End of a long day

Flew into the UK this morning. No sleep on the flight for some reason - rather enjoyed catching up on some of the big film releases that I've missed in the last year.

First time in a very long time that someone was actually waiting for me at the airport! Usually I'm stuck there waiting. Wondering. And eventually making calls to find out if the person picking me up has forgotten, or just couldn't be bothered. The number of times I've been stranded at an airport when flying in, is unreal.

But not today! Simon & Claudia picked myself and my wife up. Brilliant. So pleased.

Then got shown to the car we've bought for our trip. This car will do our stay now, and then it'll come on FotoStelvio in the summer with me.

Never considered an E Class but Simon mentioned it a few months ago and it was a car I had wanted to try out.

What can I say about our car though?! Simon prepped the car for me and I am eternally grateful that he didn't just give up and set fire to it as it's been such a pest. It looked better in the Ebay pictures. He was still making fairly serious repairs to the car on Friday night.

Body work is a bit tatty I have to admit, but interior seems ok.

However, where it gets fun is when you start the engine. 3.2l turbo diesel engine.

This thing drives like a sportscar. You really don't notice the lack of rev range, this thing picks up speed like you would not believe. Took a friend for a ride in it earlier, and all he could say was "if I owned this, might as well throw my driving license away". It really is delightful when pressing on the loud pedal - not that it makes that much noise either!

I just WISH they would have brought engines into the US like this one. This car just rocks.

I've noticed it doesn't like changing to 4th though. Gearbox seems determined to give you as much of the 350lbs of torque in the engine at any time, which really isn't my style of driving these day. I would prefer it if it shifted up a bit earlier, and I'm using the manaul + button on the gearknob to make it change up occasionally.

Great car.