2400 mile blast across France in E500

[Londonscottish]

I just got back from my 2400 mile blast across France in the E500. The holiday was fabulous as was the car.

The air suspension swallowed up everything I could throw at it (from fully-laden-plus-roof-box motorway blasts to unladen twisty-bashing). The four zone air con came into it's own in temperatures up to 40 degrees with all four family members adjusting away to their heart's content. The headrest DVD's were a God send for the three and six year olds. The seats were perfect for 12 hour days. And as for that V8......I let it rrrriiiiiippppp from every single peage there and back......

Short of an S Class I can't think of a better continent crusher.

The return trip was interesting. We'd been in the car for 350 miles on the trip to Le Havre when we found that our ferry had been cancelled. Cue an impromtu 250 mile blast to Calais for the last ferry. Rrrrrriiiiiiipppppp......

It even coped magnificently with the M20. On all my previous road trips I'd always been shocked by how coarse the M20 was after thousands of miles of billiard-smooth autoroutes - not this time. The E just smothered it all out.

Would I have changed anything? Well, yes I'd have upgragded the Sat Nav had I known how many new roads the French have built since 2005.....

Thanks to all those who gave advice before I left - it was much appreciated and made the whole trip go smoothly.

(and for those doing similar trips let us know how you got on)

 

[Merco]

12 hour days, in a car with 3 and 6 year olds! You sound remarkably upbeat for having endured that!

Glad you had a great holiday and welcome back safe and sound.

 

[Londonscottish]

12 hour days, in a car with 3 and 6 year olds! You sound remarkably upbeat for having endured that!

Glad you had a great holiday and welcome back safe and sound.

Well it was only one 12 hour day on the last day - of which two hours was ferry-related. And it was a blast due to the need to cover 250 miles to Calais in a very short space of time.

A double expresso in Le Havre and another one on the ferry and all was good.

Made it back just after midnight and it meant we were back in the UK in time to meet friends on the fringes of Notting Hill Carnival yesterday, as planned

 

[Londonscottish]

sound remarkably upbeat for having endured that!

To be honest I LOVE road trips. I've done Scotland to the Med and London to the Med many times and have only missed out the last few years due to having young kids.

Those days are behind me now - we're booking up to do the same next year.

 

[st4]

Good man, cannae beat a road trip

 

[A210AMG]

Hello

Sounds a little like our trip, recently back from Annecy in france and drove all the way incuding a ferry in one day. Left at 9.30am Sunday and arrived home at 2am Monday. 850 miles....


Sound like you had a good trip. out of interest what did you get mpg wise?


I took my wifes new B class as wanted to try it, it was brilliant. Even crusing at 100 we were getting over 40mpg overall it did around 47mpg. My ML varries between low teens and 28mpg.


Lots more police this year on the toll roads though.

 

[Classic_car]

Also done a road trip this year in our w126, the miles just flew by in total comfort.

E500 is definately on my list of cars I want to own in future, absolutely stunning car.

 

[Mr E]

We came back last week - about the same mileage overall with 880 miles each way from Spain to home vis Calais.

Having done the trip mid-week this time, I can recommend doing that as the motorways are so much quieter than at the weekend. Must say that the Liber-T telepeage tag was brill - whizzing past queues of french cars all looking at you with smug expressions as they think you're charging up the wrong lane!

Return trip was about 20 hours overall - 1.5 hours on the ferry, 1.5 hours waiting at Calais, plenty of stops, plus a cruise at about 70 rather than my usual charge. I mis-timed the approach to Paris and got caught in mega-traffic, which was the only blip on the whole journey.

Roll on next year!

 

[Londonscottish]

Hello

Sounds a little like our trip, recently back from Annecy in france and drove all the way incuding a ferry in one day. Left at 9.30am Sunday and arrived home at 2am Monday. 850 miles....

Impressive....

Sound like you had a good trip. out of interest what did you get mpg wise?

I think I was getting Low 20's when really hammering on (roof box costs c 5mpg). Without that I'd gave been getting 25mpg-ish

I took my wifes new B class as wanted to try it, it was brilliant. Even crusing at 100 we were getting over 40mpg overall it did around 47mpg. My ML varries between low teens and 28mpg.

That's good

Lots more police this year on the toll roads though.

I didn't see one......just as well......

 

[Londonscottish]

We came back last week - about the same mileage overall with 880 miles each way from Spain to home vis Calais.

Having done the trip mid-week this time, I can recommend doing that as the motorways are so much quieter than at the weekend. Must say that the Liber-T telepeage tag was brill - whizzing past queues of french cars all looking at you with smug expressions as they think you're charging up the wrong lane!

Return trip was about 20 hours overall - 1.5 hours on the ferry, 1.5 hours waiting at Calais, plenty of stops, plus a cruise at about 70 rather than my usual charge. I mis-timed the approach to Paris and got caught in mega-traffic, which was the only blip on the whole journey.

Roll on next year!

Yeah, roll on next year!

I missed most traffic except for a bit of congestion round late-ish on Friday afternoon round one of the city peripheriques - can't recall which one. We sat out Saturday in La Vendee which turned out to be a good thing as the roads were bad that day. Continued the journey on Sunday and things were quiet again.

I'll get a liber-T next year

 

[Mr E]

I'll get a liber-T next year

I'd get one now - if ANPR are like any of the other companies they'll stop doing it from credit cards and you'll need a french bank account.

 

[tylerdurden]

out of interest, do you drive and just stop by at random motels etc? Not sure if you can do that in Europe but certainly easy to do in USA.

Or do you book your hotels well in advance.

Been tempted to do a road trip in EU but always been put off by the accommodation issue

 

[Londonscottish]

out of interest, do you drive and just stop by at random motels etc? Not sure if you can do that in Europe but certainly easy to do in USA.

Or do you book your hotels well in advance.

Been tempted to do a road trip in EU but always been put off by the accommodation issue

All booked up in advance in our case - three stops with various friends and one at a small hotel.

Just use Google.

 

[Mr E]

out of interest, do you drive and just stop by at random motels etc? Not sure if you can do that in Europe but certainly easy to do in USA.

Or do you book your hotels well in advance.

Been tempted to do a road trip in EU but always been put off by the accommodation issue

Depends when / where you're going. During the peak season of mid-July to end-Aug I'd be tempted to book, at least for the first couple of nights and then you can book ahead while on the road. If you're turning up without a booking, in France you're best not to leave it too late in the day.

Outside of the peak season I've found that you can be pretty flexible but still tend to book the first and last nights.