I've had my 2004 C-Max for around 18 months now. I have the 1.8l 16v zetec engine and find that this is very heavy on fuel. It's our family car for my wife, 2 children and I and as you can imagine, budget is everything! Having a car so thirsty for fuel means we are continually filling up.

That said, the car itself is very good. The engine has a good amount of power to it which is helpful as we live in a place that seems to be dominated by very large hills!! Gear changes seem nice and smooth and I quite like the position of the gear stick, around half way up the centre console.

Maintenance costs so far have seemed relatively low. Usually just wear and tear items such as tyres or exhaust rubbers. Having a large engine does mean that it sits in a higher road tax band, currently around £200/year.

The boot is very big, ideal for a family and we manage to fit all of our baby daughter's gear in there, such as pram, changing bag etc. We have even managed to use the boot to move furniture before now!

The interior is pretty solid although is made from flimsy plastic and looks cheap in some areas. This wasn't really important to us as it's our family car and we fully expect it to be messed up on a regular basis due to having two young children.

All in all, a decent and well built car. Definitely no good if you're wanting to save money on fuel though, but for us it serves it's purpose as a good all round family car.