FORD S-MAX 2.0 TDCi
Yes, there’s no cramming, but you pay for the extra space in this seven-seater
ALARGE portion of my childhood was spent travelling backwards in the cargo area of a Ford Anglia estate. There were four children in my family, so my parents were up front, the other three in the rear seats and – don’t ask me how I drew the short straw, but I did – me sitting on rugs and cushions basically in the boot, waving at strangers in the cars behind.
Of course, you wouldn’t get away with that nowadays, because every passenger has to have a safety belt, and it begs a question. Yes, most people nowadays do have two or three children maximum, but what about those who go the extra yard and have a fourth or fifth? How do they get around?
The answer, of course, is to buy a sevenseater car, or at the very least a so-called 5+2, where the rear row folds flat to open up more cargo space when needed. Here, though, potential buyers face two hurdles. One, sevenseaters are expensive and, two, of necessity they seldom are the best lookers on the road. They’re usually big and boxy and in the past they tended to drive with all the precision of a garden shed sliding down an icy hill.
With the all-new S-MAX, Ford has built on the success of the previous version and avoided almost all the pitfalls. The car looks great, from the open-mouthed grille to the tapering roofline and wide haunches that eliminate the boxy look entirely.
The most improved aspects of the car, though, are the power under the bonnet and the ride and handling. I’ve driven the S-MAX before but not with this powerful an engine, a 178bhp 2.0-litre diesel, mated to an automatic transmission, that achieves the 0-100km/h sprint in just 9.5 seconds. It’s not exactly thrilling, but it certainly feels urgent and surprisingly nimble. The high driving position (electronically adjustable, and with heated leather seats up front) is a bonus.
I had to drive to Co. Tipperary and back during the week and with half the country under water, I was also impressed by the handling. Most of the drive was on the motorway, where the car sat at a steady cruise-controlled 120km/h, and there was negligible cabin noise and vibration. Instead, it just felt sturdy and very grounded.
Once on the back roads, it was even more impressive, sharp and taut in corners, even in the wet, and more than willing to add a little kick when required. If fact, I’d go so far as to say that this model, with dampened suspension, offers the best seven-seater drive in the mass market and is bettered only by some of the premium German and Swedish sevenseater SUVs and MPVs.
There are a couple of drawbacks, though. Like many of the cars in the segment, it is long, at almost five metres, and even after a few days behind the wheel, I was finding it difficult to gauge how far to reverse or even inch forward, given that the nose seems about a kilometre away. I would strongly argue that this is one of those cars where parking sensors are a must.
Nor was I wild about the aircon, which never seemed quite able to decide if it wanted to blow out hot or cold air – it’s a little too fiddly for its own good.
On the plus side, the interior is nicely specced and well finished; the model I drove came with a decent eight-inch touchscreen, and also with Ford SYNC, the system that ties everything together and even will call the emergency services if it detects you’ve had an accident to give them exact coordinates of your location.
My test model came with lots of optional extras, including panoramic roof (€1,060, and well worth it on a dull day), full leather trim (€3,000), tri-zone aircon (€500), power tailgate (€400), seatback tables (€20), automated parking system (€250), adaptive LED headlamps (€1,215) and Sony satnav with 12-speaker audio (€1,290).
They all combine to give it a luxury, upmarket feel, but therein lies the rub. You can buy an entry-level 120bhp S-MAX for €35,860 (though Volkswagen launched the new seven-seat Touran this week for €29,725), but by the time you move up to the more powerful engine, the Titanium spec and all the options I’ve just listed, you’re looking at €53,070, which is the point at which it all starts to feel nosebleedingly expensive.
If you need a seven-seater, the S-MAX is more than worthy of a look. It’s a fine car in its segment, one of the best there is, but at 53 grand, it also, I would suggest, makes a very fine argument for contraception.