While I had for some time been secretly looking forward to getting inside a Ford S-Max, the day’s fun was rather overshadowed by a turn of events on the launch of the new-look, new-drive car.

We had a puncture – no that’s not right – a tyre that was beyond repair. In fact it was ripped to shreds on a narrow scenic lane with rather too many stones and sharp rocks for comfort – especially for the car.

We waited rather helplessly to be rescued in a very pretty village (having previously tried an amazing sealant kit which fills the tyre and gets the tyre pressure up to scratch, but which won’t work if the puncture is on the sidewall). We were bored and restless until a vision of loveliness in the form of a burly, hunky man came to our rescue. What is it about a man who knows what he’s doing, while doing what he knows so effortlessly? And what a huge jack it was as well! Even Paul was impressed with the proceedings.

Back to the car though, which was quickly fit for the road. Mouth now shut and tongue firmly away and off we went.

The S-max has been around for five years and while always popular, this new face-lifted version I feel sure will follow in the same footsteps. It has had some minor cosmetic surgery, but it was Ford’s PowerShift gearbox that really impressed me. Getting back into my MPV on the drive home I was struck at just how awful my conventional automatic was. Whirring through the gears in a strained fashion made me long for the smooth change that the PowerShift had given me – as did my passenger, irritable at the best of times but especially so in my lumbering vehicle.

So not only does the PowerShift gearbox give an amazingly smooth, yet responsive drive, (it does clever things with two clutches making the change from one gear to another almost seamless, much like VW’s DSG system) it also gives better fuel economy and reduced CO2 emissions.

This seven-seater vehicle still manages to look like a car and even with the seven seats up there’s still some luggage or shopping-bag room at the rear. The seats are occasional it has to be said, but great to have the option or to fold them away flat to provide a huge boot space.

My only slight gripe is the price tag (the range starts at £20,645), despite Ford offering their Blue Tag pricing system which has effectively meant that new cars coming out are cheaper that their predecessors. There are other cars out there who do the same thing but for less money such as the Peugeot 5008 and Citroen C4 Picasso.

However, if you like Ford’s looks (and the S-Max is undoubtedly a good-looking car), their reliably and predictability and need to occasionally cart around extra bodies, then this car with its super gearbox is worth a test drive.

My friend, who changes her car with the seasons, just got rid of her Boxster and BMW convertible, to be replaced by Mercedes SLK convertible. They got bored with their Toyota Prius and have replaced it with…you guessed it, the S-Max! Not sure how long this new addition will last, especially as they are already planning on treating themselves to a Porsche Cayenne. Interesting to see what she thinks though before a new car turns their heads!

Fords all-new C-max has many improvements on the old one – a great 1.6-litre Ecoboost petrol engine which gives you the pulling power of a diesel and is a joy to drive, not even taking into account its efficiency, great performance and modest outpouring of CO2 (159 g/km). There’s also an array of diesel engines on offer emitting even less CO2.

The Ecoboost petrol engine is amazingly quiet – I have to say that was one of the first things that struck me about this car – even when revved hard. Not because I’m a boy-racer, but just because it always take a bit of time for me to settle into a car. Goodness knows what my co-driver thought .

So there are a great many things going for this C-Max as well as the fact it would certainly enhance the appearance of your driveway. But it’s always the interior which I feel clinches the deal because, lets face it, that’s what you are going to be seeing and touching rather alot of. And it’s good!

Ford say they have put a huge amount of effort into the styling and quality on the inside, and I can’t disagree with them. The materials all have a high premium feel, especially the plastics and the look of the piano-black highlights, which also features rather heavily on the exterior. Ford pride themselves in using authentic material so the chrome is metal and not plastic. It does seem to be rather popular these days to have a “cockpit” style of cabin, and while this is the case here, it is not just limited to the drivers area but extends to the passenger side, so there is a balanced, equal feel to it which is set off so well with the stunning central console. Ford have teamed up with Sony to create a rather stunning looking audio system with hints of the Fiesta about it and so neatly placed from the steering wheel so that you don’t have to go searching for the controls.

The same can be said the for the ergonomically-placed gearstick. Very comfortable to use.

I think you can tell I like this car. Not just the looks and the feel, but the drive. We took the C-Max on some roads on the hills around Nice in the south of France which left me wishing I was home on the flat, featureless M25 rather than tearing round hairpin bends at speed. But despite any fears, it clung on with confidence and was definitely up to the challenge. It also went at a slower, more moderate pace by yours truly, just to prove that it could!

That was the situation I found myself in last night where Ford had kindly invited me to join them at the Mojo Honours List awards in EC1. I arrived at Moorgate tube station with hand-drawn map only to find that none of the road names coincided with what I had confidently sketched earlier.

Help was at hand in the form of a street map and a guy minding his own business standing next to it, who, when asked, took out his phone and searched the address for me. Not only was I struck at how kind and helpful this guy was, but the fact that when the map appeared on his phone he did the girlie thing (or at least I’m told it’s girlie, whereas I just think it’s the obvious thing to do) and turned his phone around so the map was pointing in the right direction!

Two myths in one thrown out the window. People are amazingly kind and helpful (I’m a great believer that what goes around comes around), and reading maps up-side-down is for those people just trying to be clever.

I walked up the red carpet into the awards with a spring in my step and not a care that all the paparazzi never even glanced in my direction!

And as for the awards evening? All rather bemusing but great fun with lots of oldies up there getting their awards. Made me feel young again. And my kids started today off well with a gift from Ford in the form of one of their iconic transit vans – scaled down of course!

So back to clambering into a Ford Ranger and my first thoughts being, who would buy such a monster, and my finishing thoughts were…rather nice if you have the matching lifestyle – and off my mind went yet again into fairy tale world of living another life. Or maybe I’m just fickle. Show me a bit of nice paint work and a pleasant car to drive and I can convince myself it’s what my life is missing. Mind you, husband would love it, not for any adventurous activities that he takes part in (because he doesn’t), but for the maleness of it all.

Once you’ve banished thoughts of those dusty trucks so prevalent in the Mid-West, with supped up wheels and men in cow boy hats, and actually driven one, I can understand the need for such a vehicle for certain businesses and lifestyles. And what makes it all the more appealing, setting it worlds apart from other 4 x 4s, is the fact that you can’t label this car as having kerb appeal or as a status symbol.

This is a true work horse, a dressed up truck with no illusions of grandeur, yet with a fair amount of comfort and one that’s easy to drive and manoeuvre, to the point where I kept forgetting I was driving a truck apart from when glimpsed in the huge wing mirrors!

See also our Focus RS first drive feature here

Ford are very proud of the Focus RS as a stunningly effective driver’s car, with good reason if the reviews are anything to go by (see our First Drive story here). Anything that gets Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar so animated must be pretty special. But Ford are also proud of the fact that they’ve been able to bring this car to the market at all, let alone with a £25,000 price tag, which is where our factory tour came in.

As if we needed any more reasons to be weary of our old chum The Credit Crunch, producing cars that enhance a brand’s image but don’t actually make any money is something manufacturers can no longer indulge in. Ford had to make sure that this new RS could be produced on the same line, at the same time and in the same factory as every other Focus. They couldn’t take cars off the line for ~any reason, or slow the line down to add extra components. Previous incarnations of the RS had to be whisked off to specialist suppliers for the “fast bits” to be fitted, which made the car expensive and slow to make. ~It was also a process that allowed quality issues to creep in because the process couldn’t be as accurately managed.

I was lucky enough to be asked by Ford to fly to Saarlouis in Germany with Richard Bremner for an article published in Autocar magazine. While doing the stills photography I also made the short video you can see above with the hope of showing what goes on behind the scenes in an ultra-modern car factory. It’s an awe-inspiring experience because of the sheer scale of the operation, although I’m always impressed by how calm and measured everything seems, despite that fact that 1,600 cars a day come out of this building!

Of course we missed the last flight back from Luxemboug and had to hire a rental car to hurtle back to the UK in time for work the next day, but that’s a story for another time…

Ford Anglias were two a penny when I was a girl – well at least £610, and were billed as the perfect family car. Even my parents had one – although I am far too young to remember of course!

You can just imagine it; father with a soft cloth, buffing and polishing of a Sunday morning and mother getting the children ready while making the sandwiches for the Sunday outing…

We used ours for holidays to Wales and Anglesey, and while I do have vague recollections of eating ice-creams and collecting cowry shells, our means of transport did pass me by. It couldn’t have been pleasant though, with three children in the back, one of them being the “child from hell”. My mother swears my middle brother (since left the country) ruined every family holiday. She now keeps calling my middle child by the “child from hell’s” name. Things don’t change, but at least we have a bigger car which avoids my little darlings being squashed together as we must have been in our Anglia.

Life did seem so much simpler then, as were the cars. Motorways were the new thing and this car, with its top speed of 80 mph, was just the ticket for those longer journeys.

The only safety feature that I could see in the Anglia I drove recently was a very baggy, hard-to-adjust seatbelt. I still have vivid memories of my mother pulling hers over her head so that she could reach the overflowing basket of goodies at her feet, from which she would constantly produce wonderful treats. And the lack of airbags and roll-over protection, while unthinkable in this day and age, does mean the pillars are slimline, allowing light to flood the cabin providing all-round, unimpeded visibility. There are no head restraints either, which enhances this open feeling. Very refreshing.

I was ready to have a few giggles at the car’s expense, but instead it was giggles of sheer delight. I was initially alarmed at the thought of using a choke but was saved any embarrassment as the car started first time. Then I was away – very gently through the gears but eventually up into fourth and 60 mph. I felt like the bees knees, despite the vague steering and brakes, and being overtaken by everyone else on the road. But what did I care?

It would be so much fun to have a car like this to potter around in. The kids would be mortified though – perhaps it might make them walk a bit more?

Mondeo’s don’t have a good image in my mind. I can only think of hire cars, salesmen and middle-aged, overweight, smoking, businessmen who look generally disappointed with life. And also an old boyfriend who I would have done anything for until he revealed his lack of driving abilities – in a Mondeo. I never saw him in the same way again!

While I’m quite a bossy mare and know what I want, I do sometimes like my men to take control, especially at the wheel. Knowing where they’re going, driving with purpose and certainty (not that women aren’t just as capable!). Either way I don’t expect to have to give a mini driving lesson to help them get their confidence back. All was lost that day, never to be regained. Funny how a small incident can alter your perception of people and things, with respect being very easy to loose but very hard to regain…

However, while it’s never been the same with said boyfriend and cars (now husband and cars), today’s image of the Mondeo has won me over after all these years.

Perhaps it’s the great drive, the space and the great look of this car that’s done it? The fact that it has an all-new optimised engine giving great mileage and low emissions is icing on the cake.

In my eyes the 2009 Mondeo ECOnetic has a near-ideal blend of looks, performance and driveability. We had the delights of an estate to sample and while sleek and gorgeous on the outside, the interior revealed a boot I could happily move into, and comfort levels far exceeding my sitting room. It was quiet too, unlike my sitting room.

It felt elegant, looked gorgeous and I could happily have driven away in it. To me this is a great family car, being able to accommodate adults, kids and oodles of baggage. A great one for turning up at the school gates (were I that sort of parent who sent their kids to a school where it mattered).

It wouldn’t be out of place in any setting, town or country. And as for husband being allowed to use it for his work car – well, from thinking it would be far too good for him, I’ve realised that’s the whole point: if you’re driving day in, day out and need to carry loads of kit, there can’t be many better places to be.

Boys and Their Toys

See also our Focus RS Factory Tour Blog here

I’ve recently launched myself headlong into the dubious world of forums, of the motoring variety.

My experiences so far have been pretty unpleasant and occasionally amusing. People seem to think they can write whatever they like with little regard to how it might affect the person it’s aimed at…In all fairness to them, it was rather like waving a red rag to a bull, so perhaps they weren’t completely to blame and they were, as a far as a could tell, all men. Need I say more?

The object of their attack? Me, in the all new, singing and dancing Ford Focus RS. It was white, with a huge grille, spoiler and wheels and to me looked exactly what it was, a boy-racer with more brawn than brain – sound familiar lads?

I happened to be at a media test day and this was one of the cars on offer. Not something I would normally aspire to drive, but I managed to have a great time in it and gave a first drive review and video, which, as ever, was driven by practicalities.

But the Focus RS isn’t about practicalities so the video went down like a lead balloon. It did, however, give those fiends something to bitch and rant about – namely me and how boring, middle-aged, unfit looking, small (actually referred to as a dwarf), hair too short, can’t say my ‘rs’, possible lesbian, likes wearing flat shoes (obviously haven’t seen my collection of heels) and what is a ‘bint’?

My skin is getting thicker, but I’m working hard on it with that constant mantra in my head ‘I am what I am and it’s alright with me’.

The moral of this story? Don’t go looking in places you don’t belong. I think I’ll stick to letter-writing, and family hatchbacks.