We had a 2.0 diesel Galaxy with the Powershift gearbox and it was a lovely tow car, we didn't have any problems with it. We liked the car and we are now thinking of getting an S Max with the same engine and gearbox. This engine/gearbox setup is used on Mondeo, Kuga, Galaxy and Smax so there are lots of them about so parts etc should be available if needed.
There has been a discussion on here recently about different auto box systems and reliability so it might be worth looking up that thread if you haven't read it yet.
If you are looking at a used car I would check the service history to make sure the gearbox oil has been changed at the right mileage.
My neighbour had a 2014 s max power shift that was less than 4 years old and the gearbox failed, he was quoted 5k in a back street garage or 7 k at fords, he ended up limping it into a car super market an getting shut, he was told in the back street garage that it was a comon fault
I can say I had a manual s max from new in a 2007, what a brilliant car it was I had it for 4 years and would of got another if our company car policy hadn’t changed
Quote: Originally posted by Rob and Tina on 29/4/2019
If you are looking at a used car I would check the service history to make sure the gearbox oil has been changed at the right mileage.
Many of the reported problems with the powershift box appear to be the result of this gearbox service being missed. I believe it should be done every 3 years or 37.5K miles, but it is not part of the standard service and costs about £250.
When my daughter was looking for a S max or Galaxy with the powershift box she eventually chose a manual because so few of the automatics had proof of the gearbox service. I would also add that the interiors of some of the privately owned cars we looked at had been badly abused and the hire cars were often better.
Had one, towed very well. If anything a bit soft on the back end but still stable and pulled no issue.
The powershift issues are often miss reported, the first version was poor but the later ones are very good, but, and its a big but, it must be serviced. The oil is not oil but a very complex fluid that has a shelf life. As long as it is serviced it will not fail. People skip the service as the fluid is about £250 a tin.
Before I bought my insignia I was looking at Ford's Kuga (uses same gearbox as S'Max) as a tow car with the powershift box so the wife could drive it too. I noticed a Kuga at a local car sales lot when passing & dropped in for a look.
The Kuga was a manual so whilst there we took a look around, at this point one of the sales guys came out to us (as they do), oldish guy turned out to be very informative. I mentioned to him that we'd popped in to look at the Kuga but I was looking at automatics. "Wouldn't touch any ford powershift if I was you" was his reaction, "we had one here once cost us a bloody fortune as it kept coming back under warranty. Ended up giving the customer his money back. We'll never have another on this lot" he stated.
Hence I bought a manual car instead.
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Topic: Ford Smax Auto Powershift
via mobile 29/4/2019 at 8:51pm
