North Wales Tour - Boxster S (picture heavy)
Discussion
Hi All – Thought that I would post in here about my recent driving holiday to North Wales with my Dad in our new(to us) 2001 Porsche Boxster S (986). I wrote this on the train home, and only got the images now as my parents have returned from their holiday!
This has been the first (of many hopefully) touring holidays we do in the car and we couldn’t think of a better place to go within the UK to go for a week’s touring holiday than North Wales. It was a good test of motorway touring as well as testing the car of the twisty stuff.
The first part of the journey wasn’t the most interesting. We aimed to get from our house in Bromley, Kent, to around the Birmingham area – then off onto some of the quiet roads aiming to get to Betws – y – Coed for the evening.
There wasn’t much of a criteria for the trip. We wanted to drive the infamous Evo Triangle (which I’ll get onto) and knew we needed to head to south Wales by Friday for our overnight stay and onto Bristol for me to be dropped off and my mother collected on Saturday (whilst it’s the end of my grand tour in the car – It’s only the start of my parents who as I write this are on their trip to Cornwall).
As said the motorway journey was rather featureless – What I can say from the lengthy journey is that the ride is firm but not uncomfortable, stick the car in 6th and it was pootle along at speed with no drama – lovely
As soon as we left the motorway the roof was dropped and we took ourselves off the main A5 and found ourselves some quiet A and B roads – It became very clear, very quickly that this car was a seriously good A and B road stormer overtaking slower drivers with absolute ease.
Being Wales we were greeted by rain that started to get ever so much heavier. We put up with the heavy showers until it was blindly obvious that even at 60mph (on an appropriate road of course) that water was still getting in. We wimped out and put the roof up, continuing to our first overnight stay.
The next day we awoke in the small village of Betws – Y- Coed. We last came to Wales on 2010 in the 944 Cab (sadly no longer with us) we ended our last trip here and loved the area and vowed to come back. For the next couple of days we based ourselves around this area enjoying the fine roads Wales has to offer.
Of course we finally got our first taste of the eagerly awaited Evo Triangle and both dad and I were impressed. In total over the two days we were around this part of Wales we went around about four times, Only once was there another car on this triangle unbelievably! Where we started pulling off the A5, the road was rather narrow – but it later widened and the views were just fantastic. On the second leg of the Triangle heading south down to the A5 if was obvious that you could really pick up some speed on the roads – they were wide, long and you have a long distance view – alas we didn’t push the car, or ourselves much as the roads were, shall we say, quite damp – also the Boxster was a completely new driving experience for Dad having gone from front engine – rear wheel drive to mid-engine – rear wheel drive – he was still learning how best to tackle the corners.
Me and Dad found the exhaust note of the car addictive. You needn’t take the car to the rev limit to get the best sound – revving it up to 6000rpm max was enough and It’s fair to say on the last leg of the triangle driving west on the A5 you really give the car some boot. Acceleration really surprised us. For something that ‘only’ has 252bhp it gets to very illegal speeds rather quick – also the sheer amount of torque. When we were eventually slowed down by traffic it would still sit in 6th gear at 30mph and accelerate well with no drama when required.
We spotted some nice cars around this area too, all of which I wouldn’t mind taking around triangle including a MG RV8 being followed by a Morgan, then later an a Aston Martin Vantage and one of my favourites, 997 GT3 in white.
We headed south now slowly working our way down through some tiny little lanes barely wide enough for the car. Here I got some half decent photo opportunities and whilst I’m no professional photographer I’d like to think these ones come out ok! –
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/EWnmBNdC.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/NJx9H8pp" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/NJx9H8pp.jpg)
One of my favourite:
For those who have been on the Petrolhead Nirvana tour in Wales (The Welsh Weekender) you may recognise this location (and one of the promotional snaps) – I tried to replicate this with dad in the car pulling out over one of the old bridges crossing a lake. I always loved this pic and wanted to copy it (NWVT), sadly as said, im not pro photographer and the weather really wasnt on our side, but here goes.
PhN (NWVT) Pic:
Our pic:
I also wanted to post these photos. I wanted to recreate a couple of snaps that included the 944, but this time with its replacement. These two were taken near to where my father’s old secondary school owned a centre out near Machynlleth. I’ve tried my best to get the same angle for both of them - Not 100% accurate but think they look great together – the old and the new.
944:
Boxster S:
We drove further south, the weather still diabolical – with sudden (and brief) spells of sunshine lasting only a few minutes making it to our final overnight stop at my father’s friends place – spotting a rather tasty (and loud) Ultima GTR in the process twice!
The last part of our journey was uneventful taking the motorway to Bristol – as before the ride was firm but comfortable and we got there in good time.
Y57 WVE (affectionately called Petal) stood up to the tour magnificently – driving on all sorts of roads, from motorway, to wide open B roads, to impossibly narrow and tight farm tracks (thank you Garmin sat nav) and handled them all perfectly. There was room to spare in the front and rear boot’s carrying already a lot of our luggage. Grand total – 997 miles exactly (see image).
So, 997 miles, approx. 23/4 mpg combined (31/32mpg on the motorway), plenty of room, easy to drive, and fast - A great, grand tour, finished.
Hope you enjoyed reading this and viewing the photos.
Phil
Forgot to mention that our trip to North Wales also marked a small milestone in the life of this car, rolling over to 30,000 miles
This has been the first (of many hopefully) touring holidays we do in the car and we couldn’t think of a better place to go within the UK to go for a week’s touring holiday than North Wales. It was a good test of motorway touring as well as testing the car of the twisty stuff.
The first part of the journey wasn’t the most interesting. We aimed to get from our house in Bromley, Kent, to around the Birmingham area – then off onto some of the quiet roads aiming to get to Betws – y – Coed for the evening.
There wasn’t much of a criteria for the trip. We wanted to drive the infamous Evo Triangle (which I’ll get onto) and knew we needed to head to south Wales by Friday for our overnight stay and onto Bristol for me to be dropped off and my mother collected on Saturday (whilst it’s the end of my grand tour in the car – It’s only the start of my parents who as I write this are on their trip to Cornwall).
As said the motorway journey was rather featureless – What I can say from the lengthy journey is that the ride is firm but not uncomfortable, stick the car in 6th and it was pootle along at speed with no drama – lovely
As soon as we left the motorway the roof was dropped and we took ourselves off the main A5 and found ourselves some quiet A and B roads – It became very clear, very quickly that this car was a seriously good A and B road stormer overtaking slower drivers with absolute ease.
Being Wales we were greeted by rain that started to get ever so much heavier. We put up with the heavy showers until it was blindly obvious that even at 60mph (on an appropriate road of course) that water was still getting in. We wimped out and put the roof up, continuing to our first overnight stay.
The next day we awoke in the small village of Betws – Y- Coed. We last came to Wales on 2010 in the 944 Cab (sadly no longer with us) we ended our last trip here and loved the area and vowed to come back. For the next couple of days we based ourselves around this area enjoying the fine roads Wales has to offer.
Of course we finally got our first taste of the eagerly awaited Evo Triangle and both dad and I were impressed. In total over the two days we were around this part of Wales we went around about four times, Only once was there another car on this triangle unbelievably! Where we started pulling off the A5, the road was rather narrow – but it later widened and the views were just fantastic. On the second leg of the Triangle heading south down to the A5 if was obvious that you could really pick up some speed on the roads – they were wide, long and you have a long distance view – alas we didn’t push the car, or ourselves much as the roads were, shall we say, quite damp – also the Boxster was a completely new driving experience for Dad having gone from front engine – rear wheel drive to mid-engine – rear wheel drive – he was still learning how best to tackle the corners.
Me and Dad found the exhaust note of the car addictive. You needn’t take the car to the rev limit to get the best sound – revving it up to 6000rpm max was enough and It’s fair to say on the last leg of the triangle driving west on the A5 you really give the car some boot. Acceleration really surprised us. For something that ‘only’ has 252bhp it gets to very illegal speeds rather quick – also the sheer amount of torque. When we were eventually slowed down by traffic it would still sit in 6th gear at 30mph and accelerate well with no drama when required.
We spotted some nice cars around this area too, all of which I wouldn’t mind taking around triangle including a MG RV8 being followed by a Morgan, then later an a Aston Martin Vantage and one of my favourites, 997 GT3 in white.
We headed south now slowly working our way down through some tiny little lanes barely wide enough for the car. Here I got some half decent photo opportunities and whilst I’m no professional photographer I’d like to think these ones come out ok! –
One of my favourite:
For those who have been on the Petrolhead Nirvana tour in Wales (The Welsh Weekender) you may recognise this location (and one of the promotional snaps) – I tried to replicate this with dad in the car pulling out over one of the old bridges crossing a lake. I always loved this pic and wanted to copy it (NWVT), sadly as said, im not pro photographer and the weather really wasnt on our side, but here goes.
PhN (NWVT) Pic:
Our pic:
I also wanted to post these photos. I wanted to recreate a couple of snaps that included the 944, but this time with its replacement. These two were taken near to where my father’s old secondary school owned a centre out near Machynlleth. I’ve tried my best to get the same angle for both of them - Not 100% accurate but think they look great together – the old and the new.
944:
Boxster S:
We drove further south, the weather still diabolical – with sudden (and brief) spells of sunshine lasting only a few minutes making it to our final overnight stop at my father’s friends place – spotting a rather tasty (and loud) Ultima GTR in the process twice!
The last part of our journey was uneventful taking the motorway to Bristol – as before the ride was firm but comfortable and we got there in good time.
Y57 WVE (affectionately called Petal) stood up to the tour magnificently – driving on all sorts of roads, from motorway, to wide open B roads, to impossibly narrow and tight farm tracks (thank you Garmin sat nav) and handled them all perfectly. There was room to spare in the front and rear boot’s carrying already a lot of our luggage. Grand total – 997 miles exactly (see image).
So, 997 miles, approx. 23/4 mpg combined (31/32mpg on the motorway), plenty of room, easy to drive, and fast - A great, grand tour, finished.
Hope you enjoyed reading this and viewing the photos.
Phil
Forgot to mention that our trip to North Wales also marked a small milestone in the life of this car, rolling over to 30,000 miles
Edited by Dalto123 on Monday 13th August 15:20
all the cars have names. This one wasn't my choice. The first one was called Petal and this one is too. Good posting!
I recently decided to get a Box S TIP as my daily commuter, so it will be doing at least 15k miles a year from now on.
But hope to do some nice road tris as well, might even try to get up to Scotland to visit a friend.
Good luck with it!
I agree they are as good as people say.
I recently decided to get a Box S TIP as my daily commuter, so it will be doing at least 15k miles a year from now on.
But hope to do some nice road tris as well, might even try to get up to Scotland to visit a friend.
Good luck with it!
I agree they are as good as people say.
Gouldian said:
Good on you for taking the time with a write up and pics. No question about it the 986 "S" is a great car to drive around equally great scenery. Had mine from new in 2001 and enjoyed many hours of brilliant trouble free motoring around UK and Continent.
Thank you, great to hear you had some wonderful trips in your car - they really are a great all rounder. Its funny, in the 944 we couldnt fit all our baggage in the boot so it spilled onto the rear seats, but surpisingly the Boxster was able to take everything with room to spare in the two boots!Jaged said:
Good posting!
I recently decided to get a Box S TIP as my daily commuter, so it will be doing at least 15k miles a year from now on.
But hope to do some nice road tris as well, might even try to get up to Scotland to visit a friend.
Good luck with it!
I agree they are as good as people say.
Again, thank you I recently decided to get a Box S TIP as my daily commuter, so it will be doing at least 15k miles a year from now on.
But hope to do some nice road tris as well, might even try to get up to Scotland to visit a friend.
Good luck with it!
I agree they are as good as people say.
I as I said above the Boxster really is a great all rounder, so it'll do those 15000 miles rather easily. In total the car did a shade under 2000 miles after mum and dad came home, and to be honest the 997 miles we did I wasnt uncomfortable or tired when we arrived at destinations despite being on the road many hours at a time Great to hear you may take it up to Scotland - I hear there are great roads there too
Bennachie said:
All cars are male...............
Wrong! Has to be a female name, wouldnt sound right if I said 'going to take Steve for a spin' or 'going to was keith'. However 'going to wash Petal' is acceptable 
chrisobo said:
Where is this 'evo triangle' you speak of?
It's east of Betws - y- Coed on the A5. Have a look at this link, it tells you all you need to know, plus there's several videos on youtube you can watch http://www.drivingforpleasure.co.uk/roads-and-tour...
The Evo team always stay at The Groes Inn, not stayed there myself but it looks pretty nice. I stayed at The Royal Oak Hotel last time I stopped over in Betws-y-Coed for an Evo triangle blast, that was back in 2007 but it was fine. I'm actually heading back out there next month and staying at Ellingham House in Colwyn Bay this time, supposed to be very nice...
Good thread Dalto.
Nice car and trip. It's always good to spend a bit of time with the old man too, eh.
Just waiting for mine to finish his old MG so I can do a few classic shows with him.
Wales is a fair old trek from Northumberland but I definitely want to do that route at some point.
Nice car and trip. It's always good to spend a bit of time with the old man too, eh.
Just waiting for mine to finish his old MG so I can do a few classic shows with him.
Wales is a fair old trek from Northumberland but I definitely want to do that route at some point.
Jaged said:
Any decent Hotels you would recommend?
I think others might find that useful??
I would if I just upped and went for it!
Does PH have a road trip section with PH'er tried and tested routes?
Not seen it yet!
We stayed in different B&B's during our time in Wales, plenty of them around and they were all pretty good. Though I would look at DYKWIA's suggestions I think others might find that useful??
I would if I just upped and went for it!
Does PH have a road trip section with PH'er tried and tested routes?
Not seen it yet!
DYKWIA said:
Lovely pictures by the way Dalto! Can't wait to get back out there...
Thank you! It'll be well worth the wait, even in rubbish weather the roads were still good fun marky911 said:
Good thread Dalto.
Nice car and trip. It's always good to spend a bit of time with the old man too, eh.
Just waiting for mine to finish his old MG so I can do a few classic shows with him.
Wales is a fair old trek from Northumberland but I definitely want to do that route at some point.
Thank you! This is exactly the sort of thing me and Dad like doing. Im usually the one in charge of the map and he follows my directions! Rather fun actually. Nice car and trip. It's always good to spend a bit of time with the old man too, eh.
Just waiting for mine to finish his old MG so I can do a few classic shows with him.
Wales is a fair old trek from Northumberland but I definitely want to do that route at some point.
Will be nice when your father is finished with the MG. The classic shows are brilliant (me and Dad try to get along to a few car shows each year - done Bromley Pageant, looking forward to Soft Top Sunday at Goodwood, as well as Sunday Service at Porsche
Just googled the distance you'd have to go. Theres only about a 20 mile difference between us getting to North Wales. Certainly worth it
Excellent trip. Stayed in BYC in May for a lads weekend. Did the B5105 on the way there which IMO is an epic road.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Did you do this one?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Did you do this one?
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff