Mannys A8 adventure to the Costa Del Sol 2013
 

For those who have no idea what I am talking about, each year I write a short blog detailing the travels of my various cars.

To date, these have been:
Year/month, From - To, vehicle.

2008/8 - Stevenage (UK) to Madrid (ES), 2005 Skoda Octavia PD140 Estate
2009/6 - Stevenage (UK) to Malaga(ES), 2005 Skoda Octavia PD140 Estate
2009/9 - Stevenage (UK) to Genoa (I), 2005 Skoda Octavia PD140 Estate
2010/6 - Stevenage (UK) to Malaga(ES), 2008 Skoda Superb MK2 PD140 DSG DPF
2011/6 - Blandford (UK) to Huelva (ES), 2008 Skoda Superb MK2 PD140 DSG DPF
2012/6 - Blandford (UK) to Estepona(ES), 2001 Audi A8 3.7 Quattro Sport

and now for this year.

2013 - Blandford (UK) to Malaga(ES), 2001 Audi A8 3.7 Quattro Sport.

In just a few weeks time, I'll be heading off to Spain with a car full of family members on our annual holiday.

The main towns en-route are:

Blandford
Portsmouth
Le Havre
Le Mans
Tours
Bordeaux
San Sebastian
Burgos
Madrid
Granada
Malaga

I am not going to post the route, or dates until underway. The reasons for this, is that in Spain foreign registered cars are being targeted for property theft. I am not following the main tourist routes, but even so there is still a risk.

Hoping the car will run trouble free, just like last year. I am driving more of the route this time instead of using the ferry to northern spain, so the 8 will be on close to 190K miles when we get back (currently on 184K).

Watch out for more updates soon, just as last year.

I'm planning trip to Costa Brava this summer from the UK. Purchased Eutotunnel tickets, etc.

Are you saying this is bad idea because of the theft problem? Even for RHD cars?

Well enjoy the holiday and the drive. Look forward to your blog. There can't be finer car to do it in - unless it was an S8 ;)

Sergey,

The main are with UK cars being targeted is around Barcelona following the coast road.

I have driven my UK cars through spain since 2008 and never had a problem, but some do. Spanish press say that the numbers having problems are very small compared to the ones who don't, but I certainly have no intention of becoming a statistic.

Hmm... No joy. Perhaps I should rent a car to go to Spain.

I have been to Spain twice with the S8, always left outside in various hotel car parks, no problem.
I also left it in Tangier for 7 days sitting outside the hotel, no problem. But I guess its just down to chance.

Enjoy your holiday Mannyo!
looking forward to pics.

just in case you don't know , the N10 south of bordeaux has been transformed into a pay autoroute , so add another £12 to your budget , the detour to avoid it would cost you more in petrol , even at french supermarket prices !

currently petrol prices are similar to the UK [ except autoroute prices make uk motorway prices look cheap ]; however 98 in france is more and more difficult to find , so if you prefer that fill before you leave the UK ...what is happening is that the 98 pumps are being changed to 95E10 [ 10 % alcohol ] which is a little cheaper , but my 5cyl 20v doesn't like it ! haven't tried the A8

N10, is that the road that goes on for miles of pine forest.

I'll be travelling through there late next week.

umbrella pines

with the weather this year , you will still need an umbrella though

I've found several articles about it now.

http://www.francebleu.fr/societe/la-...payante-514604

and it looks like the price is discounted until the end of this year, then it doubles.

well , it's only the converted N10 which will have a reduction [ in speed and cost ] until it's finished , the finished southern section will be the normal price

so for the moment you should get away with £10 or so

We are now on our way.

So far so good, we are now on the outskirts of Bordeaux.

Got the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre, then a steady drive down in the pouring rain to the hotel where are staying tonight. More than 500 miles covered so far, but the Audi has taken it all in its stride except for one small problem which seems to have cleared again. Basically at idle the revs were bouncing up/down but its all good again now.

Tomorrow its drive through the pine forest and onwards.

Petrol on the Autoroutes is expensive, but dive off and buy from a local hypermarket and its more than 15cents a litre cheaper. Paid 1 euro 54 cents a litre in the hypermarket whereas its 1 euro 70 or thereabouts on the autoroute. Put one tank full in on the outskirts of Rouen, still got that now and hopefully will get me to Spain.

Next stage is complete, now sat in the hotel on the outskirts of Madrid. Arrived at 6pm local time. The Madrid ring road during the rush hour is worse than the M25 and we had to travel 20 miles of it to get to the hotel exit which delayed our arrival somewhat.

Ahh but you made it! +++
Have a great holiday Manny :cool:

What's the temp? Get some pics.

I'll add some pics tomorrow once we get to our final destination, up in the hills close to Malaga.

When we arrived in Madrid it was 36c and bright sunshine. At 10pm Spain time its still 30c, with a minimum temperature of 20c expected overnight. I dont think my poor old 3.7 D2 has seen such high temps since this time last year when it registered 41c on the Costa Del Sol. We have travelled more than 900 miles since leaving my home in Dorset on Wednesday evening.

Whilst I have internet access here the upload speed is pretty poor at 256kbps, hence waiting till tomorrow for the pics.

Fuel wise the D2 is doing suprisingly well.

Started with less than 1/2 tank on Wednesday.
Filled up between Le Havre and Rouen in France at 1.54 euro per litre (off Autoroute, local Carrefour supermarket), otherwise would have been 1.64 euro on the Autoroute.
Put 50 euros in between Bordeaux and Biarritz.
Filled up again just outside Burgos (Spain) on the AP-1, at 1.40 euro per litre.

The D2 attracted quiet a lot of attention as well, especially when parked at lunchtime today. A group of Spaniards were really impressed by the fact I had driven from the UK in such a large engined V8 which is very rare here in Spain. Even more so given that its the best part of 13 years old.

.... and what a great car to be doing a 900 mile trip in :) +++

have a great time !

Well, we have now arrived at our destination up in the hills of the Montes de Malaga. Filled up the car again today, with the previous tank completing 500 miles before filling up.

Access to the villa we are renting can only be described as challenging. Basically a bump track with a number of steep gradiants, and the car struggling due to its low ground clearance.

The first picture below was taken at Cestas in France running down to the spanish border and the following two were taken in the Madrid hotel carpark.

500 miles isn't too shabby on one tank!
Car is looking nice on those rims Manny +++

Looking good Manny. Great car.

I can feel that Mediterranean weather from those pictures!

looking good+++weather looks good too, looks like last weekend was our summer up here, gone very autumnal this weekend, got the heating back on again:(

Hi Manny,
Great to hear you did the trip to the Costa del Sol again and arrived safely.
I'm still in Estepona if you fancy meeting up for a drink or two. My Spanish phone Nos is 0034663266603. We could meet in The Irish Fiddler in the port. The only day its not open is Mondays. Hope to catch up with you while your here.
David +++

David,

Trouble is this year I am at the other end of the Costa.

Went out today, poor car is taking a battering on the track that accesses the villa.

Today all three of the front lower grills have popped out due to having to ground the front bumper at two spots on the track. However I have only recovered two of them, and they are now tucked up in the boot. When I get back to the UK, I'll need to source a drivers side fog light grill to replace the one that is currently missing. I tried giving a good look at the track when we came back, but have not spotted it yet.

Quick update.

Weather for the last couple of days has not been that great for Spain, although from today onwards it should be business as usual.

Also, here is a short video showing the access track to the property from the passenger seat of my A8.

http://youtu.be/wvVJslefILI

Thanks for sharing. Death track.

Spain is great.

Weather is back to normal, went to Granada yesterday and the temp was just over 30c.

few quick pictures, nice countryside road. Drive for miles and not see a single car, and another couple of the car parked up.

Spain is beautiful

Still here in Spain, the A8 is doing a tremendous job of hacking us round some rather tiny narrow streets and steep gradients.

Tomorrow we start the long drive back to Dorset, not really looking forward to the cold weather compared to here.

Just before we set off in a few hours, here are some more pictures of the A8 from the last few days.

Location data is present in the pictures.

1) Just outside Torre Del Mar, at the Eroski Hypermarket.
2) On Gibraltar, listening to Radio Gibraltar on the RNS-D
3) Rincon De La Victoria, Underground car park (very common in Spain)
4) La Vinuela, which was the last place visited yesterday (Friday)

Most parking in Spain is underground, with very tight turns and small spaces. This one in Rincon De La Victoria was not to bad, but several we used meant folding mirrors etc. just to get into the space.

One thing I wont miss will be that access track to the Finca, the car has taken quiet a battering over the last 2 weeks of going up and down there. The video posted earlier does not show that the section before the video starts consists of 200 yards of almost 45 degree climb, with a hairpin bend 50 yards from the top on a concrete based surface.

how about what you spent on motorway tolls , and where you could avoid them ?

Part one completed, just had our first night away from the Costa. Yesterday we drove from Colmenar in the south where we were up to Aranda De Duero. Nice smooth drive, no tolls up to here. However just north of us is Burgos and from there, more or less the whole way to Le Havre is toll motorway. Sections can be avoided, but in Spain that means using single carriageway roads. In France there are alternatives with a lot lower speed limits that go through towns and villages.

Just South of Madrid is the R4 toll motorway, but this can be avoided by staying on the A4 and crossing the Centre of Madrid on the M30 Motorway. Basically keep going in a straight line and it turns in to the A1 which takes you north to Burgos. Just have your wits about you as you cross Madrid, lots of exits and cars cut across from all sides to take them.

I use the toll network to save time, I'd much rather be driving legally at 120kmh in Spain and 130kmh in France, rather than risk speeding on the smaller roads with 100kmh limits or less in places. (france and spain). Over the course of the day the extra speed can remove an hour or more from your drive.

Part two of the return now complete. Sitting at the hotel in Saintes, France. Nice pleasant drive again as it's a Sunday. Made good time, and got here at just after 4.30pm local time. Tomorrow its run up from here to Le Havre to get the ferry to Portsmouth, then from Portsmouth to my home in Dorset.

What a difference to the old N10 the new pay motorway through the pine forest makes. Apart from a couple of short sections its 130kmh the whole way instead of the 90kmh of the old road.

Reattached the two grills I have back onto the car this morning, and checked the oil level and its looking good.

Filled up with Petrol just before crossing into France as here its 20 cents a litre more than Spain. I'll need one more tank tomorrow, but that should be it for sometime because it will get me home and beyond.

This is a bit late, but we got back to the UK late yesterday, 11pm to be precise. The car passed 188,000 miles on the M27 as we passed Southampton.

I'll add some more pictures when I have transferred them,

BUT, there is a big but.

My A8 is not well anymore, basically somewhere between Le-Mans and Rouen it has all gone pear shaped. The issue was spotted after leaving the autoroute and driving at town speed. The car has developed a droning sound which varies according to road speed, coming from the back (we think) of the car. She still drives fine, does not pull left or right, tyres at the back look fine. Driving for 10 hours at 130kmh has obviously broken something, but not sure what.

transmission ?

Well the noise is road speed related and particularly noticeable above 30mph on a good road surface.

I did try shifting to N whilst in motion, but the noise remained constant despite engine revs dropping to idle.

I have also felt the wheels after stopping from a prolonged drive at speed and they are all a uniform temperature

I have not really had a chance to localise the sound to a specific wheel or area. I only hope its not something like the rear diff. There is no sign of oil or other fluids after being parked overnight.

The car did take a quiet a lot of battering on the underside whilst in Spain which is why I am concerned.

Might just be debris caught underneath and rubbing on a shaft.

I had a really odd speed-related droning noise on my Focus; turned out to be debris caught on the shield around one of the rear discs.

Or a wheel bearing.. does it get worse or better when you corner?

The sound remains constant regardless of corners or straight road, if I maintain the same speed then the sound remains the same even when cornering.

Had the car looked at this afternoon, all is well on the underside.

After standing next to the car suspended with the wheels in the air whilst doing 50mph, the garage have identified what the noise is......

Drivers side rear wheel bearing, there is no play in it at all but it whines like a trooper once you get to around 40mph upwards. All the other three corners are silent in comparison.

I had noisy bearing at the rear on A6 and no play so I could not tell if it is right or left. Did not want to change both so I just kept driving until play appeared. I did more than 6 months like that and 10k miles