Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Have been crunching numbers to see if I can use the spare rims that I got with the car. The alloys would go up a size to 17" (from 16) but trying to keep the overall diameter as close as possible. Do we think this is asking for trouble, especially the 'poke'? Liking the quick mock-up though.

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Borrowed these to make up the new brakes.

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Check that the overall size was correct in the first place, the manual will tell you the correct factory size.

Great point, these are what's shown in the 'existing' figures above.

Ah, fair enough. I'm pretty sure my 2006 Outback could take a good 20mm poke each side.

Mercedes is sending me targeted advertising for 7 seaters. The algorithm may need a little work.

It knows you have loads of bikes

I’m planning o driving to Skye on 7th Dec from Camberwell- google says 12 hrs, have heard same from others. Anyone done it or similar and can advise. It is a bit time dependant, I can’t leave til 1pm that day and need to be there that night

Anyone have a recent Volvo?
Apple ios13 update seems to have broken sending of locations to the car from the Volvo app. :(

@tmevans Done that route to Fort William a few times. Skye is still a trek up from there.
And getting from the Skye bridge to Northern end is a big chunk of time too.

Went from Ashford, early sunday morning start, M25 Dartford crossing, M1, Scotch Corner A66 to Penrith (banging bit of road) and made Gretna in 6 1/2 hours. Glasgow, maybe 1 1/2 hours, avoid going to Fort William via Loch Lomond as the road is awful, head up to Stirling and get off near Dunblane which is the route for lorries, much better and faster road with many chances to overtake sensibly. You do see speed mobile speed cameras at odd times (late night/early morning) as Glencoe/Rannoch is fast A road and high incident when windy or Deer about at night or people running out of talent.
Might do Fort William to Skye in 1 1/2 - 2 hours, roads would be empty, but snow/ice/wandering deer.

From Scotch Corner, maybe 45mins to 1 hour to M6, from there to Glasgow motorway is fairly empty and nothing like M20/M25/M1 etc etc.

Depends on fuel tank range, how strong is your bladder and actually cruising at 70 you might get there in 11.
12 hours as a baseline, with a clean run and F1 style pitstop for fuel and toilet and maybe... 11, if you hit traffic maybe 14 hours.

It looks like there’s loads more room in the back of yours than mine. Rosie has affectionately nicknamed it the hearse, which I’m not sure how I feel about. Plus definitely can't fit a coffin in it.

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Midweek, I'd say longer. I did Aberdeen to Dalston in over 12 hours on a Monday.

Didn't see this post, this is good.

Use Waze also

Moving the centre of the contact patch outwards will change the bump-steer characteristics and change the Ackerman geometry.

That's lovely.

Wheels are ace.

I once did Crianlarich to central London in 8 hours exactly, that was on an Easter Sunday with light traffic and 3 drivers rotating with in&out pit stops

Great info, thanks everyone!

It's an epic run in one hit :)

Note worthy addition, if your low on fuel fill up in Fort William as several stations in and around town so prices are good, think the last one is by the Nevis distillery (maybe a BP) as you leave town to spean bridge.
Fuel stations are quirky and spread out and some have odd opening hours..... so don't expect 24/7 service outside Major towns, and pushing your luck only to find the station you run too closed 2 hours ago and don't reopen until Monday.

Not happened to me, but heard tales of camper vanners and motorcyclists getting stranded :)

Can't remember if it's Portree or Broadford on Skye, one of them has a big co-op and fuel stop that might be card only auto pumps, average prices since the bridge went up for fuel...... i filled up on Mull once.... made motorway service stations seem cheap (joy of island life, everything costs more)

Weird question.

Worried how you know that about a coffin! Looks lovely, in terms of a nice estate can't really beat a bimmer. How are you liking the M Sport suspension?

Corners great. Reports of unpleasantness seem to me greatly exaggerated. I think it helps that run flats have come on a long way in the last ten years. Today was 50% twisty Devon lanes and 100% grins. Had three adults in the back over the weekend too, enough room (just) and no grumbling about harshness. In-laws tomorrow might be a different thing though. The M sport seats have gone down very well, plenty of napping problem free from the navigator. Ancient iDrive is clunky af though. If it lasts 6 months without anything going wrong I’ll look at retrofitting a more modern unit in there.

I'm starting to think about sorting the family vehicles out now sprog number one has arrived and it's clear the current cars aren't up to standard for travelling with her.

My proclivities for lairy Japanese hatches were curtailed by a job that came with a company car a couple of year back, so currently I have a BMW 330e M-Sport which has a year or so left on the lease. My wife has a beaten up 10 year old 3 door Micra that leaks and she can't get baby in and out of. As my office location has changed I now commute via bike and train and she uses the BMW. The Micra gets used 2-3 times a month when both of us need a car.

The BMW is fine day to day, but with the batteries under the boot restricting space it's full to bursting when we do longer trips and holidays, a situation that can only get worse as we accumulate more baby stuff.

The BIK on the BMW is roughly £170 per month and I get £120 a month added to the pay packet for having a car from a pay grade below mine.

Work now offer the i3 at a hilarious £26 per month BIK, so when the 330 goes back I'm inclined to get one of those to use as my wife's daily driver. I'd still get the extra £120 and could use this and the BIK saving to fund a boring but practical estate/large hatch for long runs with the baby.

What recommendations would people have for something large and reliable with enough toys to make motorway runs as comfortable as possible? I'd be looking at something at £250-£300 a month - my deposit would be fairly low as I'm incapable of saving, and I'm fine with second hand. Decent fuel economy would be a plus. I find diesels horribly laggy around town but this would pretty much never be used for that so I guess I could be open to one. I'm in Reading so have no ULEZ concerns.

They're a special shade of beige but Renault Kadjar / Nissan Quashquai fit what you're describing pretty well. My wife has one and we use it for long motorway cruises and it's pretty comfortable. Our 1.6l diesel auto costs us £20 P/A in VED. The height of the car means that there is a lot of storage plus it's easy to get the kids in and out of plus get them belted up. Plus there is plenty of storage for children stuff.

Those wheels should fit fine and offset will fill arches nicely

Good to know, will drop them off to get refurbished at the weekend in that case. Have given the car a good clean and has come up nicely. Still can't get over how plush it feels inside. Oh and definitely thought I'd wet myself on the way home when the heated seat came on.