Titanium 2.0 TDCi (140ps) Powershift 5dr Auto People Carrier

Superb blend of space, utility and driver appeal

I bought our car at nine months old after we were given one as a rental car overseas. At the time I had owned a Volvo XC90 for three months and hated it. It was far too clumsy.

Getting into the S-Max was love at first drive. The ride, handling and steering were up there with saloon car quality, the performance was fine from a 2.0l petrol automatic and from our TDCi is more than adequate, and the family were very happy with the interior space.

16 months on from our purchase I remain very happy. The car has a huge amount of additional factory fitted kit in it, none of which has gone wrong. The only defect has been a grommet which makes the seal for the power cable to the rear door coming loose.

There are a few niggles with the way the car operates; e.g. The Xenon headlights seem to throw the beam a bit too low on dipped beam, but the main beam is more than good.

Operating costs seem OK. I do mainly urban driving which can kill the economy on a diesel automatic, so 33mpg overall over 15,000 miles is fine for me. I was getting 25mpg from the Volvo and 20mpg from a Subaru Outback 3.0. The only service I have had was done by a small local Ford dealer who did a decent job and new tyres for the front cost about £125 each for Kumhos, which seem to be slightly more noisy that the standard Michelins and offer perhaps about 3% worse economy, but it is hard to tell as their fitting coincided with a very harsh winter.

The overall quality of build is good although it is clear that the quality of materials and absolute fitting is not in the Subaru class, but then Subaru don't make a seven seat Ferrari for £30,000.

The only reason for me to change this car will be when I no longer need a car of this size, but even then, I am not sure I will want to let it go.

Report as offensive