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And some general thoughts:
I must admit, I was/am impressed with my car. Yes, the engine is small. Yes, on the extreme uphill bits (20% gradient ) it was lacking a bit of power/torque, but other than that I never really felt like lagging behind. In fact, when I needed it to perform, it did (Glencoe - overtaking a car and a bus, later on overtaking 3 cars). Yes, it is not a rocket and never will be. I'm sure you guys owning 200BHP are laughing your arses off reading it, but I don't think it is that bad anymore.
What's more, I am impressed with the numbers. My onboard computer showed an average of 42.2 MPG for this journey and believe me when I say that I did not drive like a granny. I did 395 miles on one tank and when I got home the car was still showing it can do another 60 miles. The roads were twisty uphill/downhill accelerate/brake kind of roads all the way.
Out of almost 400 miles I reckon I only did around 60-70 of motorway. The rest was all A and B roads and I think this is where the car shines. It is rubbish on motorways, but A and B roads were just a blast.
The roads were superb. A bit bumpy (I wished my suspension was a bit stiffer, so it wouldn't jump around so much) and some potholes, but nothing major. I went with Option C by the way, if you want to trace my route. I'm glad I did BTW, because the A93, A939, B851, B862, A887 and A87 were brilliant. If not for the amount of traffic I'd add the A82 to that list. I love that road, when it's quiet. Glencoe bit is great.
I'll be first to admit, a driving trip and a photography trip will always be a massive compromise. "Stop here! What a view! Take a picture!" vs "What a road! Keep going! Faster!". The photos I managed to take, were all a compromise. Stop, jump out, take 2-3 photos, back in the car, drive! Repeat! Rubbish idea. My brain was processing some amazing amount of information BTW. Looking for a nice photo opportunities, places to stop, is it safe to stop, trying not to crash, navigating, operating the car, going fast, etc. Yet, still. Except for the pheasant bit and the last 30 miles when I got to the motorway boring and was bored to death, it was perfect.
I've had some extreme weather in one day. Sunshine, extreme rain, gale-force winds in the mountains, wet twisty roads all the way. I can safely say that it was raining at least 75% of the whole trip and yet... I want to do it all over again
The idea for the next trip is already there. Still need to plan details and do a research. |
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