1 Toyota Aygo - 13 countries - 18 days - 4500 miles

1 Toyota Aygo - 13 countries - 18 days - 4500 miles

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kamilb1998

Original Poster:

2,220 posts

178 months

Thursday 27th October 2016
quotequote all
After some deliberation and a little motivation from some PH members in one of my previous threads, I thought I'd throw this thread together on my recent European road trip. Some may recognise my username from previous barge ownership, I made the decision to let the Jaguar go and have regretted it since. It's replacement last July was a new Aygo. Whilst it will never be a direct replacement, it is far more reliable and economical, as such it has released some funds to allow me to do road trips like these rather than throw all my money at a broken old Jaguar which was became difficult to justify as a student.

After a midweek excursion to Paris with the OH for my 18th earlier in the year, we started planning a summer holiday. I run my own business at the moment so was flexible with dates, we maximised her leave from work and booked the Eurotunnel for the 11th of July, returning on the 29th. My expectation was 2 and a bit weeks, somewhat bored, on a beach in the south of France. I was a little on the excited side when she mentioned that she would find this boring and would rather travel and see some countries she hadn't visited before. Some planning took place and we booked a number of hotels near mutual places of interest, and a route fell into place.

Some of the photos aren't brilliant and I do apologise but they weren't taken with the intention of a write up.

We boarded the Eurotunnel in the small hours on the 11th with our first night stay booked in Brussels. We stopped off in a couple of little villages, something we'd anticipated to do in every country as one can't really savour the local culture from visiting the capital.

IMG_6265 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6267 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

The next day saw us stopping in Venlo, NL primarily because the OH has always fancied some clogs. The overnight halt was in Hannover which allowed for a slightly spirited run on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn which saw us reach the dizzying heights of 104mph before running out of steam!

13680741_10206486612906317_1696512741001288454_n by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_726 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

We then proceeded into Berlin via a few small towns and villages before continuing to the hotel for that night on the outskirts. Managed to find a parking space along the Berlin Wall to get a quick shot of the car with it in the background, albeit with an ugly fence spoiling the picture somewhat.

IMG_6321 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6332 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

We crossed the Polish border on the motorway, the condition of which massively deteriorated as we neared Poland. We then drove south and ended up back in Germany and crossing into Poland again on an awful cobbled road - the locals drove down the middle and would stray back to their side with oncoming traffic.

IMG_2265 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

I'm Polish but have thus far refused to speak the language to the OH unless a little on the drunk side. Therefore the next location was chosen very much by the OH with the hope of hearing me speak Polish. My Polish isn't brilliant and I was generally spoken to in English and treated like a foreigner! I also managed to order fries as a main instead of a side, cue some confusion as to why we didn't want meat with our main; on another occasion I asked for nuggets but was presented with a schnitzel. It was also interesting to note that their vodka shot measurements are double what they are here; a single is a 50 and a double is a 100 which came as a surprise to us when we ordered a double.

IMG_2257 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

We spent two days in Poland and drove right through the country. We stopped in Zielona Gora and Walbrzych as well as a rather odd looking forest. It was probably the worst country we visited with regards to driving; and the only country in which we experienced road rage. It came from a Transit minibus full of men which was doing some peculiar things. I can't see me as being to blame for the road rage apart from having a UK registered car in Poland - something which is unfortunately not as welcome as it really ought to be. During a toilet break on the drive through Poland at a service station, the OH emerged with a truckers name as a present for me. I allowed it in the window for a picture and it was destined to the bottom of the boot and classed as 'tacky'!

IMG_6341 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2285 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

The next location was Prague, probably the most beautiful city we visited, in contrast to Poland which seemed rather run down in the places we visited. Took the opportunity to get a caricature on Charles Bridge and had lunch in a cafe which served drinks by model train.

IMG_6377 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6388 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6382 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

A quick look over the map showed that we were a stones throw away from the TPCA factory near Kolin so we thought we really ought to stop there for a couple of pictures. We did make some enquiries into a factory tour but as it was a Sunday, this was not possible. For those observant enough to remember the number plate of the Aygo at this stage, the purchase of the fake number plate will make sense as the car has now been christened 'Pavel'.

IMG_6393 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2340 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

We stopped off in Bratislava for the night before proceeding to Budapest where we would allow ourselves a whole two days so I could have a little break from driving. It also meant we could go out drinking. We stopped at a point at which three countries meet on the way into Hungary and took some pictures at the old border crossing on the road running parallel to the motorway.

IMG_6406 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6409 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6422 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6418 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

The next day saw us heading for Croatia after a change of initial plan as the OH didn't like the pre-booked hotel near Lake Balaton. Smelt funny and looked like her grandma's front room, apparently, personally I thought it had a certain charm.

We stayed in a mountainous region of Croatia for the first of two nights we planned to stay there. Unfortunately we got here later than anticipated, following the last minute change of plans. This meant most things locally were closed and we didn't see much, still went out for a little drive around the local roads and up to Slovenia's border. The hotel on this night provided us with the best greeting in the form of some large glasses of their own wine. Some bottles were purchased and promptly emptied upon our return home!

IMG_6438 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2491 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_2475 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

We visited Zagreb the next day and stayed in a lovely air conditioned apartment - the only air conditioning we experienced in any of the places we booked and it was joyous!

IMG_6442 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

We went through Slovenia in passing and experienced the first mountain roads of the trip, Vrsic pass.

IMG_6445 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6447 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6448 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

Before continuing briefly into Italy, we stopped on the border at another point where three countries meet, Tromeja. This was signposted as a 3 hour walk, alternatively, there was a road. We were following some Subaru 4x4 mini SUV type thing which gave up on the mountain climb the minute the road turned to gravel. With teenage stupidity, and great caution, I continued. The road went on for a good few miles and was effectively a loose gravel track up an Alp, the plucky little Toyota coped perfectly on both the way up and the descend with the precaution of the traction control off on the way up. Who needs four wheel drive? Thankfully, any hikers promptly got out of the way of the car as I'm not sure the drive would have gone very smoothly if I'd stopped.

IMG_6454 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6456 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6460 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

We stayed the night in Reisach, Austria before heading back into Italy with the destination of Venice. We had intended to cross into Italy on Passo Pramollo but it turned out it was closed due to a collapsing tunnel. This meant more motorways to go around it and a little time added to the journey. We had initially intended to go for a walk and see some sights in Austria but for the duration of our stay, the heaviest rain I'd ever experienced didn't stop so we stayed in the hotel for the evening.

IMG_6464 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

The weather started to take a turn for the worse, as much as it can in 30 degree heat and we had continuous rainfall whilst in Venice. We also encountered, and seemingly angered, a resident of Venice by crossing into the underground part of the multi storey in Venice to get across to the other side having paid for parking. We were rudely informed that it is for residents only and were basically to sod off, in broken English. We were certain there were signs pointing down the stairs as this was the only way to get across from one side of the car park to the other but you can't satisfy everybody!

IMG_6466 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

The next day was spent driving to our first overnight halt in Losone in Switzerland, stopping off in Verona and Lake Garda. At this point I found out the OH has no interest in seeing lakes, labelling them boring, so we stopped in Como. Cue some considerable bemusement.

IMG_6477 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

Some more mountain passes were pencilled in once in Switzerland, San Gottardo and Susten Pass weren't too much of a detour and as such no whining OH. We stopped overnight in Interlaken and spent the afternoon wondering around before heading home via Colmar in France for our Eurotunnel crossing in the morning.

IMG_6481 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6486 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
13782132_10206572116563855_2258412395973567877_n by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6498 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
IMG_6499 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr
Scan 27 Oct 2016, 10.44 pm by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr


kamilb1998

Original Poster:

2,220 posts

178 months

Friday 28th October 2016
quotequote all
No hiccups thankfully, it did all go surpassingly smoothly. Almost felt too good to be true at points to the point where we expected failure of some sort purely because it had yet to happen.

The odometer certainly is at 34k odd in that picture, it does get about to say the least. It was registered in July 2015 so it was effecting 35k in a year. It is currently sitting just shy of 45k. With the miles its done, it probably will end up a keeper as no one will want the damn thing a few year down the line!

The Aygo coped fine with the trip, people say these are noisy but by supermini standards I don't think its bad at all. I specced this one with a full length sunroof as well and it is just as quiet as the hardtop courtesy car I've driven on occasion. Though I can't compare noise levels to the VW Up! trio as I haven't driven one myself.

It even coped fine with the outside lane of the Autobahn, it would sit at 100 quite happily. The issue was when someone came up behind at 150+ and I had to pull in and slow down as building up speed does take forever. Some inclines in the alps did have to be done in 1st, especially if held up by a tourist as it needed quite some momentum to keep rolling in 2nd up the steepest inclines.

I've toyed with the idea of PXing it for something with a little more go and a little more space but couldn't bring myself to go through with it as I've very much formed a bond with this car.

I've probably become immune to the seats with the amount of time I spend in the thing - my arse only really starts to go numb if I've spent more than 6 hours of the day in the car.

Everyone says I'm nuts when I tell them where my car has been, with most commenting how they consider London a long drive. Bearing in mind we're in Norfolk.

kamilb1998

Original Poster:

2,220 posts

178 months

Sunday 30th October 2016
quotequote all
Luckily for me, we both travel rather light. We left with just a boot full of things, though by the time all the frivolous junk was bought in every country this ended up covering the back seats too.

Youth does help I imagine but I don't really remember becoming achy or uncomfortable on the trip.

The new shape ones do come with a fair bit of kit, and I almost wish I had the patience to wait for a factory order rather than buying a car from stock so I could have specced it exactly as I wanted. Lacking CarPlay in these unfortunately, they come with some MirrorLink system but it rarely works and only with about 5 handsets.

May I ask who the Mrs was, I may well remember? To be quite honest, I'm probably more likely to recognise what you drove at the time!

In the future, we would probably not pre book hotels but try and find an overnight halt where it fell naturally rather than pre booking. We found some of the places we had planned to stay at didn't have enough to fill our time so a little time was wasted sitting around in hotels with nothing to do.

Must say, I've never heard of the Giant Jesus statue, something for the future maybe, if I'm in that part of the world.

it did come to ur attention that they were generally appealing. The Uk plate assumption was down to what the parents told me with their experience of driving a UK plate there, though as you say, they are pretty appalling generally and it could be sheer coincidence.

My Polish is okay when speaking to family but when it comes to strangers and especially starting a conversation, its useless and I lived there for the first 7 years of my life. Reading is far easier and I will agree, it is a bloody difficult language to learn.

We crossed into Croatia from Hungary on, what looked like, a very recent stretch of motorway. Probably the emptiest stretch we came across, drove a good 30/40 miles into Croatia before coming across any cars and even then they were few and far between. This was on a weekday afternoon.

kamilb1998

Original Poster:

2,220 posts

178 months

Sunday 30th October 2016
quotequote all
I've visited Krakow as a child, can't say I remember an awful lot, but it was too far a detour on this particular trip unfortunately. Budapest was indeed one big traffic jam, we decided to take the car one evening to some baths rather than walk the mile and a half - it took us well over an hour in the car and would actually have been quicker walking.

The lack of overtaking oomph is the only thing that on long drives becomes frustrating on occasion. Especially on busy motorways, it can take a while to find a gap big enough to pull out without impeding someone else's progress. But for a car designed to primarily function in the city, its not bad at all.

This Aygo is also a lot calmer to drive at 70 than 80, it does begin to feel a little stressed at 80 and does become noisy. Some long hills on the motorways in Italy and Switzerland did require the car to be in 3rd for a few miles. The torque delivery also means that cruising at 80 can result in no drop in speed on hills as opposed to cruising at 70.

I will make the effort to better photograph any future road trip and put more threads together in the future. The little thing has been all over the place already with several forays into Europe as well as Wales and as far north as the Isle of Skye. Below is a picture on Applecross Pass in May.

IMG_6124 by Kamil Burczyk, on Flickr

kamilb1998

Original Poster:

2,220 posts

178 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
quotequote all
Tinkerton said:
She worked one to one with a guy called Kane? I think? for a year and then general teaching assistant stuff and helping a few Y7's who couldn't read/write well enough. Double barrelled surname.

You've mentioned you run your own company, what is it?
Certainly rings a bell but my memory isn't brilliant! I've based a part time business around the Sinclairs - restoration and parts. It pays for petrol and holidays so satisfies my needs at the moment. I am at college studying A levels during the week.

kamilb1998

Original Poster:

2,220 posts

178 months

Monday 11th April 2022
quotequote all
Hi folks,

Quite the thread resurrection!

There was a follow up thread the following year during which we ventured as far as Turkey - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...



I moved the Aygo on at somewhat over 100k and 4 years old. I needed something that had a little more room and was a little better on the motorway. I ran a Dacia Logan estate for a year when I did a little more road tripping with groups of friends and needed the space, these days I'm running around a Clio diesel which has served me well as a daily and last year took me as far as Santorini.

I love a road trip and generally prefer driving to flying, being a uni student until very recently meant I had a lot of free time which permitted these trips. I have recently taken up my first proper post-university job and unfortunately with limited annual leave I fear future trips may not be as long or frequent but we shall see what the future holds!

If they are interesting enough, I may make a thread on future road trips - I'm always concerned there won't be that much love for a thread on a euro box but I forget these Aygo threads had a positive reception.

The Mad Monk said:
Going back to the first post, why do you think the British are unpopular in Poland?

Or is it any foreign car?
Nothing anti-British - simply a certain stigma against Poles who have moved away, they are generally those driving English cars in Poland hence the comment. I have noticed however that this has improved in the last couple of years.