Moonhogg

That all makes sense. Thanks! :)

Interesting. I'd heard something about (sorry if I'm wrong) Dual Mass flywheels being unreliable once mileage racks up. Or is that just on Mondeos? So, a 40,000 mile 1.6 tdci CMax could be a good investment? How would I know which have the DPF - as yes, by far the majority of my journeys are short.

I currently drive a 53 reg Mondeo 1.8 petrol. I'm averaging about 30mpg. I cover about 8000 miles a year. 1000 of that is a blast up to the Scottish highlands, all the rest is made up of picking the kids up from friends, driving to work in bad weather (3 mile stop start commute), and nipping to Asda (1 1/2 miles). I'm looking to get something newer, and more economical. I'm tempted by a Focus or a Focus C-Max, and have a budget of about £5k. Most people I've spoken to say diesels don't like constant short journeys, and buying older diesels is a bad idea as they get expensive to maintain, compared to older petrol models. Looking at the figures mentioned on Autotrader, petrol cars almost always do about 30 - 32 mpg. I've looked at the Focus 1.6 (32.5) Focus 1.4 (32.5) C-Max 1.6 (31.7) and even a Fiesta 1.2 (34.2). The main reason for the change is economy. Am I really about to spend 5 grand to get a smaller car that will only save me about £100 a year? Or does anyone reckon that they average better mileage than that?

I had a similar problem with the glovebox socket - CD and Radio both fine, MP3 connected via socket kept losing a channel. I removed the socket, cut the plug off one end of the lead that connects between the socket and the mp3/phone/whatever and hard wired them together, bypassing the socket. That solved the problem. It also let me run the lead back behind the glovebox, and tuck it neatly under the centre console, coming up between the seats where I wanted it.

Hmm... I've tried that now. Sadly no improvement, but thanks for trying. She's off in for MOT and service tomorrow, I'll have a word there, but in the meantime if anyone has any other suggestions, I'd be really grateful.

I've got an 03 Mondeo with a standard fit 6000CD stereo. Dimwit that I am, I managed to leave the keys in the ignition overnight, with power on. Not surprisingly I flattened the battery. I disconnected it, charged it for a few hours, then reconnected, and managed to get the engine fired up. I put in the radio's code, and it switched on ok - but has no sound. It is spinning disks, apparently reading them fine, the radio tunes in ok, but still no sound. If I turn it up to 30 (max) and stick my head next to the speakers, I can just hear sound - so it is playing the disk. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong, and how I can fix it? I'm off up to Scotland in a couple of weeks, and a 14 hour drive with no music is not a nice proposition! Many thanks!