Ford B-Max interior
Clever doors and a roomy cabin make the B-Max one of the easiest MPVs to live with, but its boot isn’t exactly the biggest around and its infotainment system is pretty archaic
Style
The Ford B-Max’s interior is really starting to show its age. Sure, there are a few soft, squidgy plastics on the dashboard and doors but it’s hardly an exciting place to sit and the vast number of tiny buttons for the stereo and heating controls are bewildering to say the least.
A glossy black trim piece on the dashboard does its best to liven up the Ford’s otherwise drab interior but it’s easy to scratch and its buttons aren’t particularly easy to reach on the move.
The B-Max’s tiny 5.0-inch infotainment screen looks like a cheap prop from a 70s sci-fi show but at least it’s better than the archaic black and white screens in the Kia Venga and Hyundai ix20. Thankfully, you get Bluetooth connectivity and DAB digital radio across the range and satellite navigation is standard on all Navigator models.
Fancy some part-leather seats or adjustable lumbar support to help reduce back ache on long drives? You’ll have to fork out for a high-spec Titanium or Titanium X model. The latter’s rather expensive but comes with a panoramic glass roof, tinted rear windows and a few aluminium B-Max-branded trims to stop the door sills getting scuffed by your feet when you climb in.
The dashboard has more buttons than NASA mission control – thankfully, none will leave you stranded in deep space
Infotainment
All B-Max models get a five-inch infotainment display but it’s buried so deep in the dashboard you’ll really struggle to read it on the move. Its low-resolution graphics look more Casio calculator than modern smartphone and its numerous controls are so fiddly just tweaking the stereo settings feels like playing Operation.
All Navigator models come with satellite navigation as standard, so it’s not all bad news. Its directions are fairly clear and the menus are reasonably logical but entering a postcode using the central scroll wheel or steering wheel-mounted controls takes a while. You might also struggle to read directions displayed on the Ford’s tiny screen, especially on the move.
The standard Bluetooth connection means you can make calls or play tracks from your phone through the B-Max’s infotainment system but there’s no option to upgrade to a more modern smartphone-mirroring system such as Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.
Entry-level Zetec models come with a fairly lacklustre six-speaker stereo but higher-spec Titanium and Titanium X versions come with a marginally better eight-speaker unit. Neither sound particularly punchy, however.