The A110 road trip topic
Discussion
This is the A110 road trip topic. Feel free to share any A110 road trip related thoughts (plans/dreams/ideas/pictures/questions etc.). This topic is inspired by discussion by other persons on the mega A110 owner thread. Since nobody else has taken the initiative to start this topic, I took the liberty to start this thread myself.
I'll start with my first planned A110 road trip which is planned to take place when I pick up my new A110 from the dealership in Antwerp, Belgium. My car is already waiting for me at the dealership but I'm planning to pick up the on the last week of April. When my dealer asked me when i want to pick up the car I told him that I'm not yet in a hurry since we still have 50 cm of snow here and I don't want to bring a car with summer tyres to these conditions.
My plan for the road trip is to fly from Finland to Amsterdam on Saturday 23rd April and take a train to Antwerp where I plan to stay for three nights to enjoy the city. Then it's time to pick up the car and start the actual road trip part. The first day of driving should take me to Bremen, Germany where I'm planning to spend two nights. The first day of driving should be approx. 450 km and during that day I'm planning to drive mostly on autobahns/highways.
Once I leave Bremen my next destination is Travemünde which should be only two hours drive from Bremen if I would take the quickest route. However since my ferry to Finland leaves so late that i have to be at the ferry harbour around midnight, I will have plenty of time to do some driving if I find some nice roads around there.
I'm also hoping to find some nice place to visit near Travemünde during that day. I've visited nearby Lübeck twice on my previous similar road trips so I'm probably not visiting there this time. Any ideas on nice places to visit on near Travemünde or on the way from Bremen to Travemünde would be welcome. Hamburg is not an option this time. A natural park or similar for short day hike, a nice small town or something like that would be nice.
From Travemünde it is 30 hour ferry trip to Helsinki and then 1.5 hour drive to my home town. All and all a week long trip is on the cards.
I'll start with my first planned A110 road trip which is planned to take place when I pick up my new A110 from the dealership in Antwerp, Belgium. My car is already waiting for me at the dealership but I'm planning to pick up the on the last week of April. When my dealer asked me when i want to pick up the car I told him that I'm not yet in a hurry since we still have 50 cm of snow here and I don't want to bring a car with summer tyres to these conditions.
My plan for the road trip is to fly from Finland to Amsterdam on Saturday 23rd April and take a train to Antwerp where I plan to stay for three nights to enjoy the city. Then it's time to pick up the car and start the actual road trip part. The first day of driving should take me to Bremen, Germany where I'm planning to spend two nights. The first day of driving should be approx. 450 km and during that day I'm planning to drive mostly on autobahns/highways.
Once I leave Bremen my next destination is Travemünde which should be only two hours drive from Bremen if I would take the quickest route. However since my ferry to Finland leaves so late that i have to be at the ferry harbour around midnight, I will have plenty of time to do some driving if I find some nice roads around there.
I'm also hoping to find some nice place to visit near Travemünde during that day. I've visited nearby Lübeck twice on my previous similar road trips so I'm probably not visiting there this time. Any ideas on nice places to visit on near Travemünde or on the way from Bremen to Travemünde would be welcome. Hamburg is not an option this time. A natural park or similar for short day hike, a nice small town or something like that would be nice.
From Travemünde it is 30 hour ferry trip to Helsinki and then 1.5 hour drive to my home town. All and all a week long trip is on the cards.
Thats a great idea!
Since I have had my Alpine, I have taken it to Wales and Scotland.
I took the Alpine to Wales the day after I purchased it and took it to Elan Valley, Black mountain pass and Evo triangle.
I took it to Scotland last year and that was truly epic. Did the NC500 and on the way back did the North Pennines too which was stunning too with minimal traffice with great weather and scenery. Definitely recommonded
Since I have had my Alpine, I have taken it to Wales and Scotland.
I took the Alpine to Wales the day after I purchased it and took it to Elan Valley, Black mountain pass and Evo triangle.
I took it to Scotland last year and that was truly epic. Did the NC500 and on the way back did the North Pennines too which was stunning too with minimal traffice with great weather and scenery. Definitely recommonded
This is hardly a ‘road trip’ in the proper sense, but yesterday I did this:
It’s easily the longest distance I’ve driven by myself (in one go), and just happened to be in the 110 - which was, as we’d all expect, more than happy to play along with the escapade (with the very minor irritation of Austrian road tunnels, whose surface seems to excite the natural pitch frequency of the Pure chassis…
). I was concerned about toll booths, but they all leave enough time to get out of the car, pay and get back in.
Definitely will investigate adding an inflatable lumbar support to stop me slipping into my natural monkey-like driving position. Otherwise, superb.
It’s easily the longest distance I’ve driven by myself (in one go), and just happened to be in the 110 - which was, as we’d all expect, more than happy to play along with the escapade (with the very minor irritation of Austrian road tunnels, whose surface seems to excite the natural pitch frequency of the Pure chassis…
). I was concerned about toll booths, but they all leave enough time to get out of the car, pay and get back in.Definitely will investigate adding an inflatable lumbar support to stop me slipping into my natural monkey-like driving position. Otherwise, superb.
Hoofty said:
This is hardly a ‘road trip’ in the proper sense, but yesterday I did this:
Definitely will investigate adding an inflatable lumbar support to stop me slipping into my natural monkey-like driving position. Otherwise, superb.
Not inflatable but the Sabelt one at £19 works for my wife. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303988984296?epid=30467...Definitely will investigate adding an inflatable lumbar support to stop me slipping into my natural monkey-like driving position. Otherwise, superb.
Not perfect - the velcro doesn't stick to the seat - probably not an issue on the driver's seat, but a bit of a nuisance on the passenger seat where it flies off into the footwell when the seat is unoccupied, unless you "store" it somewhere. It's also not a perfect colour match, but I am being picky.
bcr5784 said:
Not inflatable but the Sabelt one at £19 works for my wife. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303988984296?epid=30467...
Not perfect - the velcro doesn't stick to the seat - probably not an issue on the driver's seat, but a bit of a nuisance on the passenger seat where it flies off into the footwell when the seat is unoccupied, unless you "store" it somewhere. It's also not a perfect colour match, but I am being picky.
Ah thanks - will pick up a couple while I continue umming and ahhing about invasive surgery on the seat...Not perfect - the velcro doesn't stick to the seat - probably not an issue on the driver's seat, but a bit of a nuisance on the passenger seat where it flies off into the footwell when the seat is unoccupied, unless you "store" it somewhere. It's also not a perfect colour match, but I am being picky.
Did the whole thing in reverse yesterday (including the UK stretch), and didn't find my posture slipping much at all, weirdly. I have never driven 750 miles in one day until now, and once again, the car was absolutely belting. Treated each toll booth like a Cannonball Run check in (because I am a child) and spent the majority of the day at 130km/h.
Gave it a bit of stick on the Autobahn (chasing a new MC20, no less), but called time at ~220km/h as I didn't find the cognitive load worth the reward (plus on winter tyres in 25C temps it was quite prone to disturbances). Preferable to continuously playing dodgems around the M25, but one to try again on summer tyres, perhaps with the Life110 lip spoiler...
Trip tallies:
Distance - 1521 miles
Avg Speed - 53.1 mph (not bad considering the 2 hour queue at Folkestone, ffs)
Avg Economy - 38.6 mpg
Days Skiing / Falls / Injuries / Snow - 3 / many / thankfully none / not enough
Comedy hotel name bookings - 1
My little road trip this week for some whisky tasting and fine roads. There wasn't much chasing the readline involved but the A110 is so accomplished at just being enjoyable to drive at any speed. The (in)famous A939 Cock Bridge to Tomintoul old military road over the mountains and past the Lecht ski resort is spectacular, still with snow on the road edges up there.
Hello if it was anyone from here, but a Thunder Grey spotted in Braemar on Wednesday, and another Abyss Blue at the Speyside Cooperage Visitor Centre this morning.
Plenty of admiring glances and questions from the American tourists when we stopped or passed.
biggles330d said:
My little road trip this week for some whisky tasting and fine roads. There wasn't much chasing the readline involved but the A110 is so accomplished at just being enjoyable to drive at any speed. The (in)famous A939 Cock Bridge to Tomintoul old military road over the mountains and past the Lecht ski resort is spectacular, still with snow on the road edges up there.
xondat said:
Just finished planning this, starting May 8th. Very excited, will be the first time driving in Germany, and 3rd Euro road trip.
This looks epic. Pics please!Speaking of which, token effort from Weds coming down the Arlberg pass:
It was a Cardhu heavy trip, not one i knew much about but it's central to a lot of Johnnie Walker whiskies. The distillery itself had it's experience revamped recently and was really well done and a taste flight of 7 at the end made it good value, even if it meant the O/H having to pilot us back to the hotel! Definately be back for another weekend break.
biggles330d said:
It was a Cardhu heavy trip, not one i knew much about but it's central to a lot of Johnnie Walker whiskies. The distillery itself had it's experience revamped recently and was really well done and a taste flight of 7 at the end made it good value, even if it meant the O/H having to pilot us back to the hotel! Definately be back for another weekend break.
Ha, fantastic! Not surprised you needed a DD with a flight of 7! I've only tried Cardhu Gold Reserve (I lean towards Islay more than Speyside generally) but that is a superb dessert substitute, as it tastes distinctly of banoffee. Must get up there and try t'others.PH - Whisky Matters
Portti said:
...I'll start with my first planned A110 road trip which is planned to take place when I pick up my new A110 from the dealership in Antwerp, Belgium. ...
I have now done this trip to Belgium-Netherlands-Germany to pick up my new A110. A short travel story can be found on my A110 site (section My A110 > Buying/importing the car):https://www.pertti.com/en/alpine/
Here are two pictures from the trip:
Crossing the Elbe river north of Hamburg:
Nice lake view near Plön in Germany:
Portti said:
I have now done this trip to Belgium-Netherlands-Germany to pick up my new A110. A short travel story can be found on my A110 site (section My A110 > Buying/importing the car):
https://www.pertti.com/en/alpine/
Really enjoyed this, thanks for the write up - some of us don't know how easy we have it.https://www.pertti.com/en/alpine/
Portti said:
It was quite nice way to spend a day driving a brand new Alpine through the German countryside on a lovely spring day.
This may be the understatement of the year, but I really feel it - collection day is truly special but this even more so. I'm so glad Antwerp put on a bit of a show for you!We just completed a 3500 to 3800 KM road trip in the GT, taking in the Ardennes, Luxembourg, Alsace Lorraine, Burgundy; then down to the French coast, Liguria and the Italian riviera, the Cinque Terre; before heading over the mountains (see photo) via Varese Ligure towards Parma, Verona; then taking the Bolzano / Brenner route towards southern Bavaria and Murnau am Staffelsee. Finally, the autobahn via Ulm, Stuttgart, towards Koblenz, and The Netherlands. All in all 3 weeks of travelling.
In terms of travelling in the car and the car's overall performance, here's what I experienced and learnt:
Overall, that's about it. The A110 GT is exactly that - a Grand Tourer par excellence!
M.
In terms of travelling in the car and the car's overall performance, here's what I experienced and learnt:
- You can absolutely pack for 3 weeks for 2 persons, no problem. You just need the right luggage solution and pack wisely - see the Interior and Luggage thread. It was certainly no hardship - and indeed it was nice to travel fairly light, and it fits with how one ought to travel in a sportscar...
- Small bottles of water fit well enough in the GT cubby hole between the seats.
- Plenty of space in and around the seats and footwells for handbags, man-bag, small rugsack etc
- The GT seats are very comfortable, with no aches or pains - zero. Last day I drove 800Km over 9 hours inc traffic jams and a 30 mins break and fuel stop. Stepped out the car and felt nothing. I'm 1.83 and 90Kg. Same for MBH who is a lot shorter and lighter.
- Car handles great on all roads with good surfaces, and especially on the mountain roads - a real joy!
- Very quiet (for a sportscar) and with no wind or tyre noise of note.
- Suspension and 18 inch wheels are well set-up and comfortable on all but the worst roads.
- Given the speeds and the amount of mountain roads, and the stop-starts we had; the overall fuel consumption was astounding - 14.8 KM per litre or 41.8 mpg (UK). If I wasn't in a playful mood and just kept things totally normal but still with a bit of oomph, I reckon 15.3 KM per litre / 43+ mpg was totally possible.
- The Satnav was perfectly fine, only got caught out once with the 4 year old map installed - I need to check with Alpine if free map upgrades are part of the warranty cover or not?
- Never got round to figuring out what My Spin can do - I do agree its not the most intuitive.
- Bluetooth worked best with Spotify rather than internet radio - far less cut-outs and connection loss. I need to find out how best to maximize the bluetooth connection performance - all tips welcome!
- The bluetooth connection issues were a pain at times - so I reckon the best option is to download playlists onto an SD - perhaps I'll buy an iPod just for that. I never listen to FM or DAB as I find today's commercial radio stations uninteresting and I hate adverts.
- Despite careful driving and looking out for potholes I managed to scuff the underside of the front spoiler on a very small area. It's not visible so no issue - but it did make me think that applying some thick plastic film (thicker than PPF) to the underside of the front spoiler would have been a smart thing to do. It also made me think about why folks would pay for the optional carbonfibre spoiler extensions as one of the options - they're very expensive and will surely be scuffed and damaged pretty quickly...
- A few small light chips occurred on the front window of course, hardly noticeable but also virtually unavoidable if you want to drive the car on the motorways / autobahns etc, even with all the usual precautions etc. But nothing elsewhere - so I guess the frontal PPF did it's job.
- The regular bluetooth connection loss - annoying when you're making a long tour
- On very windy days with a crosswind on the autobahn I did feel the car was not as planted as normal - and I felt less comfortable at very high speeds. For the first time, I began to think about the Life110 geometry settings might be worth checking out.
- For good roads, the 18 inch Seracs (esp in GT light gold edition) with the standard tyres (215F / 235R) look and feel great, comfort wise, and also in handling. However for less than good roads (as the ones we experienced in the Emilia Romagna, Lombardia and Veneto regions, or in many parts of the UK) I began to think that 17 inch wheels and tyres with a bigger profile would be more comfortable. And for my purposes, that would be just fine.
Overall, that's about it. The A110 GT is exactly that - a Grand Tourer par excellence!
M.
Fabulous write-up Meonstroke. Exactly the sort of trips i bought mine for and am heading into Europe to do in late June/July.
I did spec my Pure with 17's (well, more accurately didn't spec the upgraded wheels!) due to the terrible roads around me in Scotland, but based on your comments they may make the backroad travel in France less concerning. The 18 inch Serac's do look lovely I'd agree and it was a hard choice not to spec them.
I did spec my Pure with 17's (well, more accurately didn't spec the upgraded wheels!) due to the terrible roads around me in Scotland, but based on your comments they may make the backroad travel in France less concerning. The 18 inch Serac's do look lovely I'd agree and it was a hard choice not to spec them.
Meonstoke said:
- Despite careful driving and looking out for potholes I managed to scuff the underside of the front spoiler on a very small area. It's not visible so no issue - but it did make me think that applying some thick plastic film (thicker than PPF) to the underside of the front spoiler would have been a smart thing to do.
You could probably make some from hardwood or blocks of nylon or titanium, which are fairly inexpensive.
Portti said:
I have now done this trip to Belgium-Netherlands-Germany to pick up my new A110. A short travel story can be found on my A110 site (section My A110 > Buying/importing the car):
https://www.pertti.com/en/alpine/
Here are two pictures from the trip:
Crossing the Elbe river north of Hamburg:
Nice lake view near Plön in Germany:
That’s some trip to collect the car.https://www.pertti.com/en/alpine/
Here are two pictures from the trip:
Crossing the Elbe river north of Hamburg:
Nice lake view near Plön in Germany:
I’ve just noticed the “A110” script on the back of the car - are all new models coming with this or only in certain markets. I’ve seen it on the new A110 GT and IMHO it looks a bit busy.
Miserablegit said:
That’s some trip to collect the car.
I’ve just noticed the “A110” script on the back of the car - are all new models coming with this or only in certain markets. I’ve seen it on the new A110 GT and IMHO it looks a bit busy.
Yes, it was a nice adventure to pick up the car. I’ve just noticed the “A110” script on the back of the car - are all new models coming with this or only in certain markets. I’ve seen it on the new A110 GT and IMHO it looks a bit busy.
With regards to the badge on the back, I think that all 2022 models in different markets now come with the model version badge in the back. And yes, I agree with you that it looks a bit busy. I would've rather have mine without the badge.
Trip Report on recommendation of Meonstroke! (copied from Alpine a110 owners topic)
--
I bought my A110 with the intent to use it for road trips, high days and holidays and deliberately spec’d it with this in mind. So, an Abyss Blue Pure, on 17” wheels, standard exhaust, standard brakes, Focal (without additional bass speaker), reversing sensors, telematics. A relatively basic spec, but one very much with ‘GT’ trips in mind rather than trackday outings. I’m just back from 3 weeks / 2,500 miles into France (from Scotland), taking in Dieppe, the Le Mans Classic weekend, two weeks in a rural holiday rental, a stop over in Champagne and a huge mix of driving, roads, plus the recent extreme temperatures.
So has it delivered? Yes, absolutely.
Here's my feedback. Hopefully this is interesting as a counterpoint to the other reports about the a110’s prowess around the track. It is such a capable car and did all asked of it.
It’s very comfortable. The standard bucket seats over the entire trip, including some very extended stints, never got uncomfortable. The material they are trimmed in makes them warm to sit in and the soft padding is a real bonus. I’m 5’11’ and didn’t have the seat all the way back, so plenty of room.
There is enough space for over two weeks of luggage for two people but you do need to pack sensibly. We had a combination of 2x 44l Cabin Zero soft cases in the front that fit perfectly and allow for books to be slid around the edges, plus a large soft holdall in the back. The remaining boot space was good for multiple pairs of shoes that can be tucked into the corners. So long as you can squish stuff into the corners in the rear boot, you can squeeze a lot in but you do have to make sure anything sensitive to heat is up front or behind the seats in the cabin as it does get warm in the boot. 40+ degrees didn’t help of course.
There’s plenty of space behind the front seats, plenty at least for water, towels, day-bags, maps, bottles of champagne…
It's very refined and the ride is superb. I chose to keep the standard 17” wheels to keep the benefits of a more compliant sidewall and it didn’t disappoint. Unless the road is really harshly surfaced, it’s quite hushed in the cabin. When you are on the more broken surfaces of the typical French D road (or British A road!), there’s very little crashing or bone hard ride. Also, nearly every French village is littered these days with traffic calming measures, so a more supple set up is welcome.
The standard exhaust is quiet and subtly burbly in sport. What ‘pops’ there are, are subtle. I’m not a fan of pops and bangs though. More important for me for longer trips was the lack of intrusive exhaust noise when just cruising. When you want to accellerate, the lovely induction sound is there though, then subsides back when you back off. I travelled to LMC with a mate in his 997 with sports exhaust. It did sound great, but we found it was often just too loud even when not in 'sport' in a ‘look at me’ way when just driving about, becoming almost embarrassing. No such issue with the A110.
The focal stereo is fabulous. Loud enough, decent bass and great clarity. The DAB reception can get patchy, but playing Spotify from the phone via Bluetooth is so simple and the touchscreen allows you to skip tracks etc.
Mine’s an Q3 2021 model so doesn’t have the upgraded infotainment, but other than a clunky interface, once you work out how it all works it’s fine. Certainly no worse than what’s in my 2015 discovery 4. It does what you want it to do. I haven’t bothered with the Spin thing.
Sat Nav is fine and the ability to insert Lat/long and store as favourites is really handy for finding and setting destination to quite remote rural locations.
We used a combination of in-car, google maps and via michelin blue toothed to the car for directions. All worked fairly seamlessly.
The ability to switch the dash to read in kPH is handy, especially as some speed limits in towns and villages are 30 / 50 kph, so quite slow. Despite that I still got flashed in one village so half expecting a letter from the french authorities at some point.
The great surprise was how handy the speed limiter is - it's the other side of the rocker switch on the cruise control. We used this a lot, set just above the road limit, which allowed you to drive normally and the car just backs off when you reach the limiter and sits there quite comfortably and perhaps more economically than in cruise as you can still feather the throttle down hill etc. You can still go over the limit with associated warning bongs though.
Being small has real benefits, especially around LMC and some off the smaller French villages. You could go for gaps that other more extreme / wide / large cars would struggle with.
Oddly, it's light weight makes it difficult to maintain a steady speed. Previous trips have been in far heavier cars so there is more momentum i guess. Being light, i found myself always adjusting the throttle to keep speed - good acceleration and light weight meant that unconsciously I'd find i'd slowed 5-10 kph without realising so would have to accelerate again. Maybe thats why the speed limiter was handy as you could just keep the throttle in and it held a steady speed without you having to think about it.
It’s economical. Over the whole trip it averaged over 40mpg giving a tank range of 400 miles+ relatively easily. This was a big factor in choosing an A110 over the alternatives. My buddie’s 997 averaged a more painful 26-27 mpg. Even at slightly cheaper French fuel prices, that adds up to a lot over a long distance.
It’s not that common in France either – apart from a gaggle of A110’s on display at LMC, we saw only three others on the whole trip. Mind you, that’s more than we saw 911’s or Caymans’s so it maybe says more about the French attitude to cars. What it did generate was a lot of appreciative attention and positive comments. Interesting that when travelling with the 997, of the two, that usually didn’t get a second look.
The air con isn’t very controllable but is cold. Not a huge issue but there’s not much subtlety to setting the temperature inside and we never really got it to a genuine ambient 21 or so. It might be a combination of small cabin and extreme heat though – we saw 47 degrees on the temp gauge a couple of times after only a short period of being parked up. On the hottest day, the several hours run up the A26 to Calais didn’t see the temp drop below 40 degrees so cooling, aircon and fans must have been working overtime.
The emovis TAG is brilliant. For toll roads I’ve no idea why we’ve taken until now to get one. Simple and brilliant.
When we got back, it was absolutely filthy with a rash of dead bugs on the front and a thick layer of grain harvesting dust baked on and wheels coated with black brake dust. I have to say, looking at all the spotless pictures of other people’s cars, I quite liked that mine returned looking like it had been properly used! It’s now washed and back to being shiny though, even if I have to spend a bit more time de-bugging the front.
I took it from 2000 miles to 4600 miles on this trip, so I’d say it’s well run in now and I’m determined having had this adventure that I’ll resist being too precious about it in future! Use it and enjoy it.
--
I bought my A110 with the intent to use it for road trips, high days and holidays and deliberately spec’d it with this in mind. So, an Abyss Blue Pure, on 17” wheels, standard exhaust, standard brakes, Focal (without additional bass speaker), reversing sensors, telematics. A relatively basic spec, but one very much with ‘GT’ trips in mind rather than trackday outings. I’m just back from 3 weeks / 2,500 miles into France (from Scotland), taking in Dieppe, the Le Mans Classic weekend, two weeks in a rural holiday rental, a stop over in Champagne and a huge mix of driving, roads, plus the recent extreme temperatures.
So has it delivered? Yes, absolutely.
Here's my feedback. Hopefully this is interesting as a counterpoint to the other reports about the a110’s prowess around the track. It is such a capable car and did all asked of it.
It’s very comfortable. The standard bucket seats over the entire trip, including some very extended stints, never got uncomfortable. The material they are trimmed in makes them warm to sit in and the soft padding is a real bonus. I’m 5’11’ and didn’t have the seat all the way back, so plenty of room.
There is enough space for over two weeks of luggage for two people but you do need to pack sensibly. We had a combination of 2x 44l Cabin Zero soft cases in the front that fit perfectly and allow for books to be slid around the edges, plus a large soft holdall in the back. The remaining boot space was good for multiple pairs of shoes that can be tucked into the corners. So long as you can squish stuff into the corners in the rear boot, you can squeeze a lot in but you do have to make sure anything sensitive to heat is up front or behind the seats in the cabin as it does get warm in the boot. 40+ degrees didn’t help of course.
There’s plenty of space behind the front seats, plenty at least for water, towels, day-bags, maps, bottles of champagne…
It's very refined and the ride is superb. I chose to keep the standard 17” wheels to keep the benefits of a more compliant sidewall and it didn’t disappoint. Unless the road is really harshly surfaced, it’s quite hushed in the cabin. When you are on the more broken surfaces of the typical French D road (or British A road!), there’s very little crashing or bone hard ride. Also, nearly every French village is littered these days with traffic calming measures, so a more supple set up is welcome.
The standard exhaust is quiet and subtly burbly in sport. What ‘pops’ there are, are subtle. I’m not a fan of pops and bangs though. More important for me for longer trips was the lack of intrusive exhaust noise when just cruising. When you want to accellerate, the lovely induction sound is there though, then subsides back when you back off. I travelled to LMC with a mate in his 997 with sports exhaust. It did sound great, but we found it was often just too loud even when not in 'sport' in a ‘look at me’ way when just driving about, becoming almost embarrassing. No such issue with the A110.
The focal stereo is fabulous. Loud enough, decent bass and great clarity. The DAB reception can get patchy, but playing Spotify from the phone via Bluetooth is so simple and the touchscreen allows you to skip tracks etc.
Mine’s an Q3 2021 model so doesn’t have the upgraded infotainment, but other than a clunky interface, once you work out how it all works it’s fine. Certainly no worse than what’s in my 2015 discovery 4. It does what you want it to do. I haven’t bothered with the Spin thing.
Sat Nav is fine and the ability to insert Lat/long and store as favourites is really handy for finding and setting destination to quite remote rural locations.
We used a combination of in-car, google maps and via michelin blue toothed to the car for directions. All worked fairly seamlessly.
The ability to switch the dash to read in kPH is handy, especially as some speed limits in towns and villages are 30 / 50 kph, so quite slow. Despite that I still got flashed in one village so half expecting a letter from the french authorities at some point.
The great surprise was how handy the speed limiter is - it's the other side of the rocker switch on the cruise control. We used this a lot, set just above the road limit, which allowed you to drive normally and the car just backs off when you reach the limiter and sits there quite comfortably and perhaps more economically than in cruise as you can still feather the throttle down hill etc. You can still go over the limit with associated warning bongs though.
Being small has real benefits, especially around LMC and some off the smaller French villages. You could go for gaps that other more extreme / wide / large cars would struggle with.
Oddly, it's light weight makes it difficult to maintain a steady speed. Previous trips have been in far heavier cars so there is more momentum i guess. Being light, i found myself always adjusting the throttle to keep speed - good acceleration and light weight meant that unconsciously I'd find i'd slowed 5-10 kph without realising so would have to accelerate again. Maybe thats why the speed limiter was handy as you could just keep the throttle in and it held a steady speed without you having to think about it.
It’s economical. Over the whole trip it averaged over 40mpg giving a tank range of 400 miles+ relatively easily. This was a big factor in choosing an A110 over the alternatives. My buddie’s 997 averaged a more painful 26-27 mpg. Even at slightly cheaper French fuel prices, that adds up to a lot over a long distance.
It’s not that common in France either – apart from a gaggle of A110’s on display at LMC, we saw only three others on the whole trip. Mind you, that’s more than we saw 911’s or Caymans’s so it maybe says more about the French attitude to cars. What it did generate was a lot of appreciative attention and positive comments. Interesting that when travelling with the 997, of the two, that usually didn’t get a second look.
The air con isn’t very controllable but is cold. Not a huge issue but there’s not much subtlety to setting the temperature inside and we never really got it to a genuine ambient 21 or so. It might be a combination of small cabin and extreme heat though – we saw 47 degrees on the temp gauge a couple of times after only a short period of being parked up. On the hottest day, the several hours run up the A26 to Calais didn’t see the temp drop below 40 degrees so cooling, aircon and fans must have been working overtime.
The emovis TAG is brilliant. For toll roads I’ve no idea why we’ve taken until now to get one. Simple and brilliant.
When we got back, it was absolutely filthy with a rash of dead bugs on the front and a thick layer of grain harvesting dust baked on and wheels coated with black brake dust. I have to say, looking at all the spotless pictures of other people’s cars, I quite liked that mine returned looking like it had been properly used! It’s now washed and back to being shiny though, even if I have to spend a bit more time de-bugging the front.
I took it from 2000 miles to 4600 miles on this trip, so I’d say it’s well run in now and I’m determined having had this adventure that I’ll resist being too precious about it in future! Use it and enjoy it.
Great trip!
Just planning tour, via Santander ferry, around north west Spain and Portugal, north of Porto. Any good road suggestions very welcome
Looked at the Cabin Zero 44L bags, but settled on Cabin Max Metz 44L. Also fit in 'frunk/froot' like a glove, and about half the cost....
.
Just planning tour, via Santander ferry, around north west Spain and Portugal, north of Porto. Any good road suggestions very welcome
Looked at the Cabin Zero 44L bags, but settled on Cabin Max Metz 44L. Also fit in 'frunk/froot' like a glove, and about half the cost....
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Edited by LGC-Adams on Wednesday 27th July 12:39
Edited by LGC-Adams on Wednesday 27th July 12:40
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