ARD TV in Germany has now interviewed Robert Collin who wrote the first critical article about the C-max excessive sliding, even with electronic slide control. They state that Robert Collin has one of the sharpest pens in Europe and they are interested to see what Ford will make of it when it reaches Germany. See a web-tv with a swedish presentation, containing movies from excessive sliding just from letting the gas pedal up a in the beginning of the curve, and barely managing to control the return slides following. Find the web-tv movie at:
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"web-tv" and chose a relevant viewer and connection speed./per
Just a matter of physics, the C-max has a much higher center of gravity, then a usual car, like many vans or even more off-road cars. You can't expect a roadholding like a race car, with those cars. Did felt uncomfortable with my Focus at higher speeds on the motorway in curves. Put a "Sachs performance" kit in the chassis, roadholding has improved dramatically. It's 35 mm lowered and perhaps a bit hard on bad roads, but advantages outweigh (for me) disadvantages you have to live with.
Ahh.... good objective journalism, as usual. Where is the control case? Where is the VW Touran driven into the corner in the same fashion? What exactly did he expect? He came into the corner hotter than Petter Solberg on a bumpy, rutted, snow-covered road. I thought it actually did quite well. I've driven BWWs and Mazdas with DSC through similar conditions, and even in a low CofG car you can get it pretty out of shape, as Mr. Newton put some limits on what is achievable.
Did he lift the throttle? Did he apply hand brake? We don't know. All we have is the opinion of Mr. Collin, who has never been known for impartial and objective journalism. He doesn't even write to car magazine, Aftonbladet is a yellow paper. I haven't read any claims about C-MAX's dangerous nature in any Swedish or Finnish car magazine and I'm sure they have all tested the car again after reading Collin's first reports.
I have a C-MAX (without ESP) and after reading Collin's first story I went out to try how it handles on an icy road when provoked by lifting the throttle in the middle of a curve. The result: at speeds where my previous car (Opel Vectra -99) would have lost its rear end grip, the C-MAX remained stable. I didn't notice any tendency towards dangerously strong oversteering during last winter, not on icy, snowy and windy small roads or on motorways.
Collin's story is also a bit inconsistent. First he reports C-MAX's dangerous oversteering. Then he writes a column about how he couldn't shake an old taxi-Volvo off his tail on a slippery road because of C-MAX's heavy understeering. The comes the story about Ford's test drivers coming to Sweden to test the car with him. Surprise, surprise: neither the test drivers nor Collin could find anything wrong with C-MAX on a winter test track. So Collin takes the car on a normal road (I guess this is where the videos are from) where the test drivers are not allowed to test, and once again the C-MAX is dangerous. Explanation: the test track was too smooth.
The latest addition is the case of Hans, 77 years old. Hans had reached for an apple on the co-driver's seat, his C-MAX went off the tarmac on a motor way and the correction attempt resulted in a few spins between the railings. Aftonbladet's conclusion: a typical example of how C-MAX's dangerously designed chassis behaves. Yeah, sure.
I'm not concerned about my family's safety until a see confirmations about C-MAX's dangerous nature from other journalists.
I purchased here in Majorca a C-max Ghia 2.0 6 speed and apart from the various problems I am still pleased with the car. I am at present waiting for a recall to my dealer here the more common problem is semi cutting out and the fuel level indicator which insisits we are empty on filling the tank. Also I have already had the computer replaced after 3 days of delivery my car used to do 700km per full tank now I only get 500 kms. I also have a squealy rear wheel which is only there when crawling in traffic. My brother in law purchased exactly the same car but in February and he has identical problems. The solution here we have been told is the computer fault and possible change of a module . Also the electric handbrake is a pain at times especially on a hill start, this doesn't go down very well being a "lady driver". Have you suffered with any problems like this would love to here from anyone out there.!!!
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