The last time I veered right at junction three of the M25 and bombed down the M20 to Dover, with the aim of passing Valence by tea time, I was in a 1993 Audi 80 1.9 TDI – already a quarter of a century old and no doubt missing a fair few of its original 89bhp.
No air-con, manual windows, a rattly turbocharger and onesided braking were its defining features, but I wasn’t worried. It had about 150,000 miles on the clock and the next 1000-ish weren’t going to kill it. This time, however – as I left London with my girlfriend to meet family near St Tropez in the south of France – I was bricking it, and not because of the car, which had worn its numberplate for only a matter of days and was barely run-in. No, my anxiety had flared up when I turned on the news earlier that day and saw that Dover had come to a standstill and queues for the ferries were now approaching six hours. It’s as if we shouldn’t have booked to travel on the first day of the school summer holidays.
So plans to sleep for a few hours after work were canned and we tore through Kent to settle in for a long night of queuing and arguing. As it turns out, we needn’t have worried: we nipped through border control in a mere two hours and had a few hours to recuperate before sailing. Time not just to sleep but also to take a first proper look around our steed, which had arrived just the previous day and was hastily filled with suitcases and beers a few hours later.
この記事は Autocar UK の August 24, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Autocar UK の August 24, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Rolls enters an era of expansion
New CEO predicts exciting future’ as factory gets extra capacity for personalisation
VW Polo gets five more years after dodging emissions bullet
THE VOLKSWAGEN POLO could be on sale for another five years, having been given a stay of execution by the relaxation of upcoming EU emissions legislation.
AUDI SQ8 E-TRON SPORTBACK
Four-up, luggage-laden, long-haul drives reveal its true colours
MERCEDES-AMG G63
Off-roader turned madcap performance car is given-shock! -hybrid technology
EX90 showcases Volvo's future
UK-bound, \"software-defined\" flagship SUV is a \"big step towards zero collisions\"
An Autocar Great Woman of a century ago
AUTOCAR RECENTLY HONOURED the female high-fliers of the British automotive industry at our annual Great Women awards ceremony.
VOLVO V90
Our resident estate fangirl asks an SUV-buying friend to explain herself
NEW WORLD ORDER
Audi is a past master of slick electric SUVs while Lotus is a class rookie. Can the new Eletre compete alongside the SQ8 E-tron? Matt Saunders decides
TURNED OUT NICE AGAIN
Cars have got bigger, heavier and more expensive in the electric era. Helpfully, this faithful recreation of the old Mini reverses two of those trends. Matt Prior drives it
Used EVS plummet to ICE price
Average two-to four-year-old EV now worth £16k while equivalent diesel is £18k