In the last three weeks I've travelled around 5000km in the UK, Germany and France. First was a trip from Eindhoven to Manchester and back. A few days later I had a business trip that took me to Ulm, Munich, Regensberg, Munich, Friedrichshafen and back home. Last Wednesday to Warwick in the UK, returning home yesterday. Then it was straight in the S again, this time with the family, down to Provence, which is where we are now.
Yesterday I drove around 1000 km using SuC's in Maidstone, Gent, Urmond, Metz & Nancy. Today, 750 km using Nuits St George, Viennes and Orange. The follwoing observations:
1) V6.2 makes everything easy. I don't need my planning spreadsheet anymore.
2) Travelling long distance in Germany is a no brainer. France is a bit more tricky. The SuC at Metz failed on me last night after 15 mins. A guy on the other stall could not get started at all. Nuits St Georges & Viennes will need urgent expansion before the summer season.
3) There are are still a few incredibly stupid S drivers who are happy to occupy a SuC stall all night.
4) The SuC at Orange is being expanded to 8 stalls - work in progress.
5) The SuC at Northampton is a major bottleneck. 2 stalls and 3 Teslas the last two times I've been there. The M1 is also a bitch at that location with frequent delays due to roadworks.
6) To avoid having to use Northampton yesterday I managed to park my S outside the (ground floor) window of my hotel room and charge from a 13A wall socket.
7) My drive unit has started to make a horrible whistling sound that rises in pitch form low to high speed, until it passes out of auditory range. In the range 10 - 60 kph it sounds horrible - worse when I drove with the sunroof open this evening. I guess another visit to the SeC will be necessary.
For the first time since owning my S I've kinda had enough of driving her for now. It feels like I've been living in the driving seat for the last weeks. And next weekend I have to drive home again.
Still, for anyone with 'koudwatervrees" for long distance travelling, forget it. There's really no better way to travel!