[Faolan]

Am back in possession of the car.
Not 100% happy, but I guess I have a Ford 12month parts warranty and an implied warranty of 180k kms (as the old one worked perfectly for that long) on the tranny.
The car still makes a noise which I am convinced is the transmission, not the power steering as they say, there is no whine while turning the wheels. I will do a fluid replacement and maybe the whole reservoir, even though the fluid looks fine.
I did get money back, for accommodations, tow, and lost wages, but not the NRMA, though the tow amount was close enough to the NRMA emergency joining fee. I did not expect the wages portion, which covers the NRMA anyway.
I will probably now sell the car as I said previously, after all it does have a new transmission.
Maybe a Kuga or a Merc C220 cdi.