We have been looking at a 54 plate C Max, 2.0 ghia at my local garage.
It’s in great condition and ticks all the boxes for what we’re looking for.
I’ve had a snout around on Parkers and I haven’t seen any horror stories.
They’re asking £3750, subject to negotiation presumably.
What say the Singletrack motoring massif: Is this a solid buy for the money? What kind of mpg will it return? Any potential problems we should be looking for?
Any help gratefully received, ta.

You want the 2.0 turbo diesel Euro4. It means its very cheap tax bracket and gets easy 40mpg in town, +50 on long hauls.
Great spacious car, only let down by all the elec problems we had. Its probably hit and miss, but we had all sorts of trouble. Go for a test drive and watch for any engine management light flicker and cut of engine for a split sec. Our fuse box got water in it which cost £500 or more to replace, apparently a common problem. Also ours wore through front tyres quick, check the inside fronts for wear – tracking was fine, but it didnt seem right to me.

We have had ours about 6 months now 2 tdci and Im very impressed. Very comfortable and great mpg.
Personally I would be wary of the mpg on a petrol but other than that go for it.

We’ve had a 1.6tdci LX for the last 3 years and put just under 50 thousand miles on it.

It’s been a fantastic car to be honest and we’ve found the 1.6 tdci to be quick enough for us. It’s been really reliable and the only possible issue is that ours seem’s to be heavy on brake wear compared to previous vehicles.

It’s not as big or as comfy as my wife’s previous Picasso, but it drives more like a standard hatchback rather than a mini mpv; the Picasso was more squishy.

If we were buying a new one now, I’d buy the exact same engine again, just with a higher spec.

I’ve been looking at these as a replacement for my Picasso which is heading to the scrapyard in the sky. I reckon they look like a good and safe bet so will be watching this thread with interest too!

i had a 2.0 tdci and towards the end before i p/x’d it in it gave me no end of trouble.

tdcis need new dpf’s at certain mileage, look out for sticking or broke egr valves too!!

i wouldnt buy one with over 75000 on the clock now after what i had to spend on mine to get it running !!

The Euro IV has the DPF These are circa 1K to replace. If it’s a higher milage one you are after avoid like the plague. Go for the non Euro IV. The 2.0 L petrol is a great engine, chain cam no belts to snap approx 150Bhp. Work out your milage and see if you need the Diesel. They are more expensive to buy and cost more to service but obviously have better mpg. The Dual mass flywheels are also very expensive to replace on the diesel. Personally I would go for a Focus estate over the C-Max any day. I am looking at changing our 52 plate 1.8 petrol old shape Focus estate for a newish one. It has been a great car. The c-max has had a fair amount of daft niggly things go wrong compared to other ford models. I think the design was maybe a bit rushed through to try and get a few sales from the Picasso/Espace brigade.