S-MAX and Galaxy extended test drive

[LittleDonkeyCarriemumsnet]

Hi all

By now you should all have received your new Ford car - hope you are enjoying it. Below are some of the questions we'd like you to cover in your feedback. Don't feel you have to answer them straight away - some of them will make more sense once you've had the car for a week or so. We'd like you to give us your initial thoughts, first impressions - both from you and the rest of the family - and then add feedback at least twice a week for the next three weeks until the car is collected - though please feel free to give more regular updates if you'd like to, and don't feel you have to stick to the questions too rigidly - they are just a guide.

Thanks for volunteering. Safe driving and Happy Christmas!

Here are the questions:

What were you/your partner's first impressions of the car?

What do the children think of it?

Do the children fit comfortably in it?

How easy is it to fit car seats/ adjust seats etc

What's it like to drive?

Is it a comfortable ride?

What's the boot space like?

Does it have any useful extras - cup holders etc?

If it has in car entertainment, what is that like?

So far is it economical to run?

How does it cope with different road conditions eg town, country, motorway

How did it cope with the snow (if you had any)

What do your friends/ family think of it?

Has testing this car made you more or less likely to buy a Ford?

Has testing this car changed your perception of Ford cars at all?

What one thing do you like best about it?

What one thing would you change about it ?

Please add any other comments and don't forget your video diaries!

Any queries please email [email protected]

Thanks again,

MNHQ

slalomsuki - it must differ from dealership to dealership as the guy i spoke to when i couldn't work out where the dvd went was more than helpful and polite.Sounds like you had a dodgy one.

been out, just me and ds, in ours today. went for a good long town drive to get him to sleep. went all around leeds city centre and suburbs. am now very confident nipping about in it. really doesn't feel all that big anymore, until i get out and look at it! i then parked up and trotted off round the sales. i wouldn't say i could hapily park it anywhere, but i can now easily park in a normal space..unlike the first few days when i'd have been looked for mum and baby spots, or even parked over 2 spaces . i think my next test should be a tight multi storey..the one at the hospital would be a good challenge

tried dd's high back booster in the front just to see and as someone had asked about this. it does fit, but not exactly snug, i think due to the S Max having molded sporty type seats, so very comfy for adults but not great for a car seat. fits fine on the 2nd and 3rd row though.

Happy New Year to you all. Had a bit of a sad day yesterday. Our dog had to be put to sleep. She was taken ill suddenly so we had to take her to the emergency vet as it was New Year's Day. Was glad of the car as we put one seat up and one down in the boot and DH sat on one with Millie in the boot part next to him all snug and wrapped in her blankets. I was petrified she was going to die on her own in the car so at least that way she was with DH for the whole journey. We got her to the vet but the prognosis was so poor that we decided to have her put to sleep. She was almost 13 and had been lively and healthy to the end so I hope her suffering was minimal.

DH did look a bit when I shoved him in the rear seat, but true to form, he fitted in OK, although he said the seat itself wasn't hugely comfortable. So its been a very quiet day in our house today. No little spotty girl trying to get on a lap or nick the kids food, but her tiny white hairs live on, including in the S-Max boot. I challenge Ford valeting service to get them all out

Oh so sorry to hear your sad news Swagger.
xxxx ( and i don't care if the kisses are not very Mumsnet!!)

oh gosh so sorry swagger

Well I did a trip to Ikea today.

I drove to Glasgow (about 4 hours roundtrip) via snowy winding roads, town roads and the motorway and the car seemed to handle it all very well.

The high driving position definitely helped for negotiating my way around the town bits where I didn't really know where I was going. It definitely helps to be able to see more of the road infront and over the other cars.

The 2.2 engine makes overtaking a possibility on the other roads. I normally wouldn't bother with our focus (1.4), but this car is much quicker to get up to speed and back onto the right side of the road again.

The size of the car hasn't been intimidating for me as it looks to be the same footprint as the focus estate. Infact with the parking sensors it's easier to park. Heightwise it's very similar to the focus with a roofbox.
I'm not sure whether the extra height translates into inside storage space but if it does then I'm thinking that it must be more economical to drive without a roofbox and have everything inside.

I even managed to get a big flat packed bookcase into the back with one back seat down. The boot is a decent size, but I'm used to that. I guess the option of having the extra 2 seats is where the SMax beats the focus estate. They are not something I would need all of the time, but would be really handy when the inlaws visit as we usually end up taking two cars on outings.

DH and I ALWAYS argue in Ikea about whether it'll all fit in the car. Not this time, and not just because I left him at home. With the SMax I might even invite him along next time.

-6degrees this morning according to the S Max dashboard. dd's first day back at nursery. all the neighbours out scraping the ice off their cars. what did i do? well i popped the kids in the car. got in, put the radio on, pressed the heated windows buttons and the max blower on, hey presto we were away in less than 5 minutes..while the neighbours were still scraping away hey ho..i'll be joining them after another week

did a bit more filming today, straight to camera, just saying what i have left to try out and what i like best. god it is awful watching yourself back isn't it?! eugh. need to figure out how to delete too seeings as ds kept yelping at key moments during my fascinating narration

I agree about the dealership massively altering your warm and fuzzy feeling when it comes to Ford. We bought an Oct before last, first one we went to was an absolute t*at - spotty, teenage, lying, nob (Redhill Ford Lifestyle). And colleagues rude and unhelpful. I asked him, among many other things, whether you could get an SMax with Digital Radio in it (DAB). He told me categorically "oh you cant get them in cars yet, definite". We almonst gave up but eventually went to a different dealership and got a new Smax cheaper than the price he was quoting for a nearly new and, yes, it did have DAB radio in it.

Love the car tho, glad we persevered. Tho it is not great on ice and snow my only comment - hence why it is at the garage at the moment being repaired sob! sob!

If you have an ipod have you found the ipod connector yet? I love this as can play all the kids music on long journeys.

been out in the snow in ours today. took dd to nursery..then promptly went back to get her after an hour as the snow just wasn't letting up and i was worrying i wouldn't be able to get out to collect her any later.

so the s max did ok in the snow. the stability warning light kicked in a couple of times, so the car was obviously correcting the odd skid and swerve. the roads weren't too bad, main roads slushy, our road thick with snow. not icy though, not sure i'll venture out tomorrow as it will be icy then.

anyone else cross that the snow means they can't get a proper test drive in?! i'm thinking of all the plans i had to go places far away, pick up friends, even planned to flatten all the seats and go and cart a load of stuff away for my gran..but no..due to the snow i'm mostly just pootling about don't think we'll get up to durham at the weekend

so pleeeeease ford can i have the s max back in the summer?? then i can test the air con too

hmmmm..just been reading some stuff about driving in the snow and it says you should turn off traction control if your car has it. then there seems to be some confusion as to whether the ford esp (stabilty feature) should be turned off as it incorporates traction control, but also stops skidding. god it's all a bit confusing?! anyhoo, don't think i'll be out in it tomorrow, we seem to have over 6 inches of snow here now

this is still confusing me 2 years later - I cant work out whether to have it on or off in the snow

Another snowy day in South London. Apparently there is more forecast for tonight. Haven't used the car yet but probably will later on as DS has just started school and is only doing mornings. My knee isn't the greatest on the slippy pavement, so will try the car later. Did use it in the snow when we first got it and found it fine. Our road is never gritted, so will be a good test today.

Drove to pick DS up yesterday at lunchtime and turned into a mini car salesman outside the gates. Many admirers and as I have got all the seats up at the moment it was good to see how much space there is. Most agreed that they would be able to get their buggy in the boot space with all 7 seats up. A friend has a Phil & Teds and said she can get it in but does need to take the wheels off which is quite simple.

The day before a load of us went to soft play for the last day of holidays. I ended up with the car completely full of children (all 6 and under). They had a ball, DVD was on, took it in turns to go in the rear seats. This is what the car is all about for me (and the comfort of course). I could offer to take a friends kids as she was working and it was no problem. Could get them all in easily. The seats slide so far forward that the rear ones can hop in without a fight. Room for me to help with seat belts etc. Even though my ears were ringing by the end of it (OK, the singalong was my fault) its what I am going to miss most about the car.

One slight gripe, when the middle seats are a bit more forward to give room to those in the rear, the seat belts for those at the edge of the middle row get a bit twisted. I think its because they are pulling out at such an angle. I had to pull it straight down out of its holder then pull it over the seat. Also has any one else broken anything yet?? Hope its not only me . There is a thing in the boot right by where the boot closes, sort of flappy thing that clicks in either side of the boot. One side of mine the plastic bit has snapped off. Have a horrible feeling we must have leant on it when getting the dog in and out of the car. Have to look in the handbook to see what it is actually called and what it does. Oops.

Swagger- nope not broken anything ....yet!
It has been snowing on and off a while here so havent been out it properly for a few days.
Haven't really done as much of the filming as i hope but im sure the experts at MN will be able to edit it to something watchable (crosses fingers).
Has anybody else found the video diary a bit of a turn off?I either sound like a smurf or Stacey Slater from Eastenders.
I must admit it has been really fun driving this car i didnt think i would feel as comfartable in in it after such as short time.Top marks for Ford for this as i HATE changing cars.
I don't know if i will be able to park a car again without the 'God send' parking sensors.

not been out in ours again today

feel dreadfully sorry for my clio which has been sat there gathering dust snow for the last 3 weeks. will it even start for me next week?

figured out how to delete stuff on the camera, thank god! have deleted some of our less than sparkling scenes. i'm going to do a summary at the end of the three weeks, thinking they can then cut that in with filming we've done of us driving about. dh says this is a good idea cos it's what they do on wife swap and jon and kate plus 8

Oh no....i can't get out in the car again it's too snowy!!!!!
The ice is so bad on the roads i'm scared to drive it in case i slide into something.I would cry my eyes out if i damaged this beautiful car.
I dont want it to go on Monday......i love it....I'm proud to get in it....it's a dream to drive.....it handles fantastically....and best of all it keep the kids quiet!
All hail the S-Max.

Interesting reading, this, as I already own a Galaxy. It's grand - not a driver's car, but it does great for me, DH and the 3 DCs. Sweetkitty, if you're still looking, we looked at both the Galaxy and S-max, but opted for the Galaxy as there is more legroom in 'boot' seats than in the S-Max, so a large adult can fit in there comfortably (6'2'' DH has travelled in it no problem) which is good as DD2 gets carsick in those seats so needs to be in the middle.

Ford, I also would love my Galaxy more if it had sliding doors.......

No S-Max action for us today either. Gutted, wanted to use it as much as possible before it goes next week. Our road is a bit like an ice rink, but if I can get it out of our road the rest aren't as bad. Wanted to go into town tomorrow. Used it every day to park in the car park when I was working over Christmas but the car park was empty at 5.45am so quite wanted to give parking a try when its busy. Really horrible small spaces in our main car park so thought it would be quite a good test. (Thats where I need to be able to get my wing mirrors in without getting out of the car...... are you listening Mr Ford?).

DH did some filming today. Ours is crap wanted to have some chance over the weekend to do some more whilst driving. Pray the snow eases off a bit.

Poledra, I have never tried a car with sliding doors, have certainly found the S-Max doors seem to give a lot of space to get kids in and out of car. Whats the extra advantage of the sliding doors?

managed to go out today, not far, just to nursery.

main roads not too bad, just our cul de sac is an ice rink covered in 5 inches of snow. but the s max just ploughed on through. i did skid a little but felt safe and in control. i think being so high up helps with that, gives me a good view of the road. and, because i can adjust the seat so much i can make sure i'm in the best possible driving position. love the adjustable lumbar support by the way!

i'm also impressed with just how quickly the car warms up. in the clio i'd be nearly to nursery before the blowers would get warm, but in the s max i'm warm as i leave our road, not long at all. makes driving with small children much more comfy, less moany all round.

one small niggle i'm finding is that the back seat belts don't seem very long, or as long as my clio anyway. it's quite an effort to get ds's car seat in as there is no slack at all once the belt is in position. he is in a maxi cosi newborn seat, so not as if it's an unusual seat. but there is literaly no slack once he's fastened in.

other than that there is really nothing i could say is 'wrong' with the car. hopefully we'll be able to make our planned trip to durham this weekend so i can try out some of the features i haven't had a go of yet.

oh it sounds like we are all having the same trouble.

I decided I would be really good the other day and film a whole epic- before, during and after the journey...well I did a bit of before stuff and then I got stuck in the drive/road behind our house for well over an hour with 3 kids in the car. It took 6 neighbours to dig/push the car out inch by inch just so I could get to Tesco for some milk. I was so cold and fed up by the time I got going (and close to tears!) that I just couldn't film anymore. So we hardly have any footage either. I also walked straight into the corner of the open boot- it was so weighted down with snow that it hadn't opened to full height and it went smack into the top of my head

Not going out today as it's -9 and like an arctic wasteland.

Have a couple of trips planned for the weekend though so will have to try and get something good on camera before Tuesday.

Also ours don't go back to school till Tues so haven't even been able to test it for the school run- not that I would have been able to get to school anyway or that it would have been open but...

The Galaxy is not great in the snow but I donn't think it would fare any worse than any other large people carrier in the same conditions. It's just because it's so heavy and sinks to the ice layer and once it's stuck it's pretty heavy to push! On the plus side, it handles well on the main roads even though they are very slippy and I feel VERY safe in it.

I'm also loving the black interior- looks so clean (despite 3 weeks of snowy boots tramping all over it) compared to the light beige interior in our Touran which is absolutely filthy

Swagger, the sliding doors would be massively useful when some twunt parks so close to you you cannot get the (admittedly large) back doors of the Galaxy open far enough to get the kids in. When DD3 was still in her infant carrier, more than once I had to put her in the boot and reverse out my parking space far enough to fit her car seat through the door. I guess it's not so bad now that she's out of that seat, so it's only her own body width (and mine ) that has to fit through the door.

Sliding doors would also make it easier for you not to hit the car next to you when you are opening the door to let the children out.

Ventured out today in the snow and ice and was feeling more confident behind the wheel in on the ice.
Went to do another food shop and was again thankfull for the parking sensors-though i do still sometimes forget to push the button that enables the front sensor.
I was shocked that the boot doesn't rise up as far in the cold as it does when its warm-though DH said ALL cars are like this.
Would still like sliding doors though i am getting a little bit paranoid about DS! jumping out of the car and denting it, if it is aimed at the family market i really think they should have them to make it easier to get the kids in and out without having to hold the edge of the door incase you bump the car next to you.Also, a button to open the boot from inside so if somebody needs to put stuff in the boot and has his arms full and not able to push the button it wold be ideal for me to push a button from the inside
so i don't have to get out-lazy i know
But i have to say i still LOVE this car and everything it does.It's incredibly difficult to find faults in this car.Trying to be picky as all i really want to say is "i want one , i love it, anybody want to buy a kidney so i can afford it?"

Waswondering- aha Mr.Fords plan has worked

Ah yes Poledra never gave that a thought! Our local shopping mall has appallingly small parking spaces so can see the benefits of the sliding doors.

Used the S-Max quite a bit for lots of short journeys yesterday. Our road completely iced over but I have to admit I found it really easy. I kept a fairly steady not too slow pace and the car handled beautifully. Agree with others how safe and confident I feel in it although I am a confident driver anyway. I have found the automatic easier in this weather although I guess 'real' drivers would be horrified by this. I can concentrate on the road and keeping a steady pace without having to change up and down gear all the time.

As usual it de-iced like a dream. I had a scary moment coming down a busy road on a hill. Road conditions fine, but all the snow slid off the roof onto the front windscreen. Luckily I had just got to the junction but because the window was so warm and the wipers so efficient I got it cleared with a few wipes. I love the front window, so big, such good visibility, its still gleaming even though the rest of the car is filthy.

Used it to get kids from school, were going sledging after, so had sledges, boots, bags etc in the boot. Got the extra seats down at the moment and all my stuff looked quite lost in the huge boot space. Had to park in a really busy road with a tight space. Was hilarious. So much snow in the kerb that in the end the parking sensors were going beserk. I got out of the car to see if it was OK as I was convinced there was a big space between me and the car. At that point the phone rang. I answered it out of the car but as it was on hands free it was speaking in the car. Unrecognised number so I lept back in the car, sensors all bleeping, kids yelling 'hellooooooo Daddy', me realising it wasn't Daddy so was a bit YES what do you want. It was the guy to arrange to collect the car! He was so lovely, he said occasionally you may just need to switch the sensors off. (Quick flick of a switch on the dash board). They were obviously picking up the piles of snow, but we both agreed that having them outweighs the very few occasions where they go mad and need to be switched off. Mine goes on Monday and I told him to be prepared for tears . So far have had really positive experience with the Ford staff. Exceptionally helpful, pleasant. DH rang them early on to ask about the DVD player and again they were really helpful. Am finding out how much my S-Max will cost to buy although I think it will be waaaay out of our price. Am also looking at second hand ones, there are a few in our local dealership so hope that they continue to be as helpful .

let us know how you get on swagger- we want one too