Richmond

Roofbox also do dog bags, which might be OK. No idea about prices of the mmgguards thing.

I think it means that it might be in any car at any time, but when you try to find it, it either changes into something else or buggers off. I believe that Ford dealers now employ only quantum mechanics. They might be working on your car, they might not, you'll never know except by the traces they leave (oil on the seats, a large bill). Of course, because of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, they're never quite sure what they're doing.

May not be what you need, but have a look at http://www.roofbox.co.uk/index.html and http://www.mmgguards.co.uk

It's hard to see how they can have an effect, but fluid dynamics is (are?) a weird business and it's not inconceivable that they make some tiny difference. I remain sceptical. I should have said '... are supposed to improve performance/economy ...'. Later... I've now read Nimrod's links and find nothing to reduce my scepticism. I see that an effect of the air bleed gadget may be to reduce engine braking (as revs drop more slowly on lifting off the accelerator); perhaps the Galaxy has one fitted as standard, as the lack of engine braking took me a few weeks to get used to and still catches me out sometimes. While we're on the subject, what about the old favourite of adding a bit of water to the petrol to improve fuel economy?

I think that these turbulence inducing gadgets improve economy/performance simply by mixing the air and fuel more thoroughly. This gives quicker and more complete combustion. I am sceptical that this makes any measurable difference on a modern car in which the fuel is burnt very efficiently anyway.

I'm not sure that there's anything wrong with them. When reverse is engaged they beep (once on mine, I think) whether or not there's anything near. They then do their thing, beeping away as necessary until you go over a certain speed (15 mph IIRC, but probably varies from car to car). Once I set off, I find that as I drive down the road with parked cars on either side and a single lane for traffic between them, I get beeps from the front as I pass parked cars. Do yours behave differently? They can be switched on and off with the switch on the central console, as you probably know.

Is it possible to get 2 kids+driver in a Smart car (safely and legally)? I assume not.

Sounds interesting, but there must be better ways to spend your hols. My experience of French mechs (more than I'd like, thanks to driving around France a lot in an MGB) is that they are more skilled than their GB counterparts but can be a little slapdash. For example, one rebuilt the alternator for me (how many UK garage mechs could/would do that?), but failed to tighten the pulley nut properly so that the threads were stripped a few hundred miles later. Resulted in a pleasant day in Pontarlier (very impressive modern stained glass in the pretty old church, well worth a visit) and a hire car home.

I thought that you spent most of your time accelerating in a diesel, in an effort to reach the legal limit before journey's end. (I know that this is not true, by the way.)

The blue envelope indicates air mail. That's how your posts arrive on the site so quickly.

True, but if you want to go quickly (and quietly?), rather than pull a caravan or a hot dog stand, the V6 wins hands down (and in wallet constantly). You may need to drive the V6 a bit more, but it does go quickly. By the way, I think that the diesel develops max torque at lower rpm than the V6, not the other way around, and that the max torque of the V6 (according to Ford's website) is 196 ft lb, not 176 ft lb.

Sounds like the ABS is misbehaving, as you obviously realise; the correct operation of ABS sounds and feels quite dramatic, and it may be that yours is operating before the wheels lock. There have been problems with sensors malfunctioning; search for the threads. Dirt seemed to be a problem IIRC. One would expect your garage to have found this fault (if that's what it is), but it seems that your average Ford spanner monkey can't find his arse with both hands (other than any who contribute to this forum, obviously).

Sounds like a good wheeze. Any ideas where to buy h'lamp protectors? I found some on the web for

Depends what you mean by 'driven sensibly'. I would struggle to acheive 26 mpg in my V6, over a mixture of town driving and motorway driving. If you stick to the legal limit on the m'way, you should get 26 mpg, but if not, and around town, fat chance. I got about 24.5 mpg (according to the trip computer) over about 400 miles of almost entirely m'way driving last w/e. If you're going to drive the V6 sensibly enough to achieve 26 mpg, you might as well put up with the performance of the diesel, which seems perfectly respectable, and benefit from the higher residual value (if what Ivor says is correct, which it probably is). To enjoy the V6 you have to stop caring about mpg! I can't compare running costs. In 18 months (and about 12 000 miles) with a now nearly 2.5 year old V6, I have paid about

It's a thought. I can see why you might want to up the performance (although the V6 is fairly brisk for a MPV), but why do you want to make it noisier? I presume that reduced baffling in the exhaust leads to better exhausting of the cylinders leads to slightly improved performance, but the difference must be very small. There must be more cost effective ways to improve performance.

I've given up even thinking about petrol consumption; it's too painful. In the past, I tried to compare the fuel consumption with and without AC on (pretty unscientific ones) and I couldn't see any difference. I'm sure that there is one, but hey, 24 mpg or 23.5 mpg, who cares?

The CC system does seem to be ill conceived and confusing. However, in practice I run it on AUTO all the time and it seems to work OK and kepp the temp where I want it. The only time I don't use AUTO is when a window is open in which case I run it on ECON, and occasionally in cold, dry weather I run it on ECON.

I assume that Nimrod uses the skateboard when he's not in hurry but still wants to overtake diesel Galaxies. By the way, what effect does LPG have on performance (of the car)?

Poor bugger. If only he'd been a dog lover.

How often should the aircon be topped up, and how often fully serviced? I had naively assumed because the aircon is original equipment and requires regular servicing, it would be on the service schedule; silly me.

Ivor, are you sure that your reply isn't intended for the 'Unexpected horn' thread? If you leave the car door open you can hear if the parking sensor beeps when you move your hand toward each sensor, can't you? I'm sure I did just that to check that all was well after I'd reversed over a friends retaining wall, as you do, and dislodged one of the sensors (it survived the ordeal better than the wall did).

They are fairly sensitive, so if you move a small object, such as a hand, toward each in turn, the system should be activated (provided that it's switched on, of course).

It gives you somewhere to hang the carrier bags. Warning squares all round, I think.

I'd have thought it's more likely that the poodle would burst on hitting your head, leaving you with a rather unusual Davy Crockett hat and a big dry cleaning bill, rather than decapitiate you. Still, neither result is really what you want.

There was an English court decision a few years ago which decided that a string of faults in a new car did not require that it be replaced or the unfortunate owner be refunded, despite the Sale of Goods Act. The interpretation of 'merchantable quality' and 'fit for the purpose' (or whatever the law says) was very narrow and makes it very difficult to achieve a refund or a replacement. No harm in trying, 'though.