Tales of a C3, a Goddess and some BMW's.

[DickieG]

Had a decent days spannering on my HDi yesterday, straightforward servicing as in oil and filter change plus a change of LHM followed by flushing it through the brake pipes to ensure as much of the old fluid is replaced as possible, however one thing had got me puzzled and it's that since I did this the handbrake lever now pulls up a further two clicks than it did before even though the mechanism wasn't touched in any way, both cables are still connected, brake pads weren't touched and no air bubbles came out of the calipers. Try as I might I cannot for the life of me work out how/why this has happened, the footbrake still operates as before and the handbrake still holds the car the same but now takes an additional two clicks before it tensions. Does anyone have some theories they'd like to share?

One other job I did was to investigate a slight rattle on the O/S/F suspension that had just started to announce it's presence, 13k miles ago I replaced both front droplinks, one of them was genuine Citroen and the other a QH I'd somehow acquired along the way, no prizes for guessing that the QH one was the cause of the rattle.

[DickieG]

Not a lot to report Citroen wise but the past 10 days has been quite interesting driving wise, one afternoon over the Jubilee weekend had me driving a brand new Rolls Royce Ghost then a couple of days later I was helping out a friend by driving a HGV into central London. At the other end of the scale I've recently been preparing my Daughter for her driving test which she took an passed first time this morning so a very happy Dad and Daughter, no longer will it be Dadcabs, now it's Dannicabs and I've got 17 years of free lifts to look forward to

[davetherave]

Congratulations to her! Should see your fuel bill decrease!

[CitroJim]

At the other end of the scale I've recently been preparing my Daughter for her driving test which she took an passed first time this morning so a very happy Dad and Daughter, no longer will it be Dadcabs, now it's Dannicabs and I've got 17 years of free lifts to look forward to

Excellent news Richard Well done to Danielle

Don't bank on the free lifts... Mine always seem to be unable to afford petrol

[DickieG]

I received a job offer that was just too good too refuse so I've been away for the past few days driving Rolls Royce's and Aston Martin's around Geneva, a really tough job that not many people could put up with

As ever the Rolls Royce Ghost is a brilliant car that really defines luxury motoring if you are looking for the ultimate in comfort combined with performance. During my stay I was assigned to look after some magazine journalists who wanted photo's of the Ghost travelling at speed through a couple of sweeping bends so I was happy to oblige, for such a large and comfortable car it's astonishing how well the Ghost hangs on and it does it without feeling floppy in any way retaining excellent body control. Reading up on the handbook (built into the Satnav screen) revealed that they now have a camera fitted into the back of the rear view mirror which reads speed road signs to ensure that the speed displayed on the head-up display is far more accurate than simply using GPS, best of all the system worked to perfection whenever I passed a change of speed limit including temporary ones.

For info Rolls Royce no longer use Citroen hydraulic suspension but BMW's air suspension as fitted to the rear of the 7 Series but on the Ghost it's used front and rear, the ride really is magical at smoothing out the bumps whilst retaining good control on body movement.

By way of a contrast to the Rolls I was given the opportunity to take a couple of Aston Martins, a Virage and Vantage S convertible out for a drive so it would have been rude not to take them up and down the nearby mountain pass road, these drives were made all the merrier by listening to the rumble from the exhausts when using full throttle and on the over-run. These Aston's are really good fun, they feel really well planted on the road and despite offering such good grip/handling the ride was surprisingly compliant. I wasn't so keen on the flappy paddle gear-change though, great for quick down-changes but when using full power it's all but impossible to get a smooth gear change, surprisingly there isn't a red line on the rev counter yet if you put the car into sport mode the gearbox won't change up automatically, so when I place my order with Aston I'll be specifying a manual gearbox

On Tuesday I'm returning to Geneva to collect a Rolls and drive it down to Monaco in convoy with another five of them for a four day event then returning it to Geneva to then fly home the following day, what I can't figure out is that I'm being paid to do this tough work

The Virage and below it the Vantage S.

[CitroJim]

Oh gosh, what an absolutely rotten job you have there Richard

Seriously, bloody good-oh Excellent!

Retirement has to be the best career move you ever made

[Deanxm]

Sounds brilliant Richard, the perfect job? sounds close!
I do love the Astons, the Exhaust noise is just amazing all on its own let alone the rest of the car, try not to have too much fun though wont you, especialy if you will insist on telling us all about it

D

[Xaccers]

We saw a lovely DB6 at the train station today
I'm so jealous Richard

[Citroenmad]

That is quite some job Richard

[vince]

OMG Richard, you are describing my euromillions lottery lifestyle....seriously. Geneva, Monaco....i dream of these places.....and for my money, forget the Astons (though they are wonderful), its the Rolls for me anyday! I simply love these latest incarnations of the Rolls Royce marque...simply fabulous rolling palaces, with lions for hearts!

All you need when you get to Monaco is a trip in an aquariva speedboat with some Sophia Loren type siren to a secluded......im sorry the fantasy is taking over

Richard its been said before but....you are one lucky man!!! Enjoy every minute of it

[DickieG]

Yesterday I returned home from my little jaunt to Geneva and Monaco, wow what a trip my eyes are still trying to take in the sights, Monaco and the Côte d'Azur scenery is truly stunning (the drive through the Alps wasn't bad either) and to do it in a Rolls Royce Ghost was the cherry on top of the cake, perfection.

This was my first time in Monaco, quite simply the place is mad and one big playground for the mega rich. Ferrari's are as common as muck, so much so that after the first couple of days you don't really take notice when you see one, outside hotels and the theatre you see around six to a dozen supercars including Mercedes SLR's and Bugatti Veyron's parked up as if they are Ford Focus's. Monaco is a blokes paradise, huge yachts, beautiful cars and oh, rather pleasant looking women by the dozen. Casino square at night is akin to walking onto a film set, beautiful buildings, a perfectly manicured central garden, supercars and women with supermodel looks littered everywhere, I found it difficult to come to terms with what I was seeing as it felt as if I was having a wonderful dream. Driving around Monaco is a bit of a challenge as there's a network of tunnels running underneath it almost like a rabbit warren, the Grand Prix circuit uses the largest/widest roads in the province, most of the others are very tight and narrow with the only available parking being in very tight underground car parks.

To the west of Monaco is Cap Ferrat, these photo's say it all really.





One view from the medieval village of Eze.



If you fancy hiring one of the yachts that was in Monaco this week such as this one it's available for the bargain price of €550,000-600,000 per week. Monaco itself lived up to it reputation for being expensive, a burger and chips in the Hotel cost €25 with a pint @ €10. One of the clients I picked up from a restaurant after lunch told me that the bill was €200,,,,, each

Just prior to leaving for the return trip to Geneva three of us took up the offer of a trip in this 1,200bhp launch/tender which when it was opened up to full throttle was rather thrilling to say the least.



Citroen wise the cupboard was rather bare, just two Xantia's including this brown Exclusive waiting in the queue for the Mont Blanc tunnel and one C6 on the way to Cap Ferrat.



All in all a wonderful lifetime experience that I feel very fortunate to have experienced.

[DickieG]

Today I moved down market so I'm now driving a new Mercedes 'E' Class, overall the car is quite a disappointment for me, I don't have much experience with Mercedes cars but have fancied maybe one day getting an 'E' Class estate but after today's encounter I'm very disappointed and will possibly cross that idea off. The model I have is a 250E CDi Sport saloon, the suspension is rock hard and jarring over anything mildly resembling a pimple on the road surface, the engine is a right old nail, rumbling and gruff constantly reminding you that its a diesel engine, not pleasant at all. I can only hope and assume that the model I have is totally wrong for me in that a six cylinder engine will be much smoother and standard suspension may offer some compliance from road irregularities. The parking brake is still done by an extra pedal on the left side of the footwell, a ridiculous idea that should have died out years ago as it's so unwieldy, the wipers/indicator stalk is positioned at 7-8 o'clock and requires you to twist the stalk to operate the wipers and doesn't have a flick wipe facility, the shock is that this car costs a whopping £43k, I'm not at all impressed with it, heavens knows why anyone would buy this rather than a 5 Series

[Xaccers]

Having worked for Merc/Daimler I was shocked at their shoddy build quality.
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the older ones, before their headlights got all slopey, but the newer ones, it seems that when they bought Chrysler rather than transferring German workmanship to the US, it went the other way!
I quite liked the look of the Dodge Avenger (not the Hillman rebadged) but several reviews of it warned not to shut the doors too hard lest bits of plastic fall off, and I could quite believe it.

[red_dwarfers]

Well, what can I say. Wow!

Here's to Monaco's youngest playboy

[DickieG]

To whet the appetite of the petrol-heads amongst us today I had the pleasure of driving a Mercedes C63 AMG down to Goodwood, crikey what a car, 6.3 litres of V8 muscle producing 451 horses to give a 0-60 of 4.5 seconds and as if that's not enough to entertain you, a subtle exhaust rumble provides the rest especially when on the over run. The ride is rather firm to say the least and whilst I don't think I could personally live with such a car on a daily basis it provides one hell of a hoot for occasional use, the bark from the exhaust alone when starting it is enough to wake to hard of hearing in your neighbourhood. Whilst the C63 is one hell of a beast, what struck me about this car is that whilst it's quick enough to frighten all but the very brave or foolhardy, it's not a huge amount quicker in a straight line than Rolls Ghost which propels you in total finesse, both are fantastic cars but for very different reasons. Now then time to check six numbers,,,,