Tell me about the Ford S-Max

Over Clocker · 8 Dec 2019 at 17:54

Hi guys,

We're thinking of changing the Wife's Astra for an S Max or other good people carrier (mainly so I can get rid of the S6 estate and get an M5 F10), but also to have a car with more room / more than 5 seats for when we have friends or other people with us.

We've got 2 kids under 10, and also a large dog, so having a larger car for the wife will be useful.

I know nothing about them so looking for some tips and advice! Would spending about £6k on one be reasonable?

Thanks,
Mal

Dis86 · 8 Dec 2019 at 18:01

6k looks to be moon-mile city. For something half decent you're looking around the 8k+ mark.

the_r_sole · 8 Dec 2019 at 22:22

I've literally just bought one of these this weekend :eek:

Go and drive some, I don't know much about the specs so test drove all the different ones I could find, there's a big gulf between ones around 5-6k and 8-9k from what I saw, under 6 you were looking at high miles zetec specs so you'd have to go over them with a fine toothcomb, they're family cars so I saw some interiors that had done a lot of work!
It appears that people hang onto them for a while so there's a bit of a jump between low milers and then big miles, although my searches were all for scotland so not sure if that goes for anywhere else.
I test drove a few different ones and the smax was probably the most "car like" one, the seat alahambra (or whatever it's called!) felt much bigger, I quite liked the citreon grand picasso (feels like a more modern car) but there was a bit more money for them...

Over Clocker · 8 Dec 2019 at 22:34

Thanks guys. I could up the budget to £8k if that's what's needed.

Is there anything to be aware of? Was there s facelift etc?

Thanks,
Mal

Django x2 · 9 Dec 2019 at 07:05

It's no M5

GJF47 · 9 Dec 2019 at 09:26

I owned mine for around a year or so. I had the '60 plate 2.0 EcoBoost Titanium X Sport 240PS. Lovely to drive on long journeys and doesn't feel as large as it actually is. Plenty of room with 2 kids and easily room for more in the future as 3 car seats can fit across the second row. I never used the third row so had the seats folded down at all times, meaning I was left with a massive boot space.

If you are going for the automatic PowerShift box, make sure it has been serviced regularly (every 37.5k miles I think it was) because if they fail you are looking at around 4k for a repair.

The FaceLift model was introduced in 2010.

oneilldo · 9 Dec 2019 at 12:25

We've got a 2017 titanium x I think so newer than you are looking at.
Size wise they are similar to a mondeo for the newer ones (in terms of external length etc) however bags of room due to internal layout/van set-up. We rarely use the back seats but have 3 kids so was one of the only cars we could easily fit in 3 child seats along the back.

Relaxing on long journies but ours seems to have gone through brake pads quickly.

Over Clocker · 2 Jan 2020 at 20:24

Hi guys,

Thanks a lot. We've now set the budget at around £11k to get us a nice facelift Titanium X model with some options.

I'll try and see a few on Saturday. There is a 2011 Titanium X Sport 2.0 Ecoboost 240 I'll arrange to see, as well 2013 2.0 TDCi Titanium X Sport. I'd personally rather the petrol over the TDCi.

Thanks,
Mal

BinnsY · 3 Jan 2020 at 21:52

Over Clocker said:
There is a 2011 Titanium X Sport 2.0 Ecoboost 240 I'll arrange to see, as well 2013 2.0 TDCi Titanium X Sport. I'd personally rather the petrol over the TDCi.

I can't tell you a great deal about the S-Max, but as someone who owns a 66 Plate Mondeo with essentially that same 240bhp ecoboost petrol engine I can tell you that they are fantastically uneconomical. I admitedly have the automatic (its the 6 speed torque convertor in mine, not a dual clutch "powershift") with the 19" wheels, both of which to help rob MPG, but I'm only averaging about 26MPG over the last 6000 miles or so. It varies from as low as 21 over a tank on purely short journeys, to my best ever being just shy of 35 on a solid run upto scotland.

If your considering an M5 and coming from an S6 I can't imagine this will be a problem, but it's worth knowing just how thirsty those ecoboost engines are in the real world.

Over Clocker · 4 Jan 2020 at 08:24

Thanks for that - yeah that's not a great problem for us to be honest. We're getting rid of a 1.8 2008 plate Astra for this which has a poor 4 speed auto box (!!)

Thanks,
Mal

[TW]Fox · 4 Jan 2020 at 08:26

How are these so much money? It's basically a Mondeo, why isn't a 9 year old one 5k?

Fusion · 4 Jan 2020 at 08:40

£11k does sound a lot for a 9 year old Ford (and I’m not a basher, I’m normally quite pro-Ford!).

Do you really need 7 seats? That’s probably what’s pushing the price up. An estate just seems like it would be much better value. There must be other options.

hawker1986 · 4 Jan 2020 at 09:33

[TW]Fox said:
How are these so much money? It's basically a Mondeo, why isn't a 9 year old one 5k?

This is exactly what I thought, surely get a newer Mondeo estate for the same money and let friends and other people drive themselves around - or use it as an excuse to take your incoming M5 out

flea.rider · 4 Jan 2020 at 09:49

strange we picked up a c-max last yr 64 plate 20k miles for 5k ? it's a titanium ..
you might want to look further away when purchasing. btw great car as we have 2 very lrg dogs .the back seats fold up giving them loads of room

[TW]Fox · 4 Jan 2020 at 10:27

flea.rider said:
strange we picked up a c-max last yr 64 plate 20k miles for 5k ? it's a titanium ..
you might want to look further away when purchasing. btw great car as we have 2 very lrg dogs .the back seats fold up giving them loads of room

A C Max isn't an S Max?

Jonnycoupe · 4 Jan 2020 at 12:28

[TW]Fox said:
A C Max isn't an S Max?

Nor is a Mondeo back to your own point earlier.

flea.rider · 4 Jan 2020 at 16:10

[TW]Fox said:
A C Max isn't an S Max?

there not far apart .. just a couple of extra seats ..

BinnsY · 4 Jan 2020 at 16:12

Jonnycoupe said:
Nor is a Mondeo back to your own point earlier.

Though the mondeo and s-max share the same chassis where as a c-max is akin to the focus.

I think the key difference as others mention is the seats. Crucially the s-max has three individual seats in the rear and due to it's isofix points can take three child seats abreast. The mondeo can't. For those that have three children and need to be able to do this it essnetially rules the mondeo out, and is likely why the s-max holds more of a price premium.

[TW]Fox · 4 Jan 2020 at 16:21

flea.rider said:
there not far apart

Yes they are.

Dis86 · 4 Jan 2020 at 16:48

BinnsY said:
Though the mondeo and s-max share the same chassis where as a c-max is akin to the focus.

I think the key difference as others mention is the seats. Crucially the s-max has three individual seats in the rear and due to it's isofix points can take three child seats abreast. The mondeo can't. For those that have three children and need to be able to do this it essnetially rules the mondeo out, and is likely why the s-max holds more of a price premium.

That and they're significantly less common.