R9UKE's French Car Blog...

[KP]

Bon nuit Luke pop by warrington on your travels if you wish, i may tempt you from french shores lol!!

[R9UKE]

Just off the M6? Sounds good, I'll be cruising up it Thursday afternoon if you're about. I'll show you just how much £500 can get you these days

[KP]

I may well be about which should be good

I'll show you what 205 times that will get you

[robert_e_smart]

That the white clio you are scrapping?

[R9UKE]

The wolf is home!

What a car this is. 530 miles in one day and I enjoyed every single one of them. The trip from Birmingham to St Andrews also provided a bit of a surprise. I'd say it was 60% Motorway (sitting at 75-85 MPH), 30% A roads and 10% stop start urban stuff and I got...... 37.1 MPG - why would anyone consider anything else!? Granted, in town it drops to 28 MPG, but the 1.8 petrol would struggle to return 32 around town.

The last 30 minutes of the drive from the North of Scotland to Cairnryan is pretty epic, it's like a rally stage. The Laguna changed from a quiet cruiser into a snarling angry animal with a flick of that lever over into manual mode (Which, by the way, changes down AS SOON as you flick it over if you're in 5th - a nice touch!). It was absolutely tearing around the bends, it's a pretty grippy thing. Steep inclines just didn't seem to exist and the sound as it powered up them in 3rd at 5000 rpm was just incredible. 120 MPH was seen at one point, only noticeable if you look at the speedo as the thing is just so damn quiet!

It's going to be my daily until the end of June, which I'm really excited about. The Avantime will be in service for the next week or so due to this weather, it'll give the Laguna a little break after it's mad couple of days as well.

In other news, I've decided to part with the Clio Alizé Auto. Such a great little car but.... lets face it, there could be a 3.5 Vel Satis sitting in it's space.

[Citroenmad]

Sounds like a good'en Luke, no pictures yet?

You do have to question people spending a fortune on brand new motors just for the sake of a warranty and a number plate when such refinement, power and equipment can be had for the same as two monthly new car payments.

The last 30 minutes of the drive from the North of Scotland to Cairnryan is pretty epic, it's like a rally stage. The Laguna changed from a quiet cruiser into a snarling angry animal with a flick of that lever over into manual mode (Which, by the way, changes down AS SOON as you flick it over if you're in 5th - a nice touch!). It was absolutely tearing around the bends, it's a pretty grippy thing. Steep inclines just didn't seem to exist and the sound as it powered up them in 3rd at 5000 rpm was just incredible. 120 MPH was seen at one point, only noticeable if you look at the speedo as the thing is just so damn quiet!

When I did that crossing a couple of months back it was a very early one. It was a mad dash to get there in time, I was chasing down a C4 coupe in my C5, the pedal was well down the the tyres heavily used A great bit of road that, coming home was equally enjoyable and even quicker! I have to add that some of the rouads from Belfast towards the North were very enjoyable too.

[R9UKE]

Cheers Chris. Currently still covered in 500 miles worth of flies and littered with costa coffee cups inside - pics will follow once she's cleaned up!

[CitroJim]

littered with costa coffee cups

Don't mention bloody Costa coffee cups I had one leak all over me on Saturday...

[R9UKE]

They can be a nightmare! I've figured out that it's when they put the plastic top on so that the hole is in line with the top of the join in the cup - it just leaks out underneath on to your white t shirt!! Also probably another WIN point for the auto box - a lot more difficult to drink a Vanilla Latte with a manual box.

[CitroJim]

Ahh, the science of leaky Costa cups I like... Getting coffee stains out of teeshirts is not easy either

Autoboxes and cruise control. Nothing finer Luke

[myglaren]

Ahh, the science of leaky Costa cups I like... Getting coffee stains out of teeshirts is not easy either

Autoboxes and cruise control. Nothing finer Luke

Try sodium bicarbonate to shift the coffee stains.
No good with gearboxes unfortunately.

[R9UKE]

Autoboxes and cruise control. Nothing finer Luke

Too right!

And excellent tip Steve... Costa should really provide a sachet of the stuff attached to the cup

[addo]

Why not just order them to make a cup of tepid water with bicarb added?

Should offset any indigestion from drinking crap coffee and sitting still too long.

[R9UKE]

A quick update.

The Laguna V6 is thriving as daily driver, absolute pleasure, no complaints at all. Both Méganes off the road for now.

The Clio Alizé Auto is no longer part of my fleet. It found a buyer much quicker than I expected after flying through the MOT and has moved on

Swiftly replaced, however, by probably my most outrageous purchase yet.



Have a bit of fun with it while I'm transferring that nice number plate onto the Laguna V6 (or one of the Méganes) then onto eBay! It is, after all, a 2.5 Diesel Manual - NOT a 4.0 V8 Petrol, it therefore has no place as a permanent resident here

It met Robert's rather sub-standard XM yesterday.



I met an old flame today, and got my first drive in it. This was the Laguna V6 Estate I bought last year for £350 with a really bad exhaust - sounded like a Harley!! What a car it is... the Dynamique and Privilege are very different models and I'm looking forward to having this car sitting beside mine again soon

[robert_e_smart]

That Xm is a flying machine compared to the Range Rover. It has been so long since I have driven such a slow car! My BX 1.6 Automatic is quicker than the Range Rover!

Further comparisons, the Xm is longer than the Range Rover, but about a foot narrower!