Afternoon everyone,
Well our final day had arrived on Friday June 12th and sadly we had to motor home.
It was drizzling but the weather cleared up the further east that we went.
A good breakfast at the Saltash Travelodge was enjoyed but I wanted to quickly show Claire Plymouth Hoe where Sir Francis Drake finished his game of bowls before engaging the Spanish Armada.
Saltash Travelodge
Around Plymouth Hoe
Cross Channel Ferry
We then motored to Exeter, on to Honiton and stopped at the famous Haynes Motor Museum at Sparkford. The two large American Cars on show are the same models that Claire once owned while over here I was driving around in a small, by comparison, MG MGB GT. She is an Anglophile in many ways and still has a LHD Triumph Spitfire. We had a sandwich in the Cafe but only had time for an hour in the museum itself.
Haynes Motor Museum
DeLorean
Ford Fairlane Convertible
Ford Thunderbird
We diverted to Salisbury as the Friday evening traffic nearing Stonehenge on the A303 was horrendous and eventually came back via the M3.
The car we hired was a 2008 Vauxhall Astra Diesel and we were told that it was a 1.9litre. When I checked the registration number with the DVLA, I found out that it was a 1.3 !!!!
I was amazed at her performance. She would cruise well into the ahem territory and the acceleration was stunning for such a small engine, two up and with luggage.
Going up 1 in 3 to 1 in 4 hills such as Porlock Hill, Countisbury Hill and Lynmouth Hill were taken with total ease and the engine could easily have been mistaken for a 2 litre.
The best part was the fuel consumption overall for our 891 mile trip.
I did not hang about but the average was still 47.28mpg.
A lot better than BaBaKa which I decided not to take because of the clunk.
Vauxhall, you make very good cars and the build quality was excellent as well as the handling and ride.
Here are details of the engine from Wikipedia:
1.3
A small 1.3 L (1248 cc) version (called the SDE, Small Diesel Engine) is produced in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. The Multijet 75 PS version was chosen in 2005 as the International Engine of the Year in the 1-litre to 1.4-litre category.
There are four versions of this engine: a 70 PS (69 hp/51 kW), a 75 PS (74 hp/55 kW) (used in the Fiat Punto, Panda, Palio / Albea, Fiat Idea, Opel Corsa / Combo, Opel Meriva and Suzuki Swift),
a variable inlet geometry 90 PS (89 hp/66 kW) (used in the new Fiat Grande Punto, Fiat Linea, Opel Corsa, Opel Astra and Alfa Romeo MiTo), and a 105 PS (104 hp/77 kW) is available to Lancia Ypsilon. At the time of the launch this was the smallest four-cylinder diesel engine available and has a fuel consumption of 3.3 L/100 km (86 mpg-imp; 71 mpg-US) in some applications. The engine is able to meet Euro IV pollution standards without the use of a diesel particulate filter.
In January 2008 Tata Motors introduced new Indica Vista model, which features new QuadraJet branded version of this engine.[2] The second generation Ford Ka uses 1.3 Multijet named as Duratorq TDCi .
I hope you enjoyed the fotos of our trip.
Paula
My West Country Trip with Claire - June 2009 - Part 4 (Final part)
