Mike's C5 110HDi

[Northern_Mike]

There only has to be one Malcolm, reachable from the driver's seat, which it it. I have all the other required gubbins.

well i always thought each occupant of the vehicle hed to have one to hand????

Not sure what the speed limit is in Belgium. Stuck to 140 due to lack of signs .

is that MPH Mike

Had the car the capability to go that fast Malcolm, it would have been...

[Northern_Mike]

And long may it last! Getting the wheels balanced will be a great improvement...

Oh it was Jim, not a murmur at an indicated 6 score.

[myglaren]

Nightmare Mike. Pleased the C5 was reliable and comfortable.

As Jim says, best to make your own arrangements but even then it can go horribly wrong.

If you need to stay in Brussels again,

Thanks for the tip Steve, but hell shall freeze over before I visit Belgium again, I simply didn't "get" the place at all. Each to their own I suppose.

As a way to get somewhere else, because of the nice motorways, it might be useful, but as a holiday destination? No , not for me!

Strange. I was warned about Brussels being boring and the natives being stand-offish but I found the exact opposite and ended up in a gang of French folks who could not have been any different from the stereotype if they had their arms twisted. Lovely people all round, wish I had stayed longer.

[Northern_Mike]

I never had a problem with the French, I always found them polite and helpful when we've been over there, or encountered them anywhere else. I've never really had a problem with any nationality really, apart from Argentinians (!) and some Brazilians who thought I was American.

The car park attendant we had to deal with in Brussels on Friday night after Mrs Northern_Mike lost the car parking ticket couldn't have been more surly and unpleasant if he'd tried. He really was like a caricature of a "foreigner" from a 1970s British "comedy" film.

[CitroJim]

Ahh well, that's Brussels off my list of places to visit...

I've never been and never will but amongst those I know who have say it's not the most appealing of places.

[Northern_Mike]

Ahh well, that's Brussels off my list of places to visit...

I've never been and never will but amongst those I know who have say it's not the most appealing of places.

It's weird Jim. There's no atmosphere. It's like it's almost trying too hard to be an attractive place.

A friend who goes there often said it was because I didn't know the right places to do - I disagree, one shouldn't need to know the right places in order to feel like I like it, after all, in La Dorada in Colombia, I did little else than mooch about town - and it's a small town about the size of Rawtenstall, with some desperately poor areas, and it's not particularly pretty, proper shanty town in some bits. I ate some food in the cheapo pavement eateries the locals used, went for a swim in the river like the locals do, and ate some sausages and chips for my tea, sat under a brolly in the lashing rain in the evening. Nothing at all exotic, but I loved it. Perhaps I'm too simple to "get" Brussels and Belgium, I don't know, but I didn't like it at all.

[CitroJim]

I know what you mean Mike. I've travelled extensively in the past and generally as soon as I arrive I know if I'm going to love the place or not. I just 'get' the atmosphere of the place...

It happens in the UK too. I can instantly tell if I'm going to be happy or not in any given place..

Nottingham is a case in point. Some may see it as a toilet but for me it was love at first visit...

[Northern_Mike]

I like Milton Keynes Jim, and many think that's a concrete dump! I'd live there tomorrow if I could. The open space and the amount of trees is fantastic.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[CitroJim]

I certainly agree with you on Milton Keynes Mike. I love the place because it works very well as a big town and is a pleasant and friendly place to be. Some say it's a bit heartless and years back that might have been true but now it's matured into a very pleasant place indeed.

We who live in the environs have certainly benefited greatly from the presence of our nearby big town. 40 years ago when I first moved up this way it was a pretty desperate area. There was a reason why they built MK where they did. It was an absolutely useless place before.

[Mandrake]

I never had a problem with the French, I always found them polite and helpful when we've been over there, or encountered them anywhere else.

My girlfriend and I went to Paris for a few days in 2009 - first time in Europe for me, her friends at work warned her that the French weren't very friendly or polite to foreigners, (she had been elsewhere in Europe before but not France) we found the complete opposite!

I think in the whole time we were there we had one waiter in a back alley cafe that was a bit unfriendly and unhelpful but everyone else from waiters to hotel staff to store proprietors to people walking on the street were nothing but friendly, polite and welcoming, I was quite stunned. Great atmosphere too. I felt quite at home there despite not knowing a word of French, and contrary to the portrayed stereotypes we didn't come across anyone reluctant to speak to us in English. (Perhaps the fact that we had New Zealand and Scottish accents helped our chances though. )

I felt like if I could speak the language fluently I could easily see myself living there. A few years later we went to Rome, I did enjoy that too but not nearly as much, and I didn't find the people as friendly or polite. Not unfriendly as such, just somewhat neutral and not as welcoming.

I feel like I have now seen Rome and probably won't go back (as I haven't done much travelling and there are too many other places to see) but I definitely WOULD go back to Paris again, and elsewhere in France.

[Northern_Mike]

I never had a problem with the French, I always found them polite and helpful when we've been over there, or encountered them anywhere else.

My girlfriend and I went to Paris for a few days in 2009 - first time in Europe for me, her friends at work warned her that the French weren't very friendly or polite to foreigners, (she had been elsewhere in Europe before but not France) we found the complete opposite!

I think in the whole time we were there we had one waiter in a back alley cafe that was a bit unfriendly and unhelpful

You get them everywhere. The trick is to remind them who is waiting on who (obviously after you've been served)... that usually shuts them up.

[Northern_Mike]

Economy wasn't ace over the miles I did this weekend, but I was either crawling around town, or going near-as-damnit flat out, so I can't really complain at 36.3mpg on the computer, though Chris Citroenmad reckons this is about 4mpg short of reality, so if it's really 40mpg, that's pretty bloody good for the speeds I was maintaining.

It finally got down to the stage where it was telling me there was nothing left in the tank, as it was when I filled it up before we went over the channel. Put fuel in, worked out the mpg off that, and Chris is about right, it worked out at 41mpg, which to say I didn't drop below 140kmh or 90mph when I wasn't stuck in town traffic, is very good..

[lexi]

Modern petrols could almost match that Mike. However you can buy a lot of fuel for the £12k or so needed for a s/h one.
Guy on VS Org forum went all over Europe on mixed driving with 3.5 v6 petrol. He averaged 34mpg. That was high speed autoban and town driving.

Just a comparison and that is oldish engine.

[Mandrake]

Modern petrols could almost match that Mike. However you can buy a lot of fuel for the £12k or so needed for a s/h one.
Guy on VS Org forum went all over Europe on mixed driving with 3.5 v6 petrol. He averaged 34mpg. That was high speed autoban and town driving.

Just a comparison and that is oldish engine.

Trainman averaged 35.4MPG over 407 miles driving my new Xantia V6 back from Plymouth to Preston via Jim's at Milton Keynes, and I belive that included a fair bit of stop start rush hour traffic - it wasn't all smooth sailing on the motorway. (I on the other hand averaged a much lower MPG from Preston to Glasgow )

So I can fully believe a more modern petrol could achieve even better, especially if it was a manual or one of the new 6 speed autos...

[CitroJim]

Modern petrols could almost match that Mike. However you can buy a lot of fuel for the £12k or so needed for a s/h one.
Guy on VS Org forum went all over Europe on mixed driving with 3.5 v6 petrol. He averaged 34mpg. That was high speed autoban and town driving.

The Xantia V6 will do 35 if you drive with a bit of sense Lexi. Mine often does...