Owners should find Ford B-Max running costs reasonable. Ford dealership servicing and maintenance costs tend to be low and replacement parts are not costly. With a combination of inexpensive road tax costs, decent claimed fuel economy and sensible servicing bills the B-Max should be cheap to run. It won’t be expensive to insure either, which will help keep yearly bills down.

If you’re keen on keeping potential expenditure to a minimum, invest in either the 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol with stop/start or the 1.6-litre TDCi diesel. These engines are claimed to average 57.5mpg and 70.6mpg respectively. Which one you choose depends on how many miles, and the type of driving, you do each year. Cover over 10,000 miles on the motorway and it’s probably best to go for the diesel.

Do bear in mind though that as the cars get older the EcoBoost and diesel versions will potentially be more costly to maintain than the standard petrol models.

Ford B-Max emissions are acceptable. The conventional 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrol engines emit 139g/km of CO2 and 149g/km of CO2 respectively, placing them in relatively inexpensive tax bands. Two EcoBoost engines are available. One, with stop/start, emits 114g/km of CO2. The other, without stop/start, emits 119g/km of CO2. Both versions are very cheap to tax.

Those looking to really minimise road tax costs should head straight for the diesel version of the B-Max. The 1.5-litre version emits 109g/km of CO2, while the 1.6-litre unit emits only 104g/km of CO2. That places them in one of the lowest tax bands. All of the B-Max’s engines are reasonably economical. The 1.6-litre petrol is claimed to average 44.4mpg, the 1.4-litre petrol 47.1mpg.

The EcoBoost engines average 55.4mpg and 57.5mpg respectively. As you’d expect, the diesels are the ones with the highest claimed economy. Ford’s 1.5-litre TDCi has a quoted average of 68.9mpg, the 1.6-litre TDCi 70.6mpg. Buyers looking to cover more than 10,000 miles a year would probably stand to see fuel bill savings if they opt for the diesel versions, particularly if cruising on the motorway.

If you just want to do the odd long trip, or drive around town, the petrol versions – particularly the EcoBoost variants – should prove perfectly frugal.

Ford has performed particularly well in customer satisfaction satisfaction surveys and reliability surveys in the past, but later models are now proving to be pretty solid. In that respect we have no reason to believe that Ford B-Max reliability will be in question.