13 Dec 07
There's a big hole in my life - and it's shaped like an S-Max. Yes, EO56 UAK has gone back to Ford and the Thomas family are going to miss it like hell.
A year ago I was intrigued by the thought of spending a year with an MPV. An MPV, for someone as hip and groovy as myself? You must be joking. I'm more of an Audi RS4 kinda guy, I'll have you know.
OK, so my self-image is perhaps some distance from the reality (and the reality of my income level), but I'd never really seen myself as an MPV driver before I first drove the S-Max in June of last year. I was pleasantly surprised how drivable it was, so when the chance of running one as a long-termer came up, I jumped at it. And at no time over the last year have I regretted it - apart from perhaps once or twice at the petrol pump, but we'll come back to that later.
A year with an S-Max has proven how reliable, comfortable, usefully equipped and fun to drive it is, and shows what a good decision the 2006 European Car of the Year jury made in awarding it the accolade last year.
It's also one of those rare cars that everyone seems to approve of. When the subject of long-termers came up in conversation with other motoring hacks, the universal response on being told it was an S-Max was 'Good car'.
Friends of mine - almost all of whom are parents themselves - were all impressed by the S-Max's package of looks, performance and equipment. When they come to replace their cars over the next few years, the S-Max will certainly be on their radar.
Only one person in the last year has had anything negative to say about it, which is astonishing. The iconoclast? Former 4Car road test editor Tom Bird, who was a bit sniffy about its hot hatch engine being fitted in, god help us, an MPV: as a 25-year-old singleton, his perspective is probably a little skewed, but, give him a few years and a couple of kids, he'll soon come round.
