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Post by racingteatray on Jan 8, 2024 20:05:55 GMT
Possibly the C3 on the basis that the Panda and Up are about to be pensioned off. But I’ve not driven one.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 8, 2024 18:55:58 GMT
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 8, 2024 17:41:50 GMT
Our neighbours have a red Swift, but it's the later model. They love it.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 8, 2024 17:34:43 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.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 8, 2024 16:48:08 GMT
Just got back to London last night after being away for three weeks, and it was very heartening to find that the Fiat started first time this morning with nary a suggestion of a complaint, despite the battery now being into its 11th year. And given that the poor car suffered the indignity of having a large trellis (and attached rambling rose) fall on it after Storm Gerrit succeeded in detaching it from the front wall of the house while we were away (thankfully causing no immediately obvious damage), it could have been forgiven a grumble.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 8, 2024 16:24:29 GMT
Daft shout by the insurers on the Fester.
Good shout on the Swift.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 4, 2024 19:19:31 GMT
We have the same daft 20mph limit in our town. Since they added extra planters and street furniture in Covid and have yet to take them away its hard to get to 20mph in the stop start traffic but I can't remember ever voting for this rubbish. Driving an older car it doesn't sit very well at 20mph so I will burble through town between 1st and second rather then cruising at 30mph. Its just your typical anti-car council actions. Same with our Fiat 500, which is the perfect urban car but for the fact it really doesn't like doing 20mph, being very short-geared. By contrast, the Macan, being automatic, is much easier to pootle along in at 20mph but obviously uses far more petrol in the process. Excuse me while I go and bang my head against a hard surface... It's been wall-to-wall 20mph around us for a while now, and it's loathed by most people apart from a curious portion of the population who appear to view roads as appropriate places for children to be able to frolic. I don't actually object to 20mph on residential side streets, but I find it ridiculous that pretty much the entirety of central London is now 20mph, including wide thoroughfares like Park Lane and the Embankment.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 4, 2024 19:11:40 GMT
Apparently it was the first crash involving one of the new generation of carbon-bodied airliners and there's been a lot of focus on the speed with which it went up in flames.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 27, 2023 22:07:26 GMT
Yes the 5 and its Alpine twin are interesting, as perhaps are the Panda and small Alfa SUV if one must do volts. Apart from that, I do have a sneaking weakness for a Mustang but the rest look dreary or weird, or both. As a Mini owner, I must say I am not especially loving the look of the new one. The proportions are good but the back looks like something from Angry Birds and the inside simply looks low-rent. I precisely like that our Mini feels solid, upmarket and well-made from decent quality materials inside. In other words, like a proper car that you’d buy by choice rather than because it was all you could afford, unlike most small cars I have tried.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 27, 2023 21:55:07 GMT
It’s got me thinking when was the last time I had to change a bulb on any of our cars and it was actually the last century! I changed the dipped bulbs on Mrs RT’s 500 to a set of superbright ones not long after we got it, as the standard ones were like waving a couple of candles around, especially if you are used to xenons. That was quite easy and could be done by lifting the bonnet. And so far they’ve not needed changing. To change the main beam required fiddling around in the front wheel arch so I did not bother. I think the last car of my own that I had to change a bulb on was the Alfa (being also the last one not to have xenons) and I recall it being do-able but fiddly and a very tight fit.
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VW ID2
Dec 22, 2023 13:22:56 GMT
via mobile
Post by racingteatray on Dec 22, 2023 13:22:56 GMT
I wonder if you could buy one and self ID it as something else? An Audi or Skoda perhaps?!
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VW ID2
Dec 21, 2023 20:50:27 GMT
via mobile
Post by racingteatray on Dec 21, 2023 20:50:27 GMT
I just don’t want a car called an ID anything. Silly name and change for change’s sake.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 18, 2023 8:37:09 GMT
I wear my Smock on the way to the farm which is 5 minutes away along with wellies and waterproof leggings. I now have visions of a sort of waterproof Grayson Perry...
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 18, 2023 8:35:17 GMT
To be fair I think they themselves are being shafted by the costs of repairing vehicles and providing hire cars so the cost is inevitably passed on to us. I don't think they are being so shafted. Have a look at their annual reports and their profits. I am not 100% convinced that something which is after all mandatory should be quite so subject to uncapped market forces. Admiral had insured my wife's Fiat 500 for the last eight years. It does barely 1,000 miles per year and is worth at best £5k, and the premium has bobbled along at around £150 for years. This year they wanted over £300. No explanation and not much regret when we removed our business.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 14, 2023 15:30:02 GMT
For that very reason I don't think these will easily find a new home. Overpriced in the first place and with a pretty small range has to mean that prices will continue to plummet. The finance rates simply don't work. I cannot fathom who agrees to pay 11%+ on finance, let alone on borrowings approaching the size of the average mortgage. I was "lucky" to get one of the last 6.4% deals and still wasn't particularly pleased with it.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 14, 2023 15:27:52 GMT
It’s the standard wheel colour isn’t it and buyers are probably told it’s essential for resale….. Black wheels are like cement grey paintwork. It was a good joke at the beginning, but it has gone on way, way too long. Although I've got used to the cement grey paintwork on our Mini. I'd never actively choose it though. It's actually a metallic shade, but you'd be hard pressed to notice most of the time.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 14, 2023 15:24:21 GMT
Not usually, because the Macan and Mini both have heated seats, plus the Macan has a heated steering wheel which is one of those "where have you been all my life?" options.
But if it's very cold and I've got to drive the Fiat a short distance, then yes, because (a) it doesn't have luxuries like heated seats and (b) it has a tiny engine so takes an age to generate enough heat to start sending meaningful warmth into the cabin.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 14, 2023 15:20:34 GMT
I agree but I haven't found any way of dissuading the ever-growing local fox population from using my car as part of their local vulpine superhighway, so it's either faff with the cover or risk deep scratches from scrabbling foxes with muddy paws and non-retractile claws.
So far this sort of neoprene-type material doesn't seem to cause condensation to form underneath.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 14, 2023 15:15:56 GMT
Sounds good! It's weird how you can go along the coastal part of France in the direction of Brussels/Antwerp and not get hit for tolls, but head south and you are into them (better motorways though - its worth the money!). Good recommendation on the toll device Racing - could be handy! Edited to add: I've chucked one of the summer fronts (which fit on either end, at a push) in the boot in a bag, as I hate having no spare. It takes away a lot of boot storage, but still leaves more than I'll ever need unless going on holiday in it, in which case I'll load the back seats up, or stuff soft bags around it. I don't fancy waiting on a mobile fitter to find me a really rare tyre size, it would likely take many many hours or not be possible, and being towed due to a puncture is a joke. Tyre foam might occasionally be useful but even then you are supposed to change it very soon! Come now...I drove to and from Moscow twice in the GTA with no spare...
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 14, 2023 9:35:39 GMT
You definitely can't go wrong with digestives.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 13, 2023 22:02:34 GMT
If I were to come across these biscuits which flavour is the winner? There look to be a few choices. Personally I like the standard chocolate Grisbis but the hazelnut ones are also good - not unlike nutella. Mulino Bianco...where to start...Abbracci ("hugs") are a classic - quite often eaten at breakfast in Italian households, dipped into their morning coffee, as are Pan di Stelle, which literally all Italian kids love. I also have a weakness for Settembrini, which are basically an Italian version of a fig roll. italianfoodshop.co.uk/collections/mulino-bianco
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 13, 2023 21:06:34 GMT
Not sure those look like they'd go with my cup of tea. I prefer dark chocolate by a country mile and have never understood custard creams. They say your tastes are formed in childhood, so I unsurprisingly go in more for Italian stuff like Mulino Bianco and Grisbi, which luckily our local shops stock (this being west London). Grisbis were our idea of heaven as kids. Google them. This could be the poshest forum post ever. Touché...but then again we did live in Italy until I was 10, so that's what's behind it. England was generally pretty disappointing on the food front when we moved back here - I mean you try being sent from Italy to an English boarding school in the mid-80s. I didn't know what most of it was and it was all pretty revolting.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 13, 2023 16:18:41 GMT
Where are you going that doesn't involve French motorways? Or are you going via Holland?
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 13, 2023 16:15:39 GMT
It's a lovely colour combo indeed and would suit my drive well :-) You are a total masochist choosing this time of year for your annual wash.... I debated cleaning the Alfa at the weekend, then took it out for a 50 min blat yesterday and its totally covered in cack so I'm glad I did not. That said I havw the day off tomorrow and may wash both of them and proof the hood of the Porsche, joining you in the pointless car licking club. Hopefully yours stays clean in town Like I said, I needed to put the anti-fox cover back on it, and that requires the car to be clean. Can't remember if I said, but I had a bit of a nightmare with the outdoor cover that Porsche Tequipment supplies, because although it's bespoke-shaped to the Macan, it's just a thin single-layer plastic sheet with no soft inner lining, which quickly resulted in terrible scuffing marks wherever it rested against the car. I made a great fuss and eventually West London Porsche agreed to (a) refund me and (b) mop and polish the car for me to get rid of the scuff marks. I did feel that I was possibly being a bit precious but when I took it in and they put it in the special polishing bay which was lit with very unforgiving bright lights, the service manager quickly said "ah yes, that's pretty shocking". So I now have a new cover, ordered from Classic Additions, which after a PCGB discount cost more or less what Porsche refunded me for their cover. It's made from an entirely different material - a sort of stretchy neoprene similar to a wet suit. Let's see. So far it seems much more resistant to fox claws (and the dirty footprints show they've been up there already multiple times) than the multi-layer Coverzone one I had for the BMW, the outer waterproof layer of which used to eventually tear and therefore cause the cover to lose its water-proofing. Plus it has well designed straps, so it doesn't seem to be billowing in wild weather or causing any scuffs. The new cover also has the advantage of just being plain grey - the one Porsche supplied was silver with a huge Porsche badge and lettering on the bonnet, which was a bit unnecessary.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 13, 2023 16:03:49 GMT
I would recommend getting one of these: www.bipandgo.com/en/Costs little and the convenience is huge, especially with a RHD car.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 13, 2023 16:02:27 GMT
Are you remembering all the things you have to carry in the car for France, like spare bulbs, yellow vests, a UK sticker and probably winter tyres. Do they still require you to carry a breathalyser too? Or it that Spain? You definitely need a breathalyser still. We stopped to buy some wine near Colmar last month (being partial to a bit of Alsation cremant and riesling) en route back to London in the Mini, and one of our favoured vineyards mentioned it and kindly gifted us a breathalyser as the one I already had was long-expired...
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 13, 2023 15:58:30 GMT
For me, it's no contest. Those gorgeous teledials walk it all day every day. Just heaps better looking (IMNVHO) - being a shallow sort of soul that would matter more to me than the weight difference...plus I am partial to a dark silver/grey finish.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 12, 2023 16:47:59 GMT
Not sure those look like they'd go with my cup of tea. I prefer dark chocolate by a country mile and have never understood custard creams.
They say your tastes are formed in childhood, so I unsurprisingly go in more for Italian stuff like Mulino Bianco and Grisbi, which luckily our local shops stock (this being west London). Grisbis were our idea of heaven as kids. Google them.
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 12, 2023 16:43:30 GMT
I was going to refer to it as "dusky plum" but not after you talked about seeing it in the flesh....
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Post by racingteatray on Dec 12, 2023 15:12:24 GMT
Can't help, sorry - I have always had it free with the warranty.
But don't all the usual suspects offer it?
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