Does anyone own a Ford B-Max?

[pollysproggle]

I've been looking at second hand family cars and need to find something pretty soonish as my car was written off in an accident (not my fault!).

The Ford B-Max looks good as a larger car which is more economical, not a gas guzzler, cheap to run etc and in my budget.

If you have one/had one what's your review?

My mum had a c-max 1.6 so similar, the clutch went after 2 years and she bought it new! Also used a lot of diesel

B Max engines can be problematic. We've always had C Maxes and they've been fine.

I had one and really liked it. They’re not making them any more. It drove well and the sliding side doors were very useful for getting small children and car seats etc in and out.

@vinoandbrie
The sliding doors are actually selling it for me for that very reason!

Is the C-max a similar size? I'm in London so definitely won't be buying a diesel car

What's your criteria? Do you have children and if so are they still in car seats? Do you need space in the boot for a dog??

The B-max doesn't seem to have great reviews so I would look at alternatives like the C3 Picasso.
www.whatcar.com/ford/b-max/hatchback/used-review/n963/alternatives

Criteria is;

2 children with maybe one more on the horizon but eldest is almost 13 so no car seat needed for him.
Low emissions as I do a lot of city driving (saw the B-Max come with a 1.0 litre engine)

Reasonable road tax and low insurance group
Decent sized boot just for shopping and occasional weekends away.
No bikes or dogs etc

We had a Corsa and managed fine with that but agree we need something a bit bigger.

As we've had a write off and suddenly found ourselves needing to buy a car right now our budget is £6k max but would prefer around the 5k mark as we don't want to put anything on finance

I wonder if you could get a used hybrid for your budget? With a lot of city driving it would make a lot of sense.

Otherwise maybe consider a Skoda Fabia, the current one (2015 onwards) has 5* reviews:
www.whatcar.com/skoda/fabia/hatchback/used-review/n808

Personally I'd consider putting some of it on a 0% interest credit card in order to increase the budget a bit, but of course it depends whether you have the surplus income to pay it off in time, and whether you have other debts to pay off and/or expenses to save for. It also depends on your credit rating. But (for example) if you could afford £50/m over 2 years, or £100/m over 1 year, that's £1200 towards a car. I think that could be worth it if it enables you to get a more "future proof" car. Depends on your attitude to debt though, some people are dead against it.

Thanks @AnotherEmma
We'd be good for finance with regards to paying it off and getting it in the first place and don't have any debt however our last car was part finance. We just finished paying it off then crash- write off.

Presumably you're getting insurance money though? Value of car at time of crash?

B-Maxes are great! I had one for 4 years and never had a single thing go wrong with it. I loved the sliding doors, it was easy to drive and park, had plenty of poke and was very economical. They aren't massive though, so if you are planning on extending your family you might want to think about something bigger. The car itself isn't a bad size but the boot is smaller than it looks.

Great car though, I loved mine!

Yes they've offered us a good price actually. Other party accepted full responsibility so our insurance is working for us!
It was a 9 year old car with a few dings and also a diesel which I ironically chose because at the time it was classed as an eco low emissions car.
We just want something in budget for now as it's been put on us right now. We could potentially go and buy a brand new car but you never know what's around the corner so I'd rather not commit and just buy a car outright with what we can manage at the moment.
I like the Skoda Fabia (my dad swears by Skoda) but it's the same size if not a bit smaller than the car we had.
MPV's are too big and I don't like saloon type cars so looking at mini MPV's.
We know Ford are reliable as we were going to get a focus, we like the C-Max too but then came across the B-Max with the 1.0 litre engine so thought I'd ask opinions from anyone who'd had one and used it as a family car.
In whatcar reviews the 1.0 model seems to be the recommended version if you were to buy that car. I find the C3 Picasso ugly!

Thanks @Sleeptillnoon

The b Max is pretty small to be honest .. just it has a sliding door .

If you compare the Fabia with the Corsa, it has a much bigger boot. Skodas are well designed and practical IMO, as they have good interior and boot space for their exterior dimensions. We just bought one (an Octavia though).

C Max is quite a lot bigger inside and a bigger boot ..

I looked at it but couldn't get my head around the missing B pillar. It was just weird.

Going against the grain re sliding doors.

I won’t buy one for young children. While they are great for getting in and out of small places (ie narrow car parking spaces), the hinge door is much safer (imo). I used to trap (wedge) my toddler in the door between my knee and the hinge, while putting the baby in the car.

This maybe irrelevant for you, but I wanted to say.

I personally, would go for a cxmax over a b-max for the size.

My partner has B max for sale at end of this month. If still looking please let me know.

I love my ford b max (65 plate). got 3 children aged 12 and two nearly 10 year olds. They have plenty of room in the back, plus there are plenty of pockets and cup holders for their stuff. Boot is a decent size not as big as my old ford fusion but still just about big enough to get 2 medium suitcases and a holdall in for holiday. Low tax too.

I had a b max and loved it. Only changed because it was on options and they weren’t making them anymore. Sliding doors are great and it’s a good size, in between a fiesta and a c max size wise.

Thanks for your reviews!
I'm going to have a look at a B-Max and C-Max next week and compare