Write Up 1000 miles road trip

[bernd]

T
This very dirty Z3 and I have just returned from a 1000 miles Reading - Saarbrücken - Frankfurt - Reading road trip. It was absolutely brilliant tun. I even spotted a delicious black Z3 coupe just driving along the motorway in Belgium. I don't think I've ever seen one of those in the wild.
The Z3 didn’t miss a beat during the entire journey. It averaged about 35 miles to the gallon and it was certainly fast enough with it's 1.9l engine that I'm hoping that EU speeding fines still come to nothing because they won't prosecute a picture of an empty seat. Fingers crossed, lol! Funny how it sort of settles at around 95 when you're not paying much attention. Still hasn't used a drop of oil either (That is weird, I know...)
It is surprisingly comfortable too. Again today after 9 hours behind the wheel I got out of the car with no back ache, leg ache or any other complaints. (Well, apart from the anger issues resulting from hitting the M25 at 4pm and then Bracknell at 5ish. Arrrgh! Anyway, it is quite exciting to do 110 on the Autobahn with the roof down, but then again, none of the stuff that had accumulated on the passenger seat got blown away when I did put the roof down after filling up with cheap (ish) petrol in Schengen. (BTW, fuel prices in Germany are a joke. This afternoon, motorway services near Cologne wanted €2.23 per litre E10, so I bought just enough to get me to Belgium where the litre was a more reasonable €1.80.)
Otherwise, when I arrived at my parents on Saturday, my dad just paused long enough to say hello and give me a brief hug before he disappeared with the Z3 for a test drive, coming back 10 minutes later with a big grin on his face. My mum also said that she enjoyed the 2 hr Autobahn drive from Saarbrücken to Frankfurt on Wednesday morning, during which she insisted on having the roof down, but then she also maintains that her favourite car ever was her 2002tii, so that figures really...
However, my brother in law, who is a tall fella, did sit more on the car than in it, with the top of his head several centimetres above the windscreen and indeed the roll bars. He made me promise not to take a picture even though it did look funny.

And while my niece does look stylish in her racing-style car seat, she made me stop and put the roof up when I took her from one set of grandparents to the other on Sunday. "Fahr langsam! Das ist viel zu laut für meine kleinen Ohren!"

 

[bertiejaffa]

Sounds like a great trip !!

 

[hemihemanth]

It's always great to hear that a car performed well on a long journey. The Autobahn must have been quite an experience, especially with the top down. I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been to hit traffic on the M25 and Bracknell, but at least your Z3 kept you comfortable despite the delays. And those fuel prices in Germany are crazy!
By the way, I read an article the other day about how Caracas is not safe for foreigners. It's important to be aware of these things when traveling, especially to unfamiliar places.