Advice

The message from "Paul Harris" contains these words:

Yup - you're right - it will. You'll have an aching back and buzing ears but it'll make it no trouble. Modern cars can manage this no trouble. Well, perhaps not a Perdua, but the AX shouldn't have trouble.

Best tip for long drives is clean all the glass and mirrors well before you go. Peering through filmy glass I find very tiring. If you're bothered about power - keep the windows up. At motorway speeds, lowered windows sap a /lot/ of power. The wife's Clio manual reckons having the windows down at 70 hits the consumption by about 15%.

Your worried about fuel costs in a 954cc car!! I would keep the speed down in the 60's for the engines sake, never even looked at an AX, so I don't know whether you have a rev counter or not, probably not. Listen to the engine pitch, that will tell how hard it's working.

God your going to ache all over at the end of 3 1/2 hours of driving that AX.

As for your other post, what's the point it trying to make it go faster? You will have to spend a lot of money to just get it to go a fraction faster. Wait till you can afford a bigger car, save your money.

Dave

I wouldnt worry at all. My old Escort only had 4 gears and could easily hold its own on the motorway. The feul economy was really good as well. Got from kent to Devon on £20, (300 miles).

And I wouldnt say 3.5 hours in a very long journey, but it will feel like 10 hours in a small car.

Karl

On the 4spd Citroen AX the 4th gear is pretty tall. You'll not be doing anywhere near thrashing revs and you should still get excellent economy out of it.

Until he 80's, the majority of cars had 4 gears. Fourth gear on a four speed box is usually equivilant to 4.5/5th gear on a five speed box anyway.

A while ago, I covered 35,000 miles of motorway driving in a 4-speed

750cc Fiat Panda. The thing was running flat out at 70mph, and it did this day in, day out. The biggest irk was not being able to hear the radio above 60mph

Your car will suffer more wear by being dawdled around town. It'll thank you for being given a decent run.

I did a 3 hour motorway trip in a 1000cc 4 gear metro once - keep the speed down, I did about 55-65 although if you have loads of people in the car you might not be able to go any faster anyway. Vary the speed to aviod the monotony of it, and don't be intimidated, drive at your own pace - keep an eye on the temp gauge just in case too although I'm sure it will be fine.

And yes, I did have a killer back at the end of it.

Scott

Make sure you check the oil and coolant levels before you set off and before the return journey, overheating might be the dangerous thing to the little engine. Its going to be working pretty hard so needs the cooling system in good order and a full sump of clean oil.

Avoid long periods at full throttle,- dont push it faster than it feels happy and you should be fine.

If you stop at some services allow the engine to idle for a minute or so and the fan to cycle once or twice, to cool off alittle, the huge heat soak is not good for headgaskets, and the coolant can boil over if stopped immediately.

Tim..

Back in the sixties I had an 848cc Mini (obviously only 4-speed) and greatly enjoyed touring the UK - Wales, Scotland, Lake District, London etc. It cruised quite nicely at 65-70, managed 40mpg and we could still hear Radio Caroline! It had a recirculatory heater, sliding front windows, front single leading shoe drum brakes (without servo), no headrests, no airbags, no power steering and seatbelts only added by myself. Motorists these days are completely spoilt by the quality and reliability of modern cars. Mind you, I never had a breakdown or an accident, mainly because I carried out most of my own servicing.

BTW, whatever happened to overdrive? This was much more convenient than a 5 speed box and it effectively gave you 6 gears (1, 2, 3, 4 & overdrive 3 & 4) . I remember having a works Ford Transit with overdrive - it was great, although I still didn't have any power steering. I drove many thousands of miles in four speed diesel Transits, although the early ones were so noisy, I had to wear earplugs.

Terry D.

All my 70's Celicas had 5 speed, cant remember that in Fords unless you paid a lot extra

The message from "Terry D" contains these words:

My brother used to drive from Kent to Bangor Uni in one of them - frequently. This was before the M40 and indeed before most of the M1.