Stutopia

So, after some awesome route tips from the good people of the forum (big thanks to those who chipped in) I took my Zed for a final test drive before the warranty expires. 1,261 miles in 3 days, mainly on B & A roads, just me, the Zed and the Best of Girls Aloud ;-). 28 hours and 48 minutes of driving and a wad of petrol receipts I daren't add up. The good news is the Zed did not miss a beat and returned an astonishing 30mpg thanks to some careful motorway driving to and from Glasgow, with plenty spirited in between via John O Groats. I also learnt a lot about how it feels and prefers a good road surface, and feels slightly scary on a bend with an uneven surface! Couple of shout outs: some girl, from some town I forget the name of, I got chatting to in Inverness (a good little city BTW); the nobhead in the Jaguar Mondeo who kept passing then slowing down on the way back from Glasgow, irritating my cruise control; also some rude boys in an Accord who thought I was a chicken slowing down in a rain storm, only to fly by and realise the Feds were two cars up from me. This was my route, It was all great, but particularly Fort William up to Thurso via Applecross, John O Groats was a bit pony. Glencoe, Trossachs and Loch Ness were simply stunning. The weather up there changes every 20 minutes so it kept me on my toes all the way. Must get new rubber on. There's some fairly gratuitous pic whoring coming up, sorry, I can't help myself.... Loch Lomond, first proper stop for the scenery but I hid it with a dead tree. Up the road from Loch Long. I was worried about finding super, so I took a support vehicle. She doesn't much like wet land, she hates wet sea. Mallaig to Skye ferry. I made sure she had her own emergency raft though. Pretty sure that Z is for Zed... Massive air intake. Kyle of Lochalsh, Skye bridge in the background (I love bridges) THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!! Applecross peninsula, great drive over, reminds me of growing up in the Lake District. No Zed here, but I loved this shot. On the way to Gairloch in a glen. In the North, somewhere between Durness and Tongue, probably. A bit arty, but I'm no bufty by the way. Zed refused to park near the Porsche, outside Tongue. Glencoe, even with rubs weather this place is incredible. Loch Katrine, talk about hard to get to! Really pleased with this one. If you want beading, Scotland is the place to go. And some fuel for the driver. When in Rome and all that... Scotland was awesome, I knew that already, but, the bits north of Fort William were new to me and I loved it. Will have to go back with a proper camera next time and some sunshine. If you've never been up there, go, take more time than me, drive more routes and eat their steak.

Footwell clutch spring grease cured this for me.

Ha, I made that mistake when I was a kid. On a trip in the Hebrides, beautiful hot sunny day, white sand beach, crystal water, barrelled in at full tilt, it was the coldest I've ever been!

That is some glen anywhere between Cuaig, on the Applecross Peninsula, and Gairloch. I've got about 200 photos to filter the chaff out of and check the geotags to figure out where I've been! Sadly the 3G wasn't always available so I'm trying to piece together some of these places using google maps and the postcodes in my satnav. I was hunting around anywhere for a place to stay that evening, burning up the miles, not paying attention to where I was. Glad you liked the panorama, got a couple more, wish I'd used it more often but I didn't see how well they came out on my little iPhone screen, until I got back this evening. I only took it cos I got out for a bio pit stop. Another one here, just after Durness. I'll bang the best of them up tomorrow when I've chucked 150 away!

Loving the jolly so far, been all over, sneak preview of snaps whilst I have 3G.

I learnt more about Zed torque today. Find a quiet Scottish road, leave it in fourth, never need to change gear. Haul ass. This my first proper run in the Zed. I've never shifted so few times to go so quick!

One day everyone's car will have a little fusion reactor in the boot. One little pellet of uranium, you're good for 1,000,000 miles! But you'll have to wear a lead cod piece to drive anywhere.

True, but the assumption there being they would only have one regular car, which isn't the case in the two owners I know. If you are a two "regular" car family, swapping one for an electric still adds up. If you throw green miles into it for the battery, the assumption is that all your normal car build plus consumables are all sourced in the UK - unlikely. You can get a new leaf on lease for similar money per month as a lease regular car. Hand it back after 2 years if you don't want the monster payment. Also, we all know when a technology becomes widely adopted, prices plummet.

Fuel costs are ludicrously low, couple of quid for 80 miles. Road tax is zero. A car with 4 independent motors on each corner would be pretty serious, even with today's tech. I'm not saying the current technology works for everyone, but I know two leaf drivers who have them as town runabouts and commuters, but have proper cars for journeys over 50 miles! If your second car in a family comes with zero tax and low fuel and low insurance, but can go shopping/work/school run, it can't be all bad. Given the way technology goes (look at 80s computers versus today's smartphones), in 20 years they could make something A bit spesh I think. I'm not selling my Zed tomorrow, but I was genuinely impressed and genuinely enjoyed my spin in a leaf. Not trying to hijack the thread, the high, flat torque from zero impressed me.

I drove a Nissan Leaf the other day, stunning torque levels for the size/type of car. No gears, no revving up, right foot down, electric motor just has max torque available at all times (up to about 40!). Blows most things from standing. If I had a second practical car for town, it would be a leaf. You can set the heater to want it up for you in the morning before you get in, this is important if your commute is 10 minutes long! Once they sort batteries, there will be some ludicrous performance electric cars.

I've always wanted one of the S audis, mostly the S8, probably since Ronin. I love the idea of a car that looks like an estate agent's runaround, but goes like stink. But I also like the old Volvo 850 T5 R for the same reason. I feel dirty saying it.

Whoop whoop, back to normal. Cheers Keyser! I kinda miss the DRS look now... ;-) ...and a boot that pops clear every time! Latch adjust next weekend.

All good so far. Few days round town, big motorway blast just now. Zero smoke. Can't say she feels any different so far...

Race prepped Beetle? Isn't that a Boxster? Only kidding Porsche fans!

New minis, new Beetles. Not driven them, this is more of personal a ideological gripe. They betray their cheap and fun everyman origins and the current trend for big multi-billion revenue companies (not just auto manufacturers) to have twee products and twee adverts really gets on my threpenny bits. Companies like this arere all, "Look at my cute little [insert product here] it's so twee and just like it was hand crafted by the hippy commune down the road, you're a proper urban hipster if you have one." like it's not knocked out by demographic analysis and projected profit margins like a proper business. "We're just making it as a big favour to you, aren't we nice?" This includes anything advertised with rock/folk soundtrack and usually stop motion puppets or some sort of snowpr!ck trying to do his Christmas shopping. I just want to take a fan heater to his stupid snowballs.

Cheers. At least it's simple and free. On a weird note. I've had no boot struts at all last few days, I'm sure it was that high.... Will flip 'em when the sun returns. Thanks for the speedy diagnosis, I owe you a pint of the green stuff.

Not fiddled with the lock. Had the boot struts done recently. Replaced the boot pop assists springs too. I also popped a little tiny bit of adhesive Kevlar on the assist spring ends to cushion it's landing (only about 1-2mm thick.) I'll be screwing if they're on upside down, as for the first time, I've got a nicely fierce boot pop when I press the release and it clears every time!

These have been bothering me for a while, so I thought I'd ask. I've not seen enough Zeds to know if my, somewhat cavernous, boot shut lines are "normal". I'd imagine they're doing wonders for my fuel economy, but more importantly, they're a little unsightly. They look equally large on both sides, so I don't think it's alignment. It's quite like the panel should be slightly more curved. Any thoughts?

Like it. Another finish to consider when mine go in for refurb! So many tough decisions. The light finish really works on that colour, picks the wheels out nicely. We're you shooting cans off the roof? I don't trust my aim that much.

Festival Director: That's an endangered species at most. What would be the scientific purpose of killing it? Steve Zissou: Revenge.

Got a photo.

Got home from work, parked up, picked up my bag from the passenger side, turned my back for a second and there's an almighty whack. Look round in fear... Look at the sheer quantity, I'm not even mad, I'm impressed. It had obviously eaten a 6 egg white omelette and a gallon of vanilla ice cream for lunch, then saved it until I got home. It must be personal now. Back in the car, off to the car wash.

Looks great mate. Really like your wheels, what are they?

Hold both buttons or 3 seconds or maybe 5 seconds? Sure I read it on the Zed Facts thread or similar.

you joke but i still use mine in my car through a tape converter I absolutely loved mine, probably the best gadget I've ever owned, I was gutted when it finally gave up after years of abuse. Nothing I've ever owned stood up to such usage like it did. 10 full albums in your pocket when people were carrying one or two CDs. If it wasn't for MP3 these would've been massive. Great sound too.