally bridge the gap between previous lairy and uncouth performance Ford models and the more sophisticated likes of the Volkswagen Golf GTI.

First off, the ST's looks are a little odd. In spite of big wheels and a chunky bodykit, there is little to tell the unassuming bystander that this is a performance flagship. Yes, there's the gaping, Aston-Martin-esque grille, but you can now find something similar on a boggo Fiesta, so that's hardly a telling item. No, this Focus, for the first time in hot Ford history since that long-desired Sierra Sapphire Cossie, majors on subtle looks.

That's true of the interior where the overwhwelming impression is that of standard Focus. Yes, there's an extra bank of dials atop the dash, the steering wheel and seats have bold ST logos and there's a plaque on the centre console indicating your car's build number, but other than that it looks stock. Beware of the seats, incidentally. They look gorgeous but the bolsters and supports are so chunky that if you're built along similarly husky dimensions to myself, you may find them restrictively tight. Better lay off the cupcakes. (It also feels curiously bare. Not cruise control? No heated windscreen? On a €35k car? Really?)

And when you first fire up the powerful new engine and pull out onto the road, you may also feel a slight lack of being whelmed. Unlike previous fast Fords, there's little sense of urgency or hairy-chestedness, assuming that is that you tickle it along and upshift early, as we've all become accustomed to doing from driving tourquey, low-revving diesels. The ride is certainly firm and thumps hard over sharp obstacles, but mostly, it's just refined and easygoing, with a hint of muscularity underneath.

And then you drop a gear and venture beyond 3,000rpm and all hell breaks loose with a side order of demons. Then the engine shows is true colours and they are fully red (shade: tooth & claw). It emits a hard but tuneful bark that swiftly becomes addictive. It's not the musical roar of a big V12 or the grumble of a V8 but a blunt, business-like shout that speaks of racing heritage and serious intent. That seriousness is hammered home by the fact that the traction control light has by now more than likely become constantly lit and the steering is bucking in your hands as the front tyres try to choose between being traction devices or simply smoke emitters. It is, just a bit, exciting.

But curiously, not OTT. Yes, the torque steer is there, as mentioned, but a firm grip on the wheel easily quells it. And yes, there's wheelspin there for the taking, but the odd thing is that the Focus ST feels like a duck. You know that old adage about a duck swimming on a lake looking serene and effortless on the surface while underneath it's paddling like hell? That's what I mean. If it can be said that the Focus ST has a split personality, then it's split along the horizontal axis, all thunder and fury down below, while you sit calmly atop, deciding the precise degree of fury to unleash.

The handling is just excellent. Yes, it would be nice for Irish conditions if the ride had a touch more pliancy, but the way the meaty steering pulls you into corners and spits you, cannon-shell-like, out the far side is a truly terrific experience. In some ways, with that wheelspin never far away and the sledgehammer power output, you could see the Focus ST as a bit of a crude weapon, all point-and-squirt. But learn to hold back the throttle a touch to keep the wheelspin quelled, learn to lean on the grip of the front end and realise that the engine, far from being peaky or laggy, actually does a convincing impression of being a much larger, naturally-aspirated unit, and you will unlock the immense point-to-point ability of the ST.

And that, in a heartbeat, finally bridges the gap between a fast Ford and a supposedly more sophisticated Golf GTI. Yes, the VW badge will continue to carry more kudos and apparent classiness, and the Focus isn't helping its own cause by persisting with a cabin that still feels a salary band lower than that of the Golf (even if its actual quality is unimpeachable) but here at last is a Ford hot hatch that works equally well as a daily driver and a Sunday morning cobweb remover.

Any car that can sprint from standstill to 100kmh in 6.5secs and on to a top speed of almost 250kmh has to be considered as a serious performance player. But any car that can seat for in easy comfort, has a big boot and can manage 9.0-litres per 100km (31mpg) can also be safely considered for family use. Drive with a modicum of sense (and a low-carb diet to make sure you fit into the seats) and none of your passengers would guess that this Ford has the potential to smoke high-end German sports saloons on the right road. Equally, drive it the way it was designed to be driven and hear its aggressive bark, and you'd be hard-pressed to guess that it's a practical family hauler.

It hasn't quite supplanted the childish desire in my heart for a Sierra Cosworth, but as a more caring, sharing, efficient and (let's face it) faster modern alternative, I guess I can make space for an ST poster on my 12-year-old self's bedroom wall.

Facts & Figures
Ford Focus ST

Price as tested: €36,800
Range price: €20,315 to €39,100
Capacity: 1,997cc


Power: 250bhp


Torque: 360Nm


Top speed: 248kmh


0-100kmh: 6.5sec


Economy: 7.2l-100km (39mpg)


CO2 emissions: 169g/km

VRT Band: D. €570 road tax


Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 92% adult, 82% child, 72% pedestrian, 71% safety assist

News: Ford claims B-Max MPV is child-proof

Ford is claiming that its newly-launched B-Max MPV has a child-proof interior. They obviously haven't met my kids...

Every parent is familiar with the challenge of keeping a new car clean in the face of everyday use by children and pets. Ford has now tried to make that job easier for mums and dads by “child-proofing” the new B-MAX.

Engineers subjected the new B-MAX to laboratory tests that simulate the toughest treatment that children and pets can dish out, including soaking materials in milk and fizzy drinks; testing fabrics 0with a “mace”; and pounding plastics with a heavy rubber ball.

“By testing for everything from soft drink spills to muddy boots, we’ve made sure the B-MAX interior is ready for anything,” said Mark Montgomery, senior materials engineer, Ford of Europe. “I’ve got young children myself, so I’m very familiar with the mess they can create.”

Samples of all leathers and fabrics used in the Ford B-MAX’s interior were tested for stain resistance and ease of cleaning after being soaked for 24 hours in the liquids and being smeared with soil and grease.

Engineers also tested resistance to damage that can be caused by abrasive zips and fasteners found on children’s clothing and bags. The “mace test” used a metal ball with needle-sharp spikes to brush fabrics 600 times and replicate the effect of snagging zips and studs. Engineers also carried out a special test to repeatedly rub the seat material with Velcro.

Impact tests – conducted at temperatures as low as -30 degrees Centigrade when plastic is more brittle – used a rubber ball 10 times heavier than a regulation football to ensure that plastic parts could withstand bumps and knocks. Fabrics were also rubbed 60,000 times in a 17-hour non-stop wear test; metal spikes were scraped across plastic parts to test scratch resistance; and carpets were checked for durability on a special test rig fitted with rough abrasion wheels.

“These tests make sure we’ve done everything possible to make sure the car looks as good the thousandth time that families sit in it as it does the first time,” added Montgomery.

News: Buy a Ford Focus and you could win your money back

Ford is offering Focus buyers the chance to win back the price of their car, but only for one weekend.

The Ford Focus was again Ireland’s top selling car in 2012 and for a period of 72 hours (Friday, Saturday & Sunday January 25 to 27), any customer who purchases or orders a new Ford Focus Edge will receive a free Edge pack comprising alloys, fog lamps and floor mats, an extended five year warranty at no extra cost and will have the chance of winning back their money.

 “For anyone in the market for a new 131 car, this is a great offer,” said Eddie Murphy, Chairman and Managing Director of Ford Ireland. “The free Edge pack represents a saving of up to €750 while the extended 5 year warranty provides extra peace of mind and to cap it all, one lucky customer will win back the full cost of their new car.”

The offer is for the limited 72 hour time period and is available at participating dealers – check with your local Ford Dealer. Vehicle finance is available through Ford Options, Ford’s flexible finance programme that is provided by FordCredit. For further details, see ford.ie.

News: 1 in 3 of us would spend more on eco-friendly motoring

More than one in three Europeans would spend more to buy an environmentally friendly car even though 71% say they have reduced overall spending as a result of the economic recession, a Ford Motor Company-sponsored poll shows.



The survey also showed 53% consider climate change to be the world’s biggest issue and 57% would prefer to lead a more environmentally conscious lifestyle.

“The survey shows that even in economically difficult times there is a clear desire for vehicles that are more environmentally friendly,” said Barb Samardzich, vice president Product Development, Ford of Europe. “Ford is extremely focused on meeting this demand now and in the future, and this goes hand-in-hand with delivering products that help reduce running costs.”

Ford commissioned the survey conducted by “The Futures Company,” a leading consultancy, to better understand the opinions and attitudes of Europeans across a range of mobility issues – from car sharing to green driving to the future of the internal combustion engine.

The survey showed that for 71%, fuel-efficiency is a major factor in choosing a car; 60% prefer to choose models from carmakers that have targeted a reduction in their environmental impact; and 68% consider fuel-efficiency when driving.

In 2013 Ford will introduce to Europe its first ever zero-tailpipe emissions passenger car the Focus Electric to be later joined later by hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles 

Also, the new Ford Fiesta offers more engines that can achieve sub-100 g/km CO2 emissions than any other small car nameplate. Its combination of advanced new engines, fuel-saving technologies and aerodynamic improvements ensure an unrivalled seven powertrains achieve sub-100 g/km CO2 emissions and deliver optimised fuel efficiency.

The Ford Eco Mode coaching system, now available in the Fiesta as well, rewards drivers for using fuel-efficient driving techniques by displaying up to five “petals” on each of three “flowers” that represent gear-shifting, speed and anticipation. Ford customer training has found that eco-driving skills can result in 10 per cent long-term fuel savings.

“The majority of car buyers prefer fuel-efficient vehicles, even if only a minority feel they can afford to invest in one given the current economic climate,” said Andreas Ostendorf, vice president, Sustainability, Environment & Safety Engineering, Ford of Europe.

Road Test: Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost 125ps

Price as tested: POA

+ Slick styling, brilliant engine, classy cabin, handling
– 100ps and 125ps EcoBoost versions won't be cheap
= Updates put the Fiesta right back at the top of the small car tree

Cinecitta Studios lies just on the outskirts of Rome and has been home, over the years, to productions as famous os Ben-Hur, Cleopatra and The Gangs Of New York. When choosing to launch an updated version of the Ford Fiesta, so bursting with new technology that it could not be more bang up to date, it might seem odd to have it sit in front of a fake recreation of the Roman Senate. But hey, maybe Ford has just looking for a little reflected glory from the likes of Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Certainly, the updated Fiesta looks glamorous enough to bestride a film set. That new grille (very Aston Martin-ish), lights and bumpers have really freshened up the shape.

Inside, much effort has gone into improving cabin quality and the results are palpably good. Before, you would have had to place the Fiesta just behind the likes of the Volkswagen Polo in the interior quality stakes. Now it's neck-and-neck.

From the mobile phone and media player-linking SYNC system (that recently debuted on the new B-Class mini MPV) to a new function called MyKey (long since on sale in American Fords) which allows nervous parents to limit the speed, audio volume and other functions of the car when their teenage offspring have borrowed it, the Fiesta can now be specified to levels that would have seemed ludicrous when the 1977 original was launched. A self-braking city safety system, a function that automatically phones the emergency services in the event of an accident and niceties such as a reversing camera and an automated parking system are now all available, for a price.

Indeed, you'd have to ask if Ford is backing the wrong horse – investing in high-tech gizmos at a time when most buyers are looking more closely at the bottom line and rivals like Dacia are arriving with arrestingly low-balled prices. I asked; Ford said no. All its research points to customers wanting more and more technology in the car.

Ford's award-winning 1.0-litre, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine has already found happy homes in the Focus and B-Max, but the Fiesta is surely the car best suited to the lightweight, frugal, free-revving little unit. For the first time, you'll be able to buy an EcoBoost unit that doesn't use a turbocharger, and the new 65bhp and 80bhp versions of the engine will eventually replace the ageing 1.25-litre Yahamha-developed unit at the base of the Fiesta range. Punchier 100bhp and 125bhp versions, with a turbo, will be rarer by far in Irish dealerships but sadly, that's all that Ford made available for us to drive on this event.

I say sadly, actually it was terrific. In 123bhp form (a version which still scores a 99g/km Co2 rating and can, claims Ford, average better than 65mpg) the turbo EcoBoost almost qualifies as a junior hot hatch. There's a touch of off-boost lethargy below 1,900rpm but after that the little engine revs smoothly and crisply to the 6,500rpm redline and theres's a thick seam of effortless 170Nm torque to revel in on the way there. Even with just a five-speed gearbox, it's an effortless drive and maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a hint of Porsche-like roar as you pass 4,000rpm.

As ever, the Fiesta's chassis is up for any challenges you throw at it, and the updated electric power steering is better than ever – firmly sprung and rewardingly talkative, it goes beautifully with the Fiesta's neutral balance and grip. Even on roads streaming with heavy rain and peppered with aggressive Roman traffic, the Fiesta never felt less than confidence inspiring, and frequently felt just damned good fun.

Alongside the EcoBoost units and the carry-over 1.25 petrol, Ford will also offer a new 1.5-litre TDCI diesel and two updated versions of the existing 1.6-litre diesel, the most efficient of which emits just 87g/km. Prices will start from €15,550 for the most basic 1.25 and you can expect the 99bhp EcoBoost turbo to clock in around the €17,500 mark.

Bringing the test car back to Cinecitta was a slightly bizarre experience what with having to thread the Fiesta between sets, semi-abandoned props and the occasional film-set statue that had be placed next to a car park. There was even a complete TGV-style train, marooned on tracks that go nowhere, presumably to give future Cary Grants and Tom Cruises a convincing set for railway-based action.

Thankfully, the Fiesta is no film-set fake. It’s a car of true style and substance, with a delightful chassis and, with the brilliant EcoBoost engine, real star quality.

Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost 125ps
Price as tested: TBA
Price range: €15,550 to €TBA
Capacity: 999cc
Power: 123bhp
Torque: 170Nm
Top speed: 170kmh
0-100kmh: 9.4sec
Economy: 4.2l-100km (67mpg)
CO2 emissions: 99g/km
Road Tax Band: A2. €180
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 91% adult, 86% child, 65% pedestrian, 71% safety assist.
 

News: Ford extends job cuts, factory closures

Ford had already announced this week that it was shutting down its plant in Genk, Belgium and moving production of the new Mondeo (above) to its factory in Valencia, Spain. Now comes word that that its Southampton plant in England, which builds the Transit, will also be closed.

Ford is staring down the barrel of a €1-billion loss in Europe this year, and is expected to shed around 6,200 jobs across the continent. 4,300 of those went with the closure of Genk, and a further 1,400 have now been announced with the closure of Southampton and the closing of a panel stamping section of its vast facility at Dagenham, near London. Dagenham will stay on as a producer of diesel engines though, saving around 3,500 jobs.

Transit production will move to Ford's plant in Turkey as Ford seeks a return to European profitability by 2015.

Stephen Odell, CEO Ford of Europe said: "We have to act quickly and decisively to address the collapse in consumer demand in Europe today and position Ford for profitable growth tomorrow.  We are reaffirming our commitment to the UK with a major investment in powertrain and engineering and one which will reinforce the UK’s central role in Ford’s global powertrain strategy"

News: Ford Mondeo production shifts to Spain

Ford has confirmed today that it will be shuttering its factory in Genk, Belgium and transferring production of the new Mondeo to its Spanish factory in Valencia.

The news will have come as a terrible blow to the 4,300 people Ford currently employs in Genk, building the Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy. The all-new Mondeo, based on the US-market Ford Fusion, had been earmarked to be built in Genk, but when Ford delayed its European market introduction by 6 months, we smelled a rat. There were even rumours that production of the Mondeo would move to low-cost Mexico, but yesterday the announcement came that Genk was going and Valencia was getting the gig.

That means that Genk will continue on its current four-day-week for a time yet, turning out the current Mondeo and S-Max & Galaxy, but will be progessively closed down as production of those models winds up. No word let on whether Valencia gets to build the next S-Max and Galaxy, but it's likely.

The move comes as Ford seeks to both stem losses of €404-million this year in Europe, and against the background of a meltdown in European car sales that is seeing the long-standing problem of over-capacity in the industry (too many factories turning out too many cars for too few buyers) finally being tackled. Fiat has already closed a facotry in Sicily and may close another, PSA Peugeot Citroen has earmarked its Aulnay plant for closure and GM's Bochum plant in on the chopping block too.

Road Test: Ford B-Max 1.5 TDCI Titanium

 

Price as tested: €23,050

+ Clever doors, space, practicality, quality, comfort

– Diesel engine lacks punch, ride too firm

= Clever and useful but ride and performance lacking

I cannot hear the phrase “sliding doors” and not think of the eponymous movie of the late 1990s starring Gwyneth Paltrow. It’s about a woman whose future apparently takes two divergent courses, with the dividing line being whether or not the sliding doors close on her as she tries to catch a train. Not sure why such an otherwise forgettable romcom should stick with me, but it’s always at the back of my mind whenever I drive a car with, well, you know.With the Ford B-Max (and its sliding doors) Ford will be trying to both create a new future for itself and erase memories of an unhappy past. That’s because the company’s previous effort in the mini-MPV arena, the little Fusion, was largely critically panned, even if it did have its loyal customers. The new B-Max’s only similarity to the Fusion, thankfully, is that both cars shared their mechanicals with a sister Fiesta. The B-Max is more clearly a junior MPV, though, owing much to the sharp-looking C-Max for its styling. And wait until you see its trick doors . . . 

Actually, the doors themselves are not the trick here; it’s the absence of pillars between them and the front doors. When both front and back doors are open, there is a gargantuan 1.5-metre opening in the side of the car. For parents loading kids and child car seats, this is a huge boon, and the B-Max backs up the loading aperture with proper space in the back – room enough even for tall adults to get perfectly comfortable. There’s a properly useful 318-litre boot out back, too.

Up front, and behind that beaky nose, is a range of three petrol and one diesel engines, with the highlights being the new 1.5-litre 75bhp TDCI diesel and the brilliant 1.0-litre three-cylinder EcoBoost turbo petrol, which Ford Ireland’s people reckon will prove to be the best seller. The base model comes with a 1.4-litre petrol engine, and you can have the old 105bhp 1.6-litre petrol if you fancy an automatic transmission.

With its sweet-revving nature and 119g/km CO22 emissions, the 1.0 EcoBoost is definitely the star of the range, especially as the new 1.5 TDCI engine is actually a bit of a disappointment. Thankfully, an early cold-start clatter dies away as the engine warms, to be replaced by generally very good refinement; but it’s very short on grunt, lacking the kind of low-down punch we’ve come to associate with diesel engines. The creakingly long 16.5sec 0-100kmh run confirms its gutlessness. It is capable of a claimed 68mpg compared to the 1.0 petrol’s 55mpg, though but the bald fact is that, foot to the boards in third gear, I was really having to wait around and wait for the B-Max to pick up speed. On this brief acquaintance, I'd say that Ford's new 1.5 diesel isn't half the engine the existing 1.6 TDCI is. Which is worrying, as eventually a whole family based on the 1.5 will replace the 1.6...

Ford has slipped up a touch with the driving experience too, for my money. In trying to keep Ford’s now-traditional sporty chassis dynamics, the B-Max has gone a bit too far down the stiff suspension route, and the upshot is a ride quality that never settles down and frequently jiggles. Fine in a sporty, spry hatchback but not what you want in a family-oriented people mover. Yes, the sharp steering and good body control are welcome, but I’d have happily traded both in for a comfier ride.

There's also a sense that the whole car feels top-heavy, which in spite of the too-firm ride, means it feels as if the roof is heading towards the ditch under brisk cornering loads. Not a pleasant feeling and in general I think Ford should be heading back to the drawing board with the B-Max's suspension settings. As a final caveat though, our Titanium model was riding on big-ish rims, so possibly a lesser spec version with smaller wheels might feel a touch better.

The B-Max does have one whizz-bang ace up its sleeve, though: SYNC, Ford’s new phone-friendly infotainment system, which is easy to use, useful and, Ford claims, potentially live-saving, automatically dialling the emergency services if it detects you’ve had a crash. It’ll even read your text messages to you.

It's almost laughably easy to use (albeit we couldn't get the text message reading system to work with my iPhone 4S) and the option to be able to plumb your music into the car either by Bluetooth or USB cable is a nice one. 

SYNC on its own is almost impressive enough to warrant a recommendation for the B-Max, and the doors and space are truly family-optimised. Fix the ride and install a punchier diesel engine and you could happily see it in your future.

Ford B-Max 1.5 TDCI Titanium
Price as tested: €23,050
Price range: €19,170 to €26,430
Capacity: 1,490cc
Power: 74bhp
Torque: 190Nm
Top speed: 157kmh
0-100kmh: 16.5sec
Economy: 4.0l-100km (68.9mpg)
CO2 emissions: 109g/km
Road Tax Band: A. €160
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 92% adult, 84% child, 67% pedestrian, 71% safety assist

News: Oldest Ford in the world goes up for auction

The oldest surviving Ford is due to go on sale at RM Auctions today with a potential sale price of half a million dollars.

Not bad for a car that would have cost you $880 when it was built in 1903. This is the oldest known surviving Ford in the world, built in Ford's original factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit and called the Model A. Yes, we know there was another, more celebrated Model A from the 1930s, but this was the original Ford, the first car put up for sale by Henry himself and predating the Model T by a significant number of years.

Unlike the T, it wasn't mass-produced on a production line, but built instead by hand in a single massive factory space.  This one is marked as being chassis number 30 and was delivered to a dairy foods maker in Iowa called McNary.

Since when it has had just five owners and its 8hp engine, having been rebuilt in 2007, is amazingly original.

A little slice of motoring history.

News: Ford working on carbon parts for Focus

Ford is planning to bring lightweight carbon parts to cars like the Focus, even though currently such parts would be prohibitively expensive.

Ford is showing off this, a current Focus fitted with an experimental carbon-fibre bonnet, which weighs about half as much as a conventional steel panel. Generally, carbon is about five times stronger than steel for an equivalent weight of about a third as much. Pretty impressive, pretty expensive.

But that could be all changing. Companies like McLaren and BMW are currently at the cutting edge of carbon research and are finding ways of making carbon components, and even entire carbon vehicles, for a much more affordable price. Indeed, if the labour-intensive nature of current carbon-fibre design and build systems can be reduced, then the actual raw material cost is lower than that of, say, aluminium.

“Reducing a vehicle’s weight can deliver major benefits for fuel consumption but a process for fast and affordable production of carbon fiber automotive parts in large numbers has never been available”, said Inga Wehmeyer, advanced materials and processes research engineer in Ford’s European Research Centre.
 
“By partnering with materials experts through the Hightech.NRW research project, Ford is working to develop a solution that supports cost efficient manufacturing of carbon fiber components.”

Anthony Sheriff, MD of McLaren Automotive, the road-car making arm of the legendary F1 team, has no doubts that carbon is the future even for mainstream cars:

"Basically everything that’s important to the driving experience, strength for crash safety, weight for speed and efficiency, rigidity for handling, are improved significantly with carbon fibre. That’s the case whether you’re talking about a mid-engined 200mph sports car or a city car.

"I think we already see a number of cars at lower price points that have have woken up to the point that with innovation you can drive the production costs lower. And you are going to see other sports cars, and very interestingly, hybrid and electric city cars using carbon fibre. Especially on electric cars, the weight saving has an enormous benefit because if you have a light electric car, you can have a smaller battery and therefore you save additional weight and additional cost.

"Before you find it in a Ford Focus? Well, it’s not 50 years but neither is it 5 years. I’d say its 10 year before we start to see significant use of carbon fibre in such cars."

That tallies with Ford's plans, which seek to reduce the weight of an average family car by as much as 340kg by the end of the decade.
 

Road Test: Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI 90 Estate Titanium

Price as tested: €25,439

+ Space, looks, comfort, quality
– Breathless engine, shiny cabin plastics
= Crisp to drive and versatile with it

This is based on nothing more than anecdotal, what we see on the road type evidence, but it certainly seems that Ireland and traditionally traditional Irish buyers are finally cottoning on in decent numbers to the charms of estates. For decades, we have sniffed and turned our collective noses up at wagons, Avants and shooting brakes, believing them to be the natural home of down-at-hell traveling salesmen and brewery reps. We’ll have a nice, safe three-box saloon, thanks. In beige.

Well, we’ve been banging the estate drum for many a year now and you do seem to be copping on out there. For a fairly minimal extra financial outlay, you are opening up a world of extra flexibility and usefulness, without going to the expense of running an SUV or crossover or the sheer drudgery of having an MPV.

And we think we’ve worked out why. IKEA. It’s simple, in a flat-pack world, you need a car with sufficient space to pack in a Trofas, a Snigglar and a couple of Billys. It happened to us recently. A large, family saloon, brought on a trip to IKEA. A big, comfy car. Massive boot. But, because it was a saloon, it didn’t have the loadspace height to take all we wanted meaning that a couple of Sultan bed mattresses had to be left behind. Darn it.

A few days later, I rocked back up to IKEA with a Focus Estate. Now, the Focus is, technically, a class down on the previous car, but, because it was an estate, it swallowed the abandoned mattresses with room to spare for a Myrdal or two. Just flip the seats down (expanding the boot from 476-litres to a whopping 1,500-litres) and in they went with only a minimum of squashing and squeezing.

It’s actually been a while since I’d driven a Focus and to be honest, the last one had left me cold. A saloon, in Zetec spec with big wheels and sports suspension, it bounced and jiggled so badly on typical Irish back roads that it nearly caused seasickness. So I wasn’t especially looking forward to a week of the same.

But thankfully, my Titanium-spec estate, in a rather uninteresting dark blue paint job, exhibited none of those unfortunate tendencies. Smaller wheels and softer springs clearly make a heck of a difference, and while it never smothers bumps and scars with the calm assurance of a Golf, the Focus Estate was a comfy and pretty decently refined companion.

While we’re bringing the Golf into the discussion, let’s talk cabins. There’s no doubt that the new Focus has a vastly, incredibly better cabin than the old one, even if it can get a bit complicated at times. It has lovely, clear, sharp-looking dials and the simples and best Bluetooth connection that not only routes phone calls through the car, but also your music and podcasts. And it takes, literally, 30secs to hook your phone up.

But, there’s an unfortunate shiny finish to too many of the dash surfaces that detracts from the actually very high levels of fit and finish. The Golf’s carefully honed, matte-finish interior certainly still feels classier. Still, the Focus has comfy seats, a well set up driving position and decent, if not exceptional, room in the rear seats.

Under the bonnet of our test car lay another disappointment. We’ve gotten used to Ford’s ubiquitous 1.6 TDCI engine, which in 110bhp form, offers all the performance you could reasonably want while keeping its emissions and fuel consumption pretty much as low as you could wish. This, the 95bhp version, improves on the Co2 and economy (117g/km and 4.2-litres per 100km claimed) but boy, does it feel underpowered. With 230Nm of torque, it’s only 40Nm down on the 110bhp engine, but it feels sticky and reluctant to pull, especially from standstill. Once up to a cruise, it’s fine and doesn’t feel too bad on the motorway (where it’s also very good at keeping its noisy bits to itself) but sprinting is something it can’t do.

On the other hand, there are few, if any, cars in this class that can hold a candle to the Focus’ chassis through the twisty bits. The steering is beautifully accurate, if a little rubbery and springy, but the way the whole chassis gels and works with you and the road, rather than fighting off imperfections, really is amazing. Even the mighty Golf, which does in fairness still have its ride trump card, must bow to the Focus’ more driver-oriented settings.

So, it’s got the space, it’s got the chassis and, if you pick a stronger colour, it’s got the handsome looks. Will it succeed? We suspect that it’ll take a while longer before estate acceptance percolates down to this kind of price level, but for the few who do take the plunge, there’s a terrific car waiting for them. As long as they go for the 100bhp engine.


Facts & Figures

Ford Focus Estate 1.6 TDCI 95 Titanium
Price as tested: €25,439
Range price: €21,285 to €30,595
Capacity: 1,560cc
Power: 95bhp
Torque: 230Nm
Top speed: 180kmh
0-100kmh: 12.5sec
Economy: 4.2l-100km (67mpg)
CO2 emissions: 117g/km
VRT Band: A. €160 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 92% adult, 82% child, 72% pedestrian, 71% safety assist

Road Test: Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCI Titanium

Price as tested: €32,311

+ Handsome looks, gorgeous cabin, brilliant chassis, frugal engine
– S-Max more versatile, C-Max more affordable, soon to be replaced
= It may be plain wrapper, but the Mondeo is still solid gold all the way through


I seem to have been driving a gaggle of Fords lately, all of them slightly different, at different stages of their commercial and technical lives and yet all anchored around a familiar focal point; the Mondeo.

The Mondeo, a name that first came to us aboard Ford's epochal 1993 Sierra replacement, has become an Acme in so many ways. For a time, before the inexorable rise of the premium brands, it was the vehicular encapsulation of the motoring middle class. So much so, that in his 1997 run for the British premiership, Tony Blair actively courted and wooed 'Mondeo Man.'

That stands true for Irish motorists too, for the Mondeo has always been a strong seller here in its two and a bit decades, usually loitering near the top end of the top ten and pleasing, in its unassuming way, both business and family customers.

Its ubiquity has been under threat over the past decade though by the likes of the Volkswagen Passat and Toyota Avensis (an intra-class struggle) and, when cheap financing became available, the BMW 3 Series ( a classically Marxist class war). After all, if the monthly repayments were much the same, wouldn't you rather have a Munich badge on your keyring?

That competition stirred Ford to great lengths though. The 2000-2006 Mondeo was always a fine car to drive, well made and spacious, but it lacked the stylistic or qualitative appeal of the German car. The 2007 Mondeo, the one that is still with us, changed that utterly, granting the Mondeo genuinely handsome looks and a cabin that was close to equalling the BMW in terms of sheer class, and besting it for space.

Now, the current Mondeo is coming to the end of its life, and faces not just competition from the hordes of similar saloons and premium brands but also some internecine rivalry from the other three Fords I've been driving lately; the C-Max, the S-Max and the Kuga.

Let's take the Mondeo first. While many of us now deride the conventional four-box family saloon as moribund, there is a compelling reason for its becoming the archetype of the everyday car; it works. And as a Mondeo, it must be said, it works a damn sight better than most. Our test car came in black, which not only served to highlight its snazzy new LED daytime running lights but also brought with it a brooding sense of being Government Issue; a men-in-black appeal that is alien to many but seductive to a certain type of unreconstructed comic book fan. Ahem.

Inside, while the pleasant silvery surfaces of the centre console have been replaced with a plain-jane black finish, the levels of quality on offer are genuinely second to none. Our (pricey) Titanium spec car came with part-Alcantara seats that cosseted and lovely soft-touch surfaces and expensive looking dials and digital displays that pleased. Only a malfunctioning Bluetooth connection blotted the copybook. There remains proper lounging space in the back for six footers, and the boot is ever cavernous.

A 1.6-litre engine in such a large car (easily matching a nineties Scorpio against the measuring tape) would once have seemed a bad joke but the 110bhp 1.6 TDCI diesel acquits itself well. It will never qualify for the Indy 500, but it pulls with reasonable strength, cruises with a hushed rumble and returned, in our hands, a 6.0-litres per 100km fuel average; not as good as advertised but not bad, and 114g/km means you benefit from the lowest tax band.

As ever, it is the Mondeo's chassis that leaves the strongest impression. Ford, since 1993, has believed strongly that a car which pleases enthusiasts is equally (if subconsciously) pleasing to dunder-heads and that's a tough argument to quibble with. I've always felt that a car that feeds information back to the driver with proper clarity, even if that information isn't properly understood, is a safer car than some light-to-the-touch car which seeks to distance the driver from the action. A majority of drivers may not understand the nuances of steering feel or dynamic balance, but if the car is telling them what it's up to, at least they have that information to work with, whatever they may choose to do with it.

Whatever, the Mondeo retains the best dynamic repertoire in the class, matching engagement with comfort in a near-perfect balance, and that’c combined with impressive safety levels, especially given our car’s optional (€811) Driver Assistance pack, which includes a blind spot monitor, lande departure warning and self-dipping high-beam lights, amongst other useful safety and convenience toys.

So what can the likes of the C-Max or S-Max offer against this? Well, both can offer a similar feel of quiet sophistication (the S-Max sharing many of the Mondeo's cabin fittings and much of its chassis deportment) and both have the same, gorgeously liquid feel to drive. The C-Max's Focus-derived cabin can't match the Mondeo or the S for class, but it feels rigorously well built and both cars are above the class average for refinement. Both make compelling alternatives to the Mondeo's mainstream, and the C-Max’s sharp pricing can make the Titanium spec Mondeo look dangerously overpriced.

The runt of the litter here is the Kuga. It's up for replacement very shortly, which explains many of its shortcomings, but one must remember that the current Mondeo was launched at much the same time and that was worn its years with a deal more grace. The Kuga still looks fresh and pleasing from the outside, but once inside its case quickly dissolves. The cabin is lifted more or less directly from the previous generation Focus and looks and feels appalling cheap. The driving position is too perched up. The 2.0 TDCI engine is noisy in this application and unnecessarily thirsty. Even dynamically, the Kuga falls flat, lurching around on a too-high centre of gravity and exhibiting none of the liquid assurance of any of the other three.

So which one to go for? Well, the Kuga's out straight away and I'll give the C-Max the next bullet, not because of any particular shortcoming (aside from an comically slow-moving powered tailgate, an utterly pointless option) but simply because it lacks the final sheen of quality and sophistication of the other two. Then again, it is significantly more affordable, spec-for-spec, so perhaps that is only right and proper.

While my family man instincts should draw me to the S-Max, and while I do find its style and dynamic abilities (it remains the only MPV that's truly satisfying to drive) appealing, it's the supposedly humble Mondeo I'm going to plump for. It remains a remarkably talented car, one that can be affordably purchased (new or secondhand) by a vast swathe of the motoring populace who probably don't even realise the Wilsonian levels of never having had it so good that they're getting in to. Like the Kuga, the Mondeo is up for replacement in the next six months, but unlike the SUV, you'd never know it; it's going out at the absolute peak of its talents. It's supposedly humble Ford that's as good to drive, to sit in and to live with as any of the more expensive premium badge rivals and one that, five years on, remains the benchmark vehicle for all of its class competitors. Conventional? Yes. Predictable? Certainly? Satisfying? Very. Being different isn't all it's cracked up to be.


Facts & Figures

Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCI Titanium
Price as tested:€32,311
Range price: €26,295 to €40,851
Cubic capacity: 1,560
Power: 115bhp
Torque: 270Nm
Maximum speed: 190kmh
0-100kmh: 11.9secs
Fuel consumption: 4.3l/100km (65.6mpg)
Co2 emissions: 114g/km
Tax band: A (€160)
EuroNCAP rating: 5-star adult, 4-star child, 2-star pedestrian