What Have You Done To Your Merc Today?

[Craiglxviii]

And finally... we meet the delays at Customs!

 

[Craiglxviii]

So while I’m bored waiting for tut car train, here are some snaps.

The pool at our agriturismo.


The main residenza.


The approach to it through the village.


Cable car as we came through the Alps.


View out of the gates- maize and sunflowers.


Walking into Assisi.


The Duomo in Assisi.


The entrance to the car park in Castiglione del Leone, on Lago di Trasimeno (a good 3” either side of the mirrors!)


And Lago di Trasimeno itself.


The Piazza d’Italia in Florence.

 

[Craiglxviii]

The Ponte Vecchio- now all jewellers shops. No pastel artists which was a shame, as I wanted to get the kids portraits done. Next year instead.


And the view along the bridge.


Piazza Penditi and the Pension Penditi, a big hotel.


One of the churches in Orvieto, a beautiful hilltop fortified town.


Perugia’s council house...


And the most peculiar entrance to a restaurant I’ve ever seen, down a Perugian side street. Loving the flying arches just keyed into next door’s wall!

 

[LostKiwi]

Took the 129 for a run down into the Cotswolds.
Became a game of spot the interesting car...
1 x Lancia Monte Carlo
1 x Frog eye Sprite
1 x Healey 3000
1 x Morgan of some description
2 x MG midget
2 x MGB GT
4 X Tesla Model S
1 x F-Type
1 x XR4 Sierra
1 x RS500
1 x RS Sierra Sapphire
1 x Ford Capri 2.8i
1 x Ford Capri 3000GT
5 x Ford Mustang (New ones)
30+ Escort RS
50+ Escort ST
50+ Fiesta ST

I'm guessing there was a Ford meet at Silverstone....

 

[Craiglxviii]

We have passed some unusual cars coming up too. A Midget doing 85mph and not shedding all its oil (or indeed, transmission gearing!) for one...

 

[flowrider]

Had lunch today in Berkhamsted and spotted quite a few classics driving along the high street. The stand out car was a lovely 1985 burgandy pagoda. There were a couple of Austin Healeys, some American muscle and a little Austin Seven.

 

[Rob76]

I had to pop out for some milk; which turned into a half hour blast with the stereo up

 

[alexanderfoti]

My turn!

 

[Craiglxviii]

Fair winds Alex! Where's your destination?

 

[alexanderfoti]

Fair winds Alex! Where's your destination?

Off to Lake garda for a few days! Nothing fancy.

 

[Craiglxviii]

So, some statistics for the trip:

2,906 miles travelled.
531.0 litres of fuel consumed.
24.89mpg across the trip, including cities, hill-climbs to various towns and the Alpine pass.
£1.614/ litre average for 95RON.
291 miles between fills (3/4 tank or thereabouts).
Full tank prediction: 477 miles (!)
£57 on unanticipated repairs.

3 full skips of rubbish emptied out of the car during the trip (OK, bin bags). The kids managed to miss the seat protectors at almost every turn with every sticky confection they had.

On the return we brought back some wine and cheese. The 12V mod proved its worth as it allowed the fridge to stay running while we were out of the car, so cool drinks were available on our return.

Our overall consensus was that, while not the best on fuel, it was the most comfortable long distance cruise either of us have ever done, no sore backs or cramped legs along the entire trip. The kids were comfy and had just enough space between them to allow for WW3 to kick off every couple of hours. The headrest/ charger mod was a dismal failure as neither child wanted to watch their tablet's media anywhere other than their laps, so they were pretty much disused. Shame really but there we go.

So, an 18yo S Klasse coupe really is the perfect car to take to Italy to tour hilltop towns!

On the trip to work this morning I achieved 28.3mpg, the best yet.

 

[Craiglxviii]

Off to Lake garda for a few days! Nothing fancy.

Ah, just Lake Garda. Nah nothing fancy...!!!

 

[alexanderfoti]

Ah, just Lake Garda. Nah nothing fancy...!!!

Hehe its a paid for wedding so only fuel and hotels en route

I'll do the same stats above for my journey but your numbers are nearly identical to my Cl55 k when I took that to France last.

 

[sl500amgsport]

Fair winds Alex! Where's your destination?

Fair winds but preferably not in the car

Mercedes SL500 R231

 

[LostKiwi]

So, some statistics for the trip:

2,906 miles travelled.
531.0 litres of fuel consumed.
24.89mpg across the trip, including cities, hill-climbs to various towns and the Alpine pass.
£1.614/ litre average for 95RON.
291 miles between fills (3/4 tank or thereabouts).
Full tank prediction: 477 miles (!)
£57 on unanticipated repairs.

3 full skips of rubbish emptied out of the car during the trip (OK, bin bags). The kids managed to miss the seat protectors at almost every turn with every sticky confection they had.

On the return we brought back some wine and cheese. The 12V mod proved its worth as it allowed the fridge to stay running while we were out of the car, so cool drinks were available on our return.

Our overall consensus was that, while not the best on fuel, it was the most comfortable long distance cruise either of us have ever done, no sore backs or cramped legs along the entire trip. The kids were comfy and had just enough space between them to allow for WW3 to kick off every couple of hours. The headrest/ charger mod was a dismal failure as neither child wanted to watch their tablet's media anywhere other than their laps, so they were pretty much disused. Shame really but there we go.

So, an 18yo S Klasse coupe really is the perfect car to take to Italy to tour hilltop towns!

On the trip to work this morning I achieved 28.3mpg, the best yet.

Pretty much the same fuel figures we got from the 230 when we went in May (and better than the 129 when it came home in Jun).

 

[Craiglxviii]

Pretty much the same fuel figures we got from the 230 when we went in May (and better than the 129 when it came home in Jun).

I will admit to perhaps driving slightly over the posted 130km/h speed limit for... well, all of the way.

As some of you know we had some issues on the outbound leg:

2hr delays on the M25, causing us to miss our booked train by 1hr 4mins.
Next available train was 2120. We actually left on the 0050 and arrived in Calais at 0125L. An hour or so's drive followed by an hour or so's sleep in an aire, then onto the booked hotel for ~0500L and 4 hours sleep.
Breakfast 0930-1000L and then departing 1030L for what should have been a 12hr straight drive.
40min delays before and after the Mont Blanc tunnel pushed our ETA out to way past a reasonable beddybyes time, so we put up at an agriturismo near Rimini for the night. Leaving there at 1000L, we arrived at our residenza at aroune 1230L.

Across all of that I kept the car at between 88-95mph, most legs showed a moving average speed of 72-75mph. The return was mostly similar with the exception of the Colle della Scala, which was done at between 15-20mph, and the final leg from Troyes to Calais where I kept to 130km/h.

On flat level ground, the best speed for the W215 CL500 is 77mph, 2150rpm indicated where between 27=28mpg will be returned.

 

[Wighty]

A humble post in between all these grand trips and plans ! Took the rear brake pads out , cleaned them up , copper slipped them and put them back .

 

[Blobcat]

A humble post in between all these grand trips and plans ! Took the rear brake pads out , cleaned them up , copper slipped them and put them back .

Need to do mine, I've a slight squeak from one of the rear pads

 

[Wighty]

Need to do mine, I've a slight squeak from one of the rear pads

I've got the fronts to do next

 

[3146bj]

Drove the B Class for the first time in a month as we've been in the North West of Western Australia with No 1 son and family, in Broome for a week then two weeks camping with them before heading down to Perth, all in a Toyota Hi-Lux based 4WD campervan. A bit over 4500km in the 3 week rental Toyota (manual, base model) makes you realise how good Mercedes are, and how big Oz is (look at a map and see how little we covered). Been there before (about 45 years ago when the roads were all dirt) so we knew what to expect, but not how it has changed with all the mining development in the area.

Now to dream and plan the next trip - maybe not so far or maybe further and take a lot longer over it!