Ford S-MAX - Which family car? £18k budget, second hand. - GettyBB

Hello all,

Looking to purachse a larger second car - sniffing around the S-max, Tiguan, Tucson, Hr-V/similar

2 adults, 2 kids and a dog. Mainly town driving, with extended motorway jaunts during half-terms, etc (400 miles approx), during the week, however, I doubt it will do 100 miles.

There's a glut of second hand diesels out there, should I be avoiding those?

Would fancy a bit of power and economy, if that's possible.

With thanks :)

Ford S-MAX - Which family car? £18k budget, second hand. - SLO76
All modern diesels come with a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) which requires regular distance use at 40-50mph to regenerate otherwise you’ll suffer problems. At your usage it would be best to stick with petrol but large SUV’s are unpopular and thus thin on the ground.

Ford do the S-Max with a Yamaha designed 1.5 Ecoboost petrol or 2.0 Mazda designed Ecoboost both of which are excellent but the later tends to come with Ford’s troublesome Powershift automatic gearbox which should be avoided.
Ford S-MAX - Which family car? £18k budget, second hand. - GettyBB

I appreciate this, thanks - firmly puts diesel to bed. I shall have a look at some 1.5 ecoboosts