Just back from six weeks away in Mrs b-u's 1.2 - last of the Euro 4s, with air con - replaced the MJ written off on the ice on the edge of Dartmoor just before Christmas.
From Devon to Umbria via the tunnel, quite a bit of running around in Italy, then back to Pudding Island via Berlin.
Nothing like as much fun as the 100HP, of course, but the little car went very well.
4082 miles on the clock when we set off on August 16th, 8713 when we got back to Okehampton today. Averaged just under 50 mpg. Went on our usual route through Lille, Luxembourg, Basel, Milano, Bolgona, Firenze, Spoleto. Coming back we took the A14 to the Brenner Pass, turning of the A1, Autostrada del Sole, just north of Modena - 924 miles to Berlin from Spoleto. It was very hot in central Italy from mid-August right through to third week of September, to the detriment of the forthcoming grape and olive harvests. Showed again what a boon, and safety feature, air con is, though the climate control on the 100HP is more convenient.
Getting a fairly early tunnel time - 8.50 - gets you on the road in France in time to have only one overnight stop on the way to central Italy, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Then it's a comfortable second leg, arriving at Spoleto at about 5 in the afternoon. Toll on the A1 from Milano to Orte - about sixty miles north of Rome - is about 32 euros; petrol in Italy is about 1.60 euro/1.40-plus a litre, slightly less in France.
The 80 miles or so up through north east Italy/south Tirol is a long steady climb beside the Adige river, which was in spate. The whole climb was into a really stiff, cold northern wind, about 40 mph I imagine. The 1.2 didn't struggle but it was working hard and consumption was as heavy as 45 mpg on this stretch. As we approached the Brenner - the border pass between Italy and Austria - Mrs b-u thought that the snow on the mountains and higher hills looked fresh - I said "No way - not in September." When we actually got to the pass and the northern-facing side of the Dolomites there was a good 8-10 inches of fresh snow. Fortunately the road had been kept clear with snow ploughs and we were able to make our overnight stop lower down just outside Innsbruck, where there was about three inches of snow. The waitress told us that it only snows that early 2 or 3 times a century.
Parking in Berlin was an absolute nightmare. The streets are nearly all very wide with two or even three lanes in two directions; but many of the houses are four or five stories high and contain numerous flats so there is a high density of cars and nowhere for them to sit. Good public transport, including on the extensive river and canal system (which came as a surprise to me). While the city was interesting enough I don't like cities anything like as big and had a pretty miserable time for most of the week. Potsdam - just outside Berlin and where the famous conference took place at the end of World War II - was much more to my taste. (The autobahn to Potsdam from Berlin takes in part of the old Avus racing circuit and there are still the old grandstands alongside the road.) Quite a few 500s in a fashion-conscious city with youngish population but very few Pandas. Saw no 100HPs in the whole 4700-odd miles.
600 miles from Berlin to our Overnight stop near Lille on toll-free motorways the whole way.
The 1.2 is at its best at 3500 rpm/85 mph but with a fair load on the only option to cope with traffic situations is to slow down, where the 100HP - which is better at 4500 rpm/95 mph - also gives the option of accelerating. We didn't have quite the usual load as we brought no wine back but still had a reasonable weight on board. Two of us with luggage plus 13 litres of exquisite olive oil and my flutes and set of woodworking/flute making tools for a workshop/demonstration and performance in Rome gave the 1.2 a fair test. I checked the oil before we set off from Devon and was slightly concerned that consumption might be high as the oil was near the bottom mark on the dipstick. Added a full litre and kept an eye on it and consumption proved to be negligible over the entire trip - so I assume the engine has now bedded in - it certainly feels a little livelier when unloaded compared with before the journey.