OV9

Took the M240i to Knockhill on Sunday for the BTCC which involved parking on the grass on the far side of the hill...Which was soaking wet...The combination of Michelin Pilot Super Sports and RWD is not the best on wet grass unsurprisingly. Well and truly stuck. Needed to rope some folk in to push it out to the access road which thankfully was gravel.

scotta wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:55 am Took the M240i to Knockhill on Sunday for the BTCC which involved parking on the grass on the far side of the hill...Which was soaking wet...The combination of Michelin Pilot Super Sports and RWD is not the best on wet grass unsurprisingly. Well and truly stuck. Needed to rope some folk in to push it out to the access road which thankfully was gravel.

Been there I'm afraid. Unfortunately not even a couple of goons were enough to push the lardy VXR8 in my case.

Always reminds me of the time some bloke in his BMW got stuck at our place on the mud. None of us wanted to stand behind it and get splatted with mud, so one of the girls in the office with the 4x4 walks up to him and says "Do you want me to see if I can pull you off?"

Matty wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:14 am

scotta wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:55 am Took the M240i to Knockhill on Sunday for the BTCC which involved parking on the grass on the far side of the hill...Which was soaking wet...The combination of Michelin Pilot Super Sports and RWD is not the best on wet grass unsurprisingly. Well and truly stuck. Needed to rope some folk in to push it out to the access road which thankfully was gravel.

Been there I'm afraid. Unfortunately not even a couple of goons were enough to push the lardy VXR8 in my case.

Always reminds me of the time some bloke in his BMW got stuck at our place on the mud. None of us wanted to stand behind it and get splatted with mud, so one of the girls in the office with the 4x4 walks up to him and says "Do you want me to see if I can pull you off?"

Luckily we were pushing it backwards as there was a car parked in front. Which predictably 5 mins after we moved it the folk returned to so could have driven out that way!

Well I was parked up in a village by Lake Garda and some Italian cunt from Rome smacked the door of their Audi A4 into mine. I instantly went from relaxed to absolutely pissed and swung my door into his. Childish but there’s no reasoning with prick who disrespects your property like that, especially when they can see you’re sitting in your car when they do that. Amazing how he suddenly got pissed and started screaming when I treated his car the same way he treated mine.

Anyway did a half lap of Guarda before deciding it’s not very nice and returned. It used to be a bit of a haven from tourists but some towns were so rammed that Police started closing off the entrances on roundabouts. It’s now just a shit version of Como with no benefits.
Also since when did the Italians drive so slowly. 4 years ago everyone was doing 90 mph everywhere in old Fiat Pandas and if you left a 3 metre gap to the car in front they would overtake you. Now it’s just like driving in Kent but slower! Fecking Nissan Jukes going half the speed limit everywhere.

While it doesn’t have the cachet of Lake Guarda, Lake Maggiore, and the Town of Stresa are lovely...

A lakeside Villa, in or around Stresa is on the cards WHEN I win the Euromillions tonight

Gwaredd wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2019 10:34 am

evostick wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2019 6:06 am 'ok we'll give it a go'. I'm guessing it might take a good long while but I know that he won't fucking lie to me.

There's a very good chance they'll do a good job with that attitude - as they'll double check eveything & use good parts as they won't want to fuck it up.

Dealers are, and always have been, cunts.

Finally got the subaru back

The gaskets were replaced a while back but it threw a (CVT) gearbox fault whilst being tested and needed parts not in the country. Garage has been arguing the toss with the cunts at the warranty co. for ages as well with some success

Haven't got a bill yet but I expect it'll be about £2.5k. Have got the warranty co. up from £180 to £500 odd contribution and still working on it.

Been using a low mileage TD5 disco. Liked it very much apart from it not really coping with inclines on motorways too well. Was really enjoying it until it managed to disappear all of its PAS fluid and then the alternator (its third apparently) gave up the ghost. Seems like it might be an even more involving ownership prospect than my series 3.

Transit is still being brilliant

Bike is underused (Although hoping to get away on it next week).

Golf is broken. Clutch has gone but apparently it had a new one only 20k ago so not sure what's going on there. Parked out of sight for now.

Land Rover is going well Starting to get a little chilly in the mornings without any door tops.

Nice pics, Mito. I've been meaning to do a euro road trip since I bought my 6. Would you mind posting some more info about your journey plan if you get a chance?

I bought a lovely little cottage back in June, which also meant I'd no longer be walking to work. As much as I'd love to be using the 650i every day, it's far too costly, especially with the round trip being 60 miles. So I acquired a 2.2 diesel Civic (FN shape) from a family friend not long after the house purchase. 1 owner, 90k, good nick, nice spec, loads of history and 55mpg. £1100. That'll do nicely. I'm actually quite fond of it! Goes well once the turbot gets going.

The 6 continues to be saved for weekends only. Still love it. Praying it doesn't go wrong. Funds have been quite severely depleted with the house buy, so we'll see how far my luck goes. I'm not holding my breath...

Alex88 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:04 pm I bought a lovely little cottage back in June, which also meant I'd no longer be walking to work. As much as I'd love to be using the 650i every day, it's far too costly, especially with the round trip being 60 miles. So I acquired a 2.2 diesel Civic (FN shape) from a family friend not long after the house purchase. 1 owner, 90k, good nick, nice spec, loads of history and 55mpg. £1100. That'll do nicely. I'm actually quite fond of it! Goes well once the turbot gets going.

The 6 continues to be saved for weekends only. Still love it. Praying it doesn't go wrong. Funds have been quite severely depleted with the house buy, so we'll see how far my luck goes. I'm not holding my breath...

You can't beat a good banger. Having a car you don't give two shits about is a revelation for the crappy daily duties. The "I'm not parking there" and "don't eat that in here" go out the window as you smash it up kerb, into tiny spaces do tip runs without worrying about the upholstery.

Alex88 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:54 pm Nice pics, Mito. I've been meaning to do a euro road trip since I bought my 6. Would you mind posting some more info about your journey plan if you get a chance?

Sure, I only booked hotels in Zurich, Verona and Luxembourg.

First day I drove straight from Calais to Zurich only stopping for fuel and lunch on the motorway services. Arrived at Zurich for dinner and stayed 3 nights.
Spend a full day exploring around Zurich and another at Lucerne - plenty of lakes and nice roads between the 2. Klausen and Susten pass being the more notable ones. Zug was also a really nice little town.

Next day I drove to Verona via San Bernadino and Lugano. My first time in Lugano and it’s already one of my favourite places in Switzerland even though I only quickly stopped for lunch. It’s basically how an Italian town would look if it were pristine. Beautiful lake, close to the best roads (sadly didn’t have time to do the Gothard pass).
If you want to stay around this area you can drive east from Lugano to end up at Mennagio which is where lake Como really starts to get stunning (the southern bits are so so) then keep driving north along the lake to St Moritz. More great roads and another stunning town.

Anyway from Lugano it’s a pretty boring slog to Verona. Almost dead straight motorway for most of it with many tolls. I skipped Milan this time as I had been there a few times before and arrived at Verona for dinner. Then this morning went to do a lap of lake Garda. Peschierda, Sirmione and Desenzano are nice. The rest is not worth bothering with really, came back and had a good walk round Verona for the rest of the day

Tomorrow I’ll visit Modena and Maranello, day after maybe Padua. Not certain yet and I spend nights like this just looking at google maps! Think I’ll drive to Luxembourg via Austria (Innsbruck) then Germany just for the Autobahn. Only stopping in Luxembourg for the night to break up the long drive and because I’ve never been there before but I think I’ll then go have lunch in Brussels and drive back to Calais to get on the train home.

It’s all very chaotic and roughly planned because I really just wanted to spend a week on a beach in Portugal doing nothing but kept holding off buying flights due to the BA strike and then flight prices were way overpriced!

Mito Man wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:11 pm It’s all very chaotic and roughly planned because I really just wanted to spend a week on a beach in Portugal doing nothing but kept holding off buying flights due to the BA strike and then flight prices were way overpriced!

So instead you decided to spend about 5x as much on petrol and tolls driving...

I’m not arguing.

It was just not great value for money whereas this costs more but I’m not feeling ripped off if that makes sense. I was also split between the two due to Brexit - worried that if it does happen the crossings will be so delayed that I may not be able to drive to Europe for god knows however long it takes them to sort it out.

Stopped at Zug for a quick pee back in '07 on the Scumball. Nice place and stunning scenery. Then stopped at Lugano for lunch and was well impressed - will definitely go back one day

Matty wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:58 pm

Alex88 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:04 pm I bought a lovely little cottage back in June, which also meant I'd no longer be walking to work. As much as I'd love to be using the 650i every day, it's far too costly, especially with the round trip being 60 miles. So I acquired a 2.2 diesel Civic (FN shape) from a family friend not long after the house purchase. 1 owner, 90k, good nick, nice spec, loads of history and 55mpg. £1100. That'll do nicely. I'm actually quite fond of it! Goes well once the turbot gets going.

The 6 continues to be saved for weekends only. Still love it. Praying it doesn't go wrong. Funds have been quite severely depleted with the house buy, so we'll see how far my luck goes. I'm not holding my breath...

You can't beat a good banger. Having a car you don't give two shits about is a revelation for the crappy daily duties. The "I'm not parking there" and "don't eat that in here" go out the window as you smash it up kerb, into tiny spaces do tip runs without worrying about the upholstery.

All of this, with the added bonus that the "weekend" car feels even more special without familiarity taking the shine off it.

JLv3.0 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2019 6:22 am

Matty wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:58 pm You can't beat a good banger. Having a car you don't give two shits about is a revelation for the crappy daily duties. The "I'm not parking there" and "don't eat that in here" go out the window as you smash it up kerb, into tiny spaces do tip runs without worrying about the upholstery.

All of this, with the added bonus that the "weekend" car feels even more special without familiarity taking the shine off it.

This this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this.

Do you still have the Vantage as well SJ?

ZedLeg wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2019 9:16 am Do you still have the Vantage as well SJ?

Yep. Vantage, 996, F10, Touareg & two E36 Compacts.

Vantage, 996 & F10 are all due a service soon. That's gonna hurt

Which one of that fleet is your daily banger that you don’t care where you park it etc?

Stopped at Innsbruck for lunch last year on the way to Salzburg (driven from Munich), it's a lovely place in the spring and would be really great now I'd imagine. Plans are forming for a road trip (currently planning for the Scoob) in a couple of years time to fit in the Eagles nest and stay in Salzburg again. Italian lakes sound like they might be worth doing too while i'm there.

JLv3.0 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2019 6:22 am

Matty wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:58 pm

Alex88 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:04 pm I bought a lovely little cottage back in June, which also meant I'd no longer be walking to work. As much as I'd love to be using the 650i every day, it's far too costly, especially with the round trip being 60 miles. So I acquired a 2.2 diesel Civic (FN shape) from a family friend not long after the house purchase. 1 owner, 90k, good nick, nice spec, loads of history and 55mpg. £1100. That'll do nicely. I'm actually quite fond of it! Goes well once the turbot gets going.

The 6 continues to be saved for weekends only. Still love it. Praying it doesn't go wrong. Funds have been quite severely depleted with the house buy, so we'll see how far my luck goes. I'm not holding my breath...

You can't beat a good banger. Having a car you don't give two shits about is a revelation for the crappy daily duties. The "I'm not parking there" and "don't eat that in here" go out the window as you smash it up kerb, into tiny spaces do tip runs without worrying about the upholstery.

All of this, with the added bonus that the "weekend" car feels even more special without familiarity taking the shine off it.

Realized that the boxsta is almost hilariously impractical* and have been seriously looking at getting an X-type estate to tick the long distance cruiser and moving large boxes of stuff Oxford to Cambridge boxes. Currently I walk to work and the Boxster is just for the weekends but sooner or later that is going to change.

*this was following transporting several large boxes containing hyperpolarized pyruvate to our inpatient pharmacy for testing which involved three in the front boot, two in the back boot and two on my colleague's lap in the passenger seat...