Hollywood

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Wednesday – Summer Bug

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Jeremy  Owning a Beetle was a right of passage back in the 1970s. Jessica drove hers from the family home in Cornwall to the south of France to ‘study French‘ – my blue convertible was a complete disaster and ended up in a court case!

Even so, just like a classic film that should never be reworked by modern day Hollywood, there were plenty around who argued that VW should not have brought the Beetle back 13 years ago in a modernised form.

I owned one of those too, to go with my 1963 VW camper van. But while one of them had bags of charisma and oozed cool, the other didn’t. No prizes for guessing which.

So, the arrival of the new ‘new’ Beetle this morning was greeted with mixed emotions. More butch, better looking and equipped with a much stronger range of engines, how does the latest model fare?

Well, all I can tell you so far after a quick drive to the shops, is that the Beetle is considerably better than the last one. I’m loving the stylish interior, the attention to detail – and that fact the sun started shining the minute it pulled up on the driveway.

More tomorrow when I’ve soaked up the atmosphere a little more…

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Tuesday – Singing in the Rain

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Jessica We have left the contrasting elements of Le Mans behind, from the medieval city with Roman walls, cobbled streets (frequented by Hollywood filmmakers for movies such as Cerano de Bergerac), 14th Century stained glass in the cathedral on an epic scale, to the vast expanse of the Le Mans 24 hour circuit poised for the next pilgrimage and we are off to visit Giverny the home of Monet and his garden.

The BMW takes us with absolute ease and comfort through very British driving rain across expanses of open countryside on roads which, despite the conditions, are hugely enjoyable to drive on, overtaking (with a handy co pilot for vision) is a breeze and the heads up display keeps you up to date with your speed it feels very Top Gun fighter jet.

Sadly due to weather we did not speed drive around Le Mans in a Bugatti or have the roof down on the BMW for any length of time but the car was no less appealing and satisfying to drive as a result.

My only difficulty with this car so far is planning my seating position with the seemingly infinite buttons to be pushed, pulled lifted or pressed, I found being a passenger most testing as somehow I could not get the ideal position for a long drive. (Could be my build of course, however you would have thought with all that choice, being above average height would not be an issue).