See the stain? No, neither can I.

Sounds came next. Everyone who first sits in a Granada will notice how good the sound system is. I had been used to good rear speakers in all of my previous Granadas, but this Scorpio Estate was a disappointment. You could hardly hear anything from the rear at all, the speakers tucked 8 feet away in the side panels. I had a look, and it seems that the previous owner had purloined the original premium Ford speakers because the ones fitted were hopelessly inadequate fibre things. It was obvious that I would have to beef up the power to the rear quite a bit to get the result I was used to. So I squeezed two Pioneer 6 by 9's rated at 120W into the original enclosures, and powered them with a 250 watt Sony amp mounted on the rear of the back split seat. This is arranged so that it is invisible even if the luggage cover is rolled back, so as not to attract the attention of a passing thief. I was pleased, but somehow there was still not enough bass. Of course, unlike my previous cars there was no boot to compress the bass. So I added a 250 watt Pioneer sub. Now it's the business! When I took the Scorpio for its first MOT the examiner looked at me strangely when he saw the sub. "How old are you?" he asked. He was used to this with teenagers! See Hi Fi for details of this installation.

The seats are very comfortable, but they are not as big as the previous Granadas, and not quite as soft on a long run as those old armchairs I was so fond of. But the leather is beautiful and the smell of hide when you first open a door is a pleasure in itself. They are heated, which is nice when you get in on a freezing morning. I expected them to be clammy in hot weather like the old vinyl seats, but they are not, perhaps because leather is a natural substance and they have breather holes cut into the contact surfaces.

There are numerous other touches that make it such a pleasure to drive. The rear wiper works intermittently on the first position and if the front wipers are on when reverse gear is selected the rear window gets a flick just once to clear the rear view. I remember a motor correspondent recently enthusing about this on a new Japanese car, but Ford drivers have had this facility since the Ford Sierra! When you select reverse, the nearside door mirror dips to show the kerb. The driver's rear mirror is electrochromatic: it dips automatically when headlights shine into it. There is a remote stalk on the left hand side of the steering column which controls the radio/CD player and this is an excellent facility I've not had since I fitted a Sony CD Player to a previous Granada. The windows are one-touch opening, and the drivers window is one-touch closing as well.

The number of relays Ford must have used just to control the interior lights is simply staggering. The interior lights come on when a door is opened, but if the same door is left open for more than 20 minutes the interior lights switch off. This is to prevent a drain on the battery because as well as the roof lights there are front and rear footwell lights and kerb lights mounted in the bottom of all the doors. But once a door is closed the interior lights stay on for about half a minute, unless the driver switches on the ignition, in which case the interior lights go out at once. When the driver switches off the ignition the interior lights come on for about half a minute to provide time to leave the vehicle. The interior lights also switch on automatically when you key the remote to open the doors. If you open the rear load door by remote, (there is a second button on the remote) the rear luggage light comes on, by itself. For details see Multiplex wiring in the Scorpio

If the car is in Drive, a warning tone sounds if a door is opened. Unfortunately, unlike all my previous Granadas where the window motors worked when the drivers door is open, the Scorpio electric windows don't work unless the ignition is on. I suppose this is for security but I miss the convenience. The doors and windows can be deadlocked from the remote, there are ultrasonic detectors for the door windows and a sensor built into the rear luggage deck windows. The ignition key has a built-in chip, of course, and replacements can be programmed at a cost. Without the chip the engine management system is disconnected even if a key fits the lock. This system is called PATS (Passive Anti-Theft System) and is now virtually standard across the Ford range. The Thatcham approval for this system is good enough to keep the Insurance Group at 15 or 16, the same as the 12V Granada despite the massive hike in power.
 

The radio fitted is the premium 100mm height Ford 7000. It has EON, RDS, Traffic and News selection and the volume increases automatically to remain the same level above ambient noise. The radio will work without the ignition, but switches off after one hour. The six station preset buttons also select the CD from the six stack CD tucked away in the rear nearside luggage side panel and buttons 2 to 5 are part of the anti-theft removable panel, without which the radio doesn't work. As an experiment I tried the pull-out of a Ford 4000 unit from a recent Escort, and no, it didn't work. The connections are different. Volume, station/disk and signal source are also selectable with the remote joystick beneath the indicator stalk on the steering column.

The Ride-Height control levels the rear of the car no matter what the load. On booze-cruises to France we stock up with six months supply of beer, completely filling the rear deck with beer cartons in stacks of four, plus several boxes of wine. The top of the rear wheel-arches lowers just to the top of tyres, but within five minutes the back jacks up to regain the previous height - level again!

EricR