It has been four weeks and I think Buffy has done her fair share of whizzing up and down the motorway, daily commuting notwithstanding. In the first three weeks, I’ve driven her down to Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire on the M1 and M40, respectively. The turbocharged diesel engine meant overtaking was piss-easy. A less boring drive was her first trip to Manchester via the A57 Snake Pass. I’ve never driven a car with such superb road handling (I only have owned three cars thus far, as you already know). I’ve to say the main reason why the Snake Pass drive felt so good was because of her automatic transmission – no more dropping gears at tight bends before the highest part of the road! But the best was yet to come.
Last weekend, I drove Buffy to the Lake District and what a drive it was. As my dad was in no condition to do 10-mile rambles up the pikes and fells, I brought the car! We went in a three-car convoy as I don’t know the lay of the land. The width of the B and C roads were ridiculously narrow which meant being the last car in the convoy allowed me not to be on full alert for oncoming traffic. I also don’t know how these people could live in this neck of the woods. Yeah, because of the nice scenery and peaceful surroundings – but these (obviously rich) people drive wide Range Rovers and Cayennes!
After a short stop at Ambleside, we began our drive eastwards through Elterwater and the roads started to become ridiculously narrow and tortuous. We stopped at Little Langdale to soak in the view before continuing up an incline amongst the rocks and the occasional sheep to catch the best ever vista of the Langdale valley. The sight was the awesomest I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes. The drive down was more civilised, passing near Dungeon Ghyll and stopping for another fish and chip lunch (the day before’s at Bowness was way better) at the Wainwright Inn. The drive back to Troutbeck was kacang putih (especially after what I, I mean… Buffy had to endure) and as we wanted to reach Sheffield before the Spain v Holland kick-off, the final leg of the return trip on the A57 was a right doddle.
The engine of choice in this day and age, falling short of a hybrid or a full electric, is a diesel for obvious reasons – fuel and road tax. I have saved on road tax. Compared to my nombor dua, I have saved a princely amount of… wait for it… twenty-odd quid. As for fuel consumption, I still find myself refuelling the car once a week. Well, I did buy a car with a bigger engine, so not much savings in that department either. As for insurance, savings in this aspect is negative, again due to the larger sized engine. Oh wait, the car’s more expensive than nombor dua – that too.
I know. If I wanna see some form of savings, I should’ve gone and buy a Proton. Oh tidak.
