Unfortunately the RAV is going to be recycled.

Pick up & transporting, together with the cost of a clutch & potentially a DM fly wheel, makes it prohibitive. Shame, l'll be sad to see it go.

Anyone add anything to Adampr suggestions?

Thanks for the suggestions BBD.

As you say, the distance willing to travel is going to limit options.

However, l've just returned from viewing a C Max (2014) had an extended test drive on a variety of roads & have left a deposit.

Local (20 miles) full SH, very good MOT history etc. Will be supplied with new advisory free MOT & a service, including a cam belt/water pump. £5050.

If you're sitting comfortably, l'll tell you a tale of the tyre sensors...........

On my initial return visit to the supplying dealer on the 04/07/24 l was under the impression they had replaced two TPMS sensors; they didn't. Bit of a communication mix up, as they spent a couple of hours (while l went into town) trying to reset them using various scanning tools, only to come to the conclusion it needed a model specific reset scanner for Fords.

My second visit was arranged for the 25/07/24. By this time they had received the reset tool, along with two sensors. This time l watched as the vehicle was put into "training mode" starting at the NSF tyre it picked up the sensor, along with the OSR, though nothing on the other two. So the conclusion was two sensors needed to be replaced. The dealer has an account with the local tyre shop & after a phone call, as they were busy, l volunteered to go round & have the fitter replace the sensors, which were Bosch.

Having spent an hour at the tyre shop l returned to the dealer. Same procedure to "train" the sensors took place with, unfortunately, the same outcome; the newly fitted sensors weren't being recognised. Another garage contacted said you have to program in the code on the sensor with a scanner. So, while l went to get something to eat, one of the mechanics went back to the tyre shop, where they had to break the bead to read the code on the sensor. Tried again.......no joy.

All manner of scanners were tried to no avail. Even a phone call & visit from a chap with Ford specific software couldn't solve it. Eventually, after several hours they gave up & arranged an appointment with the Ford main dealer a couple of days later.

My car was booked in at Ford for 10am & though l was willing to wait a couple of hours, this is only a booking in time, not a job time, so l returned home in a courtesy car provided by the supplying dealer. The day progressed when l eventually received a call from Ford to ask which sensors the supplying dealer had fitted, as they could only pick up one. They also said my car wouldn't be ready that day. A call to the supplying dealer & l kept the courtesy car until the next day, when l received a call from them stating my car was ready for collection.

Arriving at the supplying dealer my car was indeed there though unfortunately the sensors hadn't been fitted, as Ford needed to order a set. The "good" news was the supplying dealer had agreed to fund (under warranty) the three that needed to be replaced. l asked that all four be replaced & l would pay for the fourth. Another appointment was made at the Ford dealer.

l dropped my car off & again returned home in a courtesy car. The day goes on when l receive a call from the Ford dealer to say one of the four sensors (original Ford) they had fitted was faulty & they needed to obtain a replacement. The car wouldn't be ready until the following day.

The following day l received a call from the supplying dealer stating the total invoice from Ford was £280 & they were willing to fund two sensors & l was to fund the remaining two. l stated this was not the agreement & subsequently contacted the Ford dealer, to ascertain what sensors actually had to be replaced. They confirmed three removed from the car were not working, one was. They were also willing to put that in writing for the supplying dealer & if necessary have one of the mechanics from the supplying dealer witness a pressure test on the sensors.

Armed with this information l returned to the supplying dealer. The owner was out. One of the mechanics stated he had had a "massive" argument with the owner regarding my car, as he was the one who had arranged the Ford dealer to replace the three sensors, having spoken with the service department.

A few phone calls to the owner, he relented & agreed to fund the three unworking & l pay for the fourth. As the Ford dealer wouldn't release my car until the invoice had been paid, l went up with the admin person from the suppling dealer, they paid their bill, l paid my share to the supplying dealer & returned home.

However.................on the way home l noticed the distinct signs of wheels/tyres being out of balance, no surprise when the tyres had been taken of three & in some cases four times! After the above events l took it to the local Halfords, who balanced the front two tyres/wheels, which has cured it.

Not sure what the moral of the tale is. The two mechanics seemed genuine enough & l do know one of them from years ago. Does seem to confirm though that car dealers are perhaps economic with the truth.

The c max is a vehicle that doesn't have a spare wheel/jack, just a compressor & a can of gunk.

So in the event of a puncture & the temporary repair is made, is the tyre pressure sensor destroyed?

Anyone with any real life experience of this?

The gunk rarely works, and destroys a tyre which can otherwise have a puncture repair.

I've had two punctures - one was a slow puncture (a screw through the tread) which took a couple of hours to go flat. On that one I used the compressor on its own and drove carefully to the nearest tyre place.

The second puncture was sidewall damage caused by a pothole and, given I could almost get my hand through the hole in the tyre didn't bother trying the compressor or the gunk! During the boredom of the very long wait for the breakdown recovery, I ordered a spare wheel and tool kit, and have carried one around with me ever since!

I'm not sure whether the C-Max has space to store a spare wheel, but even if it doesn't my advice would be to carry one if you live in a rural area. Make sure you secure it down in the boot with something if there isn't a proper wheel well though. Without a spare wheel, what was once a 15 minute inconvenience becomes a 6 hour+ nightmare particularly if you have a puncture at night or on a weekend.

Yes, it seems the best option is to carry a spare wheel/tyre or look into a space saver.

l actually bumped into the Halfords chap that carried out the balancing of the front wheels/tyres last week, he said the same thing. Also said that the foam cans rarely work & as you say ruin a tyre that maybe able to be repaired & will destroy the sensor.

l might be pushing my luck here but in just short of 50 years driving, though l've had punctures, they've tended to be of the slow variety. Mind you, the roads have become so pot hole ridden that the risk is greater these days.

Picked up the spacesaver wheel/tyre this morning, like new, very pleased. They even gave me a discount in lieu of post/packing.

You can only place the wheel one way, as the bracket to secure it is too wide to go through the centre, the jack sits underneath.

However, when l put the boot liner back l found the wheel stood proud to the tune of approximately 20mm, meaning the liner bowed to a certain extent either side. Not a major problem, a couple of cut foam inserts placed both sides evened it up.

l can't believe there would be different depths in the well, depending on whether you had an insert with a compressor etc, which is flush, or a spacesaver. Same size wheel/tyre as Ford supplied new.

it's quite & smooth to drive & surprisingly economical. Over a combination of roads, the computer is flagging up 49, though these can be a little optimistic. l've also done 3 brim to brim tanks, which have worked out at 47, 45 & 48. With the official average being 44, that's not bad at all.

Those figures would surprise me, suggest you check your maths. We had a C-Max for 5 years from new, it was a late 2005 1.6 TDCi. Before we bought it we were concerned about the DPF so tried a 1.8 petrol and the 1.6 TDCi back to back, it was no contest. The drive of the diesel was loads better and the mpg as expected was better, on the same route on the same day the diesel showed about 45 mpg, the petrol was 10 mpg less (both about what we expected). A work colleague of the wife had a 1.6 petrol C-Max and hated it, no go and even less mpg than we got.

Over the 5 years we owned it the C-Max averaged 44 mpg so about what the test drive suggested. I still don't know where the real mpg posters got their figures from, the 52 mpg quoted was only achievable on a long trip, never in a month of Sundays in normal mixed use. This seems strange since all our other cars have closely matched the Real MPG figures.