Steve Q

this topic is about my road trip to Belgium including the pre planning. Research is key when driving in Europe as rules and regulations change from country to country. Things you'll need before you go: 1. European breakdown cover - I have found there are too types of cover available. 1. Covers you for recovery like your normal cover. This cost approx £37 for my 5 day trip. 2. Cover that will cover the cost of your repair bills. This cover cost £54 for my 5 day trip. The prices are from the AA of which I am a member. Just be mindful that with the break down cover they only cover you up to the cost of the vehicle. So if you have an old Audi like me you could be at risk of having to fork out extra. 2. Inform your insurance company - I had to pay £17 extra to cover my car for the trip. Again there are 2 options available and are charable regardless of what uk cover you have. 1. 3rd party cover. 2. Fully comprehensive. 3. European kit - for driving in France it is compulsory to have a breatherlizer, warning triangle, GB sticker, a high vid jacket for every occupant, headlight converter stickers. 4. Check French toll roads - 76% of the roads are tolled in France and for which you will need a transponder which you have to pay for from the toll road company managing the roads your travelling on. You also set up an account with them. However the main road to Belgium the a16 is not tolled. 5. Check to see if the EU country you are visiting has any Low Emissions Zones. France requires you to have a sticker when traveling in Paris for example. Belgium hasn't brought any emissions rules into effect yet but will do as of 2018. 6. Don't forget to pay for the Dartford crossing. The crossing consists of a suspension bridge heading towards Dover and a tunnel coming away from Dover. If you have never used the crossing before you can pay before or up to 24 hours after you have made the crossing. Now the trip! Day one: leicester-Dover Calais-Brussels the run from Leicester to Dover was straightforward with no hiccups or traffic delays. But we did leave in plenty of time to avoid most of the bank holiday traffic. We arrived in plenty of time for our P&O ferry and it was a good job we did as it took over an hour to get through boarder control & check in. However I think this was down to Volume of bank holiday traffic. The port has a reasonable terminal with facilities consisting of a Burger King, WH Smith's, Costa and toilets. If you have forgotten any key European items you can get them in smiths. We boarded the ferry which was straightforward and made our way on to the passenger areas. We had decided to go with a premium ticket which proved well worth the extra money. We got free drinks and snacks (fruit, biscuits, crisps, tea, coffee, soft drinks etc) as well as a free glass of champagne on arrival. Papers are also free. The key benefit of premium however is the extra space (far less people) and plenty of seating including private outside space. I would strongly recommend the premium to anyone. It was superb and had a waiter service! Disembarkation was again quick and road signs were easy to follow. We picked up the 16 for Brussels and set into a comfortable cruise. In France the speed limits can change quite often on the motorway so keep an eye out. Oh and obviously they are in kph! We also stopped for fuel in France which thankfully is similar to the U.K. The difference being is that a pre payment system is used. For this you can either put your card in the machine at the start or ask the cashier how much fuel you would like. We encountered heavy traffic near to Ghent and Bruges due to the lanes merging from 3 to 2. But after we got through, we had a clear run to Brussels. Driving in Brussels is entertaining to say the least. Partly as there are hardly any road signs (this is not an exaggeration!). Brussels has its m25 equivalent which is a tunnel system that runs under the city and only pops to the surface for exits. We got lost at this point and came off to find somewhere to park to recalculate our route. The traffic in Brussels is like London. There's a lot of it!! For example a 5 mile drive in Brussels took us 25 minutes. But there are the added risks of trams. Traffic lights only change from red to green and there are hardly any speed limit signs. We finally reached our destination at 6:30pm Belgium time after travelling 12 hours. Total miles covered (including being lost) was 335 miles. Here are some pics. I hope iv not bored you all to death! But stay tuned for the rest of the trip :)

Stuck my stickers on yesterday after cleaning the a6 for the road trip! Iv fitted on to each rear side window and one on the boot :) personally I didn't find the stickers too bad. They peeled off nicely and the lettering all stayed intact. This is unlike other long stickers iv had previously. Cheers steve

Lovely looking a7! :) you don't see that colour too often :)

Welcome to the forum! :) lovely looking a3 by the way! :) youll find the members on here a friendly bunch :) cheers steve

Quality name! ;)

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with them. But glad they sorted it. It's amazing how your experience of a dealership can be effected by one person.

Good point Darren :) ill point out to others it wasn't edited due to swearing or anything offensive :)

As the title says really. An apprentice has committed suicide after alleged ongoing bullying at Reading Audi. Here is the article. And the alleged bullying was appalling! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/24/teenage-audi-mechanic-committed-suicide-colleagues-set-fire/ The question you have to ask your self is if this behaviour is common place then how is this going to affect the quality of the work being carried out on customers cars?! Id love to see their vehicle return rate figures due to incorrect or inadequate work being carried out! Sorry for the rant but I felt it had to be shared with fellow members.

Good good! :)

Good article Trevor :)

The Quattro is beautiful! :) wevd got a couple of shows coming up. You'd be more than welcome to display your Quattro with us on the club stand! We'd love to display it! :) check out the events page for more info ;) cheers steve :)

Italian job and gone in 60 seconds are good shouts! :)

Welcome to the forum :) youll find the members on here are a friendly bunch :) thats a lot of miles! If they're looked after they'll keep going :) My a6 has done 321,000. The Quattro sounds interesting! You got any pics? Cheers steve

Lol :D

Welcome to the forum Cliff :) youll find the members on here are a friendly bunch :) the black edition is a lovely spec for the a3! cheers steve

Welcome to the forum Gez :) youll find the members on here are a friendly bunch and will help where they can :) cheers steve

Couldn't agree more! It's all about getting more and more money out of the hard working motorist!

Surely mine is too old for an egr?! It's the 2.5tdi engine from 2002

That's crazy!

Wow! I dread to think what my Diesel engine looks like on the inside lol

Was awesome! :) my passion for cars came from herbie loll

Your welcome :) thats a fair way to travel from portadown! My dad is from portadown originally :) and we go over a couple of times a year :) im going to France and Belgium at the weekend. I'm assuming your aware of the new emissions stickers you have to have if your going near certain French cities such as Paris? If not, iv done a whole article on it under the toad trip section :) oh and the toll roads too, you need a transponder now for certain toll roads. Cheers steve

Oops! Sorry lol :)

Welcome to the forum :) youll find the members on here are a friendly bunch and will help you :) youve got good plans already for your a3 :) when you get a chance you could post a pic of your a3 :) cheers steve

No worries :) sorry the links don't work though