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[tunnie]

So I'm back from the Austrian Alps, stayed at a mates flat in St Anton for the week. Driving down one weekend, having a weeks boarding, then driving back. So blasted my 13 year old 159k 2.2 down & back with a mate. 
Started off from a very cold Dover on Saturday 19th..



With reports of "chaos" everywhere, Heathrow having heavy delays and such, I left earlier than planned. Got to Dover way ahead of time, what was all the fuss about?

The plan was to stop about half way down in Luxembourg & explore a bit in the afternoon, as never been there before.

Roads were empty in France & Belgium, while news back home was battern down hatches, snow is going to stop everything  - Snow was just has bad, but all main roads were clear.

At times it was ages before even seeing another car...



I had the car washed before I left, wanted to give my trusty steed a treat, don't know why I bothered really, few hours into trip it was worse than before 



Luxembourg was nice, very good prices for food and beer. Brakes felt numb driving around, but I had been -6 all day at fairly high speeds, once I got some heat into them, they started to bite better.






After waking up and going down to the car, I was expecting to defrost it for a few mins, but I was not expecting this...





Sprayed de-icer on it, attempted to scrape, nothing, spray about half the bottle on one window, scrape, still nothing. Solid thick ice, like a glaze all over the car. Took best part of an hour to get it off, most of the time spend just getting the cabin heat hot enough to heat up the glass from within. 

This would amuse OmegaMan2.2 as our resident Apple fan boy, I was using my old 3G-S for tunes on the way down, sadly I don't think Californian developers see much ice   
 



Pushed on to fuel up, as Luxembourg had LPG a lot cheaper than Germany. Even after about 90 mins, ice was still all over the car....





LPG was just 60 cents a litre, also got a nice little bag of sweets free after filling up, not sure if thats standard or because I used gas? Also used the adaptor for first time, as they use a screw thread for LPG, must say, I actually prefer it it. Maybe as my filler is so low, sometimes lugs miss-align, if I don't rotate it to right position first, but with screw fitting no probs.

Progress was somewhat slow in Luxembourg though, as it was a Sunday perhaps they don't bother sending out ploughs? Roads were empty but thick slush all over motorway, exits much deeper, but winter tyres gripped very, very well.



After about 2 to 3 hours or so I stopped, as washer jets froze up. Some tit did not put a strong enough anti-freeze mix in 

The main feed pipe iced up as did the pump, managed to disconnect it all, take to service station bogs and heat it all up under hot tap. Love this about the Omega, would have been up sh!t creak in a modern car with everything impossible to reach.

One thing I found, 5L of -20 screenwash mix in Luxembourg, 8.99EUR, Germany? 26.99EUR 

Wish I stocked up first, had I known the price difference. Luckily only needed 1L in Germany...

Ice still coated the car, headlights only the spot bulb bit actually melted anything. You could "peel" bits of the ice off:





Although at least all the slush kept the alloys clean! 

[tunnie]

But, it made it! 800 miles odd, all through Europe it was snow everywhere. Never saw a green field. Why do we always have problems dealing with it?



Had great weeks snowboarding with old work mate:



Going up one chair lift, we saw the medical chopper fly within 25/50 feet of the lift, mega, mega close. It then landed at the lift exit, in a cloud of snow, i expected them to stop it, but no, off we got right next to it. After a while it took off again, I think to pickup supplies or someone, but it came back and landed further up the piste, impressive flying though, lands so quick, everyone has to just get out of the way!






Returning, I was quite nervous about starting old girl up, gets mighty cold at 2,100 metres during the night. On Saturday I got in to start up, everything felt numb. By habbit i always depress the cluch and waggle the gearstick. Clutch felt very odd, gearstick too, but it was feking cold.....



But it started, turned over very, slowly, worried for a split second it was going to stop, but fired straight into life. Although I left it on petrol until hot, as when cold it’s a tad lumpy on gas with UK cold ness. Felt -18 it should have petrol for little while longer!

As TheBoy has often pointed out, the facelifts do sufffer from some draft from the door handle area, it did result in some mild internal frost 

But the washers still worked, glad I put in pure -20 stuff!



Going back I had only one problem, from -18 had heaters on full, it steamed up inside, joining motorways was a bit of a pain, could nothing see so popped rear window down to see traffic, did so, joined. Went to put up window, press button, nothing! Press again, nothing. Frack!

Pulled over, damn thing was jammed solid. I could however hear the motor clicking. Thankfully I was just about to enter a huge tunnel, 14km's long, last time it was about +21 in there. I hoped warm air would fix it, drove in, went from -18 to around +9, asked mate to pull up window as we drove along as I tried the window button. Thankfully it started to go up, few attempts but it finally closed. Such a relief with about 800 miles to go! 

But to some up, my trusty steed of a 2.2 did it, with that minor issue. Apart from some idiot not putting correct mix in screen wash, it never missed a beat, just blasted on and on at 80+ fully loaded.

Not bad for 13 year old car with now 161.5k on the clock! 

[JamesV6CDX]

Looks like a right hoot, well done

[b4ndit]

looks like you had a good time nice photo's as well

[albitz]

Youve certainly had your moneys worth and then some out of that car Tunnie.Just goes to prove,even with the 4 pots - well maintained, they wil go on and on and on....
Plenty of 5 year old cars with a quarter of the miles on the clock would have found some excuse to break down.Especially in those temperatures.

[Del Boy]

Looks like a good trip, bloody cold mind  .

[tunnie]

Youve certainly had your moneys worth and then some out of that car Tunnie.Just goes to prove,even with the 4 pots - well maintained, they wil go on and on and on....
Plenty of 5 year old cars with a quarter of the miles on the clock would have found some excuse to break down.Especially in those temperatures.

Yes I'm quite proud of my trusty steed, constant blasting through Germany at -6 nearly all the way. -18 starting temp, freezing rain. Not once did it miss-fire, not start or give any running issues. Window issue I can't really blame it, think sensor for fingers in window might have been bit seized.

Saw couple of breakdowns on route, much newer examples than my Omega.

So comfy too, no back ache, just sat back and enjoyed views!

[albitz]

But not quite as comfy as a senator.

[tunnie]

But not quite as comfy as a senator.

Much as I loved the Senny, the Omega does tend to ride bit better. But its not really a fair comparison as Senator was much older

[albitz]

I found the opposite tbh.Long journeys in the Sennie were noticably less tiring at the other end than the Omega.Maybe Im a strnge shape.

[BridgeyBoy]

I dont think you can beat a good road trip. A few years ago I took VR from work and me and the Mrs spent a few months driving around europe. More recently me and a few mates drove a battered m-reg toyota lucida from St Helens to Rome... Brilliant adventure!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

That's good travelling Tunnie!  Nice one

Love the pictures as well

[feeutfo]

My door has a draft too, it wasn't there prior to disturbing the door membrane.


Good job though Tunnie. Welcome back to England and much MUCH warmer climes. It was a barmy +8c earlier.

[tunnie]

Thanks all 

My door has a draft too, it wasn't there prior to disturbing the door membrane.


Good job though Tunnie. Welcome back to England and much MUCH warmer climes. It was a barmy +8c earlier.

tell me about it, bloody boiling here. Walked to shop in T-shirt earlier, everyone else wrapped up like they are off to the North Pole. Got some odd looks! 

[Auto Addict]

Well done