06 Dec 06
A recent trip with my son Daniel threw up another minor niggle: the 12v cigarette lighter socket is very close to the gear lever. The long journey from Brighton to Derby was punctuated by intermittent squeals of displeasure, as I'd accidentally knock the power cord to the portable DVD player out during gear changes.
I've now had to adopt a kind of Tyrannosaurus Rex-style, limp-wristed gearshift action to avoid further diplomatic incidents. I only hope none of my mates catch me doing it unwittingly.
On that subject, I can thoroughly recommend investing in a pair of noise-excluding studio headphones. While Dan was enjoying Ice Age 2: The Meltdown on DVD, I was free to blast the latest Beck album through the car's excellent six-speaker stereo system. I suspect he put the pounding bass coming through the seats down to the fact that the main character is a woolly mammoth.
It's also worth noting that the Civic does not come equipped with a passenger airbag deactivation switch, so it's into the back seat for anyone under 13. On the plus side, the trip computer has a display mode that shows which rear seats are filled and which have seatbelts fastened. So at least you know who to shout at if the car starts bleeping at you.
I haven't yet mastered all the car's gadgets, though. Top of my list of chores for the month is figuring out how to connect my Sony Ericsson phone to the car's built-in Bluetooth hands-free system - the owners' manual doesn't even mention it. If I'm feeling really adventurous / bored, I might even have a go at the voice-activated sat nav system. You know, for that full Knight Rider effect...
