Driving to Italy in an '85 VW

peteretep

am i asking for trouble?
the sister is getting married in the summer to an italian, and they want some italian wine. we (me and the girlfriend) were thinking of taking off in the van and filling it up with the stuff and coming back.
So has anyone here driven to rome before? am i just asking for trouble driving that far in an old (but in great mechanical nick) van?
and if not, what is the best way to do it? Cork roscoff, rosslare cherbourg, or landbridge through england and go on the chunnel?
Thanks!

Hagar

1.) Work out how many bottles you think you can fit in your vehicle.
2.) Guess a purchase price per bottle in Italy.
3.) Calculate overall trip cost.
4.) Divide 3 by 1 and add 2 to give cost per bottle from Italy.
5.) If the answer to 4 is more than cost per bottle locally forget it, skip to end.
6.) If the answer to 4 is less than cost per bottle locally then so far so good.
7.) Using 1 calculate a weight for the number of bottles in 1.
8.) If you fully loaded vehicle exceeds it's designed fully laden weight reduce the number of bottles you intend to bring back and start off at 1 again.
9.) Do you really think an '85 VW is up to carrying that weight that far anyway?
10.) Forget the wine altogether, let the sister come up with the wine herself, just have a nice trip to France without putting yourself or your van under pressure.

peasant

If it helps any ...the van has been to Italy before. Only as far as Florence, mind ...but it knows half the way

One thing I would say is that on such a long trip, with a destination to get to on time, you musn't let yourself get pressured into driving too fast.

Long trips on the motorway at full speed are a surefire way to kill the engine. The little 1.6 TD just gets too hot. So you have to stick with the trucks, do the occasional overtaking maneuvre but try and stay at or under 100 km/h.

I drove the length of Germany once (and back) in a rush and it cost me a new cylinder head and turbo.

So if you don't mind driving looong stretches of motorway in behind the trucks ...go for it.

Ideally you'd do a trip like this with a bit of time on your hands and make a real road trip out of it, going along backroads

derden

i went to roscoff last year on a wine trip, they sell from every country so i'm sure you'd find a few nice Italain bottles there. Or are you looking for a certain bottle?

dollydishmop

Agree with Peasant. If the van is mechanically up to scratch, take it steady and you'll be absolutely grand!

peteretep

yup, i think its a certain bottle from a certain region.
but the main point of the trip would be to do it, filling up with the wine would just indicate the time to turn around.
ill do some maths like you suggest hagar. we went to france last year so would like to go a bit further this time.
thats interesting to know the van's been to italy before. how long did it take you? we would be planning on taking two weeks for the trip.
the roslare cherbourg ferry looks like the best option. whats the story with booking ferries, are they generally cheaper the earlier you book? and also does the price change much depending on what day or time of the year you go?
Thanks!

peasant

peteretep wrote: »

thats interesting to know the van's been to italy before. how long did it take you?

To Florence? ...about 6 - 7 hours
(but that was starting from near Munich and taking it easy:D:D) The prevoius owner used to go to Greece once a year.

Two weeks is cutting it fine, though. Depending on where you want to go and what route you take , you're looking at roughly 5000 km there and back ...that's a lot of driving.

Also make sure you do an oil change before you take off and bring some oil for topping up along the way

stapeler

The French have old laws governing how much "non French" alcahol/cigaretts can be transported without license through the country.
Per the article below Customs have powers to prevent "Alcahol trafficing" there are fines in place. Here's a link that might be of interest. So much for th EU....

Hagar

AFAIR it's much cheaper to use ferries mid week.
Petrol & diesel are more expensive in France than Ireland. The cheapest places to buy it are supermarket service stations. Avoid buying on the motorway as prices will typically be 15c to 20c dearer per litre. Current prices in my local station are approx €1.32 unleaded petrol and €1.24 diesel.