D2 daily driver

[Nick Jones]

As someone who has always run old cars as daily drivers (some of them really old), this doesn't seem odd to me, but I do quite often get comment, usually questioning my sanity to some degree!

I have previously run a '96 4.2 sport as a daily. That was a bit of trial as it was a rough one and went wrong fairly often. Never an actual failure to proceed, but things needing fixing. There there was it's ability to make fuel (and oil) disappear and the constant temptation under the right foot.....

So now I have the "junior version". A 2.8 2WD facelift in fairly nice condition and with moderate mileage. Acquired last September to use while my C4 A6 gets a bit of much needed TLC.

Events (!) have meant that the A8 hasn't had as much use as it would normally have done, with work mileage in particular very much reduced. So mostly it has used for my commute, 18 miles each way of mainly fairly open road, and local running about. It's fine for the commute but isn't really a local runabout type car. Especially since we have many small lanes hereabouts. What it is really good at though, is the long haul and as I'm finally starting to do work trips again, the miles are beginning to build.

This week, the first major test. South Somerset to just west of Cardiff, then onward to Stourport on Severn before returning home. Should have been easy. Only about 320 miles, weather good...... what could possibly go wrong? All good until Ross on Wye. Even managing a trip average of 38mpg (a personal best for this car in my ownership). Then a traffic queue..... I crawled for 20 minutes to discover there was no access to the M50 or A449. Google maps tipped me and many others into the Herefordshire lanes, which was "interesting", and eventually spat us out onto the M50 one junction up, about an hour behind schedule. Had to pick up the pace a bit and mpg fell - now only 35....

Stourport mission accomplished and I'm headed home, then as I'm approaching the M5, the sat nav pipes up to tell me its re-routing me to avoid the closure of the M5..... Nooooo! Quick stop for some research reveals that the M5 is closed by a lorry fire from junctions 9 to 11. The obvious way is back down the M50, but I already know that is broken - mix in the extra traffic from the M5 closure... it was going to be ugly. THough probably much less ugly than what I actually did.

So I unwisely decided to do what google suggested. This led to some painfully slow progress through Tewkesbury and then on to Gloucester with a couple of diversions into deeply unsuitable lanes. The low points including taking 30 minutes to do 200 metres on the outskirts of Tewkesbury. And complete gridlock in a very small lane (dunno exactly where), only resolved by a van driver opening a gate and reversing into a field.... (he may still be there!)

But my 20 year old car took it all in it's stride. The temperature sat bang on 90ºC the whole time; the A/C blew cold; I was ever so grateful to be driving an auto. In the end I covered 356 miles and was driving for 8 3/4 hours - at least two hours longer than it should have taken hours. I remained comfortable and I could still walk afterwards! Overall mpg 33.2 according to the computer. Not the record I was hoping for, but not bad considering, especially since the hammer may have been down a bit once the roads cleared!

To be fair, my 53 year old Vitesse would have coped too, but I would have been a sweat-soaked, sunburned wreck with a broken left leg!

Main lesson? In situations like this - don't use google maps - it's telling everyone else the same thing!! Get out the map book and go far from the original route, it'll be quicker in the end.

Nick