Give me a wave when you hit sunny Blantyre (where in this fine town are you visiting?) :)

Should I mention the 38mpg I got on the M8 home from Livingston in the rush hour traffic tonight?

No! :tuttut:

I'll be heading up on Sunday afternoon and staying on Elie Road then setting off for Arran on the Monday morning. We're staying at the Auchrannie Hotel in Broddick while we're over there, been many times now and we love it.

I've already got my currency sorted so once we pack on Sunday we're good to go.

I'll be looking at nearer half that MPG for the round trip, but hey ho, wafting has it's price I suppose ;)

lol Ron I see they are already printing the new currency! :ROFL:

I suspect I'm not nearly as efficient as the younger models out there and I do have a bigger tank to fill up, which means I can get more in before it spills out over the floor.

Cold starts kills all the A8's, even the diesels, but at least the diesels have the webastos kicking in though that brings them up to temp quicker.

Above 50ish the torque convertor is going to lock up, and thats going to mean the tranmission behaves more like a manual than an auto, so that helps the economy. The torque convertor also locks up in tiptronic at lower speeds, so driving on tip really should be more economical than (D)rive, if you can be bothered ;)

The S8's are generally screwed in terms of economy due to the silly final drive ratio that makes it rev its nuts off at anything like a motorway speed, but the 5 or 6 speed a8 4.2 driven modestly should touch on 30 mpg.

If you want an 8 with economy, consider the non quattro varients, they are about 5 mpg better off than their quattro equivelents +++

Its interesting that the D3 S8 gets virtually the same economy as the D2 S8, but has waaaaaay more power.... Thats progress I guess... +++

Superb engineering knowledge eloquently explained, topped off with a subtle sales pitch.........lovely! +++

Sorry, its the Arthur Daley in me. It just sort of slipped out.... :D

Ah.. That's not Blantyre.. That's Hamilton :) They just try and claim it's High Blantyre as admitting it's that part of Hamilton isn't very good lol

I'm just the other side of the Expressway from there.

Update on average MPG
 

Update on trip average MPG:

Ended up with 24.5 average mpg at the end of this 800 mile round trip (Manchester - West Brom - Bristol - Lyme Regis - Southampton - Alfriston - Tunbridge Wells - Central London - Manchester).

Probably around 60% of this was motorway, with a light right foot (mostly @ 70, not above 80), aircon off (drains still leaking :mad: ), 30% mixed A/minor roads, 10% urban/rush hour slow traffic. 18 hours total trip time @ average of 40 mph (according to the the DIS).

So…not turning into a nun yet, but I'm beginning to think the "new" gearbox has made a bit of a positive difference +++