Had a nice 500 mile drive in my Octy vRS estate this weekend - Leeds to Peebles (near Edinburgh) and back - for a nice weekend away (in the rain) with my new wife!

The A68's a nice road - lots of twists and turns and like a rollercoaster in places. Great fun. I thought I was taking it easy but SWMBO said I was driving like a nutter :-)

Lots of cameras once you get to Scotland though.

Two stone chips on the bonnet now, and I ran over a 4" rock :eek: (thought it was a dead hedgehog or something. And the two cars in front went over it)

I'll find out later if it did any damage - it's in the garage today for a squeak on the dash fixing.

But I lost one of my Skoda logos fom the centre of my front wheel.

But anyway, the point is that getting a chance to drive the car properly has convinced me that I made the right decision in buying it. I love it, and it will serve me well!

Maybe firmer suspension would be nice though!

My Girlfriend and I are considering moving back to Scotland (I'm from Edinburgh myself) now that I'm about to be jobless.

Two enticing features attract me to the place (among many others ...) cheaper houses and the fantastic (and almost deserted) roads . Ideal vRS territory, if you can avoid the cameras. We're going up for a holiday in a coiuple of weeks time, and I can't wait!

oh, and I'd get used to the paint chips too ... you'll probably get to see a lot more of those :P !

Worth it though

Rob,

You weren't coming back down the A1 in the North Yorkshire area about 3.30pm were you?

The A68's a nice road - lots of twists and turns and like a rollercoaster in places. Great fun. I thought I was taking it easy but SWMBO said I was driving like a nutter :-)

The other day, first week back at work after I got my estate, I was driving home (bit of a countryfied road) and I thought "jheez, the ride on this thing has turned really awful since this morning".

I glanced at the speedo.

When I saw that it was reading 80 I realised why it was so bumpy.

I'm used to doing the journey (for the past 6 years) in an M-reg Rover 214 at 60 so I reckon that when I'm in autopilot I just drive up to the comfort level and stop there. I'm so used to a low comfort level that I didn't even notice I was going really rather fast for the road until I looked

Haven't had the missus tell me I'm driving like a nutter yet but I did have her get much grumpiness with me on the way back from Fish Brothers in Swindon we went to collect it. I'd not tried the windows at the dealers so at 75mph on the A419 (she doesn't like me breaking the speed limits with her in the car) I decided to have a fiddle with them - just down a little and then up.

First the drivers window went all the way down by itself (well, because I told it to really). Confused and noisy, unsure of how to get it back up I blatted the one next to it expecting it to rise gracefully to the top. Down came the missus' window too - all the way.

Wind howling through the car, slight weaving in the nearside lane whilst trying to appease the wife and get the damn windows back up I finally worked the switches out and up they came again.

Once things were all quiet again all I could do was glance at her and say "sorry". She was very quiet herself for a good distance too...

Thinking about it - maybe she DOES think I'm a nutter

Rob' date='

You weren't coming back down the A1 in the North Yorkshire area about 3.30pm were you?[/quote']

It was about that time, yes

I passed a black Octy vRS in a layby - was that you?

Looks like Rich has been dogging again

:sofahide:

It was about that time' date=' yes

I passed a black Octy vRS in a layby - was that you?[/quote']

Excellent! My first ever 'Was it you?' !!!

I'd stopped for a ciggie with Mrs.rich1068 on the way back from Edinburgh.

Looks like Rich has been dogging again

:sofahide:

:confused: Dare I ask?

Sorry, perhaps that was a bit "woof" of me

Quick Google search.

http://www.swingingheaven.co.uk/dogging/

OK. Got you.

Err...

Getting delivery of my "clone" of your car on Thursday, just out of interest how did the car fair on fuel consumption over that distance........Not that bothered or i would have bought a diesel but i do a few long journeys up north (Scotland) every few months ???

Excellent! I haven't seen another red vRS estate yet!

I reckon I got about 32-34mpg on the long run. But I wasn't exactly taking it easy on the A roads!

Average over 2000 miles according to the computer is 29.6 but about half of that has been relatively short trips - less than 30 miles.

Similar run to Rob's and my average was 34/35, A1 up and A1 back. As he says though, you do trap on a bit Me with my foot down upsetting the beemers and Mrs.rich1068 looking out for the cameras

I was going to say it's a cheaper alternative to the Snooper/RoadAngel/etc. What was I thinking? :eek: