Well, today was D day. My car has been ready to pick up for a while but I left it at the dealer because of the snow (and salt). Today, in pouring rain, I took delivery.
Being honest, after seeing some of the recent pics on here, I was starting to doubt my colour choice of Stingray grey. However, on seeing it in real life, I love it. And anyway, as I discovered today, once you press that pulsating green starter button, the colour is not the first thing on your mind
Thomas, my dealer, showed me the car and explained that I have the “new” chassis with more space for the pedals, and more settings for moving them. He also explained that although the petrol shows “0%” that could mean there are anything from 0 to 14 litres left...
So, delivery done, I headed out onto the roads of Brussels for the first time in light rain. First impressions: that noise, that noise, that noise! I love it. The steering is heavy but not too so, brake pedal has a lot of travel before anything happens, clutch is hard to release fully (probably need to move the pedals further forward) and there’s (obviously) nowhere to put your left foot when not using it.
People let you out. On dual lane roads, people pull alongside and stare. Pedestrians point and smile. The noise is brilliant.
The rain got progressively heavier and despite having half the tonneau on I got completely soaked on my 20 minute drive home. Clarkson (or was is Hammond) is right that rain can sting your face at speed!
I took the car out again this afternoon and took the photos below but the rain started again so I beat a hasty retreat, stopping on route to pick up my daughter from school. My child seats don’t fit the 3W
but she’s actually ok with the normal seat belt. A booster cushion might be the ideal compromise. Anyway, she absolutely loved it
I have a couple of complaints: the seat belts are already covered in dirt after just one outing. And the leather strip on the inside of the boot is filthy too (see picture). I’d already picked up on these issues from reading TM but was hoping that they might have resolved them at the factory by now.
And one big problem: the quick release steering wheel doesn’t seem to fully click on. This might be “user error” but however I try (and I have a blister from fiddling with it!) I can’t get it to work. The result is that it has come off in my hands twice at low speeds
At first I couldnt get it to go on at all, until I realised that the bolts which attach the wheel to the quick release mechanism are too long, and actually block it. You have to rotate it so that the bolts line up with the holes in the metal and then it releases a couple of mm more. However, even when on, and turning the wheels, it is possible to pull it back off pretty easily. Hmm. A bit concerned about this to be honest.
However, this isn’t enough to spoil the experience. It sounds great. The torque is huge and even with the running in limit of 3.5k rpm it feels plenty fast enough. Incidentally, 3.5k in 5th gear is about 110km/h.
Things I didn’t know: the starter button slowly pulsates green once you turn the ignition on. And the speedo is in 15km/h increments (strange!). And it’s hard to avoid wheelspin when pulling away from lights in first gear in the rain
Conclusion: love it. Especially the noise (did I mention that?). Need to get the steering wheel issue solved though.
