Ford Galaxy 2.3i Ghia - New Daily Snotter
Discussion
For the last few months, I've been running two cars; a 'weekend car' Alfa 156 V6, and for daily duties, Peugeot 406 HDI 110 estate.
The Peugeot was brilliant and covered 18k miles in a year without too much needing to be spent on it. However, come MOT time, it failed in a pretty impressive fashion.
The garage was quoting at least £700 to fix the Pug and that wasn't even considering the Fuel leak... so it went to the scrapper...
So I looked on the net for a replacement estate car, hopefully a 406, which was such a nice car to drive. Great ride/handling combination which just makes you love the French. I saw one for £500 but it had 6 months MOT and I really wanted a longer MOT, and I then broadened my search to include all estates, MPVs and 4x4s. The reason for an estate size as a minimum was I have a band (NightMare World for anyone into melodic metal! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgmLLiJn3cE) and I needed something that could carry some guitars and amps.
Autotrader came up trumps, and listed was a Ford Galaxy Mk1 2.3i Ghia Petrol Manual with 12 months MOT. It was a part-exchange and I knew I had to move quickly to get it at the silly price of £300. I phoned the dealer, put a deposit down and went to pick it up last weekend.
I drove it back from near Horncastle to York, approximately a 2 hour drive. Mechanically, it is spot on. No noises from the suspension, the engine seems ok. Tyres have loads of tread. The bodywork is average at best and there is plenty of rust around the sills but I don't really care as if I get even 6 months out of it I'll be happy.
The interior was disgusting! It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years, so I spent a couple of hours trying to sort it. I've done the front so far, so plenty of work to do.
It has a 140 something bhp 2.3i engine which punts it along at a reasonable speed. Nothing earth shattering, but thankfully the nature of the engine isn't too peaky, so you don't have to rev it too much to get it to move.
I'm getting about 32 mpg combined at the moment which isn't bad.
Things that don't work:- stereo turns on but no sound, fan doesn't work, electric mirrors inoperative, cruise control dead.
Can't grumble for 300 notes though! Thanks for reading.
The Peugeot was brilliant and covered 18k miles in a year without too much needing to be spent on it. However, come MOT time, it failed in a pretty impressive fashion.
The garage was quoting at least £700 to fix the Pug and that wasn't even considering the Fuel leak... so it went to the scrapper...
So I looked on the net for a replacement estate car, hopefully a 406, which was such a nice car to drive. Great ride/handling combination which just makes you love the French. I saw one for £500 but it had 6 months MOT and I really wanted a longer MOT, and I then broadened my search to include all estates, MPVs and 4x4s. The reason for an estate size as a minimum was I have a band (NightMare World for anyone into melodic metal! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgmLLiJn3cE) and I needed something that could carry some guitars and amps.
Autotrader came up trumps, and listed was a Ford Galaxy Mk1 2.3i Ghia Petrol Manual with 12 months MOT. It was a part-exchange and I knew I had to move quickly to get it at the silly price of £300. I phoned the dealer, put a deposit down and went to pick it up last weekend.
I drove it back from near Horncastle to York, approximately a 2 hour drive. Mechanically, it is spot on. No noises from the suspension, the engine seems ok. Tyres have loads of tread. The bodywork is average at best and there is plenty of rust around the sills but I don't really care as if I get even 6 months out of it I'll be happy.
The interior was disgusting! It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years, so I spent a couple of hours trying to sort it. I've done the front so far, so plenty of work to do.
It has a 140 something bhp 2.3i engine which punts it along at a reasonable speed. Nothing earth shattering, but thankfully the nature of the engine isn't too peaky, so you don't have to rev it too much to get it to move.
I'm getting about 32 mpg combined at the moment which isn't bad.
Things that don't work:- stereo turns on but no sound, fan doesn't work, electric mirrors inoperative, cruise control dead.
Can't grumble for 300 notes though! Thanks for reading.
Nice shed!
I know the Mk5 and 6 Escort RS2000 engine was similar to the one you've got in that. People used to use the 2.3 bottom end and mate it to the RS2000 head for a nice upgrade in power. About 170bhp if I remember correctly. I think you need to reverse engineer that idea in to the Galaxy, that would make it rather fun!
I know the Mk5 and 6 Escort RS2000 engine was similar to the one you've got in that. People used to use the 2.3 bottom end and mate it to the RS2000 head for a nice upgrade in power. About 170bhp if I remember correctly. I think you need to reverse engineer that idea in to the Galaxy, that would make it rather fun!
Had one a couple of years back off a mate - £50 + 2 tickets for Ross Noble ( £25 each, b4 he hit the big time). Run it for a season as a hack, couple of tyres & fiddly bits & rust obviously... If you're getting wet passenger carpets & no rear washer worth the name, likely to be the pipework along the nearside sill, easy fix. Sold it on & it lasted another 4 years of abuse, before finally dissolving away.
We had a Sharan, then a MK3 galaxy, ok not the last word in fun but so useful, still miss them for movign stuff and people, went for a meal the other night, all five of us, rare occurrence.
C1 - 4 Seats
CLS - 4 Seats
ST - 5 Seats but no rear doors
Took the 5 door Fiesta, wife, three adult male kids and me, it was a squeeze, even the kids mentioned how they missed the Galaxy.
C1 - 4 Seats
CLS - 4 Seats
ST - 5 Seats but no rear doors
Took the 5 door Fiesta, wife, three adult male kids and me, it was a squeeze, even the kids mentioned how they missed the Galaxy.
My Dad bought one of these new in 2000. Was about £20k. It went on until 250k miles and never needed a clutch, or gearbox.
It has the cam chains replaced at around 150k miles and other than that was just brakes amd tyres. It only died when all the window regulators packed up and the air con broke so became uneconomical to repair.
It has the cam chains replaced at around 150k miles and other than that was just brakes amd tyres. It only died when all the window regulators packed up and the air con broke so became uneconomical to repair.
We bought one of these about 10 years ago when our 3rd child arrived and we needed a family bus .
My ex wife and I were quite disappointed at the thought of swapping our Alfa 147 that we had at the time but we grew to become quite fond of our Galaxy for its sheer usefulness and for an mpv it wasn't actually that bad to drive.
Ours was a 2.3 petrol too. A bit thirsty but pulled it along quite well.
My ex wife and I were quite disappointed at the thought of swapping our Alfa 147 that we had at the time but we grew to become quite fond of our Galaxy for its sheer usefulness and for an mpv it wasn't actually that bad to drive.
Ours was a 2.3 petrol too. A bit thirsty but pulled it along quite well.
Edited by Alfa Pete on Friday 1st September 13:38
Nice album 
(needs a headbang smiley)
I'm starting to look for a winter hack/daily/snotter that's big enough to carry music gear + mates and do tip runs, I quite like the idea of one of these. Not such a bad idea to go for a 'big' engined one like this as most people see anything over 2 litres as crazy huge and it scares the other buyers off!
(needs a headbang smiley)I'm starting to look for a winter hack/daily/snotter that's big enough to carry music gear + mates and do tip runs, I quite like the idea of one of these. Not such a bad idea to go for a 'big' engined one like this as most people see anything over 2 litres as crazy huge and it scares the other buyers off!
An update on the Galaxy.
It was nearly game over for the Galaxy recently. Let's go back to the band gig in London....
Friday 22nd September, we had a gig at the Boston Music Rooms supporting 'Pirate Metal' band Lagerstein and the Galaxy was to be used for transporting half the band and equipment from York down to London. We drove down the A1 (much better than the M1 these days which is a joke; half the time it's 50mph!) and got down to Tufnell Park and unloaded. All good so far.
Then we drive to Euston to pick up the bass player who travelled down from Liverpool. B$%^&r, I entered the congestion zone by what feels like 10 metres to pick up the bassist, 14 quid for that I think it was. Anyway, we drove back to the hotel to chill for an hour and when we came to drive it to the venue, it wouldn't start..... This will teach me to buy a £300 car I said to myself. I was actually saying "You piece of f%^*ing s*%t!".
Car was turning over but not catching. After 10 minutes it started and we made it to the gig for soundcheck.. all good! The band played, we packed up and the car drove back to York with no problems.
Another day, car to be driven to work in the morning and it won't start. Same issues. Get it towed to a garage and it feels like an electrical fault as I can hear nothing from the fuel pump which normally you can hear when you turn the ignition. When the garage spoke to me they said "If it's an immobiliser fault, we can't deal with this, it would have to be dealt with by Ford". I was thinking "scrap".
The last thing I said to the garage person was "I read on the internet about a common Galaxy fault with relay 30, might be worth checking it out". Phone call the next day and unbelievably the mechanic said "You were right, it was relay 30, we've replaced it and the car is ready to be picked up". To say I was over the moon is an understatement.
So far I've done something like 2000 miles in the last month and the car is doing 70 miles a day for my commute to work. I really can't knock it at all. It even has "captain" chairs in the front which swivel round 360 degrees. I've got another gig on the 29th October (come along if you like melodic metal to the Camden Underworld!) so the car will be used for another epic journey (dropping band members home in Stamford, Lincolnshire and Liverpool before heading home to York).
Summary so far...
Cost = £300 with 12 months MOT
Fix relay 30 = £97
MPG - 31.5 mpg average, but up to 34 on a motorway run (sitting at 65 - 70; if you go faster the low gearing hampers MPG big time)
It was nearly game over for the Galaxy recently. Let's go back to the band gig in London....
Friday 22nd September, we had a gig at the Boston Music Rooms supporting 'Pirate Metal' band Lagerstein and the Galaxy was to be used for transporting half the band and equipment from York down to London. We drove down the A1 (much better than the M1 these days which is a joke; half the time it's 50mph!) and got down to Tufnell Park and unloaded. All good so far.
Then we drive to Euston to pick up the bass player who travelled down from Liverpool. B$%^&r, I entered the congestion zone by what feels like 10 metres to pick up the bassist, 14 quid for that I think it was. Anyway, we drove back to the hotel to chill for an hour and when we came to drive it to the venue, it wouldn't start..... This will teach me to buy a £300 car I said to myself. I was actually saying "You piece of f%^*ing s*%t!".
Car was turning over but not catching. After 10 minutes it started and we made it to the gig for soundcheck.. all good! The band played, we packed up and the car drove back to York with no problems.
Another day, car to be driven to work in the morning and it won't start. Same issues. Get it towed to a garage and it feels like an electrical fault as I can hear nothing from the fuel pump which normally you can hear when you turn the ignition. When the garage spoke to me they said "If it's an immobiliser fault, we can't deal with this, it would have to be dealt with by Ford". I was thinking "scrap".
The last thing I said to the garage person was "I read on the internet about a common Galaxy fault with relay 30, might be worth checking it out". Phone call the next day and unbelievably the mechanic said "You were right, it was relay 30, we've replaced it and the car is ready to be picked up". To say I was over the moon is an understatement.
So far I've done something like 2000 miles in the last month and the car is doing 70 miles a day for my commute to work. I really can't knock it at all. It even has "captain" chairs in the front which swivel round 360 degrees. I've got another gig on the 29th October (come along if you like melodic metal to the Camden Underworld!) so the car will be used for another epic journey (dropping band members home in Stamford, Lincolnshire and Liverpool before heading home to York).
Summary so far...
Cost = £300 with 12 months MOT
Fix relay 30 = £97
MPG - 31.5 mpg average, but up to 34 on a motorway run (sitting at 65 - 70; if you go faster the low gearing hampers MPG big time)
That's the way to do it!
The story with the Sharan/Galaxy is that the Ford and VW big-wigs agreed to go halves on an MPV. VW kicked off the initial development, and then the Ford chassis engineers went over to drive their prototype. It drove like a van, and the Ford guys basically told them, this is s
t, start again and do it properly. In the end I think Richard Parry-Jones ended up leading quite a bit of the development work, making sure that both versions handled decently. Basically for good handling normal cars, up to mid-90s it's Peugeot, then after the point they gave up making good cars, it's over to the RPJ generation Fords.
strangehighways said:
I have a band (NightMare World for anyone into melodic metal! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgmLLiJn3cE) and I needed something that could carry some guitars and amps.
Hate the car but, surprisingly, really like your music! 
Rewe said:
Hate the car but, surprisingly, really like your music!
Thanks I appreciate the kind words.. I don't exactly love the Galaxy myself but for what it is, it's pretty good. As mentioned in another post, for a 20 year old people carrier, it handles and rides well. I agree that Ford were on a roll in the late 90's/early 2000's with regard to handling. I have my 156 v6 for fun!
Excellent choice of can/shed.
I had one ages ago that cost me £700 when renovating my house. I got fed up of shelling out £150 a time for large skips and used a Galaxy for it.
Only thing that went wrong was when I loaded it to the brim with fresh tree cuttings and didn't go to the tip for two days...turns out there's quite a lot of moisture in newly felled trees.
The poor LCD clock never worked again and the Galaxy spent the rest of its life ferrying about 10,000 insects everywhere as they just kept emerging from every nook and cranny.
I had one ages ago that cost me £700 when renovating my house. I got fed up of shelling out £150 a time for large skips and used a Galaxy for it.
Only thing that went wrong was when I loaded it to the brim with fresh tree cuttings and didn't go to the tip for two days...turns out there's quite a lot of moisture in newly felled trees.
The poor LCD clock never worked again and the Galaxy spent the rest of its life ferrying about 10,000 insects everywhere as they just kept emerging from every nook and cranny.
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