Driven #31:- Audi Q7 3.0TDi

 

I love big cars. I'm absolutely thrilled if I get the chance to thread an Elise or a Noble along my favourite countryside party-route, and I get considerable joy from small cars in big cities. Feeling vulnerable is kind of exciting. But at the end of the day, when I just want to trundle home, or if I want to cross continents without furrowing my brow, I want a big car to do it with.

But there's probably an optimum size. In the BMW range, for example; I prefer the M5 to the M3. It's just more me; probably because it's bigger. They could even have built an M7 if they wanted, which wouldn't have been better; it would have been too big. It may well even have been rubbish.

And it was with thought of the relative values of bigness in my mind that I found myself at the helm of an Audi Q7; a car bigger than the likelihood of me being disappointed by my next pay-cheque.

 

Click to read more....

Roadwork Vacation:- Trans Europe Express Part Three

 

The following has already been hosted at Hooniverse where I'm eternally grateful to Tim Odell for all his support. I thought it about time I gave it a permanent home here, as it concerns one of the greatest weeks of my driving career.

Wednesday 8th October

Wittenberg, Germany to Lagen, Sweden.

The map was pretty intimidating to look at early in the morning, as condensation dripped from the glass, skin emerged from sleeping bag and shuddered on contact with cold leather, and stomach rumbled with dissent. We would be notching up another couple of countries during the day, but first priority would be to stem the ferocious bassy roars from each of our bellies. Opening our 12v coolbox revealed the bacon to be a little close to the edge, but we figured it could be cooked back to life. It pretty much worked and after an apple and the last of the yoghurts hunger pangs were defeated for the time being.

Click to read more....

Roadwork Vacation:- Trans Europe Express Part Two

The following has already been hosted at Hooniverse where I'm eternally grateful to Tim Odell for all his support. I thought it about time I gave it a permanent home here, as it concerns one of the greatest weeks of my driving career.

Monday 6th October 2008 Bellagio, Italy to somewhere scary in the middle of Germany.

We had parked up in the wee small hours, and had no real idea where we had ended up, except that there had been many corners and we were obviously very, very high up. From inside the car all I could really see through the condensation was trees and I could smell the scent of a nearby bonfire. Seeing where we were for the first time in daylight, the car park turned out to be basically abandoned, with an uneven covering of flint gravel and several somewhat intercooler-unfriendly raised sections.

And then I saw the view.

Click to read more....

Driven #12:- Land Rover Freelander TD4 S

A recent trip around an all-terrain track in an open-top Defender reminded me just what Land Rover was all about. These were cars which could take on anything the world could throw at them, that would still be serviceable long after the cockroaches surrendered and even the Peugeot 504s had bitten the dust. 

Click to read more....