Test drive: Ford tries to keep S-Max fresh with hybrid tech

MPVs might be falling out of favour but Ford perseveres – with limited success

The Ford S-Max: prices starts from €43,442, with the ST-Line FHEV as tested from €48,822

Large multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) have slowly been diminishing in number in the face of a sales onslaught by seven-seat SUVs, but Ford continues to back the body type. It has not one but two big MPVs on sale: the larger Galaxy and the sportier-looking S-Max on test here.

This is a model that has been around since 2006 across two generations, and when it first arrived, it was designed to offer a more youthful MPV ...