Happy New Year to you and yours.
Weather here in mid/west Devon has got to the point where I've swapped the cars round in the garage so that the 4x4 TA's handy and Mrs b_u's 1.2 Mk 3 is less so. Don't expect flooding here - 600 feet up on the edge of Dartmoor - but the road's in general are in a dreadful state. We're wassailing at a nearby cider farm tomorrow, and at a friend's orchard in the evening, so we could encounter almost anything.
I've now had the 4x4 for six months and it's proved to be a great little car, though I'm reconciled to the fact that I'll never really like its looks. Very good on our trip to Italy - see separate thread - on white roads in the Italian hills and mountains, and generally tootling round - though the mpg on the last of these is a bit eye-watering. Having done over 6600 miles, I thought I'd try the Eco setting again, I gave it a whirl early on but the new motor was so tight it would hardly turn itself over, no matter push (and pull) the car along - not surprising as all the friction losses have a much greater proportional effect on a new engine. Well, it still wouldn't excite but it is at least useable while driving round town now it's run in fully; just about practical but really tedious on any main road hills and I've un-Ecoed to get my car back. Didn't try it for long enough to see the difference in consumption but I might try again to try to find out,
