Road Test
Ford S-Max 2.0 TDCi
Test date 21 June 2006
Price as tested £25,890
For Styling, dynamics, diesel grunt, user-friendliness, kit
AgainstTouchy brakes, slight compromise, on space
You could never accuse Ford of jumping on every passing bandwagon. MPVs were as established as McDonald’s in Manhattan by the time it launched the Galaxy in the mid-’90s, and even then it was a conservative kind of people carrier, destined to become a best-selling stalwart of the DNA pool it shared with the VW Sharan and Seat Alhambra.
Trouble is, it’s been part of the MPV furniture ever since: practical, comfortable, dull and largely unchanged. It’s about time, then, that Ford grabbed the initiative. If the marketing oracles behind the Blue Oval have got it right, we’re witnessing the birth of the motor industry’s next big idea.
Ford claims to have produced the first truly sporty, stylish, desirable, driver-orientated, full-size, seven-seat MPV. In its most potent form, the new S-Max is even powered by the 217bhp five-cylinder turbo from the Focus ST hot hatch. The S-Max is a close relative of the more sober all-new Galaxy – a car that itself is vastly more stylish and ambitious than the car it replaces.
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