Ford are a basket case of a company the current cost cutting is going to come back and haunt them with reputation issues like the Ecoboost has done. Look at their home US market they are a small player now and been outsmarted by the competition on many levels.

Look at the market share especially since 2002 in the US heading downwards year on year. A company with such rich history should be dominating the home market but clearly there are very big issues in the company. The reputation for quality is also going down.

Well, some makes seem to be getting out of the MPV market, like Ford (I also agree that the sliding door feature of many, including the Mazda5 and others was useful), but others are still there.

Technically the Jazz is one, you've still got the Golf SV, BMW 2-series AT and GT, the Touran (I see what you mean about the barely different Alhambra [Galaxy/S-Max] and Sharan [Essex only? - love that name]), C4 ST, Scenic and a few van-based units.

My sister used to own a Fusion and it was more practical than the mid-00s Fiesta even if the looks weren't quite as good, though in top trim and a decent colour it looked fine. You also had to get the upper spec models to get the Fiesta handling by virtue of the stability control features.

I agree that the B-Max was a wasted opportunity for Ford - the sort of car that the young family on a budget and a retired couple would like (including my parents, who want a small car with a decent sized boot and great all-round visibility/easy to park [they own the Fiesta of that era]) but with a better drive than the Jazz and a bit cheaper.

I'm personally not keen on the current styling of Fords, and, nor it seems are an increasing number of people too - I liked the 2000s look better - simpler, cleaner lines inside and out. I still think the mk2 Focus (especially the updated version) looks better than the mk3 and current one, plus the boot was of a decent size.

I don't think Ford's reliability issues (compared to the 2000s era), especially as regards the 1.0T Ecoboost and Powershi(f)t gearbox helped either, especially as those two were often paired in the smaller Fords, including the B-Max. I suspect quite a few customers moved away to the likes of Hyundai/KIA as a result, contributing in part to their increasing sales figures in the UK whilst Fords (amongst other big names) are still on the slide, trend-wise.

I don't think there is any difference between any of the current Crossover/SUV models and MPV's, except for making the SUV's look a bit camp butch with an offroad lifestyle type appearance.

Its all fashion led, MPV now being old hat and SUV being the new in thing, stick a bigger set of wheels on an MPV, some bigger bumpers, slanted headlights with very camp LED's, bulge the wheelarches out a bit and finally raise the vehicle especially at the rear a couple of inches = instant SUV, doesn't even need 4wd.

Ford destroyed their own market by fitting hopeless automatic gearboxes and failing (as usual) to stand by their product when it went wrong.

You'd think that Ford would have access to no end of talent in the field of marketing - yet the KA+ is a glaringly obvious missed opportunity.

The one thing a city car needs to be is NIPPY. Provided that you go for the bigger engine in each, the VW Up (and Citigo and Miii), the Hyundai i10 and (I believe though I haven't tried one) the Kia Picanto have this quality in spades, but the KA+ is too underpowered. Why on earth do Ford fit a different engine in this from the engine range in the Fiesta?

I know what you mean, and probably why my parents haven't changed their 10yo Fiesta 1.25 as yet (they can't afford a Jazz and my dad likes buying new and has always had Fords, even as company cars). Nice nippy little car.

Does anybody know what it is that classifies the C-Max as an MPV, whereas my Audi Q2 is an SUV?

About 10% price increase for the SUV? ;-) It's one of the reasons I was, in part, put off getting a Mazda CX-3 - without discounts, it was barely cheaper than the Mazda3 (which is larger, quicker and has a bit more toys), with discounts (brokers) it was £2k more expensive.

I think SUVs are more about styling; MPVs are more about interior space, especially in the boot where they (at least when I looked at some in the past) are more 'rectangular' and the SUVs have odd shapes (more sculpted exteriors) which means you can't fit so much in them for the same load area size.