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Cardle
Jan 15, 2024 8:29:47 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 15, 2024 8:29:47 GMT
In 4 today as was convinced it was from Newport Pagnell
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Up!date
Jan 15, 2024 8:28:06 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 15, 2024 8:28:06 GMT
Thank you, I now know the difference, however it doesn't make them any less horrible, especially the union flag made up of little bits of plastic. They are resisting all attempts to remove them so far!
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Cardle
Jan 14, 2024 10:33:01 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 14, 2024 10:33:01 GMT
Failed, they all look the same! Went too big then too small!
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Up!date
Jan 13, 2024 18:10:29 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 13, 2024 18:10:29 GMT
I got the preceding owner's address from a copy of the V5 the dealer left with me and the original owners address was on all the Volkswagen service invoices
Preceding owner seems to have used every fixing strip to put on the 4D number plates, I can't budge them...hair dryer/fishing wire and acetone beckons tomorrow so I can put the plain boring ones on
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Post by bryan on Jan 13, 2024 17:04:23 GMT
The Aston Martin toothpaste edition! Minty
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Post by bryan on Jan 13, 2024 17:01:58 GMT
A brief update on the Up, I had new tyres fitted this week as the original tyres were Eco rubbish, struggling for traction, grip and the ride in the aim of saving a few carbons.
The 195 40 17 tyre size has very limited choice, so I went up a size to 205 section in order to get Michelin Pilot Sport 5 fitted. Formula One auto centre fitted all 4 in 30mins and beat the sale prices for £116 each.
The result to the traction was significant, putting down the power without issue even in the crap slippery conditions. The impact to the ride was better but wasn't as great as I hoped (still quite crashy)
I checked the tyre pressure today and they had set them to 3.95 bar/55psi....I reset them to recommended 2.4/2.2 bar and the impact on the ride is significantly better. More supple and less harsh whilst still firm.
I may head into the peaks tomorrow just to bed them in 😁 but they have made such a positive impact it is a shame they weren't fitted as standard. They fill the arches well. Ironically the Lupo GTi had the same size as I have upgraded to.
I'm really enjoying the little Up, and made contact with the previous owners, both were enthusiasts, the first of which has sent me a folder of stuff, including the original order documents, some features he had enabled by VW like auto door locking, rear lights on with DRLs and a spreadsheet of every tank of Shell V Power he put in the car...
I'm very happy with it 😁
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Post by bryan on Jan 12, 2024 11:07:46 GMT
I assumed it had been on order that long they were still using Roman numerals when it was placed!
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Post by bryan on Jan 11, 2024 17:20:52 GMT
That would make sense when looking at M4s 17/18 plate cars were coming in the cheap tax bracket
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Post by bryan on Jan 11, 2024 16:47:51 GMT
Hopefully the 40 year exemption keeps rolling...4 years for the 928, 5 for 911, 8 for Elan..... It is also one reason why I went for a 2005 Audi S4 and not the RS4...running costs are very different Why does it matter if they're all SORN?! A low (but not wholly inaccurate) blow 😂 The Audi isn't sorn, it just has a puncture from the building work and a mini digger preventing me getting it out of the garage....
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Post by bryan on Jan 11, 2024 16:07:03 GMT
Hopefully the 40 year exemption keeps rolling...4 years for the 928, 5 for 911, 8 for Elan.....
It is also one reason why I went for a 2005 Audi S4 and not the RS4...running costs are very different
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Cardle
Jan 11, 2024 7:51:18 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 11, 2024 7:51:18 GMT
Knew what it was on the second go, but it wouldn't accept my version at all in whatever format I could think of! Technical fail. A similar experience!
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Post by bryan on Jan 10, 2024 18:38:45 GMT
My wife definitely got one in the post for the Fiat in October, because she asked me to deal with it. Insanely, despite the VED being zero, you still have to go online and "renew". The Macan's VED is due from 1 Feb and I have not yet had any reminder. The BMW was, and the Mini is, set up for direct debit. I have no idea whether the Macan was automatically set up for DD when I bought it or not - is there a way to check (short of bothering the original salesman)? It should be itemised on the invoice but would guess it was supplied with a one off 12month ved
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Cardle
Jan 9, 2024 17:40:01 GMT
Post by bryan on Jan 9, 2024 17:40:01 GMT
Also in one today
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Post by bryan on Jan 9, 2024 17:39:29 GMT
For £15,000 I'd buy a 987 Boxster or Cayman, service it once in that time and sell it for £15,000 three years later. I appreciate that's breaking the rules
Rules are made for breaking!
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 21:43:22 GMT
It looks very smart and I'm sure the economy will improve, even the Evoque phev did 40s when not charged. I like the colour but we should as the Yeti is also petrol blue.
I didn't realise Skoda had gone down the touchscreen HVAC route
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 21:03:16 GMT
Really great, will do an update after new tyres are fitted on Wednesday
But the notional budget you'd get a nearly new one....
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 20:20:27 GMT
I'm really enjoying the UP GTi, much fun!
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 18:17:47 GMT
You mentioned Strasbourg. Near Strasbourg is Colmar which is also exceptionally pretty - we have stayed nearby in Rouffach a few times on our way to and from Italy. Once, as it was my birthday, at the Chateau d'Isenbourg, which is old-school upmarket with spa facilities. www.grandesetapes.com/chateau-hotel-isenbourg-alsace/en/Otherwise we tend to go to the Domaine de Rouffach which is a decent 3* with olde worlde charm and an excellent restaurant called Philippe Bohrer (check opening hours - the restaurant is not open on Sundays and Mondays, although the hotel also has another one which is less upmarket). www.domainederouffach.com/en/We often raid the following nearby vineyards for wine: www.mure.com/en/ (superb cremant) bollenberg.com/Heading south, you could go to Basel for a quick jaunt into Switzerland. Basel's old town is beautiful and there is a spectacular modern art museum if you like that sort of thing. More pertinently to this forum, it means you are within touching distance of the Schlumpf Collection at Mulhouse, which is now France's national motor museum as well as housing the famed Bugatti collection: www.musee-automobile.fr/en/Nestled between Mulhouse and Basel (and handily in France from a cost perspective), I like the hotel "Au Lion Rouge" in Bartenheim. It's a pretty three-star inn, which is really an inn in the classic sense in that it is a great restaurant with rooms, rather than the other way around. The rooms are modern, clean and comfortable, and well-priced. www.lion-rouge.fr/We stayed there last month on our way to Lugano in the Mini, and had a fabulous meal as usual. We had foie gras (the real thing, not the pate) poached with apples in calvados to start, followed by fillet of beef with morels for my wife and venison in a wine and juniper sauce, with spaetzle for me, followed by profiterole, all accompanied by good glasses of cremant and red wine. I paid just over 200 euros for the whole lot (room, meal and secure parking) and it's just five mins off the main motorway from Strasbourg to Basel (pretty much the last stop before the Swiss border). Other thoughts - obviously there is Lake Constance, but south of Munich is also the Tegernsee, which I am told by German friends is very pretty. So, marshalling my thoughts, I could be tempted in your shoes to go (how long you stop and tarry in each place is obviously up to you!): - First stopover in Reims (3hrs from Eurotunnel, great for champagne obviously) or skip that and go straight to Strasbourg/Colmar (5-6 hrs from Eurotunnel).
- You could easily spend a day in Reims visiting champagne houses.
- Strasbourg and Colmar each merit a day of wandering around, plus meals and vineyards as mentioned above.
- Strasbourg/Colmar to next stopover in Basel (takes 60-90 mins depending on whether you are going from Strasbourg or Colmar, stopping along to way to visit the Schlumpf Collection.
- Basel could easily fill a day.
- Once done with Basel, head to Liechtenstein for lunch (2 hrs).
- After lunch over to Neuschwanstein Castle (the fairytale one built by Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria), via Bregenz at the bottom of Lake Constance (further 2 hrs).
- Find somewhere to stay near Neuschwanstein Castle, visit next day and then afterwards head up to Munich (2hrs) for next stopover.
- Munich merits at least a day, including to see the BMW museum.
- You could go across to Regensburg, which is very pretty but east of Munich and thus perhaps out of the way - it's a day trip from Munich.
- Then across to Stuttgart via Augsburg for next stopover to visit Porsche and Mercedes (2.5hrs).
- Then I'd be tempted to make my next stopover Baden-Baden (little over an hour from Stuttgart), where you could "take the waters" at the famous spa.
- Thereafter up to you, but Cologne is worth visiting and the Eifel region of Germany (bordering Luxembourg) is pretty.
- And you could then, if you have time and haven't been before, from Cologne, head up to Antwerp/Ghent/Bruges - all very pretty and a short hop back to Calais.
Thanks Jonny, lots of good ideas, off to do some googling and now salivating at the thought of the food! It looks like in a 7-10 day trip we would be pushing it to head up North to Wolfsburg (or Volkswagen Disneyland as Mrs M calls it!)
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 16:16:59 GMT
I've driven in Germany an awful lot, and standards aren't what they were in the 90s. However nothing beats driving through the centre of Frankfurt's business district on the Autobahn at very high speed knowing that it would fuck Khan right off if someone proposed this kind of road for London. I like Germany and away from the Autobahn nonsense the towns and villages are well ordered and lots of picturesqueness down south in Bayern. Alf's description is about right. One very large word of caution driving in Germany in March. The German winter tyre rules are based on ambient temperature, as opposed to the Slav countries where it's November - March. So when I went to look at the Gorilla the first time I wasn't allowed to take it out because despite it being mid-April the temperature was below the magical 4 oC and the car was on summer tyres. So if you have cross-climates or winters on it, fine. Summers: check the forecast. The Yeti is on crossclimates so all good, any recommendations on places to visit or stay whilst over there?
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 10:23:10 GMT
You might as well stop at the ring if your driving past. Makes for a good place to overnight on the first day too as its about 4/5 hours from Calais. Just make sure the circuit is open. It usually opens in mid March so will depend on when your going and you can stretch the Yetis legs. All 110bhp 1.2tsi dsg horses ready for action...
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 9:30:50 GMT
Sounds like a great trip Bryan. I've never driven in Germany so can't offer much advice. If you don't have them fitted you might need to check if it's still law to have winter tyres on your car in March. I'm sure the Yeti will take the trip in it's stride and probably use a lot less fuel than your other cars. I'm guessing your wife is also less fussed about going across in one of your classics? Maybe that needs to be done as part of a forum road trip one day instead. You speak the truth! She may even share some of the driving in the Yeti, and will be going round lots of car museums....hence asking for other good things to see and do so not all car related Driven in France plenty of times, so not concerned about that aspect, Yeti has had the right tyres
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 7:32:57 GMT
Glad that Jo is Ok, and that damage looks very minor to write a car off.
Does it need new panels? Could the wing pull back into shape and most of the scuffs polish out?
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Cardle
Jan 8, 2024 7:29:32 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 7:29:32 GMT
THREE attempts this morning .. raging!!! Also in 3, started with its younger sibling, then didn't put in the numbers for the second go....which is the pattern I follow every time they use the picture!!
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Post by bryan on Jan 8, 2024 5:51:49 GMT
The timing isn't ideal, the original holiday plan was to Eurostar to Paris and Stuttgart but seems to be developing....
I've always dreamt of going in one of the Porsches or even the Audi, but March won't be great weather and both the 911 and 928 would need some recommissioning prior to going which isn't financially sensible at present.
So I'm viewing this as a taster trip. It also helps the Yeti is on crossclimates.
€400 for the ring taxi 😲
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Post by bryan on Jan 7, 2024 17:54:30 GMT
We are thinking of a break in March this year and going to Germany is one option and a country I've never travelled to or visited - so i am after any tips or advice on things to see. Our list so far is
- Get the Euro Tunnel over to Calasis and head to Strasbourg - it will most likely be in the Yeti - What is the Black forest like in march - worth a visit if so is it drive through or somewhere to stop for a few days - Stuttgart for prosche Museum
- Possibly AutoStadt /Wolfsburg and ingolstat and area around Munich
- Rhine Valley/Cologne
Any tips or advice welcome - probably end up being away a week/10 days and prefer to have a couple of 2/3 night stops to break up the travelling
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Cardle
Jan 6, 2024 20:11:14 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 6, 2024 20:11:14 GMT
In one today, no mistaking phoenix yellow
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Cardle
Jan 3, 2024 10:05:07 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 3, 2024 10:05:07 GMT
Could not get away from the luxury brand name once I'd got it in my head! Who the feck calls them that anyway?! I failed/got it in one due to not including their owners
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Cardle
Jan 2, 2024 13:45:54 GMT
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Post by bryan on Jan 2, 2024 13:45:54 GMT
Indeed first go for me too?
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Cardle
Dec 31, 2023 12:40:58 GMT
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Post by bryan on Dec 31, 2023 12:40:58 GMT
In 2 today, having started with the off-road version first
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Cardle
Dec 29, 2023 10:45:35 GMT
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Post by bryan on Dec 29, 2023 10:45:35 GMT
I started with a Nissan Primers and didn't get any closer!
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