• Space for seven on board the S-Max
• Rearmost seats are best for children
• Excellent flexibility all-round, though

How much space is there?

If there’s one element this car is designed to do well, it’s practicality. All versions get seven-seats as standard and it features Ford’s clever Easy Fold and Easy Entry seating system. Finding your way to the rearmost seats is a doddle thanks to the Easy Entry system with its one-touch design that sees the middle-row seats fold and slide in one action.

It works in practice too, and full-size adults will be able to navigate back into the rearmost bench with ease, though once there we’re not convinced you’d want to take extended journeys in one of if you’re taller than six feet, due to the sloping roofline eating into headroom. Sliding the middle seats forward does increase rear legroom though.

The S-Max is offered with a hands-free electrically operated tailgate, which is opened with a swing of the foot under the rear bumper. The cabin materials have been specially tested to deal with the daily rigours of family life too, and feature special anti-stain coatings.

144

Boot space and storage

Ford’s Easy Fold system allows each one of the five individual rear seats to be folded flat into the floor at the touch of a button, helpfully located in the boot. And they do actually fold flush into the floor, leaving the S-Max with a whopping 2,200-litre load area.

Leave it more conventionally arranged, with five seats in place, and the Ford offers a reasonable 700-litre space, while with all seven seats in use the luggage area is a tight 285 litres (laden to the roof).

To put this into context, the Volkswagen Multivan can only muster 469 litres’ worth of space with all seven seats up and 3,672 with them all folded.

144

Is it easy to park?

The S-Max is, unsurprisingly, a big car – mainly in length – but it’s not a difficult car to weave in and out of traffic in or slot into a parking space. It’s surprisingly manoeuvrable.

A large glass area means visibility out of the car is very good, while standard-fit parking sensors at the front and back of the S-Max ease things further. If that’s not enough, cameras can be added from the options list for a boost in visibility. Speccing a rear view camera would be our recommendation. Visibility might be good for a car of this size, but reversing a car of this size is made so much easier with a camera.

Safety

• Five stars for the S-Max from Euro NCAP
• Older rating, so you shouldn’t read too much into that
• Extra assistance tech can be added as an option

Euro NCAP tested the S-Max way back in 2015, where it achieved a five-star crash safety rating, meaning family buyers can rest assured the big Ford will keep them and the occupants protected in the event of an accident. It’s a car designed to transport families, so safety is at the forefront of the Ford S-Max’s priorities, and as such there’s a load of kit available with this in mind.

Alongside a plethora of airbags (driver, front passenger, driver knee, first second and third row curtain airbags as well as second row side bags), tyre pressure monitoring and MyKey you can specify your S-Max with a host of other safety kit including the firm’s new Intelligent Speed limiter.

This uses a camera in the windscreen to read roadside speed limit signs, and if they are below the maximum speed set by the driver at the start of the journey the car will slow itself down to avoid speeding tickets and maximise safety.

An optional adaptive cruise control system ensures you remain a safe distance from the car in front when using the system at high speed, while a blind spot detection system ensures you don’t mistakenly stray into the path of another vehicle when changing lanes. In testing, we found this system works extremely well, being far more effective than the system you’ll find in the Peugeot 5008.