Discussion
Wife's lease car goes back on Friday and need to get something sorted this week.
Requirements -
Petrol/hybrid
Auto
Decent spec (Camera/sensors, heated seats)
Big enough in the back for 3 car seats (one baby, one toddler and one booster)
7 seats would be a plus but not essential - purely as they seem to offer the best floorplan in terms of rear seat width
Budget of around £10k.
Was set on an S-Max as they seem to tick all the boxes but keep seeing mentions of the gearbox being utter rubbish and breaking.
I keep looking on AT and setting the auto/petrol/7 seats parameter but their doesn't seem to be much around so what else is good with 5+ seats?
PS - No weird s
t like a Nissan Elgrand. 
Requirements -
Petrol/hybrid
Auto
Decent spec (Camera/sensors, heated seats)
Big enough in the back for 3 car seats (one baby, one toddler and one booster)
7 seats would be a plus but not essential - purely as they seem to offer the best floorplan in terms of rear seat width
Budget of around £10k.
Was set on an S-Max as they seem to tick all the boxes but keep seeing mentions of the gearbox being utter rubbish and breaking.
I keep looking on AT and setting the auto/petrol/7 seats parameter but their doesn't seem to be much around so what else is good with 5+ seats?
PS - No weird s
t like a Nissan Elgrand. Edited by rich12 on Monday 14th February 15:17
For a seven seater in this price bracket Smax is the best to drive, you will get something around 2013-2015.
The auto box 2011-2015 can give expensive trouble, but the 2.2 auto uses a normal gearbox (not powershift) so try to find one of them.
With Smax the X sport model looks best and comes with a really nice spec (glass roof, 18 inch wheels, half leather) but these are usually about 20% more to buy used than a regular titanium.
Look for a Titanium with X pack but not an X sport, that will give you the nice extra's but better value (they all drive pretty much the same anyway).
Heated seats a(nd full leather) is very rare to find on an smax, not many had heated seats at that age.
Alternatives - VW Sharan or Seat Alhambra are nice to drive but look like a mini cab, Galaxy is cheaper than smax but most are used as a cab for their first few years so hard to find a good one in this price bracket.
Zafira tourer model has nice spec, much cheaper than an Smax but built on a budget and dont think you could get 3 baby seats in one not 100% on that.
The auto box 2011-2015 can give expensive trouble, but the 2.2 auto uses a normal gearbox (not powershift) so try to find one of them.
With Smax the X sport model looks best and comes with a really nice spec (glass roof, 18 inch wheels, half leather) but these are usually about 20% more to buy used than a regular titanium.
Look for a Titanium with X pack but not an X sport, that will give you the nice extra's but better value (they all drive pretty much the same anyway).
Heated seats a(nd full leather) is very rare to find on an smax, not many had heated seats at that age.
Alternatives - VW Sharan or Seat Alhambra are nice to drive but look like a mini cab, Galaxy is cheaper than smax but most are used as a cab for their first few years so hard to find a good one in this price bracket.
Zafira tourer model has nice spec, much cheaper than an Smax but built on a budget and dont think you could get 3 baby seats in one not 100% on that.
Do not purchase an Smax Auto!! Manual by all means, but not the Auto!
We had a facelift 2011 Smax titanium X 2.0 Auto, from new and in 4th year with 50k miles the auto box leaked and failed.
Even though we had completed services at Ford dealership on recommended timescales including oil changes on gearbox.
We had it towed away in the end as it would not move! Ford did not want to know and it was going to cost in excess of £4K to fix!
We went with a 2.0d auto BMW gran tourer after that on a 2015 model and another in 2018.
Sold them now as no longer need 7 seats. But they were faultless.
That damn Smax put me off any Ford for life!!
My Husband hated it and frequently used to punch the steering wheel because of the awful gear shifting of the Auto and then the failure of it in the end!…. Be warnes! No matter how nice they look and practical they are, you will have problems with an auto.
We had a facelift 2011 Smax titanium X 2.0 Auto, from new and in 4th year with 50k miles the auto box leaked and failed.
Even though we had completed services at Ford dealership on recommended timescales including oil changes on gearbox.
We had it towed away in the end as it would not move! Ford did not want to know and it was going to cost in excess of £4K to fix!
We went with a 2.0d auto BMW gran tourer after that on a 2015 model and another in 2018.
Sold them now as no longer need 7 seats. But they were faultless.
That damn Smax put me off any Ford for life!!
My Husband hated it and frequently used to punch the steering wheel because of the awful gear shifting of the Auto and then the failure of it in the end!…. Be warnes! No matter how nice they look and practical they are, you will have problems with an auto.
Only the Smax 2011-2015 auto have bad gearboxes.
Ford powershift fine when new but a huge Liabilty once older, repair usually costs around £3,500 for a proper repair with a 12m guarantee .
Always avoid petrol smax auto from 2011-2015 these are the ones most likely to need a gearbox rebuild ( especially the 240 bhp petrol).
Ford powershift fine when new but a huge Liabilty once older, repair usually costs around £3,500 for a proper repair with a 12m guarantee .
Always avoid petrol smax auto from 2011-2015 these are the ones most likely to need a gearbox rebuild ( especially the 240 bhp petrol).
For context, i had a 2014 one with a Powershift that i sold at 111000 miles with the gearbox working perfectly.
Gearbox oil changed every 25k miles, did it myself the last 2 times as its not difficult or expensive.
I will concede they are an unknown quantity though, my mate has a Galaxy with a Powershift that has no 2nd gear.
Gearbox oil changed every 25k miles, did it myself the last 2 times as its not difficult or expensive.
I will concede they are an unknown quantity though, my mate has a Galaxy with a Powershift that has no 2nd gear.
magpie215 said:
You're missing a trick discounting the as you put it
"weird st"
The JDM 7/8 seaters that are available are usually Auto/petrol and in great condition.
In fact I chose one over an Smax/Galaxy.
I just don't like the look of them. "weird s
t"The JDM 7/8 seaters that are available are usually Auto/petrol and in great condition.
In fact I chose one over an Smax/Galaxy.
Fully appreciate that they are good vehicles however as a friend has one and it has been the perfect vehicle for his family.
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