Ivor_E_Tower

Don't know about the lacquer but I touched up the scratches on mine (centre caps and wheels themselves) with some Humbrol silver model paint that I have left over from my days of assembling car kits. The colour match is not good, but it looks better than the dark coloured scratches! So far it is standing up to the weather and brake dust OK.

I agree with Charles. Check those first.

Don't know but I bought a pair of stick-on rotating circular blind-spot mirrors from Woolworths for a quid last year during one of their clear-outs. They don't half make reverse parking easy too!

The key needs coding but you can do it yourself - try the search function again!

I can recommend Martin's Tyres - have used them before. They are in West End, just off the Bagshot Road, a few miles from me!

Maybe it's been in an accident or had a failue that kept it off the road for a few weeks? Vehicles like this are usually kept running all hours of the day and night, so the low-ish age and mileage for a taxi does seem a bit odd. I know that some hire co's sell all accidnet-damaged vehicles ASAP as they can't afford to keep them lying around not being used.

Most braking effort is usually done at the front, something like 75% to 25% on the rear. - Depends on speed of course; at lower speeds the balance is more even between front and rear since there is less weight transfer (inertia) of load to the front when you hit the brakes.

It depends on the tyre size. 215/55 R16 should be reinforced but not all sizes need to be.

We covered the topic of rear pads a few months back. For some reason, the rears on the Galaxy seem prone to wearing out before the fronts, which is a little strange but just another quirk we have to get used to.

...and don't forget to check that your brake lights are working.

Don't forget that the Gal is quite high-geared. Acceleration will be all but non-existant in 6th, not very wonderful in 5th and should be acceptable in 4th, but the payback is in the mpg figures, something that you may have gathered by now if you've read some of the other threads on this forum! The Mondeo has a newer design of engine, is lighter and has a much smaller frontal area so needs to push much less air out of the way when moving!

My fronts appear to be wearing quite evenly. You can get the alignment checked at a tyre fitters. Could be that suspension wear is causing odd wear patterns after the mileage that you've done. I had a Rover 820 in the 1990's that wore its front tyres quite evenly, but once it passed 100,000 miles the wear pattern changed and I put it down to suspension bush wear. I sold the car rather than spending a fortune on suspension bushes, new driveshafts and a few other expensive items that needed doing.

Do what Kalel did - buy a top-up charger, usually a "normal" charger with a switch that changes it into top-up mode. I have one that I bought from Argos some years ago. It is quite safe to charge a battery whilst still connected to the vehicle's electrical system so long as you observe a few simple precautions, one of which is don't charge the battery too rapidly, and a top-up charger of course does not charge rapidly! Good luck.

Welcome, sounds like a bit of a rough ride so far! The price you've paid seems very good - certainly when compared to prices in the Surrey/Hampshire area where I live (oh that I was still in Wiltshire....). Check your tyre pressures to sort out the noise etc - the Gal runs with pressures that are fairly high by today's standards, and also make sure that you re-check the pressures every few weeks to make sure that you know if, or how much, air escapes. Don't forget to check the spare too. Performance should not feel disappointing - maybe under-inflated tyres are contributing to this disappointment, but also the TDI engines are known to take a while to reach peak performance, so don't thrash it too much just yet!

I think Purple has "got ya"!!!

Not sure about your last one "without the wheels" - bet the ride was a bit firm!! Lower profile tyres ie 17inch not 16inch but same overall diameter will tend to give a harder ride, as the sidewalls are shorter and will be stronger so flex less. Some of the ride comfort in any car is due to the tyre walls flexing, so the less sidewall height, the harsher the ride. You may also find that the seat cushion material has been optimised for the 16inch wheels and that it is not "in tune" with the 17inch ones, although in practice I doubt that this will make much difference. Also, steel wheels tend to give a better ride than alloys even for the same diameter. Don't know why, but they just do. Maybe a materials expert could comment?

Worth complaining to Virgin too as they have sold you a car not really suited for purpose - a family vehicle should be fitted with a gearbox that lasts for more than 2 years and 16,000 miles. Good luck - keep us posted.

Its telling you - prepare to visit your dealer and possibly spend loads of money for a fix (depending if you have warranty cover or not). Display flashing for about 15 seconds when you go to start up is a warning that you have at least one fault with the aircon.

Standard reply - just disconnect your car battery for about 20 minutes, re-connect and keep your fingers crossed that it will sort itself out......

B) :D B)

..or if you press the top of the "7" down, as he goes past you, you read "Got Ya"!!

No, but I think his dealer has!

Aircon compressor is under the bonnet and is belt driven - by the same "poly-Vee" belt that drives the alternator etc. The pulley turns all the time that the engine is running, but there is an electro-magnetic clutch inside the the compressor that determines whether or not it is "working" - maybe you still have left out the fuse that protects this clutch?

Find an independent aircon specialist instead.

I think you will find that Belgium warranty, like most of Europe, is 24 months only, meaning that he's about 5 months out of warranty cover. Bad luck and all that......