TridentTested
Member
- Messages
- 1,819
Driving from London to Portsmouth was torture. A journey which should have taken an hour and a bit took a full three hours. As I sat in one jam after another I was actually wondering if I've reached the limit of my patience with owning a car in the UK; why put up with this madness, could I live my life without a car?
I was certainly doubting the point of owning a Maserati. I could have done that journey in a 2CV at the same average speed, h3ll, I probably could have cycled as fast. I may as well give in and buy a Eurobox, they get to places at the same hobbled speed anyway and cost a lot less.
Then I disembarked at Cherbourg and turned onto a road I know well. My first reaction was 'that's a funny buzz at 4,000', quickly followed by 'the exhaust seems loud'. Then I realised the complete absence of road noise meant I was hearing the car again like I hadn't since the last time I had it in France. And she sounds beautiful: sonorous and cultured, no wind noise, no road noise, no kicks from pot-holes, no thumps nor bumps, just smooth effortless progress accompanied by the most magical motoring music.
But more than that, the smooth roads make the car gel. The Duo-select is often rightly criticised for being clunky but when the road is as smooth as a French one the car wakes up and says 'ah, this is what I was built for' and is somehow possible to get the Duo-select to really flow. Approach an empty roundabout at any speed, flick down, caress the brake pedal, flow around at an improbable speed, exit and plant your foot, flick up and effortlessly you are doing great speed again. 'Effortless' and 'flow' are the two words.
It turned into one of those memorable drives. Empty roads, perfect surfaces, no wheel-killing kerbs, the boys-in-blue happily away having their dinners, driving solo - no built-in passenger seat speed limiter, roads I know well, good weather, good visibility. An ideal evening for 'making progress'. The QP was just perfect, I couldn't think of another car I would have preferred to have driven.
French roads are wasted on the French. They have such magnificent roads but they drive such pedestrian cars. In the UK we do the reverse; it's easy to find and relatively affordable to run an interesting car but the roads are pants.
I was certainly doubting the point of owning a Maserati. I could have done that journey in a 2CV at the same average speed, h3ll, I probably could have cycled as fast. I may as well give in and buy a Eurobox, they get to places at the same hobbled speed anyway and cost a lot less.
Then I disembarked at Cherbourg and turned onto a road I know well. My first reaction was 'that's a funny buzz at 4,000', quickly followed by 'the exhaust seems loud'. Then I realised the complete absence of road noise meant I was hearing the car again like I hadn't since the last time I had it in France. And she sounds beautiful: sonorous and cultured, no wind noise, no road noise, no kicks from pot-holes, no thumps nor bumps, just smooth effortless progress accompanied by the most magical motoring music.
But more than that, the smooth roads make the car gel. The Duo-select is often rightly criticised for being clunky but when the road is as smooth as a French one the car wakes up and says 'ah, this is what I was built for' and is somehow possible to get the Duo-select to really flow. Approach an empty roundabout at any speed, flick down, caress the brake pedal, flow around at an improbable speed, exit and plant your foot, flick up and effortlessly you are doing great speed again. 'Effortless' and 'flow' are the two words.
It turned into one of those memorable drives. Empty roads, perfect surfaces, no wheel-killing kerbs, the boys-in-blue happily away having their dinners, driving solo - no built-in passenger seat speed limiter, roads I know well, good weather, good visibility. An ideal evening for 'making progress'. The QP was just perfect, I couldn't think of another car I would have preferred to have driven.
French roads are wasted on the French. They have such magnificent roads but they drive such pedestrian cars. In the UK we do the reverse; it's easy to find and relatively affordable to run an interesting car but the roads are pants.
