Ford S-MAX 1.8 TDCi

...Renault Grand Scenic, and the Ford S-Max. The bigger cars in these ranges were too expensive to buy or run. We quickly discounted the Citroen on being expensive for what we got and lack of boot space. The Renault also failed on boot space plus it had a reputation for dodgy electricals and felt cheap inside.

That left the Ford. We had a look at it and it felt solid, decent bootspace, choice of engines and gearboxes, so on and so forth. ...
...need to look at the Ford site yourself!!

Important Bits
Driving position is quite high. As a large estate based on the Mondeo, it has good road holding, but the high seating position makes you feel a little top-heavy until you get used to it. But once you do, this car is stable on the road and can go round corners quite well. Body roll is probably more than the Mondeo but considering the height of this car, it's not surprising. ... more

We've never really looked for people carriers before. Given that our usual set of wheels was a Mazda6, we didn't see the need to look at them. The Mazda is a superb car that did what we wanted. What more could we want, except a newer version with more gadgets, and perhaps the estate model for the dog?

However, all that changed when my partner found out she was pregnant. That meant one more child to go with the two we already had. Well, that's what we thought until we went for the first scan and the sonographer asked, "Do you have twins in your family??? Cos there's two of them!" Yes, twins! After the shock, we realised that our thoughts of perhaps an estate car were a little bit off the mark. With four kids and the two of us, we needed a minimum of 6 seats.

So we delved into the world of MPV's.

First, we worked out what we wanted:
NCAP 5 Star safety rating was the foremost criteria
CD Radio with auxilliary input
Cruise control
6/7 seats
Diesel engine (big cars need a lot of torque)
Decent economy
Decent boot size behind the third row of seats
Cheap to run (all relative at this size of vehicle, though!)
Good reviews online

The only ones that really met this criteria were the Citroen Grand Picasso, Renault Grand Scenic, and the Ford S-Max. The bigger cars in these ranges were too expensive to buy or run. We quickly discounted the Citroen on being expensive for what we got and lack of boot space. The Renault also failed on boot space plus it had a reputation for dodgy electricals and felt cheap inside.

That left the Ford. We had a look at it and it felt solid, decent bootspace, choice of engines and gearboxes, so on and so forth. Then we talked price. On finance, the Zetec model would cost £18,000 (discounted from around £21,000) and approx £385 per month. To add cruise control, privacy glass for the rear windows, and parking sensors meant it crept up in price to nearer the Titanium model. A rejig of prices saw us being able to get the Titanium for £395 per month, again heavy discounts on the list price of £23,000.

Then along comes the chancellor with a VAT cut and the fact that a promotional option was unavailable. This saw the price at £389 pcm. We got a Titanium for Zetec money. Considering the Citroen was £16,000 list and would cost £470 pcm, we felt good.

Toys
So what does it have? Well, it has a huge list of features that, Several months later, I'm still finding. But to start you off:
6 speed gearbox (5 speeds also available)
1.8TDCi engine (again, more choice if you want something else)
Cruise Control
Traction control
Electronic Brakeforce distribution and ABS
Parking Sensors front and back
Sony CD DAB Radio with MP3 compatibility and an aux jack for mp3 players
Bluetooth mobile phone connection through the stereo
17" Alloy wheels
7 seats with reasonable legroom on all rear seats. Middle row slide back and forth
ISOfix childseat mounting on outer two seats of middle row
Full 3 point seat belts on all 7 seats
Electric mirrors and windows
Dual zone climate control
Heated front and rear windscreens

I think you might need to look at the Ford site yourself!!

Important Bits
Driving position is quite high. As a large estate based on the Mondeo, it has good road holding, but the high seating position makes you feel a little top-heavy until you get used to it. But once you do, this car is stable on the road and can go round corners quite well. Body roll is probably more than the Mondeo but considering the height of this car, it's not surprising. In terms of size, think somewhere between Mondeo estate and Galaxy. The S-Max sits between the two offering a good compromise from both models.

The engine can be a bit sluggish from a standing start but once the revs get up, the turbo kicks in and you're away. Over taking in this is fairly easy due to the torque offered by the diesel engine. While I'm sure the 2 litre is faster, the 1.8 litre will give you plenty of smiles but for less tax, fuel, and money. Tax band is around the £145 per year mark. Economy is around 55mpg in extra urban (motorways). I haven't tried it on a long motorway trip yet, but from what I have done, that seems achievable.

While we bought it mainly for it's kiddy carrying capabilities, long haul driving was also a consideration. We don't like flying so we tend to drive on holiday. As a result, a good motorway car is needed. This does exactly that. It's solid at motorway speeds and the 6 speed gearbox means you've got the acceleration you need in 4th and 5th, but smooth cruising in 6th, all without straining the engine. The cruise control is useful, though I know some people don't like it. Me, I feel it gets me there quicker, keeps me more alert, uses less fuel and therefore saves me money. And of course, the controls for this are on the steering wheel right where they're needed.

The CD Stereo in the Titanium is a Sony so straightaway you know it'll be good. I haven't figured out where the speakers are yet, but from the front seats, sound quality is excellent. A very useful touch is the capability to connect to your mobile phone via Bluetooth giving you a handsfree facility run through the stereo. You can even control the calls and volume from the steering wheel controls. It will even access your phonebook so you can ring someone without taking your hands off the wheel.

The radio hasn't finished there, though. It is DAB as well as FM and AM, the CD can also play MP3 tracks (haven't tried that yet) and it has an aux jack for MP3 players, which works straight away. Text can also be displayed from the CD. Of course, RDS is a feature, too. Volume and channel selection are all controlled by a navigation button on the left side of the steering wheel.

But how can it display this? The radio has it's own display, but the Titanium models come with the Convers+ system. This display system is a small colour screen that sits between the speedometer and tachometer on the dashboard. It gives you a host of information from the radio station through to fuel consumption rates. With extra options, sat-nav can even be put through here. All of this is controlled by a navigation button on the right side of the steering wheel!

There is the odd drawback. First of all, and this is more aimed at any MPV rather than just the S-Max, there is only a limited amount of room behind that last row of seats. The S-Max offered by far the biggest space than the others we looked at, but it could still be bigger.

But the biggest drawback is the lack of a spare wheel. Ford, like a lot of others, have dispensed with even skinny spare wheels in favour of a puncture kit. This isn't much good if the hole in the wheel is the size of a penny at 3am in the middle of nowhere. Space could be found under the boot space so why manufacturers do this, I don't know. It detracts from what is a fantastic car to drive and use.

The last of the drawbacks was the dealer. Our car was delivered with the tracking incorrectly set. Poor QA on the part of Ford, but nothing serious. The dealer had it back to put right. Driving away, it was still wrong. So they had it back again. Still wrong so back it went a third time. This time they decided the steering rack needed adjusting and then replacing (4th visit!). Still wrong... so I took it to a specialist tyre and tracking place. They got right in 20 minutes where my dealer couldn't do it over 4 visits/3 whole days! A complaint was made, so they refunded the cost of tracking elsewhere, gave me the full set of car mats (worth £70) and had it back for a full valet... their chance to redeem themselves. This was a chance they missed. The car came out marginally less dirty than it went in having only been cleaned where you could see from the drivers seat, and even then, badly.

I'll be looking for a new dealer to service my car in the future.

And it is a real shame. This is a fantastic car and I'm convinced I bought the best car for our needs and got the best price at the same time. I really do not think I could have bought better and it still shows more little surprises every time I try it. Ford have produced a superb product that they should be applauded for.

Just a shame about the dealers.

Thanks for reading,

Schneckster 

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