Betsy has an adventure!

[Mincey]

Today, I had to take the current Mrs Mincey to the hospital at Stanmore for a checkup. I will freely admit that I was looking forward to it, because it would give the ideal opportunity to compare the trip in Betsy against the same trip in my IS300h. The trip to Stanmore was, incidentally, the furthest I'd driven in the IS300h during our short acquaintance. Anyway, I digress, which I'm sure you will all agree, is not unusual. 

It was an early start - the appointment was at 9am. This meant an alarm for 5.30, then departure at 7am sharp. I had primed Waze with the route, as I wanted to see how it worked with guidance via Android Auto. All was good. All suddenly stopped being good at around 6.32. Mrs Mincey was watching BBC Breakfast when the local travel reporter announced that the A1 was shut southbound. I checked Waze. Waze now told me that the trip would be 92 miles, not 65, and that it would take two and a half hours. This was not good news. Not at all, in any way, shape or form. We had to leave immediately.

Shoes were hastily put on and and coats grabbed. Betsy was roused and we set off in a Northampton-ish direction to pick up the M1 as suggested by Waze. When we reached the junction of the Peterborough Parkway system with the A1, it was congested to say the least. Luckily we were going towards Oundle, so we could dodge the queue. This is where it started to go a bit wrong. I used to use this route to get to Redditch and Coventry in a previous life as it was the quickest way to get to the westbound A14. I recall it being a pain in the derriere on occasions, and boy, it was hard work today. Queues at the Oundle roundabout, queues all the way from the edge of Thrapston to the A14 junction. I was not a happy bunny at all. Mind you, Betsy was being very kind on the mpg front as most of the movement was being done electrically. Nice one my lovely. 

As we approached the A14 roundabout, I put a question to the current Mrs Mincey. I wanted her to confirm my suspicion that if we headed down the A14 towards the A1, we would miss the part which was closed and be able to continue on our merry way southbound. She concurred. After waiting for what seemed like months in the queue to reach the roundabout, I sped off on the first left into the bright sunsheeeeine (as Liam Gallagher would say) towards Huntingdon. At this point, Waze got the hump badly. It kept trying to route us back home. I was not impressed at all. In fact, it was only when were were 5 minutes away from Stanmore that it finally understood what we were doing and routed us in a sensible direction for the remainder of the journey.

Once on the A1, we hit the usual holdups at the Black Cat Roundabout (although the Black Cat was sporting a poppy, which was a nice touch) then Sandy, Biggleswade and Stevenage. To be honest, Stevenage wasn't too bad, unlike the run up to the roundabout near Elstree. This part was made worse by having to endure the awful Zoe Ball talking pretty much non-stop to Sophie Ellis-Bextor about her 24 hour dance marathon thing for Children in Need. At this point, I should point out that I would normally be listening to Planet Rock, but the current Mrs Mincey has gone on record to say that only people who haven't grown up listen to that, hence having to suffer Radio 2. 

We arrived at 9.30 which given the circumstances wasn't too bad. Just about everyone else who was there was complaining about the traffic, so I didn't feel too bad. They always run late there anyway. The return journey went without any dramas. I followed a white LC500 for a bit around Welwyn - I shall grab some stills off the dashcam at some point and post them here in case it's anyone we know.

Now the bit you've all been waiting for. How did the trip in Betsy compare to the trip in the IS300h? I cannot compare how tired I felt after each trip because after an early start preceded by a restless night, I'm knackered anyway. However, I have to say that Betsy is much more comfortable than the IS. Mrs Mincey said she found Betsy's seats didn't squeeze her ample bottom at all, unlike the seats in the IS. Betsy is so smooth and feels so planted on the road - no skittish behaviour or bouncing over bumps. She does have a slightly annoying reflection of the instrument binnacle on the windscreen in direct sun however. Other than that, tick VG all round. Crawling in traffic is much smoother than in the IS as there is no jerk when taking off, and she is very, very quiet at motorway speeds. MPG? This wasn't a true test because I'd done a couple of short trips after filling up, but I did get an indicated 47.4mpg and an Excel-derived 46.4 which isn't bad. I did get 51ish from the IS on the same trip, but I did drive like a girl on the way back. All in all, I'm very happy. I'm happy too because Mrs Mincey has been signed off and I won't have to make that journey anymore. Yay!

[Vlady]

James, if you are not by now then you should be a writer and write nice and easy reading stories like that! 

Very glad you enjoy the Betsy, I like them (ES) more and more! 

[Mincey]

Curses! I've just checked the dashcam's SD card and the clips with the white LC have been overwritten. Yours Truly forgot that as it's recording front and back, there's only half the space now and even though it's a 32GB card, this is about an hour and a half's worth of footage. Time for a larger SD card methinks. Anyway, it was a 17 plate LC and I'm sure it was a hybrid.

[dutchie01]

James you have given me a problem..

I have been following your adventures with Betsy and every time i now spot a new ES i think  'look a Betsy!"

Cannot get it out of my mind!

Keep the adventures coming please love them!