Hi Noel,

The Ford Transit nine-seater is big and roomy and has lots of seats, but there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s a van – if you’re coming out of a ‘normal’ car it will feel big, sound noisy and be quite ponderous to drive. The 2007 S40 is a nice car but actually has the opposite problem to the Transit – it’s quite small, with surprisingly tight legroom in the front. Overall reliability is good but you have to watch for water pump and diesel particulate filter trouble, the 1.6 diesel needs a steady diet of high quality oil and they seem to develop problems with the ignition and central locking systems, too.