Engines and 12 to 16 hour journeys. Large Euro Road Trip

YbFocus

Planning a road trip this July from the midlands to Rakkestad in Norway.
Its 1600 miles and we have worked it out that we can do the trip in 2 long days.

Just wondering how do engines take this, is it better to stop once every couple of hours at a service and give the car a break or is it better to keep going once we're going for each day's journey? Has anyone any knowledge on this kind of long operation of the engine.

This is just something that has been brought to my attention.

Obviously we will service it and give it a good look over before we leave

The car is a 2004 530D also so we are not doing it in a 1.1 Polo or something

George Dalton

The BMW should do that trip at its ease to be honest.

I drove to Norway a few years ago, to get to Rakkestad will be 2 seriously long days, I'd rather split it into 3 days if it was me but I assume you know what you are getting yourself into.

Alanstrainor

That car is built for that kind of cruising. I wouldn't have any concern about it being honest. Make sure oil is topped up, as well as all other fluids and just enjoy it.

YbFocus

Yeah we are looking at that option but work commitments and such won't really allow extra days, we have a fair idea what humour we may be in when we get there, but it'll be worth it in the end!

Hopefully anyway, just don't want to get hassle miles from home

Lutecia

Shouldn't be a problem at all.
I've driven all the way to Sweden/Norway in a 98 1.4 Clio, wasn't a punishment even though it was in winter. Never got an issue. If your car is serviced as it should, it should be smooth and plenty of fun in Germany too
You just need plenty of music (not just your 5 usual CDs), plenty of water (or coffee) and with a clean inside that will make the journey pleasant.

YbFocus

Oh I forgot about the Autobahn We are actually on it for all the trip through the country, should make some bit of time there

Wow that was some trip in a Clio, I would reckon a Clio in winter spec Norway to be interesting!

Lutecia

YbFocus wrote: »

Oh I forgot about the Autobahn We are actually on it for all the trip through the country, should make some bit of time there

Wow that was some trip in a Clio, I would reckon a Clio in winter spec Norway to be interesting!

In the Nordics you have to have snow tyres for the winter season (excepted if you are a tourist on foreign plates...) and as a poor student i was with my 13" all seasons tyres. But main roads were cleared and only secondary roads were a bit more dangerous (just have to drive slower and avoid hills ). I never got stuck.

YbFocus

Very good sounds like it was an interesting time, where Rekkestad is we'll just be in the country south of Oslo.

Is anyone Going to Gatebil on Boards?

maidhc

Dear god that sounds like a miserable and expensive journey! The car will be fine, but I feel sorry for the humans. You need about 10 days to enjoy that sort of a journey.

Hal1

YbFocus wrote: »

Very good sounds like it was an interesting time, where Rekkestad is we'll just be in the country south of Oslo.

Is anyone Going to Gatebil on Boards?

Here's a good review of a road trip to gatebill a lad on passionford done. In his focus cosworth no less :pac:. Looks like an epic roadtrip:

http://passionford.com/forum/general-car-related-discussion/432756-road-to-gatebil-report-pics-prices-etc.html

galwaytt

...the car will be fine - it's the people that would need the tlc. ...

Saab Ed

maidhc wrote: »

Dear god that sounds like a miserable and expensive journey! The car will be fine, but I feel sorry for the humans. You need about 10 days to enjoy that sort of a journey.

I hear you. I did Navan to Vienna in two days back in 2010. I have to say I really enjoyed it but that was because I was alone. To have attempted it with herself and the kids would have been hellish.

On a simple level OP, I'd advise a lights and levels check to the car before you leave along with checking your tyres and their pressure. Keep plenty of drinks and snacks in the car and don't push yourself . If you're knackered then you're knackered. Just take a break.

Plopli

I won't be afraid for the car.
I do Belgium twice a year in one day and went to south of France in two days (~500 km shorter than your planned trip) 2 years ago with a Citroen C3 HDI, wife, dog and kids and we stopped early on both days.

Try to sleep as much as possible on the Ferry from IE to UK and from UK to FR (and probably also from DK to Sweden.

On the way out, you probably want the ~midnight ferry from Dublin to Holyhead and you may want to take the train from UK to FR (It usually let you hop on the first available train even if you're a bit early or if you miss the one you were booked on and also there is at least one per hour so no to much stress added if you miss one)

maceocc2

If the car is healthy you won't have a problem. Do the usual checks, Oil, coolant, tyres etc. One note on the tyres is your carrying a load you might need a little extra PSI so check your manual. I go to about 38 PSI on the back and 36 on the front with a full load for my long trips.

I do 2500km journey once a year to the Kaliningrad side of Poland and never had an issue.

Used to have a 1.9TDI passat which was great, now have a 1.6TDI Passat, (seriously lacking on the top end for Autobahn driving )

The 530D is built for Autobahn cruising so you should enjoy that.

YbFocus

galwaytt wrote: »

...the car will be fine - it's the people that would need the tlc. ...

Its not a family lads, just a bunch of us going over for this, we'll live

YbFocus

Plopli wrote: »

I won't be afraid for the car.
I do Belgium twice a year in one day and went to south of France in two days (~500 km shorter than your planned trip) 2 years ago with a Citroen C3 HDI, wife, dog and kids and we stopped early on both days.

Try to sleep as much as possible on the Ferry from IE to UK and from UK to FR (and probably also from DK to Sweden.

On the way out, you probably want the ~midnight ferry from Dublin to Holyhead and you may want to take the train from UK to FR (It usually let you hop on the first available train even if you're a bit early or if you miss the one you were booked on and also there is at least one per hour so no to much stress added if you miss one)

We have the 02:15 sailing from dub eyed up alright yep, and the tunnel is the way to go, but we want to take in the bridges linking DK to Sweden

Little sleep, lots of coffee

Del2005

Did the guts of 1000km on a bike in one day through France. Was though and the 2nd worst bit was discovering I don't know any songs and didn't have any earphones for the autoroute. 1600 miles in a good car with a couple of drivers should be grand.

Plopli wrote: »

you may want to take the train from UK to FR (It usually let you hop on the first available train even if you're a bit early or if you miss the one you were booked on and also there is at least one per hour so no to much stress added if you miss one)

A friend came from the UK on the train. He arrived 5 hours early on the way over and a day early on the way back, got on no bother.

CiniO

YbFocus wrote: »

Planning a road trip this July from the midlands to Rakkestad in Norway.
Its 1600 miles and we have worked it out that we can do the trip in 2 long days.

Just wondering how do engines take this, is it better to stop once every couple of hours at a service and give the car a break or is it better to keep going once we're going for each day's journey? Has anyone any knowledge on this kind of long operation of the engine.

This is just something that has been brought to my attention.

Obviously we will service it and give it a good look over before we leave

The car is a 2004 530D also so we are not doing it in a 1.1 Polo or something

OP don't worry at all about your engine.
Driving long distance is the best possible way to use engine. It's warmed up and working at optimal temperature and usually working at steady revs on longer motorway cruises. Aboslutely optimal condition for any engine.

In relation to journey it all depends how many drivers there will be, and how likely are spare drivers to sleep in the car while being passenger (f.e. I can't sleep in the car as passenger no matter what).


I regularly do 1600mile trip from West of Ireland to Poland.

The quickest I did was on my own in 40 hours, and that included 26 hours driving (according to my trip computer). So remaining 14h were filling up, eating, 2 quick naps for about 2hours on the parkings and ferries.
In general this was way too much, and at the end I was really struggling. I can't remember being so tired anytime in my life before or after.

However spreding a journey into 2 parts with one night in a hotel is grant.

We did it few times also with small child with 2 hotel stop-overs, so this was total pleasure.

YbFocus

CiniO wrote: »

We did it few times also with small child with 2 hotel stop-overs, so this was total pleasure.

I can only imagine that trip with a kid
Thats the thing, I'm the only driver......
And we are camping the only night both ways.

George Dalton

If you are the only driver you can forget about doing that trip in 2 days.

CiniO

YbFocus wrote: »

I can only imagine that trip with a kid
Thats the thing, I'm the only driver......
And we are camping the only night both ways.

I'm also always the only driver.

One night camping should give you enough rest, if you are used to spending long hours by the wheel.

fg10291

Hi op drove from France to Norway via several other countries in a 1.8 diesel mondeo, no problems lots of 10 hr drives, your 530 will do that no problem

Popoutman

In Ireland, we don't get much opportunity to do real long distance driving. There are exceptions for sure, but the farthest that we generally go in one go would be Dublin - Cork.

I've found from my summer drivings across Europe if I'm the only driver in the car, there are a couple of useful things that I try to follow.
Don't drive more than about 2 hours at a go without a break.
-Every time you need a piss-stop, use the rest areas and take 10 minutes outside of the car, sit down and relax, stare at the clouds or go for a short stroll to get the mind cleared of driving. This allows my concentration levels to return to a good place for the next 2 hour stint.
-Keep water in the car, and keep sipping away at it as all day in an air conditioned cabin will likely dehydrate you with resulting poorer driving concentration.
-Take a decent break for your lunch and get something nice to eat.
-Have a decent navigator in the passenger seat with a paper road atlas and the knowledge on how to use it, and have as clear an idea as possible as to the route and timings for the next stint or two - as that should remove a cause of stress on the driver. They will also have to deal with the toll booths!
-Mostly, stick to the speed limits if you are going to be driving all day. Less stress at 85mph and keeping with traffic than from having to concentrate as strongly as you would at say 110mph with frequent overtakes of all other traffic.
-Bring a satnav that you know how to use, and that has maps for where you are going.
-If you are feeling at all tired, take a proper break at a rest stop. Wrong side of the road, different signage, different language can all add up to make it harder to concentrate well on the driving.
-Have contingency plans for places to stay en route in case you are far behind your original schedule - no point in feeling under pressure to get to your bed and taking risks with alertness levels.
-Fill with fuel during your rest stops if you can, so you don't end up with the fuel light on and ending up looking for a service station.
-Wear comfortable shoes for the drive, your legs and feet will thank you.

The type of journeys that I do would normally be my driving an estate diesel car loaded almost to the roof internally with 2 weeks worth of kayaking gear for 5 people, camping and personal gear for those 5, and 4 kayaks on the roof. Getting off the ferry in e.g. Roscoff and driving the 1200km to the campsite near Briancon by the Italian border in one day getting there by midnight. I definitely would not have been able to go another hour or two driving at that stage if I did the drive in one day as I am usually quite worn down at the end of that day - and this is from someone that was doing 30k-40k miles a year in Ireland at that stage. In recent years, I booked a Formula1 hotel in Grenoble to break the journey and completed the journey early the next day arriving a lot fresher and feeling a lot more sane.

Regarding the mechanical pointers for long distance continental driving:
-Make sure that you won't cross a service interval while on the journey, get the service done before you go if you are close to the end of the interval.
-Take a look at the tyres, make sure they are in good nick for tread depth and condition, and with enough life left in them to get you out and back - I nearly forgot that one year and ended up below the tread depth I am happy with. Not below legal limits, just something I wasn't exactly comfortable with.
-Check what the correct tyre inflation figures should be for your expected load - and don't forget that checking them while the tyres are hot will show you inflated figures due to the expansion of the air with the heat. Long motorway drives when laden will cause your tyres to warm up more than you would expect. Check them for heat when you get fuel, make sure one is not a lot hotter than the one on the other side.
-Check that the front lights are in proper alignment and adjusted for driving on the right. My Audi can be set with a lever in the dipped light housing, I'm not sure what the BMW story is for changing over.
- Fill all fluids - oil, coolant, windscreen washer. Check gearbox fluid as well.
- I'd also put Rain-X on all the glass on the car, screens front and back, exterior mirrors, lights and the sunroof if you have one. Makes it a lot easier to drive in the wet for long periods of time.
- Check that the wipers are in good nick - few things can irritate more than having streaks that you can't get rid of when you have another 8 hours to drive that day.
Make sure that you can conform to all the local motoring laws for the countries en route - such as reflective jackets for all the occupants available from within the cabin, spare glasses for the driver, replacement bulb kit, first aid kit. It's surprising what you can get fined for if you get stopped
In essence, remove any possible mechanical worries that may niggle at you and you'll be able to cruise more easily to the destination.

I took a quick look at the journey that you are attempting.
- Midlands to Dublin Port, c. 2 hours
- Irish Sea crossing, 2 hours
- Holyhead to Dover, 6 hours assuming London traffic isn't crazy, followed by Dover to Calais, hour and a half on the ferry or;
- Holyhead to Folkestone, 6 hours, Chunnel to Calais in 40 min.
So Midlands to France is a good day's journey in itself.
It's 1750km from there by road to your destination in Norway and that's about 16-17 hours of continuous driving, and for one driver to do that in less than 2 days would probably be possible but you'd be absolutely wrecked when you arrive and you'd know exactly how much pain and suffering you'll have to endure to get back! Driving for 4 2 hour shifts in a day is hard enough, driving for 6 two hour shifts is very hard, and to do two days of 12 hours of driving when you aren't accustomed to that type of travel can be very hard on the head. Trying from Ireland to Norway in 2 days would be a bit on the risky side though.

Camping? You'll be wrecked - badly wrecked starting day two with tent setup and bed making, unpacking and the reversal of that in the morning. I know this from bitter personal experience - very much not to be recommended. Find a cheap hotel instead for €30ish for the room en route. Much safer for you. If I were doing this journey, I'd get a Formula1 or Ibis on the Belgian border (Or Amsterdam?), then get something equivalent in Malmo, getting up early and being in Norway for a midmorning coffee break. I'd strongly reconsider trying this journey with only one bad night's sleep in tent en route.

If you have a second driver it can get a lot easier to do 12-14 hour shifts , and a third driver means you can effectively drive through the night with one person napping, one person navigating and chatting along with the driver.

Not the car to be worried about - just the driver! Take care with the planning that you aren't putting yourself under undue pressure to make destination deadlines.

YbFocus

Popoutman wrote: »

Not the car to be worried about - just the driver! Take care with the planning that you aren't putting yourself under undue pressure to make destination deadlines.

Thank you so much for that, you covered absolutely everything
We have done a road trip to France before and covered vast mileage over the north of the country, this though is different.

You really have made me reconsider the one night original plan, that or getting another guy as a named driver on my policy.

Great to see people do make road trips like these, I always thought they bring a sense of adventure like no other holiday can.

The car I realise now is more than up for the trip, it is always kept tip top, but the problem is actually the driving. I quite regularly do 5 hour trips from the midlands to Sligo and back and once you settle in its never that bad.

I find once your in a different country, stuff is different and the things you get to see somehow allow you to keep going for longer.

I've taken everything from your great post on board because it is an insight to a long journey, to the Italian border in one day :eek:

Popoutman

YbFocus wrote: »

Thank you so much for that, you covered absolutely everything
We have done a road trip to France before and covered vast mileage over the north of the country, this though is different.

You really have made me reconsider the one night original plan, that or getting another guy as a named driver on my policy.

Great to see people do make road trips like these, I always thought they bring a sense of adventure like no other holiday can.

The car I realise now is more than up for the trip, it is always kept tip top, but the problem is actually the driving. I quite regularly do 5 hour trips from the midlands to Sligo and back and once you settle in its never that bad.

I find once your in a different country, stuff is different and the things you get to see somehow allow you to keep going for longer.

I've taken everything from your great post on board because it is an insight to a long journey, to the Italian border in one day :eek:

Welcome

I've found another secret to enjoying the trip is to make sure that I'm not feeling pressured, either by mechanicals, navigation, or any other cause of stress. The road systems are well designed for doing huge chunks of distance (so much better than here - an advantage of a clean slate post-WW2), but it only works well when feeling unhurried and unstressed about everything.

I've found that the insurance companies I've dealt with will often put the named driver on for a nominal cost or even free, depending on the driver's age/record etc.

The best of luck with the journey - why not do a write up of the journey for those of use here that can only dream of such an adventure?

YbFocus

Popoutman wrote: »

I've found that the insurance companies I've dealt with will often put the named driver on for a nominal cost or even free, depending on the driver's age/record etc.

The best of luck with the journey - why not do a write up of the journey for those of use here that can only dream of such an adventure?

The lads coming with me are 22, I definitely would expect quite an amount to allow them to drive it, if they would even quote!

I may just throw up a few pics when we get home and tell how it all went, it will be an awesome trip in the long run I reckon, even if it is tiring at the time.

Once again your posts were an insight, thanks again

Del2005

YbFocus wrote: »

The lads coming with me are 22, I definitely would expect quite an amount to allow them to drive it, if they would even quote!

Instead of adding to the policy for the full term see if they can be added for a few weeks, it may be cheaper. But even if it cost a bit to add an extra driver it will be much safer for all of you.

Don't forget the return journey if you'll be doing a lot of driving, or partying, while in Norway. What we did in one day on the way over took 2 back and was much harder, as we'd spent a week criss crossing the Alps.

YbFocus

Del2005 wrote: »

Don't forget the return journey if you'll be doing a lot of driving, or partying, while in Norway. What we did in one day on the way over took 2 back and was much harder, as we'd spent a week criss crossing the Alps.

Once we're at the track on Thursday we're there until Sunday night. So I'll be well rested again. There is a bit of partying at night but we are there for the racing mainly
Due to work commitments and such it won't really be feasible to add another day either way but it seems that it actually won't cost that much to add them to the policy, i thought it would be €100+ kind of thing but its not

Paddy@CIRL

Should be flying to Oslo for the Gatebil Rudskogen event, wouldn't fancy that drive at all. If you've not been before though, you're in for a treat!

s14driftking

would it be cheaper to fly over and back. gatebil is somewhere id love to go someday.
with reguards the driving loads of water and snacks is key and a window down a bit to circulate and keep fresh air in also no red bull or energy drinks give false energy and in the short term keep u awake etc but eventually stop working after few hrs i found anyways.
eating proper meals help to proper breakfast in morning lunch and dinners all vital for trip.
the return leg will be the hardest part of the trip. also id invest in a proper spare wheel for the car and not a space saver

YbFocus

s14driftking wrote: »

would it be cheaper to fly over and back. gatebil is somewhere id love to go someday.

also id invest in a proper spare wheel for the car and not a space saver

It would be cheaper to fly over but the road trip is being done for the madness of it all, not really logical but an adventure none the less :rolleyes:

That's a very good point about the spare, I'll get onto that one

s14driftking

YbFocus wrote: »

It would be cheaper to fly over but the road trip is being done for the madness of it all, not really logical but an adventure none the less :rolleyes:

That's a very good point about the spare, I'll get onto that one

ramdom road trips cant be beaten imo:pac:
ive e39 wheels there if any good u can borrow if there same fitment only offered as i see your from laois

YbFocus

s14driftking wrote: »

ramdom road trips cant be beaten imo:pac:
ive e39 wheels there if any good u can borrow if there same fitment only offered as i see your from laois

Sound man I may look into whether they fit, if I remember right they have a different centre bore, not sure which has the bigger one.