We went on holiday the past week, in total we did 2500 km (1500 miles) from Belgium through Germany and Austria to the Dolomite mountains in Italy. Destination: Hotel Cristal. For whoever wants to visit: excellent service, excellent food, excellent wine collection at very reasonable prices, large spa facilities, in the heart of the most beautiful mountain range in Europe. And owned by a car loving family 
Now, the car:
Good things:
- We averaged about 100km/u (60 mph) both on the way to Italy, and on the way back. Car is absolutely stable at speed; however we could not max it due to traffic and road conditions. Highest speed was something like 220km/u (136mph); comfortable cruising at about 160km/h (100mph).
- Fuel use was OK, 9,5l/100km over the entire trip (including some spirited mountain driving). Highway only was 8.5.
- Airco had no trouble keeping up, even at speed, at outside temperatures up to 38°C.
- Plenty of room for luggage, and no noticeable difference in performance on the return trip loaded with wine.
- The Cupra was just about narrow enough to be able to use the left lane in road works (often restricted to 2.1m)
Bad things:
- The satnav. The one in our Leon ST FR was - a lot ! - better and easier to use. The Ateca satnav absolutely refused to include the Fern pass and the Brenner pass, insisted instead sending us over Munich. Another gripe is the incomprehensible way addresses are formed (where do you enter a house number??), the fact that some street and city names in South-Tyrol had to be entered in German (main language there), others in Italian (second language). When searching for POI, sometimes it would something, sometimes not. Traffic info was hit and miss, depending on the radio station selected.
- The gearbox in "comfort" mode. Absolutely dimwitted, and as good as unusable in the mountains. In sport however, everything came together so much so, I did not feel the need to use the paddles.
- Cupra mode: unusable due to road conditions, everywhere we tested. The slightest ridge makes the car start to bounce, very uncomfortable and very negative impact on handling. Sport mode however, and even better the individual mode (engine, gearbox, steering, brakes "sporty", suspension in comfort) were fine.
Words of caution:
- petrol prices in Germany are going through the roof, highest we saw was 1.75€/l
- don't count on Waze, Google Maps, Spotify or any other service needing a data connection: coverage is patchy in South Germany and in the mountains in Italy - and phone coverage does not equal 4G data. Checked with 3 recent iPhones, all using different carriers
- don't imagine all highways in Germany are unrestricted. A 20km stretch unrestricted "bahn" is rare, open road without trucks or old idiots doing their best to slow you down is even rarer. We had the distinct impression people pulled out in front of us on purpose, and on 2 occasions I was forced to overtake on the right because people absolutely refused to move over (at 60mph in an unrestricted stretch). Note: flashing your headlights to alert them they are in the way is allowed in Germany. Honking is not.
- Germany: on weekdays you have trucks (see above), on weekends you have (more) caravans and more tourist traffic.
Now, the car:
Good things:
- We averaged about 100km/u (60 mph) both on the way to Italy, and on the way back. Car is absolutely stable at speed; however we could not max it due to traffic and road conditions. Highest speed was something like 220km/u (136mph); comfortable cruising at about 160km/h (100mph).
- Fuel use was OK, 9,5l/100km over the entire trip (including some spirited mountain driving). Highway only was 8.5.
- Airco had no trouble keeping up, even at speed, at outside temperatures up to 38°C.
- Plenty of room for luggage, and no noticeable difference in performance on the return trip loaded with wine.
- The Cupra was just about narrow enough to be able to use the left lane in road works (often restricted to 2.1m)
Bad things:
- The satnav. The one in our Leon ST FR was - a lot ! - better and easier to use. The Ateca satnav absolutely refused to include the Fern pass and the Brenner pass, insisted instead sending us over Munich. Another gripe is the incomprehensible way addresses are formed (where do you enter a house number??), the fact that some street and city names in South-Tyrol had to be entered in German (main language there), others in Italian (second language). When searching for POI, sometimes it would something, sometimes not. Traffic info was hit and miss, depending on the radio station selected.
- The gearbox in "comfort" mode. Absolutely dimwitted, and as good as unusable in the mountains. In sport however, everything came together so much so, I did not feel the need to use the paddles.
- Cupra mode: unusable due to road conditions, everywhere we tested. The slightest ridge makes the car start to bounce, very uncomfortable and very negative impact on handling. Sport mode however, and even better the individual mode (engine, gearbox, steering, brakes "sporty", suspension in comfort) were fine.
Words of caution:
- petrol prices in Germany are going through the roof, highest we saw was 1.75€/l
- don't count on Waze, Google Maps, Spotify or any other service needing a data connection: coverage is patchy in South Germany and in the mountains in Italy - and phone coverage does not equal 4G data. Checked with 3 recent iPhones, all using different carriers
- don't imagine all highways in Germany are unrestricted. A 20km stretch unrestricted "bahn" is rare, open road without trucks or old idiots doing their best to slow you down is even rarer. We had the distinct impression people pulled out in front of us on purpose, and on 2 occasions I was forced to overtake on the right because people absolutely refused to move over (at 60mph in an unrestricted stretch). Note: flashing your headlights to alert them they are in the way is allowed in Germany. Honking is not.
- Germany: on weekdays you have trucks (see above), on weekends you have (more) caravans and more tourist traffic.
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