johnb80

Mines a Passion Cabrolet, it's by far the most impressive car I have driven and certainly the most well thought out. Just to get you in the picture I'm 6'6" tall and weigh 18.5 stone so as you gather I'm not the smallest person around. To all of you that laugh at Smart's go and try one and then apologise ! There's more room in the Smart than the Galaxy / Granada / Scoprio etc etc it's incredible. People mention about crashes, there are photographs on the internet of the european crash tests which confirm is a tough little car, I have a picture of a head on with a Punto in one test. The whole Punto body was distorted all the way back to the rear wing and the door could not be opened, the Smart was still driveable. One of my engineers has just had a lorry reverse into his, the lorry didn't stop until it's rear wheels were in the air and no, it wasn't empty either. The tridion safety cell is brilliant. When you go to the dealer make sure he shows you how to fully retract the roof and store the roofbars in the boot lid, this alone should get a design award. Safer than a motorbike? how crazy, there's no way I'd let any of my loved ones out on a bike with all of the loonies on the road, consider also when it rains, snow, ice etc. My Smart costs

It's even better still when it's not a clapped out Nova and a diesel MPV takes em from the lights and I have absolutely no trouble in doing just that with either my Galaxy TDi OR my MCC Smart car :(

If Ford had the decency to make required information available at sensible prices a) They'd make more money, :( They'd have happier customers and c) People would be more impressed with the Galaxy's because they can understand and maintain them better. Ford would do well to look at Range Rover's etc where full workshop manuals etc are available. Regards - JB

When I fitted my towbar, Towsure said that it needed the full relay kit which covers the lot. Dead simple to fit, not too expensive and works well. Regards - John

Hi, Got your email and I've no idea what theyre talking about, I certainly dont see how fitting a towbar will make it any worse! Having said that, my galaxy has a small tin foil type heatshield above the tailpipes and the connected silencer. Does yours not have this as standard ? If it is that heatshield I'll photograph mine so you know what it looks like. Regards - JB

Unfortunately, nothing opens when I click the link, if you want to send it to me john@lincit.com is my address. Regards - JB

Dunno what cables your instructions are warning you about, my instructions didn't carry any warnings at all !!!!. If you go the route of the reversing sensor cables you're going to need to remove the metal strip in the boot opening to get under the carpet. To do this you will break the 6 plastic clips and hence need new ones, I got mine from fordpartsuk.com. Regards - JB

My Gal has michellins on and I'm not happy with the road noise, what are your opinions for the quietest tyre ? Regards - JB

I had leather seats on my last 4 cars (Granada and Ultimas) and I thought I preferred leather but when I ordered my Gal leather could not be supplied in time so I had the ordinary Ghia spec'd cloth seats, what a pleasure. On hot days it doesn't burn your back and rear quarters when you first get in, in wintertime you don't suffer hypothermia until the heated seats kick in, you don't slide around all over the place, the downside ? You don't get that unbeatable smell of leather and they don't look as nice. Regards - JB

Mine was an estate so the back end which most people saw was ok, the frontend wasn't too bad. It was a shame that the styling was so weird, inside the car was good, quiet, comfortable, well equipped and scared the baseball hat clad teenagers in their Nova's !!

I reckon you V6 drivers get used to the noise of the fuel rushing down the pipe to the engine that you never hear the real engine noise :lol: Diesel gets my vote every time, my car before this was a Cosworth Ultima which was fast and did accelerate extremely well BUT how much time do you spend accelerating ?..... Not much and when you're doing the legal limit I would wager that the diesel is quieter due to more soundproofing that is usually installed in oil burners. Regards - JB

I have to disagree re the Auto, mines always above 40mpg and on a run has touched the mid 50's. The box is very smooth always ready to change up when being gentle with the loud pedal and gets into 5th at about 33mph. On the open road it changes down at the blink of an eyelid as and when required for overtaking. Don't go manual you really would regret it. Regards - JB

Hi, My TDi Auto was managing 35 MPG around town with fairly gentle driving and mid 40's on a longer run. I was a little disappointed but put it down to it only having 3500 miles on the clock. By pure chance I checked the tyre pressures to find them all at 25 psi, inflated to the correct pressure the next trip returned 56.8 mpg and around town 42.7....... now I'm impressed ! So far as noise goes once in 5th and cruising you wouldn't know it was a diesel unless you floor it at 70 in fifth and then you can definately tell it's diesel with it's far superior torque figures, no petrol engine would every accelerate like that :lol: Regards - John

Whilst I can't comment on the ford unit specifically ALL the other SatNavs I've used on a regular basis (VDO, Clarion, Tomtom) pick up the time from the satellites. The only adjustment is to set the BST on / off. Regards - JB

The self parking relies on power being removed from the motor AND a dead short being applied across the motor to make it act as a brake. If the contacts of the switch that short the motor out get dirty or burned up it will stop all over the place or on some vehicles not at all. Hope this helps - John

I've had several jobs done by chipsaway. The first was a metallic green Range Rover and autowindscreens mamanged to scratch and dent the scuttle whilst replacing the windscreen (morons). Chipsaway did a perfect job on a very awkward area 10 out of 10 The second job was on a metallic green garanada scorpio, small stone chips and a scratch it was a complete mess, so bad I refused to pay even though they threatened court action, I sent them a counterclaim for about double what they were going for 0 out of 10 The third job (done at the same time as the second job) was to repair a badly ripped leather door skin. This was beyond my wildest dreams, invisible repair, unbeleivable 11 out of 10 !! Would I use them again ? I really don't know, depends on the age and condition of the vehicle, more than 2 years old maybe yes, Regards - JB

>> Halogen BRAKE lights? << Wouldn't like to be following that one on a wet winters evening #8o)

I had a similar situation on a Scorpio when the previous owner had not connected the feed to the ariel amplifier to the switched output on the head unit. All of the systems that I know of that have the ariel built into the heated rear window or side windows have an amp, double check the wiring on the back of the unit. Regards - JB

Sticking idle control valve springs to mind, give it a clean with carn cleaner as a first step. If you get the opportunity the next time it does it open the bonnet and try giving it a sharp tap with a scredriver handle/fying pan/housebrick etc. If the revs drop you've found the problem. It is also possible for air leaks to occur which may have similar symptoms, double check all pipework on the manifold side of the throttle body. Regards - JB

Halogen bulbs don't fail due to handling with bare hands, the light output CAN be reduced because of oil from your hands burning onto the glass thats all. Regards - John

Double check the security of everything and things like wheel balance. Vibration can cause this also the quality of the replacement bulbs, do both at the same time and with the same make of bulb if they both go black a) you wont know the difference and :ph34r: you know its crappy bulbs. #8o) Regards - JB

Thats right they don't but they DO stock and supply parts. For example some low life has just damaged my drivers door mirror needing a complete mirror replacement. Local ford main dealer

It may have been said before BUT I'll say it again anyway. If any of you guys (and gals ?) need any parts try www.fordpartsuk.com. I've now used them 5 times and everytime they have identified the correct parts (sending drawings by email if need be), supplied the right parts, next day delivery at discounted prices. Give em a try. Regards - John

'Johnb80 and others: Facelifted models are not "pre-wired" for towbars and you have to tap into the loom in several places to fit the towbar electrics' Thank god for that I thought I'd made a right prat of myself !! Regards - JB

On my Range Rover I went the LPG route for that very reason, 14 mpg is no joke. The sound though was music !!! Regards - JB