11 Jun 07
Then there's the flexibility it affords you when you have the things to do that are inevitable when you have kids - like half-term days out. Last week, my wife had to find something to do with the kids, plus a friend and her two children. A trip to Kew Gardens was arranged, so two adults and four children under the age of seven - complete with the requisite booster seats - were bundled off for a day among the foliage.
And think of it from an environmental perspective. Despite the S-Max emitting a not-insignificant 224g/km, it's still a lot less than would have been pumped out by two family cars.
Finally, there's the S-Max. as a driver's car. As road test editor Tom pointed out in our last report, you can't defy the laws of physics, but I think our hot hatch-loving in-house petrolhead was rather missing the point. It's no Porsche, certainly, but when I recently spent a few hours caning a Boxster around Thruxton in as part of an attempt to get a racing licence, I used the S-Max to get to Hampshire and back.
Often, after spending time driving at track speeds, you're so wired when you get into your road car that you quickly get frustrated with its responses. I didn't get that with the S-Max: it still felt sufficiently nimble and responsive that my synapses soon adapted to road speeds and conditions (if not some of the muppets on the M3). Of course it's taller and heavier than a Boxster, and of course it doesn't have anything like the steering feel of the Stuttgart-built soft-top: but I'd wager that you'd see a considerably bigger difference between any other MPV and the Porsche if you drove them back-to-back.
But if you want one car for the family that can lug large loads, pack in almost two families and drive in a manner that gives a modicum of pleasure, if you corner me at a party, however drunk I am, it's the one I'm going to recommend.
