The 4x4 TA's currently on its third trip to and from Italy; running like a train and more details when we're back on Pudding Island in the third week of October. In the meantime, a snippet and some pics.

Two nights ago we had the most horrendous thunder storm, continuous adjacent lightning strikes and torrential rain mixed in with hail. The hailstones were the size of walnuts and I was concerned that the 4x4 might need another new windscreen the next day. All well and no damage but a neighbour's people carrier has roof and bonnet panels that look as though someone has thrown handfuls of golfs balls at them. The Panda's not so flimsy after all.

We spent three days at a refuge in the Monti Sibillini, on the borders between Umbria and the Marches; great views all round and wonderful walking, though the temperatures were in the mid 20s C/high 70s F. Pics show the 4x4 in front of the rifugio, altitude 4950 feet, plus two shots further up a rocky track nearby, about 5500 feet up. The track was a dawdle in the 4x4, and would have been easy in a Trekking as 4wd wasn't required but decent clearance was, though the low first gear was a comfort going up and down.

Nice!

Back on Pudding Island - and feeling bloody chilly.

The 4x4 TA went as well as ever on its third trip to and from mid-Italy. Over seven weeks we covered 3850 miles and averaged between 41 and 42 mpg overall - a couple of miles or so more than we get tootling around Devon. The journeys door-to-door cover 2500 miles and the rest was during the six weeks we were in Italy. The car had a couple of fairly robust adults - say 150 kgs in total - plus 60 kgs of luggage on the way out and another 60 kgs of wine and oil on the return trip, so not heavily loaded but not empty. Air con was on about half the time, possibly a little more. We do a short stretch of white (gravel) road every day, when the 4x4 is useful though a Trekking would be almost as handy, perhaps not when restarting on the steepest section.

There's really not much to report. The six gears are a real boon - first used extensively during a stay in the Sibillini mountains - and sixth providing smooth cruising but not so high that the car won't flog up alpine, or appenine, motor way climbs for mile after mile without speed falling off (which it certainly would in a 1.2). It'll cruise all day at 85+, when conditions and radar allow - near Epinal there was a regular circus of motor bike cops hauling speeders into a layby where a couple of colleagues were waiting to apply an on-the-spot fine - they seemed to be bringing in a car every couple of minutes, so they obviously had a quota to meet. Oil consumption was zero - as measured on the hardest-to-read dipstick I've come across since I became interested in cars about 60 years ago, who the hell devised an oil-coloured dipstick? The shortness of the seat cushions is not ideal but not too much of a problem.

Good to read such a positive report - I look forward to making some Adventures in my new TA 4x4, which looks just like yours!

R1NGA said:

Good to read such a positive report - I look forward to making some Adventures in my new TA 4x4, which looks just like yours!

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It is just a competent little car that offers some character and one or two extra dimensions that more conventional small cars don't. The difference between it and my previous 100HP is extraordinarily wide. The 100HP would go round roundabouts quicker than anything I've encountered - except perhaps a Cooper S-engined Cox GTM I had years ago - but the 4x4 will go to places that I wouldn't even have considered in the 100HP.

I should perhaps have mentioned the low rate of tyre wear so far - I don't know if the tracking is set up differently on the 4x4 but tyre wear all round is exceptionally low. I'm not sure about the issue of wear on M+S tyres as I assume even slight wear on the tread reduces their effectiveness. I'm somewhat guiltily hoping for some snow on Dartmoor this winter, especially remembering that Mrs b_u wrote off her much-liked Mk 3 MJ in December 2010 about 200 yards from home.

babbo_umbro said:

a Cooper S-engined Cox GTM

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Awesome! Dabbled with a Mini Marcos with a 1275GT engine many moons ago - you cannot beat low weight and a punchy engine. Not surprised you liked the 100HP then

R1NGA said:

Awesome! Dabbled with a Mini Marcos with a 1275GT engine many moons ago - you cannot beat low weight and a punchy engine. Not surprised you liked the 100HP then

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It was pretty interesting - it had a 970 Cooper S engine - quite rare even then -that would rev like nothing on earth.