Category: Large MPV 
Price Range: £19,895 to £28,750
Good fun to drive, excellent 2.5 turbo engine, sporty yet practical, cheap to buy and run.
Not quite so much fun for passengers with the hard-riding, stiff suspension. Not that much rear headroom or luggage space.
Drop the kids off at school and then have a blast on the way back. But if it's sheer practicality, space and comfort you're after, you'd be better off with the Galaxy
Remember the SAV concept car? This prototype, first seen at the Geneva Motor Show in 2005, promised that Ford's upcoming large MPV would be much sportier and much more striking in its styling than the dull old Galaxy.
In the end, Ford has decided to keep a foot in both camps: it has launched both a new-generation Galaxy (see separate road test) and this, the S-MAX.
It's roughly similar in size to the Galaxy and will also seat up to seven people, but it's more performance-oriented, more aggressive-looking and available with more powerful engines. Basically, the Galaxy continues as the traditional practical people-carrier, with this S-MAX the family car for drivers who need an MPV, but aren't quite prepared to give up all hope of a rewarding driving experience.
Though five-seat versions of the S-MAX will be offered elsewhere in Europe, right-hand-drive models for the UK will come in seven-seat form only. Well, Ford honestly describes the seating pattern as "5+2", indicating that the rearmost pair of seats are for kids or adults-in-an-emergency only, but the S-MAX is as much a seven-seater as many others claiming that label. It's not quite as roomy in the rear as the higher-roofed Galaxy, but it's certainly a very spacious, user-friendly family car.
In the UK, the S-MAX comes with the 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine as used in the Focus ST (220bhp), a 145bhp 2.0-litre petrol unit, and a choice of 1.8 TDCi (125bhp) and 2.0 TDCi (140bhp) diesels.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Ford S-MAX
wrote on 01 05 2007
wrote on 21 09 2006