Hi all. Have just taken delivery of an ex UK manual Octavia vRS 245 lift back and driven it from Auckland to my home in Dunedin. Impressed with it so far and compares favourably with my previous drive, a B6 Audi S4 manual Avant.

Hi NZ, Tena Koe and welcome to the forum. That was a nice little run for your first drive. Did you have any chance to 'explore' the upper performance range - or are there too many speed traps and mufti-cars around now?

Tena Koe Warrior.  Yes - very good run for a first drive.  Not able to fully explore the performance available, but the occasional truck and slower car were dispatched with ease, especially along the western bays of Taupo.  Managed an average of 43.7 m.p.g despite some spirited driving on the twisty bits and some running around in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, so well pleased.

16 hours ago, NZedder said:

Tena Koe Warrior.  Yes - very good run for a first drive.  Not able to fully explore the performance available, but the occasional truck and slower car were dispatched with ease, especially along the western bays of Taupo.  Managed an average of 43.7 m.p.g despite some spirited driving on the twisty bits and some running around in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, so well pleased.

How is the road along the coast south of Kaikoura now and are there many big gaps still in ChCh? 

Road down the coast either side of Kaikoura is very good now - better than it used to be.  However, the powers that be have now imposed an 80 kph limit along that stretch and even down to 60 kph in some places.  Incredibly frustrating.

 

Christchurch is coming right, but still some very uneven roads in some of the eastern suburbs.