I like to drive cars built for the purpose I need. So, aside from a fun test drive, you won’t likely ever see me driving a pickup truck or even a hot sports car < as much as I do admittedly lust after the Shelbys, Jaguars, and Sting Rays… > This is why I was so interested in road testing the Ford C-Max, it’s meant to be my car. It’s a hybrid  < which I WISH I could afford >, it’s compact, yet roomy enough for my girlies and I to comfortably travel long distances. It has ample cargo space for our day-today use. I’ll say it now, if I *were* to make an upgrade from my beloved little Focus hatchback, this would definitely be my pick.

The only negatives I noted while driving this week were lack of adjustable arm rests and some SYNC errors. For longer drives especially, I really wished I had an arm rest that was better situated. The one on the door is too high, and too far from my body. And I’m not sure what was happening with SYNC, but it froze when I was attempting to do a voice activated search < I don’t THINK I have a strong Canadian or Bluenosers’ accent, but SYNC doesn’t seem to recognize much of what I say >, we no longer had music or navigation, and even after stopping the car in order to shut it off and start up again, it didn’t reboot. A longer stop a little further down the road finally did the trick.

What did I love? Aside from the improvement in fuel economy over my already efficient Focus and my surprise at its performance on the highlands roads… I loved how roomy the little compact car felt. Sitting up a little higher off of the road and having just enough leg room in the back seat was great < not that *I* sat there, but my 9 & 12 year old girls did >.

The extra features that the car had added to the experience of driving, with Sirius radio being a big bonus in Cape Breton, where the radio signal is often sketchy; searching for points of interest like coffee shops made navigating the “larger” community of Sydney seem almost like we’d been there before.

I’ll never grow tired of the convenience of keyless entry, auto-lift tail-gates or the super helpful rear-view back-up camera. I still find the park assist a little challenging to use. It may not always recognize a space that is sufficient, and feels slow – like I’m holding up traffic in attempting to use it. < This was especially problematic in downtown Baddeck and Cheticamp, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in April : wink, wink >

The heated leather seats with adjustable lumbar support made for a very comfortable ride, especially on this spring roadtrip through the Cape Breton Highlands, where those responsive brakes were very reassuring on the winding mountain terrain.

My favourite thing by far was watching how the drive, the conditions, and my performance as the driver affected the fuel efficiency < yes, I know I’m a bit of a geek – and proud of it! >