The mother of all road trips

[aarondc]

For me, at least.

I just got back from 8 weeks on the road, visiting Canberra, Sydney, back to Victoria (home state) then driving across the Nullarbor in my 2009 Octavia Elegance TDi auto wagon. Put the car on the train from Perth to Adelaide, then drove home to Victoria from there.

The purpose of the trip was to race in a few cycling championship events - Aussie Masters road champs, World Masters games, World Masters track champs and National Vets champs. I had 3 bikes, 5 sets of wheels, trainer, bike tools, box of food, 10l of water, suitcase of clothing, 2 cameras + lenses and a POV video camera.

All up I drove around 8000km in 8 weeks.

The car I had previously, a 1994 auto Fairmont sedan, averaged around 6-7000km / year (owned it for 13 years), so you can understand why this particular drive was a big deal for me. The Fairmont, doing a shopping trip a week and the odd longer trip to a race day or training / racing weekend had an accumulated petrol average of 13l/100km. I bought it with 64,000km on the clock.

The Skoda, with around 8900km on the clock now, has an accumulated average of 6.5l/100km. My trip from Adelaide to Lancefield following the country backroads and then the highway home to Melbourne CBD netted a 6.2l / 100km average, thanks to a gentle tailwind that blew all day. I am regularly hitting 860km/tank with a few stops during the trip. Nothing save the odd motorbike has ever left me behind from the lights.

Considering my longest trip was around 10:41 driving time, I am amazed at the complete lack of driving fatigue I experienced. Across the Nullarbor I had one particular day of driving in up to 42.5C for a few hours, the side and front windows radiating heat like an oven. The AC was earning its keep big time. I got to my destination and did an hour on the trainer. This car is brilliant for long trips. My driving included multiple Sydney CBD trips, trips between Yass and Canberra, Perth CBD trips, and of course long, long days in the seat driving between states and across the Nullarbor.

With 6 CDs loaded, a 2GB SD card packed full of my favourite kind of music, and the ability to listen to the same songs ad nauseum, I didn't miss the radio at all.

I got great comments from young relatives, peers and older people (plenty of grey nomads encountered on the trip) alike on the car's aesthetics, and when I shared economy figures, they were typically impressed.

One revelation for me was the Garmin GPS I used. A brilliant bit of kit that made maps pretty much obsolete for me, and rarely got confused. If it did, I blame Telstra's WhereIS BS rather than the GPS itself.

I still don't know where the windscreen wiper water container is located, as even though I have used the washer on numerous occasions, I still have not run out of water. Incredible. It must be a 10l container.

I am very disappointed that I cannot buy generic floor mats for the vehicle. That seems patently ridiculous. The fan going ballistic every time I try to turn it to 1 from the off position is also incredibly annoying. The CD player - again annoyingly - does not remember to "repeat track / CD" after turning the car off - yet remembers the Mix flag (I think). You cannot lift the windscreen wipers up to clean the entire surface area. These very minor quibbles are the only complaints I have after what must surely be an exhaustive test of this vehicle. Amazing.

I love the sound system. Cranking "In the air tonight" whilst recovering for my next track event was pure motivational gold.

I love the acceleration. It just goes, and it's not chipped and it's not a VRS. And sometimes you want to get past road trains asap.

I love the cruisiness of the diesel. It will be a week or so before I can confirm, but I am positive I did not get caught breaking the speed limit once during a visit to far-flung states.

I love the look.

I love the size - that was a lot of kit in the car and would not have fitted inside the larger Fairmont sedan at all. Whilst taking someone along would have been nice and was not feasible, I took almost everything I wanted, with relative ease, all inside the car. But what's even better is the ease of parallel parking with a car narrower and a little shorter than the Fairmont. CBD parking bliss by comparison.

I love the economy and the diesel. Especially across the Nullarbor - trucks use the same fuel so it was never a concern for me to get the juice I needed and I had the luxury of getting to cheaper stations with ease thanks to the range of the tank.

I love the comfort. The steering wheel is delicious, the handling feels superb, and the seats are brilliant. I never felt uncomfortable, or like I wanted more lumbar support or leg room or had to move around. Sure, I am fitter than your average Joe, but I also do a hell of a lot less driving. With my pillow along for the ride, I was able to grab power naps with the seat in the upright driving position no problems.

I have a blog but it's more about the trip / racing and some pics of the car / loading the car but again mostly trip-related. Let me know if these are of any interest.

If they could get the marketing right, and bump the level of car yard support a notch or two this thing would sell like hot cakes, no question.

[Transporter]

Nice, thanks for sharing.
You, got a good fuel economy, considering that you have bikes on the roof.

[spellbound]

WOW thats a big trip , congrats glad you enjoyed it so much , the nullaboar must be an experience .

Yes the fan is annoying ,use to bug me .

I have learnt to let it do its own thing , starts off high blow but settles down after a few mins and gradually drops back to position 2 , then you can usually drop back to one , not so on really hot days .

cheers

[Bayford Skoda]

Hi Aaron,

I’m glad to hear you enjoyed your journey and your enjoying your new car.

The windscreen washer bottle is located under the bonnet behind the driver’s side headlight with a blue flip-top cap. That also house's water for the rear wiper as well.

Theres a trick to enable you to clean the windscreen with these cars. Because you can’t lift the wipers up as the tuck under the bonnet you need to switch them onto maintenance mode. To do this, switch the ignition to the on position, then back to off again and press down on the wiper stem and the wipers will slide up and you can then lift them away from the wind screen.

[woofy]

Just a note, you can lift the wipers, just turn off the car, and straight away hold the wiper stalk down, the wipers will move over to the far right and you can lift them up from there.

Just don't do what I did and move it back to auto position after washing with them up like that and turn the key......i had to get some nasty scrapes repainted on the edge of the bonnet.....

[aarondc]

Nice, thanks for sharing.
You, got a good fuel economy, considering that you have bikes on the roof.

As I wrote, everything fitted in the car - no bikes on the roof. I am curious how the economy will go later next year when I do start driving with bikes on the roof.

[Transporter]

As I wrote, everything fitted in the car - no bikes on the roof. I am curious how the economy will go later next year when I do start driving with bikes on the roof.

That's cool. I thought when you said "almost everything" fitted inside the car, that the bikes went on the roof. (my mistake)

They don't look that big inside but they're.

[aarondc]

That's cool. I thought when you said "almost everything" fitted inside the car, that the bikes went on the roof. (my mistake)

They don't look that big inside but they're.

Ah I see. Yeah the things that did not fit did not come on the trip.

[Graybags]

Wow what a trip!
Great to know that you love the car.
Makes me wish I had ordered the oil burner when I see fuel figures like yours!

[K1W1]

I still don't know where the windscreen wiper water container is located, as even though I have used the washer on numerous occasions, I still have not run out of water. Incredible. It must be a 10l container.

From the owners manual:

The filling level of the container is 3 litres, 5.5 litres on vehicles which also have a headlight washing system.