S-Max Mini Review

Nearly 100k miles in 2 years does have a significantly negative effect on your enthusiasm for driving.

At that kind of mileage, you start to prioritise decent stereos, comfy seats with lots of adjustment and auto boxes over outright performance and handling ability.

Yea I guess so, although I must admit even when commuting pretty much to the hospital (130 mile round trip - sometimes punctuated by a day or 10) I never really thought the 206 needed more kit (manual A/C but I was always cold anyway and a very good for an £11k car 6 speaker CD player), or to be an auto and because I was so used to how it drove/handled I didn't even need more power to whip past people off the York roundabout on the very short two lane bit :-)

That's sod-all, really..... 200 miles+ per day, every day.

You really appreciate not being in a pov. spec Focus under those circumstances.

We'll see how things go - it's a balance between how long I spend in the car and how long I spend training people. If I end up effectively just commuting in the Focus, it won't be so bad - but if I end up visiting 3 or 4 sites in a day, it'll be a major problem.

It's a bloody tool for work - does it really matter if it's not what you'd ideally like to drive?

I did over 500 miles, as in 250 miles there, mate buys car, 250 miles back with a quick break for lunch in one, last month.

No_problem_whatsoever.

No griping from either of the passengers either.

the rear screen is a square and the front screen button has a slight curve to it. also the wire mesh in the windscreen gives it away :)

I thought you were referring to Fords in general.

I had a dodgy pain in the knees once. The Doctor asked me if my weight stayed constant. I think she was trying to tell me something.

Same here. I was 115kgs (19 stone?) when i smashed one of my knees years ago playing rugby. It gave me grief for 15 years after until last year when I got fed up of being a fat bastard and lost nearly 5 stone.. now it's fine. The odd twinge but nothing more.

I think so, but you can see it - a very fine mesh which is visible when you look closely at the screen. You also get a strange 'lens-flare' alike effect from oncoming headlights at night.

Or you buy a German Torquemeister LuxoBarge (tm) and get the lot.

If you beat panels would you be happy with a glass hammer? It is probably going to be a large part of Steve's day. I only need to spend between 1 and 3 hours a day driving and I need to be happy or I hate a car. Would hate for it to be my office too in that situation.

Having said that, if I was going to be spending time driving for work on an allowance/expenses deal, as long as it fitted me as well as most Toyotas I've driven, then I could probably live with one.

What was the trick to losing it? Buying an MX5 and not fitting in it?

I've 'only' got two stone to shift, but it's being a right bugger...

Some on here prefer methods more "serious"

Hardly the same.

That aside, I didn't beat any panels on the Passat, I replaced them. :-P

So long as it gets him from A to B in relative comfort and isn't completely gutless, then so what?

I've been able to get comfy in most cars, even the initially uncomfortable ones, once I've been stuck with it for a while and kept tweaking the driving position.

Mk3 Golfs were the worst for this IM recent E.

I actually find it quite amusing, especially in the current financial climate where jobs aren't exactly falling off trees for a lot of people, how someone can get all indignant over the fact they've been given something as low-brow as a reasonably new Focus to drive around in.

And I'd have said this, as I believe I did albeit in a slightly different form, before I became unemployed; I was more than happy to drive about in the Astra that work gave me, and they're not exactly the most upmarket repmobile out there right now.

It stopped, it started... it never let me down.

In other words, it allowed me to get on with my job.

I was happy doing four hours plus a day in £450s worth of Ka for months a year or so ago, ffs.

As in, did it out of choice rather than necessity.

No air con, but it did have a radio / CD player, and that was just fine for what I needed to get the job done.

ButButBut aircon is an essential feature, you'll melt and/or die without it!

(well, the jelly babies in my car melted on the way back from Rome in July - I think that's the hottest my car's been)

"I lost 12% of my body weight on the new Cytotoxic program."

'Reasonable comfort' is debatable, given that I can barely walk after driving it back from Bristol this evening.

Well, I turned down another couple of interviews on the strength of the overall package offered - part of which was a car with a mongbox.

So long as I can order said car, I'll be happy.

If I can't I may well pull a doc's note on them.

As per my post of yesterday, I did a just over 500 mile round trip in a Focus Zetec recently... was more than comfortable enough really.

Genuine medical grounds for a mongbox are fine - maybe they'll get you an automatic Focus? :-P

Possibly not a good idea if you didn't mention an ongoing medical issue at the time of interview?

Most of the places I've been employed at in recent years have wanted me to sign a statement regarding my health as part of the interview process.