Car Reviews

With the imminent arrival of two vehicles in the generic MPV segment, Ford will arguably have the largest range of such cars of any manufacturer.

Beginning with the Fiesta-based Fusion and moving up through the C-MAX evolved from the Focus, now they've added a completely new sub-segment with the S-MAX, and a replacement for the Galaxy retaining that well-established name.

The newcomers are both on the same platform, which I guess is what will underpin the next Mondeo.

And they both share essential components and characteristics, but are divided in customer target. And also in driving characteristics.

The S-MAX is a distinctly sportier take on the genre, and is lower and shorter than the new Galaxy.

That latter car, though, is larger than the current vehicle, so the size spread has been stretched.

It is actually lower than the outgoing car, though, so it doesn't actually look as big overall.

There's no doubt that Ford missed an important move when they decided that the C-MAX should be a five-seater, giving up sales ground to both Opel's Zafira and Renault's Grand Scenic.

Well, there's no mistake this time. Though the S-MAX is basically designed as a five-seater too, in practice most buyers will specify it as a seven-seat, which adds some €700 to the base cost.

We're not clear on why they bothered with the five-seat format, but it must be in response to some other market need than Ireland's.

The S-MAX shares with the new Galaxy a FoldFlat system which also moves the larger vehicle forward into a much more flexible position. In the old Galaxy the rearmost seats could be removed for extra space, but it was a chore and one which had to be thought of in advance of need.

There are certain commonalities of style between the two new cars, but they are more in ethos than direct copy.

Thus the front ends share bonnet, grille, and lights shapes, and the trapezoidal shapes under the number plates.

But the S-MAX has a trendier positioning of its foglights, and some snappy under bumper vent styles which are reflected in air exit vents aft of the front wheels. Both of which, by the way, are dummy.

The rear of the S-MAX also has a sportier treatment, with a steeper roof fall-off and sharper rear side window look, but from full rear view there's nothing at all dull about the Galaxy's back-door either.

The insides of both are very smart, and what Ford calls its human machine interface (HMI, as if the automotive world needed another acronym) but the rest of us call instruments, are similar.

As also is the U-shaped parking brake handle which is standard across all variants in Ireland. In ergonomic terms, Ford hasn't succumbed to the BMW-led iDrive thing, and there are real knobs and buttons, sized for real fingers. There's more than a hint of Mazda about the general layout, which is no bad thing.

Ford is never afraid to swap good ideas between its brands.
In neither car were they tempted either to do the 'sideways shift' with the outer seats of the centre row, as Opel has done, with the intention of giving occupants in the two-seat format more elbow room.

Both Galaxy and C-MAX give three real and individual seats in that row.

It seems that every new car, or new generation of one, is trying to up the safety ante in some way or another. With these two, Ford has added a knee bag for the driver (first seen here by Lexus and Toyota a couple of years ago), and has some high-tech background stuff running with the ABS and EBD elements if the optional active cruise control and collision mitigation systems are specified.

The seats are said to be improved from a safety point of view, and there's a new neck injury protection system. Pedals retract in an impact, and the steering column is designed to travel away from the driver in a crash.

In both models there are 2.0-litre petrol engines, of 145hp output, which are the entry engines, and a 1.8-litre 125hp TDCi diesel as well as a 140hp 2.0-litre TDCi. The Galaxy also has an optional 100hp version of the 1.8 TDCi.

The S-MAX, highlighting its sporty intent, can also be specified with the 220hp 5-cylinder petrol engine sourced from Volvo and used in the Focus ST. This is not on the launch list for Ireland, but if someone wants it, no doubt there'll be a seller.

The Galaxy also gets the option of a 2.2-litre petrol engine, outputting 170hp.

In the seating specifications, Ford classes the rear two seats in the Galaxy as suitable for 'first class' long distance travel, while those in the S-MAX they are considered as 'occasional' facilities, suggesting the car so specified as a '5+2'.

As we go to press, no prices for the new vehicles have been revealed, but it is known that in the seven-seat configuration, at the 2.0-litre petrol entry level, there will be in Ireland a €3,000 differential between them.

Also, it isn't expected that there will be a significant price increase between the new and old Galaxys, apart from those related to extra equipment.

By Brian Byrne