14 hours ago, OccyVRS said:

I do runs to the North of Scotland several times a year (in one hop), so I do have a practical use for an utterly reliable car capable of doing longer distances.

Any car should be capable of that, the practicality depends on what and how much you need to take up, we toured the Highland in several small cars new and very old, Lundun is only another 65 miles south of here and we'd easily do that much looking for a real decent ale in Scotland back then on top of the touring mileage. The Fox could do it, speed limit is 70 on motorways and less on the other roads. Last few years I've generally stuck to 60 on motorways anyway it doesn't add that much more time especially if you have a very thirsty vehicle as you stop less for fuel. Wider, longer wheelbase, heavier car will be more comfortable for journey up but even more boring on the fabulous proper driving roads available.

2 hours ago, OccyVRS said:

It's not the best connection to the positive terminal due to the clamp on it, but I don't have the energy to disconnect the battery - it'll do.

They rarely connect well but it doesn't mater as it a low charge going in as long as it's a firm solid connection, I go on the ends of the terminal clamping bolt, it's all conductive and will get to the battery terminal. You at least have a good engine bay earth point to clip on to on my wife's Fabia it's not so good with the bonnet cable pull in the way (more German engineering design and build!) and on a neighbour's Corsa it's a tag that doesn't suit the clip.

With the stop/start VW's you connect the negative to the earth point rather than battery so the battery monitor computer program knows what's going and doesn't give itself a headache or brain-fart having to work it out later.

See how long it takes the charger maintainer to get to full and that might give you some idea for future, of course the start low voltage may vary each time but you'll get the broad idea, usually it takes a lot longer than most expect.

Don't forget to switch off and unplug all unnecessary electric bits or it's like filling your petrol tank with the engine running.

You should be sorted now and once completed and left on maintain car ready to be used (driven over reasonable distances, not just run engine or short drive) whenever to keep the rest of the car in good condition.

9 minutes ago, nta16 said:

Any car should be capable of that, the practicality depends on what and how much you need to take up, we toured the Highland in several small cars new and very old, Lundun is only another 65 miles south of here and we'd easily do that much looking for a real decent ale in Scotland back then on top of the touring mileage. The Fox could do it, speed limit is 70 on motorways and less on the other roads. Last few years I've generally stuck to 60 on motorways anyway it doesn't add that much more time especially if you have a very thirsty vehicle as you stop less for fuel. Wider, longer wheelbase, heavier car will be more comfortable for journey up but even more boring on the fabulous proper driving roads available.

They rarely connect well but it doesn't mater as it a low charge going in as long as it's a firm solid connection, I go on the ends of the terminal clamping bolt, it's all conductive and will get to the battery terminal. You at least have a good engine bay earth point to clip on to on my wife's Fabia it's not so good with the bonnet cable pull in the way (more German engineering design and build!) and on a neighbour's Corsa it's a tag that doesn't suit the clip.

With the stop/start VW's you connect the negative to the earth point rather than battery so the battery monitor computer program knows what's going and doesn't give itself a headache or brain-fart having to work it out later.

See how long it takes the charger maintainer to get to full and that might give you some idea for future, of course the start low voltage may vary each time but you'll get the broad idea, usually it takes a lot longer than most expect.

Don't forget to switch off and unplug all unnecessary electric bits or it's like filling your petrol tank with the engine running.

You should be sorted now and once completed and left on maintain car ready to be used (driven over reasonable distances, not just run engine or short drive) whenever to keep the rest of the car in good condition.

Yes, we've done the journey (600+ mile) in many cars, taking various times do it. I think the record was just under eight hours, however that as done by my dad in 1994 (brand new 2.9 VR6 Golf company car, with two fuel stops and nothing else). That being said, taking fourteen hours to do it, over two days, with ACC and CarPlay, is a much better experience. When buying the Octavia, I had to have cruise control, but I didn't really care if it was smart, dumb or what. Even when I first got it, I couldn't work out what the fuss with ACC was about - then, around two months after buying it, I took it up to Scotland in one day, and I understood!

I've done the London-Southampton run probably 100 times over the last four years. From M25/M3, M25/A31, M23/A27, to completely cross country, at all hours and driving styles in various cars, I've decided that it doesn't make much difference how fast you drive. Your speed is governed by external factors, such as traffic, speed cameras or how long it takes at KFC in Cobham. Unless the journey is ten hours long and you're doing 100mph versus 60mph, it's not worth it. I've watched people fly past me doing well over the limit, only to end up fifty feet ahead when we hit a jam.

The car is locked, although I've had to leave the bonnet propped open as I felt it was a bit close to the clamps when resting closed. I see the appeal of attaching a permanent connector to the positive, however I don't really expect to be charging it more than once a year - I usually cover plenty of miles.