[BigBanana]

Whoopee! I’ve finally remembered my e90 password!

So.
I am thinking of doing a French road trip with the missus.
In the autumn for approx 5 days…

Basically :-
Giverney – Monet gardens.
Millau bridge

Along the coast to Monaco.
Then N85 Route Napoleon, - Nice to Grenoble.
Back to Calais.
A little over 2000miles.

Question is, do I go in my three and a bit year old, 325d which has 75k miles on it, or wait until next year, when I hope to swap it for a 330d ?

Any thoughts?

[dxb335d]

Your car will be fine, you will have a cracking time.

[toxicnerve]

Yeah, do it on this one. It's got 75,000 on the clock, another 2,000 won't hurt.

I am sure you will have a great time and the car will be fine. Just make sure you do all your pre-flight checks before you go and you'll be fine.

Go for it!!

[BigBanana]

OK.

I suppose if I do it this year and enjoy it, without the missus being a PITA - (she's just passed her driving instructors test) - I can do something similar again, next year.

Tally ho!

[creepy coupe]

Take something older, the French park like idiots and you'll be worried sick about car park dents.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by BigBanana

Whoopee! I’ve finally remembered my e90 password!

So.
I am thinking of doing a French road trip with the missus.
In the autumn for approx 5 days…

Basically :-
Giverney – Monet gardens.
Millau bridge

Along the coast to Monaco.
Then N85 Route Napoleon, - Nice to Grenoble.
Back to Calais.
A little over 2000miles.

Question is, do I go in my three and a bit year old, 325d which has 75k miles on it, or wait until next year, when I hope to swap it for a 330d ?

Any thoughts?

Yep - the Route Napoleon is much better heading South - down to Nice. Then its great to get down to Monaco / Saint Trop AFTER the N85 blast.

Can you reverse your trip??

[BigBanana]

I never thought about the direction making any difference.

Why is the route heading south to Nice better?

I have no specific reason for the direction originally planned....
I could go the other way.

[doughboy]

Just the way the countryside opens up heading south as you descend towards sea level and the more mountainous northern end makes way for the warm air of the southern regions, it feels like you've arrived in style! Especially if you've come down through the alps beforehand.

Finishing your N85 blast watching the millionaires, with an ice cold beer in cannes or saint tropez is hard to beat.

[BigBanana]

That sounds ideal.

Was hoping to stay in Monaco for one night and looking at somewhere like Hotel de Paris, Monte Carlo.
There is a deal to be had there at the moment. Bed and breakfast, sea facing room for 780 euro.

I'm still looking.....

[Lydiamight]

If you are going on a trip to France it's well worth looking here .
http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/service-...-vehicles.html
You can register for a French Autoroute automatic payment tag---enables you to swoop through the automatic toll booths whilst the rest of the tourists are fumbling for their Euros with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
You get charged Euro2 per month for the tag, but only for a month when you actually use it, rest of the time there is no charge. Toll charges are automatically collected via direct debit. Great system that works on all toll roads and crossings in France. The emails that you get back from them are obviously in French but it's easy to copy and paste them into Google translator if your French (like mine) is more than a bit rusty

[BigBanana]

That's well worth knowing about.

It should save a lot of hassle.

Thanks.

[225_AB]

ALIS is a french company that runs one stretch of auto route only but for tele peage doesnt charge a deposit or monthly fee and the gadget can be used on all auro routes. the onl drwabck is that if it doesnt work, you cant exchange it with one of the other operators.

[225_AB]

sorry here is the link

http://www.alis-sa.com/gb/alis/index.php