Collecting my winnings!

[big_al_granvia]

off her trolley more like but as a nightshift truckie she is starting driving at a normal time and the roads will be quieter. roughly 6hrs driving time back home so depends on pee breaks 

[Flat4]

Final connection achieved and as it's arrived early, we will hopefully be leaving bang on time.

[Flat4]

Northampton achieved! Still to try to start it but I have faith in it 😜

[Flat4]

Audi achieved and it has started!!! What a gorgeous big barge! Now heading towards Wolverhampton to find some fuel and miss out the M6 toll.

 

[rantingYoof]

@Flat4 has left, very excited. It makes a lovely noise from the outside... 

*goes off to browse V8s again*

[Flat4]

Obligatory petrol station shot and a healthier number of miles to empty 😊

I didn't brim it as apparently the tank is huge but this should be enough to get me home.

It started first go after filling up but I left the key in as I believe it's doing a Scooby and forgetting it's immobiliser from time to time. I will do some further digging once we're home.

It's a really lovely drive, very comfortable and gets up to speed without you realising you're going that quick! This will be a nice drive home 😊

[High Jetter]

My wife is somewhere in Wolverhampton currently, please don't wake her on your way through! 😀

[Flat4]

Feel like this is an appropriate soundtrack 😝

https://youtu.be/tRdu-vB2Tkg?si=2aS8Z1Yx53G-PrTv

[Pieman]

2 hours ago, Flat4 said:

Audi achieved and it has started!!! What a gorgeous big barge! Now heading towards Wolverhampton to find some fuel and miss out the M6 toll.

If you were heading up the Toll I'd have gone to one of the bridges and tried to snap a pic as you flew through!

Good to see this big beast still in good hands.  I hadn't seen the four rings projected on the floor before either.  "THIS IS DER VOICE OF DER MYSTERONS!"

[Flat4]

8 minutes ago, Pieman said:

If you were heading up the Toll I'd have gone to one of the bridges and tried to snap a pic as you flew through!

Good to see this big beast still in good hands.  I hadn't seen the four rings projected on the floor before either.  "THIS IS DER VOICE OF DER MYSTERONS!"

I might be inadvertently heading in that direction....

Stopped at Corley services to use their facilities and had to take the key out but it has started first go again. 2 of 2 for me. Long may that continue!

[Spiny Norman]

Might the immobiliser thing just be down to a low battery, which your decent run home should largely cure. 
Looks ace, these A8s are so under-rated. 

[Flat4]

2nd coffee of the trip procured from Charnock Richards. Audi gave me a bit of a fright when the remote with the new battery wouldn't unlock the doors until I held it above the middle of the windscreen 😬 It started first time again tho!

But if I stop again before home then I will be leaving it unlocked and just take both keys, wallet, phone etc with me.

[Flat4]

Tebay achieved and hoping this will be my last stop before home, assuming my bladder allows that. Only a couple of hours away now.

Audi says it's handbrake will no longer engage - that randomly failed when flying up the M6 - and something about the headlight adjustment. Can't remember the wording but it's pinged up a few times, even tho there doesn't appear to be any difference in the reach of said headlights.

Must admit tho, I did come over all stereotypical Audi wanker and stuck the front fogs on before I actually needed them. Coming past Lancaster, Preston etc it turned into a pea souper so I did actually need them then! It's cleared now but the further north I go, the colder it's getting. Started out at 11 degrees, now at 8.

Next update from home, hopefully 😊

[Flat4]

My bladder didn't make it home 🙄 Abington services for a pee and home in about an hour. No other faults so far, touch wood!

[adey]

its like tracking a 12/24 hour night race, off to bed and wake up and its still going. 

looks like a lovely car too 

im touching wood for you........ 🤣

[roy8846]

57 minutes ago, Flat4 said:

My bladder didn't make it home 🙄 Abington services for a pee and home in about an hour. No other faults so far, touch wood!

Damn I have been to sleep and I'm now at work and your not home. I commend your efforts good fellow

[Hertz]

Yes just got up myself and you are still going! Hopefully you are home now/soon and the collection a success. Congrats on the win btw.

[rantingYoof]

Pleased that (by now) it's seen you home even if it's been a bit naughty. Cruising at 2,000rpm is the world it is designed to live in. 

[Flat4]

Safely home 😊 Looking at the Audi compared to the Volvo makes it even clearer how ridiculously huge it is for a saloon 😆

It's also wide as well as long so this took a few shunts and wiggles to get it past the Alfa but it's now safely parked....just about....

Promise no Elgrands were harmed in the process!

Thanks to @rantingYooffor being so accommodating re collection and train shenanigans. Lovely to meet you, would 100% buy a roffle ticket from again 😁

I reckon we will be SORNing the Audi until the start of March as, for once, we have plenty in traffic atm. That may all change tho as the Volvo is due MOT on Thursday, Forester on 6th March and the Elgrand some time soon which I need to look up. Very glad of an extra working* MOT'd car atm and even better one as brilliant fun as this.

[big_al_granvia]

had a wee hoon, fuck its fast but too quiet , no v8 growl. i know paddy the corolla is ridiculously loud but hey ho... bloody nice drive and handles like a dream for a big barge, more toys than smyths... all for the price of a munchy box... going to wind up my boss who drives a mg hybrid thingy

[Flat4]

Also, it started first go every single time I stopped with it but I did use the key in the ignition not the stop start button. It's a weird fault but hopefully we'll get it figured out in time.

[TrabbieRonnie]

11 minutes ago, Flat4 said:

Also, it started first go every single time I stopped with it but I did use the key in the ignition not the stop start button. It's a weird fault but hopefully we'll get it figured out in time.

Well done on the collection mission, I knew you'd like it, they're tremendous cars.

They are very sensitive to battery voltage in my experience, that could be your issue if it continues.  I've had a few times of manually unlocking the drivers door with the key, when either the fob or car battery was dying.

Enjoy a rest, would read collecshun fred again 👍

[rantingYoof]

How was the gearbox after a proper run? The milder conditions and getting it really warm hopefully freed it up and made it less hesitant. 

[Missy Charm]

That looks great!  I've always preferred the pre-Hannibal-Lecter Audis, styling wise.

It's also interesting, for the less brave, to see what technology lurks in those great beasts.  The specification seen from the photo: adaptive cruise control, VDU in dash, 'net' - is that internet access?, electric handbrake etc. would shame a modern car; nobody had even heard of half that stuff twenty-three years ago!  In fact, my car is three years newer and, barring ABS and a CD player, doesn't really have any equipment one wouldn't have found in a middling-spec. car from the late eighties.  It's interesting how much variation in equipment existed, back then.  

Hope it serves you well!  

[Mrs6C]

8 hours ago, big_al_granvia said:

all for the price of a munchy box...

Ah, but did it come with a Dougie Donnelly action figure?

[Flat4]

8 hours ago, rantingYoof said:

How was the gearbox after a proper run? The milder conditions and getting it really warm hopefully freed it up and made it less hesitant. 

Can't say I noticed much hesitation at all. You can feel when the gears change but I wouldn't say it's problematic. I think it's a sensitive gearbox that changes quickly in response to speed and conditions, so it gives the impression it can't make up it's mind which one it wants. Be interesting if some one else with an auto Audi of this era would drive it and give me an opinion.

[stuboy]

does look a nice big beasty

[TrabbieRonnie]

2 hours ago, Flat4 said:

Can't say I noticed much hesitation at all. You can feel when the gears change but I wouldn't say it's problematic. I think it's a sensitive gearbox that changes quickly in response to speed and conditions, so it gives the impression it can't make up it's mind which one it wants. Be interesting if some one else with an auto Audi of this era would drive it and give me an opinion.

Ours is the same, more so when cold.  I think it's a bit clever for it's own good.  There also seems to be an artificial 'engine braking' mode, when coasting down a hill. 

The longer I drive in a relaxed way, the longer it spends in the higher gears, I nudge it down a cog on the flappy paddle before a hill sometimes.

I find that any hesitation about which gear it wants can be easily overcome with a bit more of the loud pedal though, then it becomes a bit more old-fashioned!

 

[rantingYoof]

I will be as sick as a pig if it turns out my interpretation of a laggy, on-the-way-out gearbox was actually just a normal, complex Audi autobox working fine.  

It also shows how utterly conditioned I am to the absence of gears and smoothness of an EV. 

It's why I'm leaning towards a six-pot manual of some kind as a second car - if I'm responsible for gear changes then I'm the only reason why they may not be very good. 🤣

[TrabbieRonnie]

I used to wonder if mine had issues, but 53,000 miles later it's no different and we've gotten used to each others foibles!