This was the car given to me on my most recent trip to Germany. From the really-rather-nice 118i I had over Xmas, I got given a fucking Tourneo on the trip after which I hated down to an atomic level - it really was quite insulting that I got given something like that when I clearly operate in an echelon higher than most.
When I saw the S-Max I thought "FFS not another bloody mum-bus" then actually got into the bugger. First things first, and I later came to realise that this was the jizz-spec version, the quilted leather seats were quite lovely things, so off to a good start. Excellent info/HVAC/etc system (I refuse to use conjoined words like infotainment), shame it's an auto but the rotary dial is very pleasant, let's F O.
Bloody hell - it was a rocket! Diseasel but with an 8-speed auto - wheelspin in 1st, torquey thump in the back in 2nd and so on, and actually seemed to get a second wind beyond about 3.5k to the redline, unlike the majority of diesels that run out of puff. I had a dig around to try and get the power of it, and it seemed to be 190 bhp or so, which is plenty really.
I set the cruise to a nice, round 200 kph all the way from the airport to the exit 150 kms later and played tag with a Panamera the whole way. Laser cruise is odd, isn't it - great when people pull over but you find yourself stuck at the speed of the cruise control set by the person in front so a bit of Arabic driving was called for on occasion.
I actually liked it so much I made the old man come out for a spin in it, and he also gave it resounding approval.
Big cars having a lot of space is not exactly unheard of, but in terms of the amount of crap we had to cart back, including the nipper, it was bob-on. All loaded up and whisking back to the airport, all was good in the world.
Overall, I was amazed - I hardly wanted to hand the bugger back (the car, that is). Very impressive, unless all modern cars are like this and I'm just totally out of touch.
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