Ivor_E_Tower

The windscreen is only a small percentage of the glass in the Galaxy; I would not bother changing it - anyway I am not sure that you can get an athermic one

The climate control buttons may be small and almost hidden being so low down, but basically I never touch them. Once you set the temperature you require (should be able to work that out within a few weeks of driving the car), it's "fit and forget". Mine is left on Auto and 20 deg C except when I have to de-ice or de-mist the front screen, and with heated glass that takes mere minutes, after which I just hit the "auto" button again. Cup holder location...you think you have problems in the Gal.......in the first-shape Ford Focus, Ford initially intended to mount the cupholder just above the inertia switch fuel cut-off. In the event of spillage of liquids, the car would have stopped dead. Fortunately they were persuaded to relocate the switch. Car designers may be clever people, but some of them don't possess much intelligence

OK...here we go...

I bet that will be far too depressing for me to use :-( I still have every payslip I have ever received and every bank statement from when I opened my account in the late 1970's. I know that since having kids, it appears that each year a greater percentage of my income disappears as tax before I get to see it (I dream of being a higher-rate tax-payer!) and I can still remember the days when VAT was 8%.

Yes, but they were on it when I bought the car.....suspect that they were fitted by the supplying dealer. Didn't take any photos today, maybe tomorrow I'll have a go (and get strange looks from my colleagues if I do it in the works car park at lunch-time???)

..and "Econ" turns the aircon off, although the system will still try to maintain the temperature by regulating the amount of heat coming into the car. Best to always leave the system on "auto" so that the aircon system seals stay lubricated.

Depends on what you mean by a service. At the very least get the oil changed and the brakes checked over, look for split driveshaft gaiters etc. Cars deteriorate fast if left unused

Time to post this again??? Do I need to go outside tomorrow with the camera again to take more pics of the rear flaps, maybe from behind the car this time?

Thanks for the wishes. Maybe the new pads are slightly oversize for the callipers, and grinding a fraction of a mm off them would stop them from binding? I had this "problem" in my first car many years ago. Fortunately I dealt with a one-man outfit and I drove straight there, he took the offending pad out and ground a bit off whilst I waited and I was on my way again in under half an hour

My old Scenic is still on the original rear tyres after 8 1/2 years. There's still plenty of tread left after about 45000 miles but they show signs of cracking on the surface of the sidewalls. Last time I needed tyres for the Gal, I stuck Avons on the front. Around

Why? Have you bought some fuel at a Tesco or Morrisons? ^_^

Is it just me, or since the latest revamp to the site , can nobody see any of the images in this thread anymore?

The aircon should work if the outside temp is above about 4 deg C, not 10. The system is variable so doesn't provide really chilled air unless the outside/interior is baking. It's too clever by half.....

The new Gal is apparently selling ahead of expectations, and the S-Max even more so! However with no spare wheel/tyre I wouldn't get one even if I had the money. Maybe I've been unlucky but of the several punctures I have had over the past few years, I've really needed a proper wheel/tyre in order to continue driving.....and what happens if one of your tyres gets shredded by debris at 6:00pm on a Saturday? Will be a long wait until 8:30am on Monday to buy another

Noooooo!!!! I get error 5 about once every 18 months....just unplug the wiring multiplug from the CD changer, wait a couple of minutes and then plug it back in. Should fix the problem straight away. I think last time, this is what flattened my battery after the car was unused for 5 days whilst I was away on business Edit - and the link posted above seems to have been hijacked to a suspicious search engine......

I've never seen or come across any protectors for the Mk II; the reason usually given for non-availability is that the lenses are plastic, not glass, and therefore almost impossible to break by flying stones etc

I tried the red skin and....... make your own humorous reply up that involves either tomatoes or cowboys and indians.... On another note, please remove the spurious apostrophe that has crept into the "Auto's" heading. Marks and Spencer got taken to task for the same crime just before last Christmas......

You don't need the old MOT or V5 to have a new MOT done. You need an MOT to tax the car, but it only needs to be valid (like the insurance) on the day that the new tax starts. If your insurance and MOT run out on 2 March, you can still re-tax the car on 1 March. Good luck with the MOT, I always find it a real nail-biting time. Mine was done in January and the garage kindly changed for free one of the rear indicator bulbs as they thought that it wasn't sufficiently orange! Reward at last for being a loyal customer

There are lots of FredT's about, plenty of guys whose surname starts with T and whose first name is Fred. I'm still here too although I don't spend as long on this forum as I used to; trying to cut down on the amount of time I spend at the computer......

Almost the first thing I did when we moved into our present house 11 years ago was appeal on the council tax banding ... got it reduced one band with no hassle. Very quick and easy, local valuation officer comes round, compares your house to others in the same area and recent selling prices. You then get a letter with their verdict and if applicable, they contact the local council and you get a rebate and revised instalment booklet :-)

the 2.5 is a Volvo 5-cylinder engine - just wish that Ford would fit the D5 diesel version to the Galaxy - 185bhp would be fun in an MPV !

From memory, phone Ford Warranty up and get them to transfer their record of the vehicle into your name. IIRC I did this and told them that the car was 4 months overdue for a service when I bought it - they just told me to get it serviced ASAP and the warranty would be OK ...and then the A/C packed up and it must have cost Ford about a grand to fix it.....

I feel greatly honoured.... ....but not sure that I spend sufficient time here to censor the worst of the posts. I cannot access the site at work except occasionally during my lunch-break (when I'm not on e-bay etc etc)

fingers crossed.. last Thursday the gales were bad enough - I had to drive with a colleague from Hampshire to Leeds and back for a meeting. Passed 2 lorries with their roofs peeled open by the wind, like sardine cans. Suspect if it had been today, we wouldn't have made it. So far, fence down at back of house (it belongs to neighbours), too dark to see if any damage has been sustained by the house, so fingers crossed.....

There is also this one (which I didn't take, unlike the waterborne one of Concorde above).... This regularly gets posted on the internet due to someone having a good sense of humour, and judging the position of the door just right........