02 Sep 08
With the musical tastes of the younger members of the family having mercifully moved on from Abba, and my continued inability to cope with Chris Evans' inane witterings, the time has finally come to make use of the Ford Mondeo Estate's auxiliary connection and power up an iPod or two.
It's intriguing to see how different manufacturers have embraced the MP3 revolution, or otherwise. While the likes of Mercedes-Benz have sensibly decided that Apple have sufficiently cornered the market to justify a bespoke, iPod connector in the glove box that allows full control of the unit from the on-board stereo system, plus recharging, others have hedged their bets and opted simply for a one-size-fits-all auxiliary socket.
That's the route Ford have taken and, having just forked out quite a lot of dosh for a positive spaghetti bolognaise of cabling, I'm not remotely convinced it's the right one. The auxiliary socket itself lurks in the glovebox. No problem, just plug in the iPod and shut the door.
Hang on, though... This isn't recharging the thing. Moreover, dialling in Aux on the stereo doesn't give me an on-screen readout of the MP3's playlist - it just sits there glumly reading Aux for the duration, nor can I control anything but volume on the steering wheel mounted controls. So another cable must be connected from the 12v socket/fag lighter to the iPod for charging purposes, which means the glove box door has to stay open. It would anyway, in truth, because the only way to fully operate the iPod remains via its own controls.
Not even a 12v socket in the glovebox would solve the problem, unless I wanted to just leave the iPod on Shuffle and slam the door - a solution fraught with danger when you're arguing musical tastes with three other family members. We're about to make the long-haul holiday trip, so I'll report back on what the front seat passenger has to say about wrestling for knee room with a glovebox door over 350 miles. If any of it is printable, that is.
