Going to look at a 2012 cmax 1.6 petrol.
We currently own a 54 1.8 mondeo.
Can we expect similar performance and fuel economy?
Has anyone had a ford folding tow bar fitted?
Can bikes be easily fitted inside, if you use a tow bar mount are the rear lights still visible or do you need a light bar?

I don’t own one but we tried some before we bought an s-max. The thing that put us off was the fact that we could easily get bikes in the back. My daughters 16″ bmx pretty much filled the boot whereas it was lost in the s-max. Granted the s-max is a bigger car but just trying to give you some perspective.

As Andy says the diff between the c and s max is massive. I have a c-max and it is a great handling car. We do wish we had gone for the s max though. However all the back seats are easily removable to make good room. Not tried the bike rack though. We are looking at an s max soon. We had a Mondeo before that as well. If money and space allows I’d go for the s-max.

I had a 1.6 petrol on a 61 plate. Found it to be great for a family of 4 (kids were 10&11 at the time). Only criticism was that the petrol engine was a little under-powered. I swapped it to a 63 plate 1.6 diesel and find that much better. The last ever tank of fuel I put in it was super unleaded by accident, but it was the only time I’d ever be satisfied with the power output. I think the apparent lack of power affected the way I drove it as I never really managed to get decent mpg out of it, probably because I felt the need to thrash it a bit 🙂

I had a tow bar fitted to both, but a Witter removeable one – I was told that the ford version has to be fitted during manufacturing process. Works great, but you will need a light bar, but any decent tow bar mounted rack should have one anyway.

……also, whilst I have had 4 adult-sized bikes on the rack on the tow bar, I’m not sure that it was strictly within the cars capabilities – nose weight for the Cmax is only about 25kgs iirc.

Sorry, just re-reading your questions:

I can get one bike in the boot with the rear seats up, have had 2 in there with 2 rear seats up. If you remove the seats completely I’d expect to be about to get three in there (but only 2 occupants!)

I reckon I averaged about 38mpg over the 24k that I drove it, but as Creedy says it really handles well for a tall car.

There’s also the Grand Cmax around for the age of car you’re looking at…….

2008 1.8 duratec petrol, not as lively as 1.8 zetec focus. Averages low to mid 30’s mpg. Not as spacious as the mk1 Scenic it replaced, but a much much nicer car to drive, handles well as mentioned. Boot is smaller than the Scenic. Can’t say how well it takes bikes as we use the T5 for that. It’s a nice family car but it’s not that big inside.

Mostly my wife will do her 6 mile round trip to work in it. Then running the oldies around so lots of rear leg room and good accessibility.
It only needs to take one bike and I don’t mind putting a seat down. A cmax is 40 cm shorter than the mondeo so that was the concern.

Had a 2.0 diesel C-Max and it’s the worst car I’ve ever owned, was glad to see the back of it. So many problems one after the other, awful.

I have use of a 2014 Cmax. 1.6 diesel. It’s a very nice drive for long journeys with plenty of space. It has the auto park feature on it too which I love as I’m a bloody awful parallel parker.

Then running the oldies around so lots of rear leg room and good accessibility.

The high/upright seating should help the oldies accessibility over a lower car (my wife like this for the reason of saving her back putting baby/toddler in/out of the car seat). Not masses of rear leg room but not such an issues as you tend to sit with legs down rather than stretched out due to the seating position.

I had a look and test drive of one when I bought my new car at the end of last year – not bad to drive, but it’s a people carrier so don’t expect miracles. Good boot, nice to sit in, the rear seat is too narrow to carry 3 adults in comfort (be OK for a short journey, though), would happily have bought one but a Scenic was 2000€ cheaper.