Richmond

Don't mention it. I have used the rack with a ladies' bike, no problem, and with my kids' bikes (I think that they're 20" wheels), no probs. The clamps on the end of the arms are rotatable on the arms, so one can be clamped onto the diagonal cross bar, or onto a down tube or saddle post if you wish. I can see that a really small bike might pose a problem, but you could probably solve it by swapping the shortest arm for a longer one so that it can reach down to the small bike sitting in the channel nearest the car on the shelf. If you buy one and leave it on the car when not in use, either take the arms off (the longer one interferes with the rear wiper) or make sure that the clamps on the free ends are done up, otherwise the clamp bolts unscrew and drop out. I bought mine from The Roofbox Co (www.roofbox.co.uk), who are pretty helpful (they replaced my lost clamp bolt for nothing).

Sounds exactly like a duff coil (I had one on my V6 a few months ago).

Glad that you're enjoying it. What is the significance of the passage I've quoted? presumably all Galaxys with the same box, tyres, final drive etc hit 100mph at 3600 in 5th, no?

I have an Atera bike rack which can take 4 bikes (with the extension kit) and is very secure. The bike wheels are secured in channels on a shelf which folds up when the rack is not in use and arms attached to the rack frame and the bike frames hold the bikes steady; the bikes don't hang from prongs on the rack. The rack hooks over the top and bottom edges of the rear door of the car (no straps). The number plate and lights are visible when the rack is in place, loaded or not, so no lighting board is needed. The rack can be left in place on the car when not in use with very little inconvenience; the rear door is heavier to open and needs to be lowered down and rear view is slightly compromised.

That means nothing, and cannot be used as an excuse for selling unsatisfactory goods. I would be very suspicious of any dealer offering cars (or anything else) for sale on that basis; it smacks of a lack of professionalism. Anyway, no decent dealer would quibble about sorting out a problem which arose within 24 hours of purchase, 'sold as seen' or not. If you do use a dealer, you might want to use a different one.

Ho, ho. <_<

I also used a laptop with an inverter to play DVDs on the move. The inverter plugged into the cig lighter in the boot, no problems with overheating (it came from Maplins). The kids were wholly unimpressed, possibly because we insisted that they used headphones, and the power output of the laptop is only barely adequate to drive to headphones audibly. Also, one of them is not a great traveller, and watching made him feel worse. For long trips, I'm a big fan of story tapes. If you pick the right ones, everyone can enjoy them. Only useful if there's no cricket on the radio, obviously.

On the asumption that I may not be the only one who's this stupid, have you checked that they're not switched to 'permanently on'? My apologies if you find the suggestion insulting.

Maximum respect, Fredt. I take my hat off to you.

On mine, the CC disengages when I change gear, I assume in response to disengaging the clutch. Overrevving is not a problem, although I suppose it could be, depending on revs at the set speed, but the revs drop very quickly when the clutch is disengaged.

Hard luck. BTW, if you didn't know that you had a puncture until you were told in France, how do you know that you got it in Belgium?

It's a good enough (much less than 2" gap but not perfect) fit around the back of the handbrake. I believe that different versions of the Galaxy have a slightly different layout here.

Fredt obviously took advantage of his recent holiday from this forum to move to another planet. Back on earth, Fredt, we still have cars which fill up with crap a matter of seconds after being emptied of it. A box, floor mounted or not, is no use. It will instantly fill up with crap and then more crap will start to lie about all over the car like it does now, and you'll have a box full of crap in the way.

I instinctively knew that washing your car was a bad idea; thanks for explaining why, Ivor.

Not in France; all you need are the headlamp convertors (according to the RAC).

Now that is a good trick. The new law doesn't seem to have made the slightest difference to the number of morons using (hand held) mobiles while driving. Interestingly (?) all the research I've seen reported suggests that it makes little or no difference whether the 'phone is hands free or not; it seems to be the distraction which causes accidents rather than the physical difficulty of holding the 'phone. Why speaking on a 'phone should be different from chatting to your passenger I don't know; perhaps it's the topics discussed and the perceived need to listen carefully to a business call.

I don't mind the clock being where it is, although it seems an odd place to put it given that it could have been put a bit closer to the driver (of the car to which it belongs, rather than of the one in front).

Welcome back Fredt, from one who is pleased to get 23 mpg. :D

The arm rest on the right in the photo' looks as if it's a push fit; are there suitable holes into which you might push it? (Try to avoid receiving red squares when answering this question.)

I'm sorry, but I still want a Bristol.

IIRC there was a thread on this subject some time ago, presumably a search will find it. IIRC again, the conclusion was that it was impractical to convert the lap belt to a 3 point belt.

Admirable, but the Galaxy isn't exactly made in the UK and Ford isn't exactly a UK company. They do provide some jobs in the UK, of course. I'm not sure how you buy a new, genuinely UK family car these days. Can't even get a TVR, it's owned by a Russian. It'll have to be Morgan (not strictly speaking a family car) or a Bristol. I wish.

I leave mine on permanently. No ill effects so far (18m+).

Thanks for the explanations about pre-registered. There's something in there that doesn't make sense, but I can't put my finger on it (I'm sure that the explanations are correct, but it seems a nonsensical system).

I think it's only the wire, not the whole MAF, that gets to 2k C!