Ford 'S' Max

[VIP640]

Does anyone tow with an 'S' Max? would be interested to hear what you think of them. I have a twin axle 1540kg van.

Thanks

 

[Garfield]

Hi,

We tow a 1600kg Lunar Lexon 640 t/a with a 2.0 tdci S-max though it's unlikely that we ever load it near it's mtplm, we find it to be very stable and unaffected by passing hgvs and all but the strongest of crosswinds, towing mpg is 26-29 and solo mpg is 40mpg in a hilly area, we got 52mpg touring Norfolk for a week, we frequently meet up with parents so there is plenty of room for 4 adults 3 kids and still space for two labradors in the boot.

Being just fwd it's achilles heel is traction but so far we have never needed to use our snow/mud chains and you won't get the same fuel economy out of a 4x4 thhat has as much interior space.

As a solo family car there is nothing to touch it for practicality, fun to drive and running costs. it looks more like a hatchback on steroids than an MPV, handles like a GTI and the new 2.2tdci must be even better.

 

[PW]

Love the S Max! Haven't towed with it yet mind but as a vehicle I think it's great.

Lots of room, well designed, good performance and comfortable ride.

Excellent for family living and a variety of practical tasks.

 

[PW]

Garfield,

What sort of towbar/stabiliser are you using?

 

[Garfield]

We use the Ford fixed towbar ( the wife's attitude is that if anyone reverses into us in the carpark, they hit that first! )

along with an Alko 3004? stabiliser

 

[Icemaker]

we have now towed quite a bit with our 2.0 tdci S max and it is proving to be a very good tow car indeed.

Our van is a coachman vip 530/4 weighing in at a maximum of 1540 kgs and to be honest its probably loaded to quite near this being a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers, the car tows the van with ease and is very sure footed i havent had one single nervous moment with it as yet.

Not sure why garfield is getting such a low mpg towing as we are returning round about 38 mpg with the van on and 46 mpg round town ive never been on a long run without the van so i cant say what it would do solo on a distance run.

One thing i can say about mpg though is the car improved dramatically after its first service at 12.000 miles, i complained about jerky throttle responce and staling on tick over along with quite a bit of black smoke from the exhaust and the dealer said all the faults i had noted where previously known and a new map for the cars computer was available, it worked wonders the car is so much better to drive now, with garfield getting such low figures i would imagine his car may have the same faults mine had.

I have a removable tow bar fitted along with 13 pin socket which i allso find so much better than 12 n and 12 s sockets, ive adapted the van to 13 pin too which took about 2 hours to do.

All in all a brilliant tow car which i dont think any one could not like driving in fact the only problem with the car is getting hold of one they are so popular the waiting list is months long and second hand prices are sky high as a result.

 

[Bluebird1]

Am also very interested in S Max but am slightly concerned that they don't have a spare wheel as standard.

My local Ford dealer wasn't sure whether you could order spare as optional extra - is going to check but hasn't come back to me yet.

Does anyone else know whether it is possible to order a spare?

Thanks

Andy

 

[Icemaker]

Andrew, i shared your concerns when i bought my Smax but on checking the competition it appears that very few manufacturers now suply a spare wheel with new cars so i conceded that the puncture repair kit suplied by ford will have to do.

I must admit the ford supplied repair kit is a fair bit better than most that other makers supply, it consists of a proper tyre pump that can be used to inflate tyres for routine maintenance as well as a container of the stuff that you pump in to repair a puncture, the repair fluid is pumped in by the mechanical pump that ford supply.

Ford assured me that a tyre repaired with this kit can be safely driven as specified in the manual even when towing a caravan so i was happy to go along with the weight saving.

 

[Icemaker]

I had to go in to wigan last night which is a 60 mile round trip mostly on the motorway so instead of going in the clio i took the Smax to see what it would do on a run without the van milage wise, i was pleased to see that it returned an average of 56.4 mpg at a steady 60 mph and at one point actually showed 60.5 mpg on a slight falling gradient.

I cant complain one little bit with these figures for such a large car, but i will still use the little clio diesel if im not towing as that returns 58 mpg round town and as high as 76 mpg on a run, one thing to remember though is i do have a light foot i gave up on chasing around when diesel hit

 

[PW]

Icemaker,

What stabiliser are you using with your removable towbar?

Thanks

 

[Icemaker]

Hi pw, we use the standard alko aks 3004 that was suplied with the van, it works absolutely fine.