13 Dec 06
I'd last experienced the S-Max when I had one for a week in August, which coincided with our annual summer grandparents' tour. Ever since our elder daughter Daisy (six) was a baby, we've taken a week or so each August to go to my parents in south Wales and my in-laws just outside Cheltenham. For the first four years, I packed the boot of our Passat, optimising the space in the style of one of the challenges in The Krypton Factor, and headed west.
Last year, with addition of Evie to our number, it was a tight squeeze getting everything in. Clothes for four for a week, nappies, steriliser and bottles, toys and books to keep two children amused, plus a three-wheeled, all-terrain buggy taxed even my packing skills (you should see what I can do with a fridge and the weekly shop).
This year things were different. With an S-Max at our disposal, the trip was a doddle - especially as it was fully specced-up with DVD for Daisy's pacification, er, I mean entertainment, plus a six-CD changer under the driver's seat and a single-CD/MP3 slot in the dash to keep me quiet.
The only difference between the S-Max we took to Wales and the one I'll have for the next year is the engine.
Instead of the beautifully torquey 2.0-litre diesel unit of the summer car, we have the petrol-engined 2.5T, the same powerplant found in the Focus ST hot hatch that Alistair Weaver is currently running as a long-termer . When I discovered that this was the version we were getting, I fretted about the cost of fuelling it - for about a nanosecond. Then, remembering how much fun it had been when I drove it earlier in the year, I did a little jig.
Sorry, I know that's not very environmental, but it really is a cracking engine.
