13 Dec 07
Over the course of the year, our car only scaled the dizzy heights of 24mpg a couple of times - and that required very careful and considerate treatment (so I clearly wasn't driving it at the time).
The 2.5T petrol engine is great fun to drive, but it comes at a cost, one that I imagine will be too great for most buyers. Indeed, although the number of S-Maxes seems to be steadily proliferating - Ford had sold more than 11,300 of them in 2007 by the end of November - most of the ones we've seen have been diesels.
The only other irritating aspect of the S-Max was that the display would sometimes flash up with what seemed to be random messages about the alarm system being activated or the battery being low, neither of which ever turned out to be true.
So the 4Car team has lost its multi-people-carrying, load-lugging long-termer and, apart from those pesky fuel bills, we'll miss it. It has certainly lived up to its Car of the Year accolade and proven that the previously undiscovered niche of sporty MPV is a viable one for carmakers to try and fill.
With the average age of new parents rising in recent years, there's a huge market of family car owners who have spent their pre-children years behind the wheels of cars that are fun to drive. With the S-Max, you don't need to make the trade-off between function and drivability: you can get all your brood in the back and still enjoy the journey.
From a car point of view, there's never been a better reason to start a family.
