Ford B-Max Concept 2011

[Ferrer]

If it works in terms of safety, clever car this.

[Ferrer]

Ford B-Max #2

[Ferrer]

Ford B-Max #3

[f6fhellcat13]

If it works in terms of safety, clever car this.

But in terms of "Look, I'm a Fiesta with sliding doors", perhaps not so clever.

[Ferrer]

Forget about the looks. Makes the Meriva look like a car from 1500s.

Had they been invented back then, that is.

[csl177]

Smart compact packaging, regardless of one's opinion of it's styling. As a production ready model, we'll see how the marketplace treats it.
Surprised there's no diesel option though.

[Ferrer]

There will be, trust me. At launch the powertrains will mirror those of the current Fiesta probably, except perhaps the lower-powered options.

[Commodore GS/E]

This reminds me of a small Peugeot which had sliding doors, too. And failed. Gloriously.

There is a simple reason why there are no small vans with sliding doors. They simply cost too much. I am very sceptical about this, even if the production version looks as great as this.
Apart from that, Ford NEEDS to put a powerful diesel in those if they want to turn a profit.

[Ferrer]

It's not the sliding doors what makes this concept great, it's the lack of a fixed B-pillar. This makes access and exit to the car much easier, and could be a win-win situation for everyone if it passes safety tests.

It's the solution the Meriva should have employed, and the 1007 simply isn't comparable since it was a much smaller, much less practical (and crucially) 3 door city car.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Thats actually remarkably clever, and an excellent Access idea.

Provided it actually has any structural rigidity at all.

[fpv_gtho]

Well at a stretch, Ford would have access to the RX-8 data that has basically the same thing.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Talking about the Meriva, I've seen them only a couple of them, and just recently.

As a concept car, this doesn't impress me much, I mean, we all know how awesome and everything else a concept can ben, and how disappointing its production version can be. So I won't hold my breath.

I'm also wondering if it's really that much more useful than the Meriva's solution.
Leg access in the Meriva is not much limited by the B-pillar, but by the front seat. They occupy just about the same area. Given the leg room is the same on these two cars.

Also, the sliding door doesn't create a larger entrance than the Meriva's conventional door. It actually looks a bit smaller, and I'd say that they probably tried hard enough to make it looks larger on the concept.

Besides, the front door on the Opel has a much larger opening angle.

[Ferrer]

But the thing is, if you are trying to enter sideways, not dead on, the lack of a pillar makes for better and easier access, I'd say. You are right that the opening angle of the Meriva's front door is much greater, though. And by the way, I haven't seen many Merivas either...

[LeonOfTheDead]

Could be more useful mainly for gained room for your foot (mine always got stuck down there, but I wear an EU 44ish), and because you can grab the front seat, while no one uses the B-pillar because it's generally uber dirty.

Looking at the Meriva's B-pillar, either the structural safety was quite a problem, or it could be trimmed a bit. It's pretty large, as in as large as in ordinary cars. Meaning that either Ford came up with something very clever or it can't be done.

The RX-8 is a simpler case as it has a much smaller overall opening. Would be interesting to know if the opening on the Meriva and this (in its final version) is about the same too.

[Ferrer]

The thing that entices me most of all about this car is that it looks almost production ready. Let's have our fingers crossed.