Hi All,

i'm in the market for a s-max around a 2010 model, 2.0 diesel zetec.

I've read nothing but good things, and test drove one which was excellent to drive, however when i looked underneath the car i was shocked at the amount of rust on a 4 year old car!

in comparison, the renault i have now is 10 years old and looks better underneath!

I have looked at three separate s-max's now, each varying in levels of rustyness, but not one of them was as good as the renault. which really surprised me.

am i just being unlucky? or do they rust underneath on all fords?

ive been underneath mine on various ocassions and its in good clean condition.so maybe youve just uncovered some bad ones?

Its possible you hit a bad batch to be honest, I notice on my 57 mondeo that there are some odd spots of rust all over the underside / engine bay and even behind the glovebox, but it sounds like you had a bit of an extreme there!

ive been underneath mine on various ocassions and its in good clean condition.so maybe youve just uncovered some bad ones?

Cheers for confirming, i was really disappointed and was almost going to cross the S-max off my list.... which would have been a real draw back since its the only car on my list !

Its possible you hit a bad batch to be honest, I notice on my 57 mondeo that there are some odd spots of rust all over the underside / engine bay and even behind the glovebox, but it sounds like you had a bit of an extreme there!

Yea im hoping that i've come across a few that have lived near the coast and hence the sea air has accelerated the corrosion process. i have a few more to take a look at close to Manchester area, so hoping that they are better.

The main area's that looked very bad on the s-max's were the rear axle, front suspension area and mounting points, and the front towing eye, all were in varying degree's of rustiness. But for what im paying, i dont want any rust!

thanks for the reply guys, its confirmed that i should keep the s-max on the list and keep looking for the right one!

to be honest you could remove the rust anyway, I would be surprised if any of it was more than surface rust.

You could find the right car, get some money knocked off for the rust, then just sand it back and seal it to prevent the rust coming back.

to be honest you could remove the rust anyway, I would be surprised if any of it was more than surface rust.

You could find the right car, get some money knocked off for the rust, then just sand it back and seal it to prevent the rust coming back.

yea i did think about that, they are only early signs of rusting, but rust is absolutely impossible to get rid of completely. For instance, even if i had the rear axle sand blasted and undersealed, you would never be able to access the top of the rear axle.

so i would rather get a good example which has no, or minimal rust and then spend a few 100 on undersealing it properly

very true indeed!

just for info,you may well notice a lot of rust around the rear hanger for the exhaust,this is a common problem.so if its bad then negociate on the price coz it probably wont be long before it needs a new exhaust.