Ford B-Max – The Little Car with a Big Attitude!

This past week, I had the pleasure of driving the Ford B-MAX, the little car with a big attitude! Now a cool car is one thing, but one that’s kitted with all the bells and whistles makes it all the more exciting, and the B-MAX is styled with impressive features to actually claim the title of cool cat on the road…

When the Ford B-MAX first arrived at my driveway, I was like okay, this car is small. Granted, I drive what a lot of people like to refer to as “a truck”, so compared to mine it is small, but only the outside!

Once you get in, Ford’s tagline for the B-MAX which is to “enjoy a better view”, makes it seem way bigger than it is; with a panoramic glass roof which makes the interior feel spacious, while keeping it bright and airy.

And that’s not even the best part! Ford has done an excellent job of cramming the B-MAX to the MAX with everything you’d need in a car, and more! Smart, compact and fun to drive, the B-MAX pushes the limits, creates new ideas and opens a world of possibilities with what can be done with a compact vehicle.

Who ever said small wasn’t smart, has clearly never taken the B-MAX for a spin!

The B-MAX is a lot like the Ford Fiesta, only much cooler! Now I know there are a lot of Fiesta die-hards out there, and I’m not trying to offend you by saying your car is not cool, it’s just that the B-MAX is cooler, it’s just made that way okay!

Ford took the sleek and stylish design of the Fiesta super-mini and turned it up a couple of notches. The result – the smartest compact MPV that’s understated, yet totally deserves praise!

Besides the panoramic glass roof, the feature that most excited me was the rear sliding doors. I can’t tell you what a mission saver this has been, besides the fact that it is really kind of nifty!

If you have kids, they’ll not only love getting in and out of the back (no more kids fighting over shotgun), but you don’t have to worry about them bashing the door open on the Mustang that decided to park next you.

Secondly, if you have babies – even better! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt sorry for those ladies trying their best to strap up their precious cargo in the back seat, while being wedged into a tiny parking space.

Kids aside though, if you have dogs, this feature will come in handy too! My dogs get super excited when they go to the Vet. They barely give me enough time to open the back door fully before they jump in. I often have to brace myself, knowing that when the time comes to open the door and let them out, I might just get rammed down. With the Ford B-MAX, vet visits might even turn out to be fun for me too!

Now let’s talk about the other smart technologies and fun features which come standard with the Ford B-MAX Titanium Model.

Every time you step into your Ford B-MAX you’ll be welcomed by a beautiful and stylish leather interior, lots of compartment space and one of my fave features; key-less start and electronic folding side mirrors.

Then, there’s also Ford’s voice command, SYNC® in-car technology system, which means you can hook up your cellphone to your car and with voice commands instantly play music, answer calls and it even reads out your incoming SMS text messages, all on 4.2 inch colour screen.

The screen also allows you to see what’s going on behind you in reverse, with a really smart reverse camera that not only shows you picture perfect visuals of your erm, rear, but has guides to help you pull into parking spaces like a pro!

The child observation mirror is pretty awesome too – another understated feature that goes under the radar, but what a smart and thought out feature! It’s like a bubble mirror that flips out and lets the driver see what’s going on in the back seat, without having to turn your head!

A feature that I’m surely going to miss this winter are the seat warmers which allow you to set your temperature in three heat settings, for the driver and passenger.

Ford has really thought of every space situation with the B-MAX and you’ll notice that the passenger seat folds forward, as do the back seats. This handy feature broadens the possibilities to endless cargo solutions in your B-MAX.

What a perfect way to take your surfboard to the beach, and hubby will love this benefit when he’s doing all his husbandly DIY duties and carting his supplies.

And it drives like a dream!

Now, I’m not much of a techie, so I’ll leave the full spec breakdown for you to read over on Ford’s website, but I have to mention what impressed me when it came to the drive.

My own car is automatic, the engine is also a beast being a 4 liter V6, so when I got into the manual Ford B-Max I thought it would take me a while to get used to driving a stick and that I would feel under powered with the 1.0 liter engine of the Ford B-Max. I was really surprised at how smooth the B-Max ride was and I never stalled, not even once!

Even on uphills, clutch control on the B-Max was really fantastic and it felt smooth and effortless. And the engine, while it is no 4litre V-6, the 1.0 engine is surprisingly zippy and pretty powerful. I also really like the stop-start feature – which works way better than you’d expect.

The Ford B-MAX houses Ford’s EcoBoost engine system, which means more power, using less fuel! The engine is also turbocharged, which produces pretty impressive performance similar to what you’d expect from a larger engine, but with better fuel economy.

I drove the B-Max around all week, doing my daily supermarket visits, visits to the post office, some malling around and I still had more than half a tank left. In my own car, I have to fill up once a week doing pretty much the same amount of mileage.

I’ll be honest though, and I am by no means a fast and furious driver, but behind the wheel of the B-MAX, I couldn’t help wanting to race the hot hatches that pulled up next to me.

The Ford B-Max starts from around R238,900 for the 1.0 EcoBoost Ambiente, R264,900 for the 1.0 EcoBoost Trend and R290,900 for the top of the range in South Africa being the 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium (which is the one I drove).

All in all a dang fab car and definitely one you should be checking it out if you’re in the market for a compact car that’s smart and a dream to drive!

Life is an open door, enjoy the ride!

xo
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