Aftermarket Cruise Control Systems

That reminds me, did you say the Excursions were s**te? There are a couple on autotrader at present and I'm quite tempted, one of those or a Navigator.

No, please, Dervy... *don't do it*

I really don't want to see spreadsheets about the tyre wear in % dependant on the type of tarmac traversed, cross referenced with the amount of DERV used per 1/1000th of a millimeter.

Jeez, I'm trying to keep the W124's utter brilliance a secret.

No, the Excursions are excellent. Especially the V10.

It's the Navigators that are s**te.

Yes, and yes, but then I guess most people knew that anyway.

If doing it in (insert name of vehicle considered suitable) is fine, and it's more a challenge doing it by Ka, I'm up for doing it by Ka.

Neither do we, I suspect we'll stop over in the north for a night or two then head south. Charlie wants to see Venice...

Goodo. I'm thinking that climbing the Alps will be difficult in April because of the weather.

The Frejus Tunnel route then! :) I'll check it out on the map...

No it's not - nor on the Fiesta nor Puma. It is on the Focus...

Heh!

Derv providing fuel economy data in terms of "metres per tea spoon" always did crack me up!

Because after maintaining a broadly similar ankle position for sixteen hours over forty eight it bloody hurts.

You most certainly can. Don't you burble along 30 limits at 30? 40 limits at 40? National speed limit single carriageway areas at sixty? I drive along as many roads as I can at a constant speed. Time after time I'll trundle along the M180 at a constant 70 showing. I conduct most of my commute at 50 through the roadworks and then 70 not, or whatever speed I decide to drive at that day (67.5, 73.2, whatever). My acceleration sense isn't the best but I can maintain a constant speed over undulating roads and motorways with no problem providing the gradient isn't too steep.

HGVs do it! Why can't I? :)

But seriously now, if I'm maintaining a constant 70 and a car a quarter mile in front it maintaining a constant 69 mph, I've two options. I can either accelerate around or I can decelerate slightly. There's no difference if I'm using cruise control or my right foot. I have the same options, only one doesn't start hurting after several hours.

Heh. During JOGLE I maintained an indicated 60±1 mph for almost one hundred minutes on the way up to John O'Groats on a single carriageway road. Indeedy we maintained constant speeds at or just below the speed limit for the entire trip when I was in the lead and after several hours of maintaining a certain angle, it starts to hurt. This causes mobility problems a few days afterwards - we want to go hiking in Italy...

Heh!

That's true of almost all cars I've driven. The one exception had throttle-by-wire...

So like driving across Europe in the small hours? :)

But what about my fuel consumption...?

This one is a little bit less, one one five so I'm told by Charlie. But she did concede that the final five took _forever_...

What about it?

Eeek.

YAWayneRooneyAICMFP.

I thought these were the blinging wheels de jour:

LOL!

Hehehehehe!

Somebody challenged me to provide loopy fuel consumption figures, so I did...

OK thanks, the two one sale ae both Eddie Bauer V10s.

Thanks for that too, quite like the interiors though.

If it's like last year, all the Alpine passes will be closed. We came back through the Gotthard pass last April (Easter in fact) and had to queue for an hour for the tunnel instead. Even then, we came out of the tunnel into a blizzard.

Again check weather reports and you *may* need snow chains. The tunnels are still "quite a long way up", so the access roads can be scary. Sadly the road up to the Frejus tunnel is really, really dull (IMO) the approach to Mont Blanc is nicer. But OTOH the initial stages of the descent from Mont Blanc are horrible in Italy - tunnels and grim route through a ravine. But when you get to Ivrea it is stunning there's a large village built on a rock in the middle of the river, real postcard view, but difficult to stop and photograph.

The descent from the Frejus tunnel is more open with stunning glimpses of mountain top buildings at every turn. It's also ace for maxing out your car, since the road looks like a giant ski ramp. However halfway down is a toll station and it's wise not to get too carried with speed because you could slam into the toll booths.

You is dissing me 'cos I is black right?

i want! all it needs are a set of 24 chrome jobbies and a sound system that would blow your ear drums and i'd be blinging! :)

wish they did a RHD version :(

how many metre's per tea spoon is my MR2 if it does 24mpg just so i can brag :)