Driving in France - what do I need to know?
Re: Driving in France - what do I need to know?
Well, we're back from France after a really lovely week, and some amazing drives
No car pics though, as I was having too much fun to stop and take them!
The car felt amazing on the beautiful French roads - I used the 'sports' suspension setting quite a lot too (something I never do on our broken roads as it's far too firm)
Got loads of appreciating looks (we forget how lucky we are here with seeing nice cars IMO - they're far more rare a sight in France)
On leaving the little village where we stayed, we came head to head with a young woman driving a white (and red) 992 GT3 RS - a ridiculous looking device on small French roads
The c500 mile schlep back up to Dieppe saw an average of 35mpg (at a constant 68mph/100kph) - amazing IMO
The combination of pace, sound, comfort, handling, roof-down, luggage practicality etc made the Boxster a perfect holiday car for Helen and me
I'm already thinking about next year's trip!
No car pics though, as I was having too much fun to stop and take them!
The car felt amazing on the beautiful French roads - I used the 'sports' suspension setting quite a lot too (something I never do on our broken roads as it's far too firm)
Got loads of appreciating looks (we forget how lucky we are here with seeing nice cars IMO - they're far more rare a sight in France)
On leaving the little village where we stayed, we came head to head with a young woman driving a white (and red) 992 GT3 RS - a ridiculous looking device on small French roads
The c500 mile schlep back up to Dieppe saw an average of 35mpg (at a constant 68mph/100kph) - amazing IMO
The combination of pace, sound, comfort, handling, roof-down, luggage practicality etc made the Boxster a perfect holiday car for Helen and me
I'm already thinking about next year's trip!
Re: Driving in France - what do I need to know?
Oh, and it reminded me about the "too fast for the roads" thing
The top end of 2nd gear had me breaking speed limits on what we'd consider A and B roads
I'm not a great driver, but I have to wonder how fast some people (who claim to be) must be going in faster/more powerful cars?
e.g. Sam STG and "toothless" Tony regularly talk about really pressing on on European roads in far faster cars than mine (which 'only' has about 340bhp)
I never once thought "I wish I had more power"
In fact, I didn't want to push very hard at all, the sheer pleasure of driving my car on those roads (and the ease with which I could have seriously gone over the speed limits) made me want to savour it, not really go for it
What I really did revel in though was the braking, turn-in, and cornering balance - especially on long, winding downhill sections
The brakes felt great, the car rotated nicely, and just felt unflappable - it's so much better than I am!
The top end of 2nd gear had me breaking speed limits on what we'd consider A and B roads
I'm not a great driver, but I have to wonder how fast some people (who claim to be) must be going in faster/more powerful cars?
e.g. Sam STG and "toothless" Tony regularly talk about really pressing on on European roads in far faster cars than mine (which 'only' has about 340bhp)
I never once thought "I wish I had more power"
In fact, I didn't want to push very hard at all, the sheer pleasure of driving my car on those roads (and the ease with which I could have seriously gone over the speed limits) made me want to savour it, not really go for it
What I really did revel in though was the braking, turn-in, and cornering balance - especially on long, winding downhill sections
The brakes felt great, the car rotated nicely, and just felt unflappable - it's so much better than I am!