First Drive: Ford S-Max Vignale | Can Ford Be Luxurious?
Oh yes it can
An abundance of leather, air-cushioned seats, pedal shifters, and built in sun shades aren’t things you’d normally associate with a Ford model. I sure didn’t until somewhere around last year when Ford launched the
, only for it to disappear into an archive deep inside my memory again. Another reminder was needed for me to get into one, one given by Ford when they asked me to review the S-Max Vignale.
As with anything on this site, when something is unique in someway, I want to give it a go. Biggest question I had was if Ford could really pull off the luxury-game proper. A brand mostly associated with interiors that are of the budget-level quality, suddenly moving towards luxury? Well it’s not that sudden really, a while back Ford offered the Ghia label and that did exactly the same. Or did it? I couldn’t really find any clear differences other than the name and some marketing mumbo-jumbo.
About the S-Max as a car I can be relatively short: this is an MPV that offers a better drive than the average hot hatch, especially when paired with the 240hp, 2-liter engine I was driving. Often I found myself taking roundabouts and corners quicker than would be considered acceptable, especially while carrying around offspring or old people in the back. Good thing Ford changed the characteristics of the engine and automated transmission to offer a more docile drive, else this S-Max would be a worthy competitor to boy-racers and their tuned Honda Civics permanently parked at your local McDonalds.
Putting the S-Max Vignale into perspective properly wasn't as easy as I thought. It isn't a German premium, it isn't a budget car (this specimen was almost 70k!), and it ins't claiming to be something it isn't. Then what is it?? Exactly what the guys over at Ford told me, this car really is the top-finish on offer for their models. It digs into a niche only brands like Ford can do, creating a sort of anonymous luxury. No one needs to know you spend all this money and they never will, unless they take a closer look and see all the special logos. Or when you tell the fellow dads at hokey that your MPV uses a Focus ST engine, and not a common-rail diesel like theirs.
Ford truly offers a new level of refinement within their lineup with the Vignale label. Of course, some little things leave room for improvement. Ford promised noise-cancelling techniques that block annoying noises, yet I couldn't seem to silence my passengers. Nor could I get annoyed at the infotainment system, they actually managed to make it work with the new version. In fact, they made this car work. They really did.
