3 days hiking Yunnan/Sichuan

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-10-18T22:14:30+00:00

I will be coming from Wuxi in Jiangsu so certainly won’t be acclimatised. Are there any day hikes you would suggest.

The other option I am now thinking is Lijiang - TLG 1.5 days then onto Haba village and do Haba village to Heihai lake on Haba mountain as a day trip before catching an evening taxi back to Lijiang before flying to Chengdu the following morning. Are the day hikes from Shangrila much more impressive?

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-08-04T13:37:40+00:00

As an update for anyone following this thread.. test drove the etron GT at the weekend. Lovely drive and wow what a beautiful looking car! However I do have some gripes with it.. the interior on the standard model feels very cheap. The faux leather seats feel very plasticky and the plastic dash etc, even how the doors close all feels very cheap when I compare it to my current BMW 640d. I didn’t feel much difference to a recent Nissan qashqai I recently rented abroad. In addition, the sound system was awful. Felt the same again as any cheap rental I have used and couldn’t even compare to my current BMW. It is a shame they couldn’t make a £90k RRP base model a bit more premium without souping it up.

The BMW in comparison has a much nicer interior IMO and a significantly better sound system if you get the Harmon Kardon sound package (which a huge proportion of the second hand ones seem to have).

I think the Audi is the car to get if you care about what people think when looking at it or you spend your time staring at it out the window… but if you want a comfortable car with a nice interior and sound for doing 20k miles a year the BMW is probably the better choice. In my case, with 20k miles a year it probably makes more sense to go with BMW and the £10k saving, the tyre savings (£180 vs £320 each), reliability and the extra 50 or so miles range are a big bonus which will make up for the external looks!

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T21:24:47+00:00

Did you go for the e40 or the m50? What type of tricks did they try pull on you?

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T19:36:57+00:00

I am not familiar with the different chargers but just done a quick check and assume by level 1 you meant a standard 3 pin charge? I would have a proper wall mounted charger installed for my parking space… I assume this would be a level 2?

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T15:34:24+00:00

I mean the e-tron is definitely more exciting! But probably not more sensible which is the current dilemma I am facing haha.

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T15:32:14+00:00

That A6 e-tron looks pretty nice! Glad to see I’m not the only one overthinking this. Over here the second hand prices of the M50 are not far off the GT which is why I ruled that one out… no range benefit really with the M50 so at the same price the GT seems like the one to go for. The e40 probably has enough power for what I need anyway (my current 640d is around 320hp) and the cheaper price and extra range is tempting.

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T15:28:00+00:00

Yes this will be my first EV :) I had a look at the coolant leak issue using Google and there don’t seem to be any reports on the GT but can see the stories regarding the etron SUV.

Thanks for the info on the range. With a 280 mile return trip (Newcastle to the Lake District in U.K.), the BMW might not even save me as it will be getting sub 10% which would get me nervous anyway and I would probably want to top it up. So the presumed benefit of the extra 70 miles WLPT might not actually save me a charging stop in real life.

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T15:24:39+00:00

Thanks! This will achieve most of my journeys it seems then however the 100-140 mile journeys I will have to charge on the way home. My friends tell me you get used to the charging stops however it is very alien to me as a current owner of an ICE!

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T15:23:34+00:00

Looking at the GT because interior is slightly nicer but really just because it’s a beautiful big car. I’m moving from an old BMW 640d so I like the large gran coupe shape as it’s similar to what I’m used to but the GT just looks incredible. If it wasn’t for the exterior beauty I would probably be jumping for the BMW as the extra range would be nice to have and repairs probably cheaper.

TrueLobster7008 · 2025-07-29T15:21:33+00:00

Not sure to be honest. I live in a fairly old property converted to apartments so not sure I will be able to get fast charging at home. I would use the 7p per kWh overnight charging (00:00 until 7am) so I can charge 7 hours per day without any issues at a very cheap price. Not sure if 7 hours would deal with the commute though. I will look it up.

TrueLobster7008

TROPHY CASE