Euro Trip 2016

[notch000]

Hi, Attached are a few holiday snaps from our recent trip to the Alps in the MX. I’d been there in 2013 on a motor bike and said I take the Gf back again for a look & it sure didn’t disappoint the second time round either, We went for the first two week in September, Weather was fantastic, warm but not hot enough to totally cook ya like the summer months, road were quiet, we did 50/50 camping and guesthouses. We Rosslare to Cherbourg then bruised straight thru motorway to Geneva in one day, then did some of the French Alps went up over and around into Switzerland, across eastern Swiss alps. Into Italy and then did the great dolomites road, the roof was down most of the time except motorways & on the hottest of days.
Then we returned though Austria, Germany and had a couple of days in Normandy to check out a few WW2 sites. Also visited the Porsche museum in Stuttgart on the way through. Would highly recommend for any petrol heads.
I borrowed the boot bag off Merlot Man Brian here just before leaving (big thanks? Again?). After a quick spin in his car while in Clare I figured that my own was running a bit shit. So with a bit of a last minute panic I changed the HT leads and power and MPG were up immediately. To test my patients fully I also had a seized calliper two days before leaving but a local mechanic got it rebuild the evening before we left & thankfully it held up to all the abuse the mountain road could throw at it. MPG on the motorway was around 37mpg @ 130kph (off the GPS not clocks). One day it hit 43mpg on the autobahn with a mix of very heavy traffic and road work but smooth rolling all day. The tanks were still showing ¼ full after 310ms, I couldn’t believe it. The total trip was 3000miles and came in just off €600 for fuel and all tolls. We took a ton of stuff with us and on the way home managed to fit in some more shopping and another 25 bottles of wine!! So there’s absolutely tons of room in the MX for packing no matter what anyone says. No issue with the car over the trip except a small oil leak from the front of engine that I though was fixed also before we left, it’s probably used about 750ml of oil all in. but then this may well have been a result of endless hours trashing up and down the mountain passes all day too. I had had my reservation about doing such a trip in the 5 but was totally wrong. Long live the Mx5 ! great Car, I’ll never sell it !!


























Porsche Stuttgart







The final unpack


Some unedited video, from the dolomites, more to follow eventually (I still haven’t down my 2013 edit yet tho )
https://youtu.be/DVaYN7cEaXI?t=3m3s

[Merlot man]

That looks like a great trip all right andy !
Glad to here that the bag worked out and you are right , the little Mazda is the perfect car for that trip with plenty of space , I filled the back of the van with all the stuff that was in the mx from the last trip.
We did the Auvergne region of France in the 5 this summer and again great senery and fabulous roads and she just lapped it up !
A route map of the roads you drove on would be great .......please !
Ta.k soon
Brian

[WoofWoof]

Great stuff Notch000 and that's one of the reasons I bought an MX5. We'll be doing a similar trip in a AE10 also. I'll make a point of showing herself how much gear you managed to pack into the car, she'll be delighted (sadly).

[Steve]

wow, niice! How many days/miles all in?

[notch000]

14 full days on the continent, 3000 miles but around 1500 of those miles were done on the way over an back to the alps! we had a few rest days here and there that were well needed. took city breeak in Innsbrook & Interlacken.

Brian i l get maps up in a few days as will need to dig out the maps again ! , also it was a great tip on removing the boot lininig for extra space, found a big arch gap over the battery insde wheel arch that was able to fit jackets & boots too