I drove back from Toulouse on Friday in blazing heat. I should have put the hood up - I now have burned wrists.
Today, having raised the tyre pressures to 1.9 bar (about 27.5psi) I went for a drive on my standard mountain route, which takes about an hour and a quarter.
The tyre pressure change worked very well. On the factory-recommended settings, the car was fine on the autoroute but felt sluggish and indecisive on B-roads.
It is amazing how much one can do (to make things better or worse) just by fiddling with tyre pressures. I think the Contis are OK but I look forward to wearing them out and replacing them with Vredesteins. I am not sure that there will be much difference in grip except on wet roads (which is not generally my problem) but I think there should be more feel.
I enjoyed the drive today. The car was fun, easier on that demanding route than the M3W had been, but of course quite a lot more difficult than a modern car like my Honda Civic.
So far I think there is a good chance that I have got exactly what I was looking for - a sort of vintage driving experience combined with modern reliability.
The only negative points are things I already knew about. It is impossible to do "heel-and-toe" gearchanges; the pedals on the M3W are far superior in this respect. There is nowhere to rest the clutch foot comfortably, but in this the 4/4 is better than the M3W. The steering is rather weird, especially in tight turns at low speeds, though overall the handling is surprisingly good - far better than the Morgans I drove 30 or 40 years ago.
Oh, and I keep looking for the RECIRC button when I find myself behind a smoky diesel.
By the way, who needs doors? With sidescreens removed, I find it is easier to get in and out without using them, as in a single-seater racing car or the M3W.
