17 Oct 08
In the interests of even occasional, en-route silence, I still regret not having specified a rear seat DVD system, but the cat's cradle of wiring procured to run the iPod proved an eminently sensible purchase, and the missus solved the open glovebox conundrum discussed last month by simply slamming it shut on the offending wire, to no ill effect.
There's nothing quite like a proper journey to highlight storage deficiencies, and, after the Discovery, it must be said that the Mondeo Estate could seriously benefit from a few more handy bins about the cabin. With the glovebox full of CDs, cupholders full of phones and the centre arm rest box full of God knows what, the last place I want to stow the other half of the Fruit and Nut is the door pockets, which cunningly contrive to be too deep for ready retrieval, yet too shallow to do something really useful, like hold a road map.
Come to think of it, when did any of us last drive a car boasting a decent road map pocket? No, the back of the front seat's no good unless you want to simultaneously pull a muscle and crash while retrieving it. Doesn't it just always end up getting quietly trashed, slotted between the passenger seat and the transmission tunnel?
Manufacturers would argue that, armed with satellite navigation, you don't need a road atlas. This is bunk: when it comes to planning a long, we-really-must-do-something-rather-than-just-sit-here exploration of uncharted Cornish territory in the teeming rain, sat nav simply can't cut the mustard.
Come to think of it, after this summer, neither can I.
