At the weekend it was time for Alison to meet ‘her’ car, so off I went on Sunday down to Street in Somerset to pick her up from a few days staying with family.
The original plan was to meet in Taunton, especially as Waze was showing road closures on the A303 around Stonehenge, but what actually happened was that they were governing closures, scheduled to finish at 9.00am on the Sunday and I didn’t leave until after then.
By the time I’d reached the usual turn-off towards Street, ETA to Taunton was showing as 11.15am and they hadn’t left Street yet, so I re-routed and was at Street by 11.05am, which meant I could unload the car (mainly gym mats and some left-behind grandkids’ toys).
We then drove to Taunton with me explaining all the killer features Alison would need to know, like how to quickly turn off the nanny nags and why she should always have it in ST Mode – like we do the Sport mode on the Abarth 124 Spider – and get her connected to the car for BT, CarPlay and the FordPass app.
Coming back to Street, Alison took over the driving: she’s not really driven that much since moving in with me 10 years ago, so familiarising herself with a new car – where the clutch bites, how much to accelerate and what the steering’s like – was what that was all about.
Her verdict? Very nice to drive.
That’s just as well given all the money we’ve spanked on a car ostensibly for her to take to the West Country for family time.
And then home, via a very circuitous route and re-route chosen by Ford’s navigation system to avoid some of the issues with the touristy route back. We still sat in a lot of queues as usual around Stonehenge, so much slower coming back. The M3 as we joined it wasn’t much better either.
The plan had been for Alison to drive back, but happily I was told to do the honours instead. Alison couldn’t get over how much leg room she has with the ability to then recline the seat, unlike my lovely 124.
Overall? Fairly economical. Fast. Quick. Comfortable. Well-equipped. We even had a cool bag plugged into the 12V socket in the boot for perishables for dinner and a bunch of new plants in a tray and in the rear passenger footwell, including rose bushes and honeysuckle. Plus a carry-on suitcase. A proper family car!
Overall mileage when we got back was up to 362 miles with a busy weekend next weekend to look forward to as well.
