Taliska

If you've disks all round - always leave in gear - simple. In fact, why not leave all cars in gear when parked! A few days after I got my Audi, I left it with my wife at her parents' house whose drive was on a slope. I then went off on business via aeroplane. Came back home after a week to a wife who admitted that the car had rolled down the drive, bashed through the iron gates and had sat in the middle of a busy road. She'd gone off to dealers to get the scrapes all fixed so it wouldn't look quite so bad. When she told me I could do nothing but laugh - probably much to her relief - couldn't see any marks either, the garage had done a really good job! Seen a few grounded cars in my time especially in car parks on odd angles! It happens once - you learn very quickly! Taliska

If there are really good deals to be had, then it's most likely to be on Galaxys as Ford ships more than Seat (probably VW too - anyone know?) and there's sometimes plenty of stock lying around (quite a few in a compound near Marchwood, Southampton). When I was looking in Sept / Oct last year, cheap 115 bhp Galaxys were a plenty and boy were they moving what stock they had fast! You have to be happy with your dealers - Seat dealers are often few and far between so choice can be more limited - if you get a dud one, you may be stuck with them for a long while if you want to use an 'approved' dealer. True the Alhambra is better spec'ed for the money than the others. At the end of the day, it's your money and you buy what you want from whom you most feel comfortable buying it from. All the best... Taliska

While firkling through the cans of oil at Halfords, I'm fairly sure that I saw a warning on the back of the fully-synth long-life Castrol (VW 506.01?) saying that it shouldn't go in engines requiring VW505.01. Hummm... Taliska

May be of interest... Halfords reply to my question about their (incorrect) advice...

Definitely agree Howard about the parking sensors - very, very useful! Taliska

Hi, We went for the Ghia 115bhp TDi import in Oct at 17600 - UK dealer wanted well over 20K (I forget how much exactly as it was not going to happen). I knew the 130bhps were coming along, but couldn't easily get hold of one at a decent price. Umm'ed and ahh'ed a bit then decided that a fully loaded cheap 115 was the best option for me all round. I still don't know whether the 130s are significantly 'better' than the 115s - someone will definitely have an opinion out there. The 115 seems to go fast enough and performs well enough for me and has acceptable consumption. The rotating front seats seemed like a good idea to me too - have only used it once to have a play (it's not exactly picnicing season yet!) - only warning is... if you swivel the front seats round and have child-locks on in the back - getting out is entertaining for everyone, including onlookers! :angry: Enjoy shopping for your car! Taliska

I bought mine down the road from Motorpoint at Ian Shipton in Burton on Trent. Couldn't believe how easy it was. Price was lower than Motorpoint and no hidden extras that MP seemed to like to add on (like inspection checks). Clean place, nice staff, absolutely no complaints - oops, only one - it ran out of diesel on the forecourt before I drove it off :( They even gave me a reasonable price for my aged Audi! See http://www.ianshiptoncars.co.uk - damned Flash website. Doesn't look as if they've got any new Galaxys in at the moment. :( Taliska

With the all important words...

And a picture of the aforementioned VW oil...

Ummm... Went to Halfords today and looked at their flip chart for Galaxys and it said use '10W-40' - read the back of the oil bottle and it doesn't mention VW 505.01. Looked at other Castrol products and the only reference I found (on the fully synth I think) was 'DON'T use this instead engines requiring 505.01'. :angry: Asked at desk about the 5W-40 / 10W-40 disparity and was told that's what Ford tell us. Asked if they had a 5W-40 - answer 'no'. :angry: Went to VW instead - helpful chap asked for engine number, but it wasn't in my manual. Then he said, well all the 115PD engines take this oil - 5W-40 and got a 1L bottle of the right stuff out... price

My Galaxy is the first car that I've ever named - called her 'Molly'. In true spirit of keeping the kids happy, I named my wife's car (Seat Cordoba Vario) very soon after - she's called 'Milly'. So we have 'Milly' and 'Molly' - I like twosomes! :angry: Taliska

Well, depends on how much you drive - it is the driving time. I've only done ~5900 miles since October and it has reset once so I've done 166 hours so far - if you work that once out it's an appallingly low average speed! (mid 30s ish). So for some (and probably most) users, the 100 hours limit is fine. Now what do the real company mile-munching drivers have to say? :unsure: Taliska P.S. Ha, SeatKid types faster than me! :angry:

Decided to go and see if Castrol made an oil... can't get the www.castrol.com website to work when I look at the 'office locator'... Went to the german site instead (much easier to use even though I'm not a german speaker) - they have a specific 505.01 oil topup. Anyone found any of this in the UK? Taliska http://www.castrol.de/produkte/a_auto/images/topup/gtd.jpg Castrol GTD 505 01 TOPUP Das Dieselmotoren

How much oil is this beast going to drink? I had a 1.9TDi 90 bhp in an Audi that only drank 5L (that I provided between services) in the 8 years and 160k miles that I drove her - she was driven hard too! She needed topping up every 5k miles until she reached 90k miles, then she needed topping up every 3k miles after that. I take your point that buying from VW will be more expensive, but it's very close by and surely she's not going to drink lots of oil. Another alternative is a Halfords in the other direction from work... Taliska

Stuck a pound coin in today to see if it would fit - seemed a bit tight! :D If I can find them, will try Euros tomorrow out of interest (maybe Deutchmarks would fit better) :D Coin holder seems plausible - VW had them in the Mk2 Golf, but they were very visible and therefore more or less useless. :D Didn't have any dinner money today as only had 1 pence left - the pound coin was left in the car by accident! :D Taliska

Thanks all, think I'll truck round to the VW dealer round the corner from work and get some of what they can supply (VW 505.01). I don't think that Ford can complain too much if I put VW oil in! Taliska

Unbelievably I have to put some oil in my Gal at only 5000 miles - maybe she's just running in and being a bit thirsty... Anyone have any recommendations as to which oil to put in? Thanks all, Taliska

Hi, Got a long-standing pal who reckons he travelled in a Galaxy facing backward... I guess one might be able to put the seat in on the 2nd row facing in reverse, but I don't reckon the seat belts would work. Possibly he's getting confused with another car - like the Honda MPV? perhaps? Any inspirations? Taliska

Nahhhh... it's not cold enough in there to keep it fresh! :huh: Someone must know - somewhere! :unsure: Taliska

Yes, Been wondering about what they are - three notches on either side on the inside of the centre dashboard compartment. :unsure: Like I've got so many other things in life to puzzle about - this one I can think of no answer. :huh: Taliska

Thinking of presents for my Gal for xmas - she's not even 1 yet so I think xmas might pass her by... Things I've thought of so far... A wash A polish A hoover Something to make her smell nice Anyone thought of anything else? :angry: Taliska

Dead right it has! :rolleyes: Oh. the front demister came on again automatically tonight at 1.5 degrees! What fun! :rolleyes: Taliska

It happened to me this morning too... the front demister came on by itself when I started it - the temp was indicating 2.5 degrees. :rolleyes: This proves that cars are female - takes ages to work them out, even then you're not quite sure you've sussed them out completely. :rolleyes: I wonder what I'm to discover next week with the car! By the way she's called Molly - that car that is! Taliska

Why should one worry whether it's a UK import or UK sourced? :rolleyes: As far as the warranty goes, it's a two year manufacturer warranty whether imported or not - the third year is a dealer-supplied warranty which is standard in the UK. If you've got a UK import and want the third year - you can buy it (supposedly). As far as the power points in the boot go - you can get a nice shiny silvery adapter that provides three sockets from Halfords. It's also got some electronics to stop the car battery being flattened - I wonder if the normal sockets have this protection anyway? I use the adapter for lighting & coolbox in the tent, but it would prevent the coolbox flattening the car battery which has happened in the past! Taliska

Funny that... with the Multifunction steering wheel, you can increase your speed by pressing the + (Resume) button and reduce it by pressing the - (Set) button. You'd have thought that stalk version would have done much the same as the multifunction version. :D Taliska