June Top Gear Magazine

[timwood2000]

I agree - I saw one at the dealership - those so called fold flat seats are hopeless - firstly, they don't fold flat into the floor, but sit above it, so if you like only two seats in the middle row, there is still the middle seat folded but protruding from the floor. Also, I have the middle row seats anchored in the inner position as opposed to the outer slots next to the door - you can't do this in the new one. All in all, I prefer the hassle of removing them, to this bad attempt at a fold flat system.

 

Otherwise, the overhead storge seems a waste of time. The silver dash look just looks cheap. Not convinced. And, it is now a Ford, not a VW with a Ford badge.

 

I think it is going to be worth waiting to see what the new Sharan looks like.

[tim-spam]

All I can say is that I hope the new Sharan is a fitting replacement for the current one.

[Andrew T]

I was following a Sharan the other week and noticed it was badged as a 2.0 TDI, checked the brochure and although the 115 is still a 1.9, the more powerful engine option is now the new 2.0 140BHP PDI unit. Seems very odd to launch a new engine as it goes out of production, or is the old Sharan to carry on? They also appear to have dropped the V6 models.

[Masked Marauder]

The 2 litre is a drop-in replacement, common across many models that used to have the 1.9TDi unit. It will have been designed to fit with little or no trouble.

[tim-spam]

The problem with the folding rear seats on the new Galaxy probably stems from the various customer clinics that Ford will have held during the design phase of the new model. People will (as they have on this forum) complained about the weight of the seats when being removed and the problem of where to put them. However, they will not have considered the alternatives - and now, for the new Galaxy, it's a bit late.

In my opinion, the current arrangement, for a large MPV, probably represents the best compromise. For those who would prefer to sacrifice the advantages of proper, removeable seats (better seats, versatility, bigger load area, solid floor, seats less prone to damage, etc) for 'fold flat' ones would probably be better off with one of the smaller MPV's or a conventional estate car (some of which have 'occasional' seats in the boot floor).

It's a shame for Ford, as they could have had the 'best of both' with the S-max having folding seats and the new Galaxy staying with the removeable ones.

[Andrew T]

I agree with you regarding the comfort of the seats, a classic case of you can't have your cake and eat it.

 

However given that the Kids are on boosters till they are ten or eleven, the comfort of the seat itself is academic. As I end up removing the rearmost seats almost weekly I can vouch for the fact they are a pain to remove and store (ours go into the boot of our other car). The ideal for me woud be a fold up rear bench in the boot and removable chairs in middle. I notice the Voyager has been re-designed with fully folding chairs, I wonder if it will now lose it's postion of choice as the favourite MPV of the executive Taxi fleets ?

[tim-spam]

I very rarely have to remove the rear seats in mine, but I do fold them forwards fairly freqently - the boot is then pretty large. The only drawback is that the middle row of seats has to be slid forwards to allow the rear ones to fold fully forwards, but even then the leg room is not too bad.

 

As regards the Voyager, having once removed the rear bench from my friend's voyager, I would never again complain about the weight of the rear seats in mine.