[Arragonis]

Long time and no update, work has been busy.

Hermann has continued to confound and annoy and be very nice on a long journey at the same time. I need to update the fuel history at some point but in warmer weather it has gone up by about 5-10% depending on the journey. I used and abused him by getting him to carry rocks, soil, drain pipes and gravel which he has done fine - this is a working car after all.

Also from other sources I have discovered that Hermann does indeed have that disaster known as the DPF. On the A6 a DPF was specified as an option on most models until 2010 except for the Allroad. It was an option which was rarely chosen but it looks like Hermann's first owner cared enough to specify it, but not enough to do anything more than the basic "long life" servicing - oil change in 18K miles ? Muppet.

Normally I would just look to ensure that the DPF could be bypassed but the EU has dictated (ahem - bit of politics) that DPFs are now part of the emissions test which is part also of the annual safety (aka MOT) test for vehicles over 3 years old. Basically like catalysts if it was fitted when the car was sold it must be fitted when the test is done and be working - not sure how they confirm the last bit though...

I found this out at the start of July but Hermann passed an MOT in June so I assume his DPF is OK which is a relief, or the tester had no clue about how to test it.

Otherwise he is fine, 70 MPH remains superb at under 2K RPM and a steady 48 MPG, the gearbox is a dumb as any auto box can be and the SLine suspension and 19 inch wheels are reorganising my spine on a daily basis.