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1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:36 am
by Grizzleph
Just back from my road trip in the xm.
First long journey I've done in it and it was an absolute dream.
Absolutely flawless drive and 42mpg over the 1000 miles.

Ive had a lot of top end cars in my time, jags, mercs etc and my 25 yr old xm might be the comfiest long miler ive ever had!

https://ibb.co/njJTZ1T
https://ibb.co/PxfrDZC

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 12:04 pm
by White Exec
One of the best kept secrets around. ;)
An estate in white is not something seen very often, even by XM standards.

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:42 pm
by DownUnderXM
Thanks for the photos - would love to do a trip like that one day! Been as far as Fort William & Loch Ness in 1992 (in a VW Kombi campervan).

Don't suppose you'd have a map showing where you went that you could post a picture of?

The people that prepared your car for the charity bash must have really known their stuff if it has survived the bash, then carried you around Scotland with apparently little or no repairs/maintenance needed!

Cheers

Alec

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:52 pm
by White Exec
It's what they do, Alec. Our 2.5 (24 y.o. now) has many times crossed Europe, sometimes with a caravan in tow.
Countless trips from Surrey to and around Scotland, and also around France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Corsica, Portugal.

Decently maintained - all the usual stuff - they are an extraordinarily reliable car, and will gobble up huge daily distances at speed, without fatigue - as you have found out. The seating, ventilation, handling, and quietness I find the best of any car I've owned or driven, and a replacement for it would be something of a challenge. I'm rather hoping it will last my driving days out.

Scotland is somewhere a bit special for us too, and in 2017 I did the NC500 with a friend from FCF, meeting up and starting/finishing in Fort William.
4747 miles from home in total, and 42mpg, marred only by a couple of front tyres that got replaced ok in Inverness, but which no-one (and I mean no-one) managed to balance until getting back home here. (What did I say about "all the usual stuff" :? )
Some pix here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8646&p=105300=NC500#p105300

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 4:05 pm
by Julianw
Well jel, as the young un's say. 'Done' Scotland with a good tour some years back in a VW LT, but took the easy route from Skye to John O'Groats while friends took the coast road in a T25. Keen to go back for more. And I'd very much like to do it in an XM...

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:58 am
by Dieselman
Grizzleph wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:36 am

Ive had a lot of top end cars in my time, jags, mercs etc and my 25 yr old xm might be the comfiest long miler ive ever had!
We're supposed to be surprised, aren't we...

How are the brakes?

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:44 am
by Grizzleph
Brakes were fine, I think i just needed to get used to them.

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:24 am
by Peter.N.
We do something like that trip every year - except this year :( at least 10 years of that was in a 2.1 manual estate, we used to average 50+ mpg but I do drive like a grandad. we often did nearer 2000 miles. For the first 17 years we stayed near Wick, and for the last 20 years near Lairg but we always have a good tour round and visit friends up there. We know Caithness and Sutherland better than we do Dorset - and we've lived here for 50 years.

When we first went in the '70's it was 750 miles from here to Wick but with the new A9 (fairly) and many new bridges it's now just over 100.

We love it up there.

Peter

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:28 pm
by DownUnderXM
The fact that your brake pedal is firm, without much travel, suggests that someone who knew their way around an Xm must have owned it. From the factory your car would have had a spring between pedal and brake valve, which was put there to make the brakes feel 'normal' ie progressive.

Someone has replaced the spring with a piece of tube or rod, thus giving the brake pedal the same feel as in a DS or CX.

Re: 1000 mile scotland road trip

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:49 pm
by Dieselman
DownUnderXM wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:28 pm
Someone has replaced the spring with a piece of tube or rod, thus giving the brake pedal the same feel as in a DS or CX.
I doubt that.

Anyone driving an Xm for the first time finds the brake actuation rather unusual, as the pedal doesn't move far and feels firmer.
There is also no noticeable change between engine off and engine running, unlike a servo assisted braking system used on pretty-well all cars.

The o/p just needed a bit of time to acclimatise.