Ford S Max Titanium diesel price/engine?

Metranil_Vavin

Any advice from anyone in the know would be much appreciated!

We are looking at buying an MPV, and have pretty much decided upon the Ford S Max.

we went to a dealership today and have narrowed it down to the following 2 cars:

1 - 58 plate, 1.8 diesel Titanium. 19k milage - £14,500
2. 59 plate, 2.0 diesel Titanium, 29k milage - £14,995

The 2.0 litre car comes with full leather seats which I frankly couldn't give a hoot about, in fact I'm leaning more towards the 1.8 version as it has lower milage and actually I'm not a big leather seat fan!

Can anyone advise if the 2.0 version is very much better performance-wise? The car will mainly be used for round town (London) driving, for me to get to work (an hour each way with partial motorway use), and the odd trip up the motorway to visit family.

We have one child aged 1, so will have a car seat fitted.

They have also given us a trade in price on our VW Golf of £1250.

Do those prices for the 2 Ford's above sound reasonable?

Thanks very much in advance for any thoughts.

KTF

What trim are each of them in? i.e. are the both Zetec but one has leather.

Leather is much easier to clean when kids have 'accidents'

withabix

KTF wrote: »

What trim are each of them in?

The OP states that both are 'Titanium' trim level.

(It's what they used to call Ghia)

Ranger8

I think the 1.8d is based on the old Escort/Fiesta engine
Drive them both and see which you prefer and drives best.
Why not a 1 yr old Toyota Verso 2.0d with 4yrs warranty still remaining for around £15k;)

Metranil_Vavin

Thanks for replying, yes they are both Titanium.

I thought about the wipe clean benefits of leather, but just find it a bit cold to sit on, on a cold day and hot on a warm one!

They're not heated either.

Just not something I would normally bother with, but have read some reviews that say avoid the 1.8 engine version, so not sure what to do.

OH is taking it for a test drive tomorrow anyway so will get his feedback then, but we won't have compared it to the 1.8.

Metranil_Vavin

Ranger8 wrote: »

I think the 1.8d is based on the old Escort/Fiesta engine
Drive them both and see which you prefer and drives best.
Why not a 1 yr old Toyota Verso 2.0d with 4yrs warranty still remaining for around £15k;)

Hi - thanks yes I think test driving both is sensible. I think the sales guy is taking the 2.0 version to OH's work tomorrow for a test drive as he works near the dealership. I'll suggest he takes the smaller engine for a spin too.

To be honest we've only considered the S Max and the VW Touran so far, is the Toyota worth a look too?

KTF

withabix wrote: »

The OP states that both are 'Titanium' trim level.

(It's what they used to call Ghia)

Ah, so they are. I missed that. Non-heater leather isnt great when its cold but based on a google it looks like the 1.8 is one of the older diesels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Duratorq_engine#1.8_.22Lynx.22

The 2.0 is based on the joint engines by Ford/PSA and is a lot more modern:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Duratorq_engine#2.0_2

Personally I would go for the 2.0 as it is a newer design so should be quieter, cleaner and more economical than the 1.8. The S Max isnt exactly uncommon so wait until one in the spec you want turns up or maybe consider the Galaxy as its the same only less 'sporty' in design.

The Touran is really 1 class size down compared to the S Max, for a proper comparison you should be looking at the Sharan, Alhambra twins.

vax2002

As this is a money saving site I will help you save some money.
They are not giving you £1250 for the VW
they are allowing you £1250 of the screen price.
The screen price is negotiable, you could haggle around a grand off these prices easily with NO PX , it is January, know as the longest driest month in second hand car sales, keep you old car and sell it private, or even auction it and be anything over the £250 it fetches up.
They will have valued you car at bottom auction price + screen discount allowance.
Your old car will be sent straight to the block, they dont loose money.

You could haggle for no px, drive the golf to the auctions, fill in the form there and then, leave them the keys and get the bus for the new car.

Keith

Take it into a car park when on the test drive, a friend has an S Max and it feels huge to me, stats say an inch wider than the Mondeo or 4 wider than a Zafira.

Monkeeboy

Hiya

I debated long and hard over this category of car earlier this year. I drove Touran, verso and the SMax (only the 2.0 TDCi) - the SMax came out a clear winner - for me anyway although I did think about a good deal on the Toyota as I have an 11 year old Avensis that is as good as new and quality wise has been great. I had previously owned a Ford CMax 2.0 TDCi Ghia with heated seats - which were great. I eventually purchased an 11 plate (3 month old) 2.0 TDCi Titanium (without leather) and I love it. It has all the bells and whistles including the heated front screen which is a blessing in the winter (no scraping). The majority of driving is around town with longer runs at the weekend, I am currently averaging 42.8mpg which is all I was getting in the smaller CMax. So far I have had no concerns (touch wood) I bought mine from Polar Ford who have a good network of dealers or you could search Fordretailonline for an idea of current prices.

Good luck :beer:

Metranil_Vavin

vax2002 wrote: »

As this is a money saving site I will help you save some money.
They are not giving you £1250 for the VW
they are allowing you £1250 of the screen price.
The screen price is negotiable, you could haggle around a grand off these prices easily with NO PX , it is January, know as the longest driest month in second hand car sales, keep you old car and sell it private, or even auction it and be anything over the £250 it fetches up.
They will have valued you car at bottom auction price + screen discount allowance.
Your old car will be sent straight to the block, they dont loose money.

You could haggle for no px, drive the golf to the auctions, fill in the form there and then, leave them the keys and get the bus for the new car.

Thanks. Yes I suspected it is more a case of they have a certain amount of leeway on the margins they make, and actually they are really taking our car and giving us a standard discount in return!

So realistically I should be looking to haggle a grand off the price in the first instance anyway?