[Phil №❶]

Thanks for the pic Alan. I love reading about your car and holiday and now I can visualise you typing away and accessing the world through that little device, through all that mist too.

[Shambles]

At last Alan has figured out our rural 3-Tree connection!!   

 

[eye30]

Becoming a really good read - thanks


And just in case Lester missed it...

I am able to confirm that both the blue cars had colour coded reversing sensors Lester. 

Yes it is on my list when I call next at the dealers to ask why mine are black

[Dazzler]

Excellent.. We now have a "Branch" of the i30 Club in Scotland 

I thought you were going out on a limb spending so much time on the forum while on holidays Alan...

Mind you, we are enjoying your Holiday almost as much as you are 

[Doggie 1]

He wasn't going to have anything to with the forum whilst away but decided to turn over a new leaf and include us 

[eye30]

parked a blue 2012 i30 CRDI Style

Later that evening on the way home my wife pulled up behind a new blue i30

I am able to confirm that both the blue cars had colour coded reversing sensors Lester. 

Cheers for that so I can say a friend has seen 2 new shape blue i30's and both have colour coded rear sensors when I visit the dealers.

ps
they were 12 plated?

[AlanHo]

parked a blue 2012 i30 CRDI Style

Later that evening on the way home my wife pulled up behind a new blue i30

I am able to confirm that both the blue cars had colour coded reversing sensors Lester. 

Cheers for that so I can say a friend has seen 2 new shape blue i30's and both have colour coded rear sensors when I visit the dealers.

ps
they were 12 plated?

I only looked at the number plate of the i30  on the car park - like my car it was 12 plated.

[bumpkin]

Surely if they are the new model they can only be 12 plated ??

Were the first ones not from end of March in UK and 62 is not until September???

[AlanHo]

Surely if they are the new model they can only be 12 plated ??

Were the first ones not from end of March in UK and 62 is not until September???

My dealership has a 2012 i30 demo car which is 61 plated - so some must have been pre-registered by the dealers before the launch date.

[AlanHo]

Hi Alan, glad you are enjoying our fine country!!

As with the Series One i30, we canny Scots seem to have picked up on the extreme value for money these vehicles offer, Lester and Steve couldn't believe how many of those I reported seeing back in 2008 and Lester even suggested to Steve that they come up to Aberdeen pronto so they could report they had seen another.

Are you going to be anywhere near Aberdeen Alan??

I have only just seen your post.  I'm afraid we are travelling back home via the west coast so I will not be anywhere near Aberdeen. T'would have been nice to meet up though.

[bumpkin]

That's cool, next time perhaps.....

My dealer has only ever had 12 plated i30's, they must have had to wait for their consignment!

[AlanHo]

It was dull, cool and misty yeterday with spits of light rain so we spent the day in the city of Inverness - taking in the sights along the river, the architecture of the old buildings and of course the dreaded shops.

Inverness would not make it onto my list of the top 100 town and cities in the UK. I found it rather drab, uninviting and the city centre is badly in need of a serious upgrade. Even the people seemed to be dour and glum - shop assistants included. Perhaps the sudden return of cool weather after a few days of sunshine had affected them.

My wife bought a few gifts for the family and a set of 3 single malt whisky miniatures to sample. She enjoys the occasional whisky but I cannot drink it. Many years ago I got seriously plastered at a friends stag do where we drank Guinness and whisky chasers. I was ill for two days afterwards and truly wanted to die. Since then just the smell of whisky causes my body to revolt.

The car continues to behave impeccably. I have done 270 miles since I brimmed the tank and reset the trips to zero and the economy trip is reading 50.9 mpg and has not (yet) faltered.

Perhaps I need to take back what I said earlier about the inaccuracy of the distance to empty forecast and the computer not learning - it is currently reading 430 miles giving a projected range of 700 miles which is much more realistic.

One guilty pleasure was that when I saw my friend in Cromarty on Monday we went out together to get some wine from a store 11 miles away. My car was blocking his Audi A3 2.0 litre petrol on his drive so we used my car. After a few minutes as passenger he commented on how quiet my car was compared with his and how roomy it felt. He had no idea he was riding in a Hyundai....

[Doggie 1]

It's great to hear stories like that. 

[Dazzler]

It's great to hear stories like that. 

X 2

[Phil №❶]

@Alan,

Did he know it was a diesel 

[AlanHo]

@Alan,

Did he know it was a diesel 

I doubt it. He knew that for many years I have only ever bought Audi cars and he assumed that he was riding in a new 2012 Audi A3. He was rather taken aback when I enlightened him and was further gob-smacked to learn that my car was a Hyundai diesel. His car is due for replacement soon and the experience gave him food for thought.

To be fair to him he has little interest in cars - he has a car only because his wife refuses to ride pillion on any of his bikes. At present he has only 9 motor bikes ranging from a 1921 Levis 2 stroke and a 1950's Velocette water cooled bike right up to a Vincent, AJS 7R, a 1950's 500 cc shaft drive Wooler and some modern Jap bikes.  He is the same age as me and admitted that he is seriously thinking of selling off the bikes because he has macular degeneration and it is not safe to "ride" them sportingly.

***********************************************

I believe that I have found the problem with my Instant fuel economy trip resetting itself to zero – it possibly  does not reset itself – I may be doing it involuntarily.

When we were out today I saw the trip reset to zero and I happened to glance further down at the position of my hands on the steering wheel – they were not at their usual position of 10 to 2 – but were at 10 to 5. My right hand was low on the steering wheel and pressed against the “spoke” containing the trip buttons. The lowest button is the trip “Reset” which has to be held in for only one second for it to zero the trip. I am not certain that I did this – but I have reconstructed the possible  scene of the crime - it looks mighty suspicious.

I am aware that on a long drive I do vary the position of my hands on the steering wheel but am not aware that I press on the buttons. However – I have sat in the car and tried various positions and it has become glaringly obvious that it is easy to operate the rest button without knowing about it.




An hour later I had to turn sharp left at a Tee junction. As I completed the turn I noticed the trip reset to zero again. Yet again I reconstructed what my right hand might have been doing at the time – and again it looks suspiciously like I pressed the reset button.




I have no doubt that the reset button is easy to press and that it resets the trip to zero in about a second or so. I have also realised that I have a habit of moving my hands to the lower segment of the steering wheel for short periods. I most definitely move my hand close to the trip buttons when making a sharp turn. Hence I am almost certain that the trip problem is caused by the reset button being located where it is all too easy to operate it without knowing.

[asathorny]

Oh well thank heavens we've got to the bottom of that  <sheees>...

So, it's either an amputation at the wrist, or a new steering wheel Alan 

[Dazzler]

Oh well thank heavens we've got to the bottom of that  <sheees>...

So, it's either an amputation at the wrist, or a new steering wheel Alan 

That sounds like a bit of an over reaction to me Asa... maybe if Alan just had his thumb removed to start with 

[asathorny]

Oh well thank heavens we've got to the bottom of that  <sheees>...

So, it's either an amputation at the wrist, or a new steering wheel Alan 

That sounds like a bit of an over reaction to me Asa... maybe if Alan just had his thumb removed to start with 

Well quite possibly Dazz but I am a believer in decisive action, ya know, cure the problem at the off   

[SandRsSR]

This has been a great read for me. My wife and I are flying to the UK on 11 June, staying in London for 5 days then  just over 2 weeks in various parts of England. We then head up to Ayrshire where I was born but have not seen for 46 years (I was 5) and work our way up to Inverness. Then we have 5 days between Inverness and Edinburgh that we don't have accomodation booked, so if anyone can suggest the best places to fill in this time, given that we will have seen the west coast, we would appreciate advice. The end of our trip includes 3 nights in Edinburgh and 3 in Glasgow so we will get time to see around these areas. Our hire car is listed as a Focus Titanium or equivalent, so maybe we might get a base model i30.

[AlanHo]

I mentioned earlier that we had planned on taking a train trip from Beauly near Inverness to the Kyle of Lochalsh. I changed my mind and today we used the car to drive a 195 mile (313 km) circuitous trip to the Isle of Sky and back. On the way there we followed the famous scenic railway line and enjoyed most of the splendid scenery we would have seen from the train. The final 6 miles of the train route is reputed to be awesome - but the road misses this out.  However - we were already over-awed with the mountains and Lochs we had seen on the drive so we don't feel deprived.

We returned to our Lodge in Drumnadrochit by a southerly route which went through some huge mountains and skirted the banks of some beautiful Lochs before travelling north east along the bank of Loch Ness. Yet again, the monster failed to make an appearance.

My wife drove the car for about 50 miles on the winding and undulating roads through the mountains and was a little hesitant at first because she is not familiar with the extra 6th gear. However she gained confidence as the miles passed by and finished up driving with assurance and at cruising speeds not far short of mine.

I zeroed the fuel economy trip before we set out and was more than surprised to see it reading 63.1 mpg (4.47 L/100 km) when we returned "home" having regard to the hilly roads and about 30 miles of single track switchback roads included in the trip. I  feel that the car is loosening up and seems to be a little more lively - but only if you use the gearbox to maintain revs above 1750 rpm.

So far I have added 1052 miles (1690 km) to the odometer since we left home just over a week ago and the sat-nav tells me that barring any diversions from the shortest route, I will add a further 420 miles (680 km) by the time we get home.

Tomorrow we do the first of three legs on the journey home - to a hotel on Loch Lomond just 110 miles (178 km) away.  The car will be much heavier on the return trip - madam has been shopping and has also collected a rather large rock destined for our garden rockery which she salvaged from the banks of a river here.

Edit
I forgot to mention that I spotted another new i30 today when we were on the Isle of Skye. It was a silver one and was travelling in the opposite direction so I only got a quick look. The reg. began with 'E' which means it was registered in Chelmsford Essex UK.  It was clearly a long way from home.  This brings my total to 4 new models seen in Scotland. 

I have seen very few previous model i30's - possibly 10 maximum - and I have yet to see an i20, ix20 or i40 but I have seen lots and lots of i10's evenly split between red and silver ones.

[Dazzler]

As usual, very interesting Alan 

[kittikat]

Really enjoying your trip Alan.    Please travel often. 

[Shambles]

Really enjoying your trip Alan.    Please travel often. 

That could be taken the wrong way

[Dazzler]

Really enjoying your trip Alan.    Please travel often. 

That could be taken the wrong way

Yeah... Go fly a Kite ... But make sure you write a report about it 

[AlanHo]

The first leg of our journey home was to a hotel in a place called Ardlui on the bank of the northern end of Loch Lomond. It was a journey through some quite awesome scenery of only 112 miles (180 km) but it took us 7 hours due to all the stopping off for sightseeing and for my wife to fill her camera with photos.

It was interesting to see the flight of 4 huge locks being operated on the Caledonian canal in Fort Augusta (which is the southern end of Loch Ness) to allow passage for a large passenger cruiser and 4 smaller pleasure craft. I asked one of the boat crew who were in the final lock how long it had taken them to get through the first 3 locks and he told me they entered the first lock an hour and a half ago.

The next large town on the route was Fort William sitting at the base of Ben Nevis which is the highest mountain in the British Isles at 1344 metres to the summit. It is a major attraction for climbers and the town has hundreds of bed & Breakfast establishments which were virtually all displaying “No Vacancies” boards. It reminded us that it was the first Saturday of the main summer season and would normally be a bank holiday if it had not been pushed back by one week to make room for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.

On the edge of the town there is a large visitor centre – which is actually a huge Shop and café stuffed full with Scots clothing, gifts, whisky and all sorts of expensive touristy stuff with a Highland twist. We followed 2 huge coaches into the car park which were sign-written in Japanese. The sounds of a pipers lament drifted over the car park inviting you into the shop entrance where stood a piper in his magnificent regalia. We had been in the gift shop for a few minutes before it was invaded by hordes of Japanese tourists intent on buying-up Scotland and all its bric-a-brac. They resembled a swarm of locusts as they descended on the shelves stacked high with rip-off priced stuff I wouldn’t be seen dead with. It was truly amazing. When we escaped from the store the Jap tourists were queuing up to be photographed in small groups with the poor piper who was trying to keep playing his bagpipes whilst being jostled into position for each group.
 
The drive from Fort William to our destination took us through the famous Glen Coe – a winding road through a valley between huge mountains which climbs 1246 feet (380 metres). Possibly the highlight of our road trip so far. We were fortunate because the weather this past week has treated us kindly with many sunny days and today was no exception. It was late afternoon and the sun was at the perfect angle to illuminate both sides of the valley and mountains. The only downside is that there are few stopping places up the pass and they were all full of cars so we were not able to stop for photos at the best locations.

I have mentioned before that I have never seen so many motor bikes in my life as I have the last few days. There are thousands of them all being ridden fast but sensibly. A bunch of about 50 of them overtook us on the way into Fort William all wearing a bright pink Cherokee comb hair style on their helmets – some were wearing pink lace skirts outside their leathers. We caught up with them on the Fort William car park and got chatting to a couple. They told us that they were on a 3 day charity ride from John o’ Groats to Lands’ End – 900 miles (1500 kms) – in aid of the MacMillan nurses. (Terminally ill patient care).

There are also a surprising number of cyclists on the hilly main roads. We have seen many instances over the past few days where cyclists have been holding up traffic. Today we saw a couple of them climbing a steep hill coming towards us holding up a queue of cars which was unable to pass them. My wife counted the cars, lorries and motor coaches stuck in this walking pace queue and there were 103 – a total being added to after we passed other vehicles fast approaching the back of the queue. I realise that cyclists have nearly as much right to the roads as car drivers – but they are not popular for the very reason that some of them are so inconsiderate. This couple of idiots could so easily have pulled over every few minutes to let traffic through.   

The room in our hotel for the night had a splendid view across Loch Lomond to the surrounding hills with a small marina to our right full of pleasure craft. Fortunately, we were not able to see from our room a large caravan site to the left of the hotel spilling from the road down to the bank of the Loch – also owned by the hotel – that was an ugly blot on the landscape.

Yet again the car performed faultlessly and is a joy to drive. I brimmed the tank before we set off and the average fuel economy for the last tank calculates at 56.8 mpg (4.9 l/100 km) which I am happy with considering the sort of terrain we have travelled over the past 648 miles.

[Dazzler]

Another really interesting report Alan.. You do paint a lovely picture (hopefully we will get to see some when you arrive home) 

[asathorny]

As Dazz says, very nice report...  Already looking forward to the photo's   

[Phil №❶]

We feel like we're all there too Alan. 

[Doggie 1]

Yes, it's been quite a holiday and I feel very relaxed now