I filled up today for the first time  after travelling from the Hook of Holland to Ulm in Germany via a couple of stop overs. Today was spent cruising at 100mph for long periods on the smooth quiet motorway surface. The car was in its element.The occasional Merc or BMW would appear in the rear view mirror but mostly I was alone on the outside lane. The car was so quiet and stable, the boot rammed full but I had convinced Wifey not to take the top box so this kept wind noise down. It was extremely comfortable for me and the passengers and will be a difficult act to follow when the lease runs out at Christmas.

Sounds like a good trip.  Also sounds like a new Superb should be on the shortlist when the lease runs out. 

We're off abroad in 3 weeks time for nearly 4 weeks.  It'll be the first time I've taken the SIII abroad and I'm chomping at the bit to get going!  We'll go on the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk, then we drive to Klaipeda in Lithuania to visit SWMBO's parents, stopping overnight 3 times on the way, so we'll travel across Germany too.  Our car will also be full as apart from our luggage, SWMBO has various items for parents, such as new curtains, linen, etc that we're taking with us.  Unlike Sungem, I'm happy to stay at 70 - 80 mph on the autobahn and keep out of the way of anyone who wants to go faster.

 

On the way home, we're going via Wroclaw in Poland to visit SWMBO's nephew, then on to Czech Republic to visit the Tatra Museum, then back to Dunkirk via Prague, Nuremberg and Luxembourg.

 

 

Like Penpusher I too set off thinking I would go slower but I did get tempted to go faster than normal.  It is out of my system now! I went into Austria today, on the way to Italy and everyone stayed at a fixed speed about 80mph. Very relaxing with the disciplined driving, big constant gaps between vehicles. I am glad I had winter tyres on coming over the Fern pass, it was snowing - very picturesque.  On balance I prefer it to the more unregulated German high speed blast. The average speeds in Germany were consistently higher and you have to go above 80mph to go,past trucks. They do not venture into the middle lane though and this helps traffic flow. Italian driving was calmer than I remember from ten years ago on the autostrada but still a bit crazy in the lttle villages!

I've only got the Pirelli summer tyres that came with the car, so I hope we don't have any bad weather.  We don't go over high ground like Sungem, so we should be OK.

 

I too have driven through Austria and on to Italy and also Hungary in my SI and SII Superbs, but later in the year when the weather was better and summer tyres were fine.  As already mentioned, it's a lovely drive through the Alps.

 

The best part of our journey should be most of the motorway through Poland.  The limit is 140 kph (87 mph) and they're usually quiet.  You have to pay tolls on most of it, but a majority of the trucks avoid them by driving on the old roads, so it's worth paying for to get an empty road.  The last stretch of our journey from Kaunas to Klaipeda in Lithuania is also quiet and has a 130 kph (81 mph) limit for most of its length, though it has features that we don't have on motorways, such as bus stops, crossovers where you can make U turns and locals selling produce on the hard shoulder!