Inverness to Hertfordshire for £30 (almost) …

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Bengeo
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Post by Bengeo »

With our ID3 Tour order expected to arrive sometime next year, I was very surprised to see a new one suddenly become available. The only “problem” was that it was in Inverness! We decided to go for it and make a holiday of the trip.

We looked around for accommodation using Air BnB and they have a handy filter for places with EV chargers. So we booked a place near Inverness for 4 days so that we could explore round there and be near the garage if anything went wrong with the car.

We took the Night Sleeper train from London to Inverness. It went very well and it was great to wake up and watch all the spectacular Highlands scenery roll by. We arrived in Inverness and made our way to Hawco VW dealer soon after 9am to meet Liam Brown. Liam had been very professional and helpful with the whole process, so it was good to meet him in person. If you are in that area I can really recommend Hawco. There was no hard sell for other items and the car was prepared perfectly.

I had rented an ID3 from Onto for a month last Christmas, and followed the discussions on here, so I knew what to expect from the car.
Liam had charged it to 100% as I had asked and we set off to explore Cromarty and then Chanonry Point to see the dolphins on the incoming tide.

Image

The charger at the accommodation worked well and I used it 3 times to top up for the miles we did around the Cairngorms. They were on an expensive commercial tariff and we worked out that £30 was a fair price.

Image
Lochindorb, Cairngorms

The next move was to Fort William with the idea of getting a photo of the car with Nessie in the background on the way, but that didn’t work out. We spent 5 days there exploring the area and charging at our host’s house next door. They didn’t want us to pay for the electric but we worked out that £20 was fair and left that. The great feature of the cottage was that the railway line to Mallaig ran along the bottom of the garden and the Jacobite steam train passed 4 times a day!

Image

Image
Glen Coe in the mist

The next leg involved a long drive to Alnwick in Northumberland. We stopped off at the amazing Stirling Low Carbon Hub. The 3 new rapid chargers were taken, but an older one was available outside of the canopy. So we topped up there and it was free! Thank you Chargeplace Scotland.

Image

Image

Another stop in Falkirk took in the Kelpies and the amazing Falkirk Wheel canal boat lift.

Image

Image

We stayed just one night in Alnwick and got a charge from our hosts. Again, they didn’t want us to pay, but we left £10 to cover it. I had planned to stop at Alnwick Ionity to use up some of my Bonnet balance, but the overnight charge saved us time.
Next stop was RSPB Bempton Cliffs, near Bridlington. The car park was very busy because a rare bird, a Red Tailed Shrike, had turned up, but we managed to park next to another ID3!

Image

Image
Red Tailed Shrike

The other big attraction was a visiting Albatross who should have been in the southern hemisphere! We managed to catch up with the Shrike and also saw Albert, who was waiting for his mate Diana to turn up.

Image

Our accommodation here was a more commercial setup with several cottages converted from old farm buildings. They insisted that their charger was part of the deal and they didn’t want any payment. It was a proper tethered charger but only 10 amps. We were there for two nights and got enough charge to get us the 200 miles back to Hertfordshire without needing another charge en route.

Image

The whole trip was just over 1000 miles. The car performed perfectly and we only used one public charger, and that was free. It cost us just £60 for charging, but half of that was voluntary!

So, thank you Liam, Hawco and VW, it was a good, unplanned holiday.
Last edited by Bengeo on Thu Jul 21, 2022 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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AlistairL
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Post by AlistairL »

Awesome :) I used a hire service to try an ID.3 for a week and it was that experience that clinched it.
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MattBCL
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Post by MattBCL »

I enjoyed reading that :), thanks.. Looking forward to getting my Tour hopefully soon. How was the seat comfort on those long stretches? I’m going from a big comfy Volvo v90 to the ID3 and that’s my biggest concern.
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Bengeo
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Post by Bengeo »

MattBCL wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:26 pm I enjoyed reading that :), thanks.. Looking forward to getting my Tour hopefully soon. How was the seat comfort on those long stretches? I’m going from a big comfy Volvo v90 to the ID3 and that’s my biggest concern.

Thanks. We found the seats very comfortable. The biggest problem was getting used to the electric switches because there are so many adjustments you can make! I hope you get your Tour soon.
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OB1CCFC
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Post by OB1CCFC »

Yes a good read that, thanks.
Early in my ownership I did an ID3 drive from Yorkshire to Skye via Fort William. A few minor issues then with charger availability but still a great drive.
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Raxacorico
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Post by Raxacorico »

Bengeo wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:15 pm With our ID3 Tour order expected to arrive sometime next year, I was very surprised to see a new one suddenly become available. The only “problem” was that it was in Inverness! We decided to go for it and make a holiday of the trip.

We looked around for accommodation using Air BnB and they have a handy filter for places with EV chargers. So we booked a place near Inverness for 4 days so that we could explore round there and be near the garage if anything went wrong with the car.

We took the Night Sleeper train from London to Inverness. It went very well and it was great to wake up and watch all the spectacular Highlands scenery roll by. We arrived in Inverness and made our way to Hawco VW dealer soon after 9am to meet Liam Brown. Liam had been very professional and helpful with the whole process, so it was good to meet him in person. If you are in that area I can really recommend Hawco. There was no hard sell for other items and the car was prepared perfectly.

I had rented an ID3 from Onto for a month last Christmas, and followed the discussions on here, so I knew what to expect from the car.
Liam had charged it to 100% as I had asked and we set off to explore Cromarty and then Chanonry Point to see the dolphins on the incoming tide.

Image

The charger at the accommodation worked well and I used it 3 times to top up for the miles we did around the Cairngorms. They were on an expensive commercial tariff and we worked out that £30 was a fair price.

Image
Lochindorb, Cairngorms

The next move was to Fort William with the idea of getting a photo of the car with Nessie in the background on the way, but that didn’t work out. We spent 5 days there exploring the area and charging at our host’s house next door. They didn’t want us to pay for the electric but we worked out that £20 was fair and left that. The great feature of the cottage was that the railway line to Mallaig ran along the bottom of the garden and the Jacobite steam train passed 4 times a day!

Image

Image
Glen Coe in the mist

The next leg involved a long drive to Alnwick in Northumberland. We stopped off at the amazing Stirling Low Carbon Hub. The 3 new rapid chargers were taken, but an older one was available outside of the canopy. So we topped up there and it was free! Thank you Chargeplace Scotland.

Image

Image

Another stop in Falkirk took in the Kelpies and the amazing Falkirk Wheel canal boat lift.

Image

Image

We stayed just one night in Alnwick and got a charge from our hosts. Again, they didn’t want us to play, but we left £10 to cover it. I had planned to stop at Alnwick Ionity to use up some of my Bonnet balance, but the overnight charge saved us time.
Next stop was RSPB Bempton Cliffs, near Bridlington. The car park was very busy because a rare bird, a Red Tailed Shrike, had turned up, but we managed to park next to another ID3!

Image

Image
Red Tailed Shrike

The other big attraction was a visiting Albatross who should have been in the southern hemisphere! We managed to catch up with the Shrike and also saw Albert, who was waiting for his mate Diana to turn up.

Image

Our accommodation here was a more commercial setup with several cottages converted from old farm buildings. They insisted that their charger was part of the deal and they didn’t want any payment. It was a proper tethered charger but only 10 amps. We were there for two nights and got enough charge to get us the 200 miles back to Hertfordshire without needing another charge en route.

Image

The whole trip was just over 1000 miles. The car performed perfectly and we only used one public charger, and that was free. It cost us just £60 for charging, but half of that was voluntary!

So, thank you Liam, Hawco and VW, it was a good, unplanned holiday.
Excellent trip! We got our ID3 from Hawco too - I can reccommend them; although we dealt with a different sales person.
We had a trip planned for the aera (particularly wanted to see the dolphins at Chanonry Point) but had to cancel due to covid.
Extra bonus at Bempton Cliffs, a long staying Albatross, AND a Red-tailed Shike - very well done - I'm quite jealous ...
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Raxacorico
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Post by Raxacorico »

Just realised HOW rare that shrike is! Also known as Turkestan Shrike [Lanius phoenicuroides]
Also meant to say that I've used the Stirling site too - that free one was always occupied - no wonder!
Life Pro Performance, Makena Turquoise - Loen Alloys - June 2021- Zappi Charger - Software v3.2 [dealership]
vanb
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Post by vanb »

What a fantastic and lovely read for first thing on a Monday morning. Loved the photos too. Makes me want to get in my ID.3 and go on a journey-especially in this beautiful weather. Thanks for sharing. 😀
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Fergus
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Post by Fergus »

A great read and photos - thanks
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Indyfras
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Post by Indyfras »

What a great read and photos. It sounds like you had a great time.
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Bengeo
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Post by Bengeo »

Thanks for all the comments and it was a very enjoyable trip. Looking forward to getting v2.4 and v3 now .....
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darknite1
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Post by darknite1 »

Looks like a lovely trip all based around a lovely motor which is all very cool when put together. I have a question though, how much tread is left after 1k miles? I have been scanning the forums and seen some horror stories of people getting 6k miles to a pair of rear tyres and then some saying 16 - 18k etc. I am hoping more EV targeted tyres come to the market soon to handle the extra weight. I am due to pick up my id3 next weekend or the weekend after.
OB1CCFC
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Post by OB1CCFC »

darknite1 wrote: Fri Jul 15, 2022 7:33 am Looks like a lovely trip all based around a lovely motor which is all very cool when put together. I have a question though, how much tread is left after 1k miles? I have been scanning the forums and seen some horror stories of people getting 6k miles to a pair of rear tyres and then some saying 16 - 18k etc. I am hoping more EV targeted tyres come to the market soon to handle the extra weight. I am due to pick up my id3 next weekend or the weekend after.
My 19 inch Contis have done 17000 miles and I think the rears easily have another 3 or 4000 miles in them.
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Bromsgroveuser
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Post by Bromsgroveuser »

darknite1 wrote: Fri Jul 15, 2022 7:33 am Looks like a lovely trip all based around a lovely motor which is all very cool when put together. I have a question though, how much tread is left after 1k miles? I have been scanning the forums and seen some horror stories of people getting 6k miles to a pair of rear tyres and then some saying 16 - 18k etc. I am hoping more EV targeted tyres come to the market soon to handle the extra weight. I am due to pick up my id3 next weekend or the weekend after.
Just sold my car at 8000 miles, the Goodyears had 5.4 to 5.7 tread left on the rears and 5.9 to 6 left on the fronts so in my case tyre wear wasn't a problem
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darknite1
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Post by darknite1 »

Sounds promising. Cheers people for the replies.
MotMot
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Post by MotMot »

The Bridgestones on the 18” rims have a bad reputation (seems deserved) for rapid wear and start life with just under 6mm of tread from new... Any other brands fitted seem to fare much better.
Bengeo
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Post by Bengeo »

darknite1 wrote: Fri Jul 15, 2022 7:33 am I have a question though, how much tread is left after 1k miles?
Recent Tours seem to come with Continentals. These are fine and still look new. Good luck with your new ID3 too.
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Bromsgroveuser
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Post by Bromsgroveuser »

Bengeo wrote: Fri Jul 15, 2022 6:38 pm
darknite1 wrote: Fri Jul 15, 2022 7:33 am I have a question though, how much tread is left after 1k miles?
Recent Tours seem to come with Continentals. These are fine and still look new. Good luck with your new ID3 too.
Depends how heavy your right foot is , it's a piece of string question
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