Hi all,

A local Ford dealer has two available and I can't decide which one is the better deal.

Car 1

S-Max Titanium 2.0 TDCi

Price: 23000 Euro/20,864 Sterling

Mileage: 28809 km

Options

Electronic Stability Programme

Heated Windscreen + Solar Reflect

Panoramic Roof

Bluetooth with Voice Control

Aluminium Wheels 18"

Air-conditioned glove compartment and double automatic air-conditioning

Car 2

S-Max Trend (called a Zetec in the UK I think) 2.0 TDCi

Price: 28000 Euro/25,400 Sterling

Mileage: 10 km (basically a brand new car)

Options

GPS

Automatic headlights

Cruise control

Parking Assist

Electric wing mirrors

Electronic Stability Programme

Heated Windscreen + Solar Reflect

Panoramic Roof

Bluetooth with Voice Control

Aluminium Wheels 18"

Air-conditioned glove compartment and double automatic air-conditioning

I guess they both handle and drive the same but I'm wondering if the few extra options on the Trend version are worth the extra money

Hi all,

A local Ford dealer has two available and I can't decide which one is the better deal.

Car 1

S-Max Titanium 2.0 TDCi

Price: 23000 Euro/20,864 Sterling

Mileage: 28809 km

Options

Electronic Stability Programme

Heated Windscreen + Solar Reflect

Panoramic Roof

Bluetooth with Voice Control

Aluminium Wheels 18"

Air-conditioned glove compartment and double automatic air-conditioning

Car 2

S-Max Trend (called a Zetec in the UK I think) 2.0 TDCi

Price: 28000 Euro/25,400 Sterling

Mileage: 10 km (basically a brand new car)

Options

GPS

Automatic headlights

Cruise control

Parking Assist

Electric wing mirrors

Electronic Stability Programme

Heated Windscreen + Solar Reflect

Panoramic Roof

Bluetooth with Voice Control

Aluminium Wheels 18"

Air-conditioned glove compartment and double automatic air-conditioning

I guess they both handle and drive the same but I'm wondering if the few extra options on the Trend version are worth the extra money

Hi Ginolard,

the second car looks better to me but not because of the options - it is 10km - new car. It might be the ford exposition vehicle though - many people got inside and something can be broken.

I have a titanium. I believe the difference is only with gadgets like auto lights, wipers and autodimming rear view mirror. Ah yes, also dark tint.

The secong car has GPS but I am not sure it is a big deal as aftermarket portable units are cheap and can be used in several cars.

I would however think that the price is somewhat too high for both. I guess TDCI with less than 20000km on the clock should be around 18-20k euros. 28000 is very close to the new titanium tdci but you will have to wait for delivery.

Hope that helps.

Any specific questions on options - please ask.

hi Ginolard

the first question I would ask is when were these cars built (not registered), as post May 2007 build cars seem to have less manufacturing 'issues'.

second, make sure both have ESP, some of the early ones didnt as its was an option - this is, in my view, a 'must have'.

third, does either of them have an IR windscreen? You an see this as there is an 'IR' in a circle at the bottom of the glass - again I would suggest that this is a 'must have'.

and then if it is a frosty morning, go and see the car and check that all the heating elements are working correctly - you can tell this by switching the heated front wind screen on and seeing if there is any 'barcoding' (striping) where elements are not working correctly.

fourth, when the car is cold, take it for a little drive and leave the drivers window open and see if the steering is overly noisy - this is a known weakness in some cars and is fixable but better to not have it at all.

there are other things to check out but this is a good start in my opinion.

This is not to diminish the car, the SMAX is, in my opinion the best MPV out there, much better value than any X5 or Merc R series and just as reliable if not more so.

keep us up to date

cheers

Z

Well, in the end we went for Car #2. Mainly because the wife didn't like the interior (too plastic apparently). I'm quite pleased actually as I preferred the newer one (oh,alright, I wanted the GPS and Cruise Control!) Fortunately, their are willing to take our old 2001 Focus for 1800 Euro. It's got a big dent in one side and 200K km on the clock. Also, the airco doesn't work, the indicators don't turn off by themselves and the central locking doesn't work on the driver's side (but they didn't ask if there was anything wrong with it and I didn't volunteer the information!). So I reckon we got a decent deal there.

Thanks for the advice. Can't wait to drive our "new" car.