I've been looking around for a while to replace my Cee'd. The warranty runs out this month and I've had it three years in August. It was time for a change. I'm sure some of you have seen my posts about various cars over the last few months. I've ummed and arrr'd about an S-Max for a few years but they have always been rather pricey. My wife changed her car earlier this year and the brief was a diesel people carrier capable of fitting 3 child seats across the back. In the end, without listening to my advice she bought a 2.0 petrol, automatic Ford C-Max with a beige interior, great for kids!!! :think:

Anyway, this kinda put my idea of a small sporty car/luxury uneconomical barge out the window so I started scouring for S-Max's again. I found a few but the mileages were high and the prices still quite high. I found a couple locally which had only just arrived at the dealers so the website had no pictures. I decided that I'd go and look today. I went to a local used car supermarket first who had quite a few, but all quite high mileages and the specs weren't really what i was looking for. I then went to my local ford dealer who had one but it was in the process of being sold. Doh!

I went to get some lunch and decided to go home. I thought I'd stop by the dealer again just in case. As I pulled up I noticed the salesman was putting the S-Max back on sale. I jumped in, took it for a drive, asked (bored!) the salesman lots of questions and in the end did a deal on it. My credit history is a bit patchy but the guys did a great job of getting it sorted for me without a ridiculous APR, in fact I was rather surprised!! Also over a lesser term than I was ready to accept!

Heres a couple of pics for you:-

Spec is pretty decent:-

-Titanium Spec

-Panoramic Roof

-Front Sports Seats

-Half Leather

-Convers+

-Bluetooth

-Sony Stereo

-Front + Rear parking sensors

-Advanced Front Lighting System (Can see round corners etc)

-18" ST wheels

-2.0 TDCi Diesel

Thats all I really know so far!

Looking forward to picking it up!!

Would be good to see you at Ford Fair this year

Picking her up tomorrow. Its sort of been rushed through so I'm hoping the niggly bits have been sorted. Mainly the towbar being removed and one of the front parking sensors needed clipping back into the lower bumper.

Excited!!

They are pretty good cars all in all - especially with the Titanium Spec.

 

Looks like the XJ / XF is out the window then. Shame.

Yup in the end I settled for in my eyes the best looking people carrier.

Picked it up and very happy with it. Pics to follow!

So I've picked her up and driven her to work. About 40miles from the dealer. Comfortable, efficient and with enough get up and go to get past the trucks.

Dealer has done all the jobs I asked for although I've noticed condensation in one of the rear lights and it isn't sitting quite right against the bodywork. Dealer has said to drop it in at some point and they will sort it out for me. They took the towbar off and fixed the parking sensor too. Salesman even through in some floor mats which made me happy as I thought I was gonna have to buy some.

I've decided it definitely needs lowering.

First dislike..the stereo. Its a Sony setup with 8 speakers but it sounds too tinny even with adjustments and you can't hear all the instruments etc as clearly as I'm used to in the Kia. Looks like first job is audio which is something I wanted to try and avoid as I wanted to keep it OEM to keep integrated with the Convers+ system.

Take a look at the Ford RNS satnav units if you want to keep the Convers +.  It's what I shall be doing when funds permit, from what I've read on SMOC its a big step up in audio quality over the Sony.  I'm not sure how much difference there is between the Sony non DAB/DAB , mine certainly doesn't sound tinny, a little flat but plenty of bass & treble

Im thinking about starting with some replacement speakers and doing from there. I'm really impressed with the ride and comfort as well as the power delivery.

It had a new gearbox in 2012 too. Not sure if I should be worried or happy it was done.

I'm not aware of any S-Max's having gearbox problems, hopefully it's a one off

 

Due to refurbishments at work I've been driving to work instead of cycling, It's been lovely, empty country roads at 5am and the new wheels/tyres/springs are fantastic

Cleaned her today, came up beautiful!! A few marks I've noticed but not too bad all the same!

 

 

So I've owned it just over a week. In that time I've taken an old sofa to the tip, helped someone move house, picked up a lawn mower, taken my wife to hospital who went on to have a baby, done 900 miles, taken it down some twisties, kept up with some more powerful hatches, had fun.

I am amazed at how composed it is round the twisties. I need to get a dashcam as it's hard to believe such a tank handles so well. The torquey engine helps keep up with traffic and have fun but I'm still inclined to get it mapped. I also want to get it lowered with the ford eibach springs. Dealer wants nearly £500 quid including fitting!

Love it though so I'll take my time and prioritise the jobs/upgrades.

Chris,

 

Congrats on the 2 new arrivals :clap:

 

The S-Max is truely brilliant for what is such a big, heavy car, its very well balanced and the 2l tdci engine suits it nicely, although I agree that it would be nice to have a remap but that will be the last thing I will do to mine which is very unusual for me as that is usually the 1st thing.

 

Ford are taking the micky with that price for Eibachs, I bought mine from Ford for around £140 & it took around 2-3hours to fit them, the most awkward part of the fitting process was removing the plastics from under the windscreen and removing the wiper motors to get to the nuts on the top of the struts :(

Feel free to pop round and fit mine How many sugars in your coffee sir? Lol!

I'm struggling to prioritise my job list. Currently it reads:-

-Lowering Springs

-Remap

-Stereo

-Tidy up a couple of the wheels

-Colour code rear bumper

-LED bulbs throughout

I'm really struggling with the stereo. I can't get it to sound right but I really don't want to go aftermarket as I'll loose convers+. I'm toying with the eonon unit as it seems that it will give me everything I need and work with convers+. I'll also be able to upgrade the speakers, sub and amp a bit easier too.

I'm also toying with the power boost options. I'm tempted by a tuning box for now as I can see what sort of power I'm going to get with a permanent remap before spending loads of cash and I can remove it easily myself. I've seen a couple of used boxes for sensible money.

Decisions decisions!

That list looks right to me

Bit of an update. I've got a few niggly faults appear. Namely the drivers seat seems to be reclining by itself over a short period of time. Also the light sensor turns the lights on, but doesn't turn them off again and I have to switch the engine off and on again to reset it. I'm also getting a low battery warning occasionally although this seems to be common and a new battery will solve it.

I've received a new component for the Sony stereo to increase power from 4x25w to 4x40w just need to get the stereo out and do some soldering!

I've also received my new S-Max Owners Club sticker and will shortly be ordering my Brisky sticker too.

Lots of plans for the beast, just finding time!!

Just ordered something special watch this space!

Jeremy Clarkson POWERRR!!! Top Gear:

Ohhhhh yes!!!

So its been to Ford today. My first experience is one that I hope is never repeated. I arrived at around 9:30 and handed over my keys. I advised them that I was stuck as my wife has just had a baby and was still unable to drive after her c-section. I said I'd wait as it shouldn't take long to identify the faults. She agreed and off I went to sit with my laptop. 4 hours later and the car hadn't even moved. I wasnt happy and no one had been and checked I was OK. At around 2ish the lady came over and after I had a bit of a moan about how long it was taking she offered me a courtesy car. I went out and got lunch just as my car was going into the workshop. I got back about 3ish and she was ready to tell me the faults. A new light sensor (lights turn on but not off) 2 new vacuum solenoids (??) and a new drivers seat back frame (seat keeps reclining slightly by itself)

Oh and I'd have to pay. My response was..even though I've only had the car just over a month???? Off she went to talk to the sales manager. She came back and they agreed to the sensor and solenoids but as it was only my word the seat reclined they wouldn't do it..and at £350 (retail) for the part I'm not surprised.

I came away a bit miffed..all day stuck in the showroom for them to spend about 20mins identifying the faults and no parts in stock anyway..and then the hassle of having to go back and forth to get sales to pay for parts that should have been picked up at sale.

Hopefully all will be resolved when it goes back in a couple of weeks..they had no courtesy cars available until mid July.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

I'm doing fordfair with the smoc so it will be sorted by then. Weirdly the light sensor is working perfectly now since its been in. Maybe cleared a fault code?

I've also removed the "more power" for the time being as I kept getting 'engine malfunction' messages if I hit around 3800 rpm. Does it once all day then clears and I can blast away but it was bugging me.

On that note however I'm really hoping to have had a promotion by Christmas and then I can go and buy my project S-Max 2.5T. I love the car and really can't fault it as a day to day vehicle. I just want more power and I think that an S-Max ST would be thoroughly enjoyable!

Car back from dealer. No more noise on shutdown! Light sensor working! Going on holiday today and it will be due a service on return. Dealer quoted £189 for a major service which sounds quite reasonable.

Eonon D5162 stereo fitted. Beautiful to look at and sounds so much better than the Sony that was fitted.

Eonon D5162 stereo fitted. Beautiful to look at and sounds so much better than the Sony that was fitted.

 

Damn you!!!  I said I didn't need anything else for my S-Max.

Pics please