Best way to buy a Ford Smax
 

If I wanted a new Smax what would be the best way to buy one? This may sound like a strange question but I have never bought a brand new 'normal' car (only Scoob when it had a waiting list in 1998 and the new RS4 when launched)

Is it better to go to a Ford dealer and haggle really hard? Or perhaps try one of the car supermarkets that tend to have loads of these kind of cars?
I have a close relative who is a Ford employee so I can use his discount. But would it be more cost effective to use this discount or try a supermarket?

Any idea what to expect in terms of a discount (not employee related) on a car like this?

I'm thinking of the 2litre tdci titanium fully loaded jobby.

Thanks

A friends mum has one of these.. fully loaded in titanium grey with every toy known to man on it...she was talking of selling it a while back.. as it was now too big for just her (lost her husband)..

I can check if she's still selling if you want?

edited to add:

Sorry she's not selling it anymore

I looked on broadspeed.com to get an idea of discount prices for a friends mum who was buying a new Ka. Turned out the dealer offered the best deal by some margin. I would get a feel for nearly new prices and what the online brokers are offering and head to the dealer with a percentage in mind.

Thanks guys.

Must say I'm shocked by the end user reviews of the smax. I read about 30 on the what car website and about 50% of them were complaining about reliability including some very dangerous brake and engine issues.

I know all cars have issues but I've never read so many complaints.

I think its put me off the car.

Its a ford.

There ****e.

Buy something decent...

We have the Galaxy (pretty much the same thing) and its been excellent, cant fault it, we bought a nien month old one as they couldnt supply a new one due to demand for the tdci engine, quoted six months delivery. We got ours from Ford direct, sight unseen and it was immaculate. We have had it 2 years and about 20,000 miles, far better than the Sharan it replaced, drives really well, does 40 plus to the gallon, comfy, roomy, versatile and even quite good fun for a big lump, ok I would never consider one if we didnt need one but I dont hate driving it like I did the Sharan.

Remember people generally log on to car websites to moan, a lo of these are company cars as well and I find people treat them worse and as they havent spent their own money are more apt to moan, if you buy a new one and it does have a problem theres a three year warranty to fall back on. Also, a lot of the issues listed will be the ealier cars, its now a mature model so faults will have been ironed out as happens with all cars over their lifespan.

Check the reviews in Autocar, consistently the S-Max and Galaxy are the top MPV type things. PS I am no Ford Fanboy but I have to concur that they make some pretty good cars nowadays.

A mate of mine has one.
Very well specced and lovely to drive.
He's got 4 kids under 9 and regularly goes to Derbyshire and to Cornwall with all of them in it, roof box etc, piled the mileage on in the last 18 months with no issues whatsoever.

Thanks.

I know its consistently scored top rating with all the mags for the mpv segment, that's why I was looking at it.

Maybe you're right in that more people will come on the web to complain rather than praise. I was just a little taken aback by the number though. A lot of those complaining seemed to imply that they found the dealers very difficult to deal with regarding warranty issues.

Anyway, I won't dismiss it out of hand then and do some more investigation.

Thanks

Drive The Deal had some pretty good discounts on them recently. But they had some stunningly good deals on the 7 seat Volvo XC90 too which meant the Volvo was a lot cheaper than the Ford.

I've seen lease deals at 299+vat & also 26k for a brand new one.
Pity i'm not a fan of the drive of them.
If i was after a kid chariot then the s-max would be up there.

my sis has a diesel galaxy, in 7 yrs and 120k not much has gone wrong, iirc a steering rack, and recently the turbo went (although she can't remember when the oil was last change, she thinks it was a couple of years or so!!!:Whatever_) so apart from her neglect, it has been pretty reliable.

26 grand sounds good for a new one, these were on our list when we got the Galaxy but couldnt justify the additional expense and the fact it was thirstier, slower and heavier, its the least offensive of the big off roaders though.

They had XC90s for £22k when I was looking a few weeks back. Luckily it turned out not to be twins ;)