I was more than a tad annoyed when, in the middle of an isolated village in Staffordshire on fri. eve, the works Mondeo decided to opt for the quiet life by totally junking it's gearbox. To cut a long story short, the cheapskates could not (or rather would not) arrange a lease car for the weekend. And I needed one.....

So the Sportrak was pressed into service for a round trip of some 440 miles - Stoke to Sussex via Oxfordshire. I hurridly did some basic preparation, checked all levels, tightned belts, And she rose to the occasion brilliantly. I thought I'd end up having the fillings shaken from my teeth and being deafened at the end but not so. With the dampers on soft, it proved perfectly adept ride-wise on the motorways, and seemed to find it's own cruising speed at around 75 mph - although I did see an indicated 86 at one point on the M6 toll road.

Fuel worked out at 39 mpg for the whole trip (But my solicitor says I can charge work for that!), which even after me and the missus working it out twice, I still don't believe. The best moment came on the way back when I passed a new-ish Freelander on the hard shoulder having gone pop near Warwick. I couldn't help but feel a little smug as we shot past him, the little 4x4 of ours cheerfully speeding towards it's 400th mile of the weekend.

We had actually planned to sell it in a few weeks, and had had a look at one or two SWB Shoguns...

We won't now.