430d 5k miles
That’s me 10 weeks in to ownership and I should tick past 5,000 miles done since picking her up at some point tomorrow.
Thus far I’ve managed to only skud the splitter once!
Anyways, last weekend I was participating in the 3hr C1 Endurance race at Rockingham so a good chance for the car to stretch its legs and do some distance work.
I wound up taking my kit and another one of our drivers’ stuff down as well. I’m convinced the boot on this is smaller than my e46, will need to check the stats. Still, it all fitted in and there wasn’t any danger of it sliding about.
On a side note, when I’m just taking my instructing helmet to the circuit for a weekend shift, the cargo net is brilliant. No more stuffing jackets on top of my helmet on the back seat to stop it flying about!
Friday I was heading down after work, then got a last minute call to pick up some graphics for the racecar from over in Edinburgh, this changed the route plan so I ended up going all the way down the A1 [previously, would have been doing M74 – M6 – A66 – A1M].
A1 was the usual for a Friday afternoon, plenty of trucks and people bumbling along but I wasn’t particularly in a rush, but then I got near Newcastle and a truck was broken down on the dual carriageway just after the Metro Centre
– For those familiar with the area, from the junction on the A1 with the A19 right through to where it becomes the A1M was done at a maximum of 20mph, more often 5-10mph
– For those not familiar with the area, 14.6 miles took me an hour and 20 minutes
After that the road was largely clear all the way to Rockingham to meet the team. Sorted a few things out with them setting up the pop-up etc for the weekend then headed off to our hotel in Kettering. Few hours sleep, returned to the Rock, did our race and at half 5, headed home along the exact same route, as I was now dropping off one of our drivers in Edinburgh.
Journey stats:
– Outbound: 347 miles, average speed 51.6mph, consumption 52.8mpg
– Return: 349 miles, average speed 58.7mph, consumption 52.6mpg
I refuelled half way home on the return leg and the actual brim-brim mpg calculation showed 51.4mpg over the 588 miles, exactly what the trip computer said. [I use the vehicle stats on the iDrive for journey to journey fuel economy and average speed, reset the instrument trip computer at each fill up]
Thoughts:
Driving up the A1 at night was the first time I have used the adaptive headlights: WOW! I know some people like them, some people don’t, I thought they were absolutely brilliant. Its not the twistiest of roads but the beam aiming in to the corners was useful and it was amazing to watch the beam adapt to remove sections to avoid dazzling oncoming cars.
I really need to update my satnav. The recent A1M sections are just far enough away from what was the A1 to confuse the satnav and give you a constant chirp of “follow the road in the direction of the arrow” and “make a U-turn where possible.”
It’s a seriously competent cruiser this car. The armrests seem to line up better with my body shape than my e46’s ones. In fact, in the e46 I largely used the window ledge for my right arm and nothing for the left, on this, both armrests are perfect position to use both. The seats are nice and supportive, think I’d fit the back bolsters a touch better if I trimmed a few pounds right enough.
Still the highest economy 430d on Fuelly although there’s a new entrant with a 2017 car that’s nipping at my heals.
