Hi all, just wanted to share some thoughts and reflections after a road trip from London to Malaga, Spain. For context, I got my 2022 reg pre LCI M340i XDrive (1 Prev owner) in October 25 and immediately began planning an EU road trip over the easter break this year.
I did not give my wife all the details as she tends to stress too much with big numbers so it was on a need to know basis in terms of planning. What I shared was the destination and over all dates so she was aware of what to expect. We have a dog and had to plan stops accordingly to make sure we were all sufficiently looked after through out.
Our trip was planned with the following stops in mind, first image for context:
London > St Malo > Bordeaux > San Esteban > Malaga > Bilbao > Normandy > London
Start Trip Meter: 28150 Miles
End Trip Meter: 31925 Miles
Fuel Consumption during this period: 40.7 mpg
Total spend on fuel: ~Eur 700
My driving style:
- I tend to drive with a light foot and avoid braking harshly for e.g., if I know cars ahead are slowing down I take my foot off the gas early rather than brake at the last minute - in essence, relaxed driver (for confirmation look at fuel consumption!)
- I like to pull from slower speeds often to feel the power of the vehicle, I enjoy surprising cars behind me (except the odd porsche or performance car that comes to play on the faster lane)
- I do keep an eye on the fuel consumption as you can see lol but I was not obsessesed with it, my average speed over the total trip was 57mph and would average 85mph on the highways
Observations on the Car
- Mile munching: Can safely say the car can go on forever, the longest single day trip we did was 1100km from Bilbao to Normandy, 10.5 hours of driving. I'd sit with the speedo at 140 kmhr (speed limit 130kmhr in France and 120 in Spain) for hours with no stress on the engine.
- Driver fatigue: Limiting factor was my ability to focus for longer periods, seats were pretty comfortable even after 11 hours and this is from someone with chronic back pain.
- Driving conditions: Performed flawless through out the journey, no matter the condition, I never once felt like the car was overwhelmed by the conditions, rain, fog etc
- Power: This is the most powerful car I've driven in my life so it would not be a surprise for me to say that I never felt like I needed more at any point in time. Spain has several inclines and mountain passes (especially in the north) and I was often the fastest car overtaking slower moving traffic
- Handling: Not much to complain besides the stiff ride at slower speeds (even on comfort mode) and my dog complaining every single chance he could. Although at times higher speeds I felt the front end understeer at speed, could be the PZeros RFT I'm running?
Observations on Driving Conditions
- French roads >> Spanish Roads
- 95% of drivers were extremely well behaved, staying on the slower lane if not passing. Coming from UK, this was an eye opener given how much lane hogging is normalised here. I think having more than 2 lanes lets people be lax about it? 2 lanes forces better behaviour.
- I found people often at 10% above speed limit, which was interesting after all the stuff I've read online about french speed cams catching people out. I do expect (and have budgeted) for a few tickets in the post, lets see how we go.
If you've come so far, thanks for taking the time to read, I wanted to share my experience for those looking to do something similar. Some photos for your viewing pleasure
My trip summary, I missed logging a few drives in the app so the view is not complete
Interesting looking castle in St Lunaire, France
Foggy section from Santander to Malaga
Customary Gambas Al Ajillo photo in Spain
