modocrat
Well-known member
A straitjacket and some Panado syrup should get you to your destination in peace.
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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
JHB to Cape Town trip advice
- Thread starter HexBeemer
- Start date
Bugger
///Member
You wouldn't believe me if I told you Panado has the opposite effect, it's like dosing him with pure adrenaline. Oh well, he loves cars (don't know where he gets that from) and I think he'll love the drive. Fascinated by windmills so he should get to see a fair few of those in the Karoo.
Yeah you ST, it's more a curiosity thing than anything regarding the consumption. Think the car will love the open air, with so much torque I think overtaking will be so simple, the ride smooth, lots to look forward to.
Sorry for the thread hijack!
December 2023 I drove up from Cape Town to Pretoria.
From Cape Town went to Worcester on the N1. Road is fine, and you get to choose tunnel or mini mountain pass.
Then from there go on to Route62 (R62). This road was newly paved most of the way, all the way to De Rust almost.
Slept over at Meier's Rust. Will go back again, but we booked Luxuary Chalet 2, because car. IF you have seen the road to their camp site, you need 4x4.
Then you do Meirings poort mountain pass, always a must for me when out this direction. Lovely waterfall.
Now the next part of the road towards Beaufort West, used to be very narrow road I disliked, but to my surprise, it was completely redone, with space on the sides of the lanes. A much safer and nicer drive now. A real pleasant surprise this was.
Next part from Beaufort West before jumping on to the N12, was I think the most annoying part with traffic. But once on to the N12, good quality road, some trucks but very few compared to what we experienced on the N1 short part.
Slept over in Kimbery after visiting the big hole for the kid to see.
Next day, the N12 was a great stretch of road again. Then made the mistake of getting of early because waze thought there too much traffic. Will not do that again.
Then on the way back from Pretoria to Cape Town, did the whole route via the N1. Honestly, wish I made a wiser choice when booking a place to sleep over on the way down.
We slept over on a farm just outside of Richmond. Farm was great, but it was 38 degrees, and Eskom had an outage to the farm so no power, no fan, no fridge for drinks, it was unpleasant.
The last day, my favorite part was stopping over at Matjiesfontein for lunch at the hotel (with kid you cant do it at the bar like I used to in the past). Great food and you get to go to the car musuem there, they had the cars parked outside as well. Also, it was on the list to pick up their only craft beer, which is something I like tasting an drinking on the side.
Honestly, if you want to enjoy the trip, the N12 is a great alternative. Longer, but far more enjoyable and easier driving. You can do the N2 towards the end, but R62 has lots to offer if you willing.
From Cape Town went to Worcester on the N1. Road is fine, and you get to choose tunnel or mini mountain pass.
Then from there go on to Route62 (R62). This road was newly paved most of the way, all the way to De Rust almost.
Slept over at Meier's Rust. Will go back again, but we booked Luxuary Chalet 2, because car. IF you have seen the road to their camp site, you need 4x4.
Then you do Meirings poort mountain pass, always a must for me when out this direction. Lovely waterfall.
Now the next part of the road towards Beaufort West, used to be very narrow road I disliked, but to my surprise, it was completely redone, with space on the sides of the lanes. A much safer and nicer drive now. A real pleasant surprise this was.
Next part from Beaufort West before jumping on to the N12, was I think the most annoying part with traffic. But once on to the N12, good quality road, some trucks but very few compared to what we experienced on the N1 short part.
Slept over in Kimbery after visiting the big hole for the kid to see.
Next day, the N12 was a great stretch of road again. Then made the mistake of getting of early because waze thought there too much traffic. Will not do that again.
Then on the way back from Pretoria to Cape Town, did the whole route via the N1. Honestly, wish I made a wiser choice when booking a place to sleep over on the way down.
We slept over on a farm just outside of Richmond. Farm was great, but it was 38 degrees, and Eskom had an outage to the farm so no power, no fan, no fridge for drinks, it was unpleasant.
The last day, my favorite part was stopping over at Matjiesfontein for lunch at the hotel (with kid you cant do it at the bar like I used to in the past). Great food and you get to go to the car musuem there, they had the cars parked outside as well. Also, it was on the list to pick up their only craft beer, which is something I like tasting an drinking on the side.
Honestly, if you want to enjoy the trip, the N12 is a great alternative. Longer, but far more enjoyable and easier driving. You can do the N2 towards the end, but R62 has lots to offer if you willing.
Bugger
///Member
Took 18 hours door to door via the Klein Karoo. Reason being.... Had a blow out 40kms outside Bloem on the CT side. Close to a place called Tom's Place, just past the off-ramp there's a section of road badly damaged due to a truck accident a few weeks back. The road is basically obliterated and there's no warnings of imminent danger. Hit a hole at 130 and it obliterated my front right wheel (to the extent that I am now in CT waiting for my insurance to pay out on a new rim before I head back to JHB, and the new rim is.... In JHB). Had to get flat bedded back to Bloemfontein BMW, then get a new tyre fitted onto an oval rim before we could continue.
Otherwise the road is actually in great condition. Road works between Colesburg and Graaf Reinet, two stop and gos, but the road all the way to Barrydale is in great condition. Troudouw Pass to the N2 has been recently resurfaced so it's also in tip top shape. N2 to Somerset West is also great. Would've been a 15 hour drive door to door had it not been for the Bloem incident.
With regards the incident in Bloem, I will say that Sovereign BMW in Bloemfontein were incredible with their assistance. Blown away. A few dealerships in Jozi could learn a thing a two. But a very special mention must go to BMW Roadside Assistance. When I hit the SOS button in the car, from then until I was back on the road they phoned every half an hour to check on my situation, they even phoned around Bloem to about 8 tyre places looking for my correct tyre, found a place, got the cost from the fitment centre, directed me, informed the fitment centre of my situation and continued to track my safety and progress the whole time. In short they were brilliant and provided amazing peace of mind to myself and my wife.
To all the people who get rims form BMW when they have a roadside blow out and don't return those rims, shame on you.
Now just waiting for my replacement rim (at a cost of R17,000) from insurance.
However, the road was great. I'd always recommend the Klein Karoo route for a stress free drive if you're prepared to do an extra 2-300kms over the N1 route. Personal choice. If I'm in Bloem during daylight I'll take a photo of the damage to the road and a pin drop of we exactly where it is.
Otherwise the road is actually in great condition. Road works between Colesburg and Graaf Reinet, two stop and gos, but the road all the way to Barrydale is in great condition. Troudouw Pass to the N2 has been recently resurfaced so it's also in tip top shape. N2 to Somerset West is also great. Would've been a 15 hour drive door to door had it not been for the Bloem incident.
With regards the incident in Bloem, I will say that Sovereign BMW in Bloemfontein were incredible with their assistance. Blown away. A few dealerships in Jozi could learn a thing a two. But a very special mention must go to BMW Roadside Assistance. When I hit the SOS button in the car, from then until I was back on the road they phoned every half an hour to check on my situation, they even phoned around Bloem to about 8 tyre places looking for my correct tyre, found a place, got the cost from the fitment centre, directed me, informed the fitment centre of my situation and continued to track my safety and progress the whole time. In short they were brilliant and provided amazing peace of mind to myself and my wife.
To all the people who get rims form BMW when they have a roadside blow out and don't return those rims, shame on you.
Now just waiting for my replacement rim (at a cost of R17,000) from insurance.
However, the road was great. I'd always recommend the Klein Karoo route for a stress free drive if you're prepared to do an extra 2-300kms over the N1 route. Personal choice. If I'm in Bloem during daylight I'll take a photo of the damage to the road and a pin drop of we exactly where it is.
Schalk94
Active member
I also did in 2017 in 12 hours with an F30 320d,and coincidentally had zero fines on the way there and back,they just caught me in Rooi Els while sight seeing,figures...
StrollingCoal
Active member
Pity about the incident, the roads around Bloem are really terrible. It's always an adventure driving around here.
I must say the service at BMW Bloemfontein has improved greatly over the last few years. Also, I live right up the road from them, if anyone is in the area pop over for a coffee
Sabretooth tiger
///Member
I also lost a tire on my drive down with my move last year. Fortunately the rim was ok enough till I got it repaired a few months later.
Sabretooth tiger
///Member
Bugger
///Member
He was actually epic on the drive down. Loved the windmills that he saw. And thanks for the heads up. We're heading to Hermanus on Saturday morning for a week and going Rooi Els, but keen for a drive around the peninsula so will definitely keep that in mind, thanks ST!
individj
Well-known member
Whale Coast Fisheries in Hermanus sells nice fresh fish as well as great fish & chip parcels ...also Perlie skewers if youre that way inclined....Harold Porter Garden (enroute to Rooi Els) is also very nice with a short walk to a nice waterfall...if you haven't already been.
Blue Shirt
Well-known member
Be sure to have lunch or dinner at the Gossip Corner in Rooiels.
Bugger
///Member
So, trip completed. Got back at 2am this morning, 2 weeks to the minute after leaving. The drive back was 17 hours, but that was due to a miscalculation on my part, which included about 30kms odd on dirt roads (must be the best dirt roads I've ever driven on) when we left Hermanus and headed up past Gaansbaai, landed up going too far and then heading to Bredasdorp through the farms on the R43, which was incredibly scenic to say the least.
I was going to head to George and up the Outeniqua Pass, but there were road works on the N2 that would've added considerable time to the trip, so I went up to Barrydale off the N2 via the Tradou Pass which was just as good going back as going down. The road from there to JHB was fantastic, lots of truck traffic though which was a bit unexpected, but nothing that wasn't too difficult to cope with.
There are stop and goes from about 20kms outside Colesberg that added 30 minutes on for travel, and then from Colesberg towards Bloem the truck traffic was pretty heavy again, but the road is in great condition and the truckers were actually pretty good, even though the trend of moving into the yellow lane is definitely a thing of the past now. There's obviously that road damage 40kms outside of Bloem on the CT side, managed to avoid it and not have a repeat of the trip going down, which I think has caused some serious underlying damage to my car sadly.
We left Hermanus at 845am yesterday morning, got home at 145am this morning, so a solid 17 hours, including stopping in Oudtshoorn and Colesberg for fuel and a bite to eat, a bio break for the missus in Aberdeen, again in Bloem (she's got a bladder the size of a Zippo), and one stop for the little fella to discover the wonders of peeing in the wild. Classy.
All in all, I'd give the quality of the roads a solid 8 out of 10, one or two rough patches, but again nothing that you won't be able to cope with. If you're not going N1, then I would highly recommend the Klein Karoo route, that scenery is just spectacular, the roads amazing (funny how as you cross from the Eastern Cape into the Western Cape, the lines are freshly painted in the WC and the road just felt better, dunno if it was just my imagination, but hey, a boy can dream).
As for the car, other than the incident in Bloem, the car was faultless, and the torque made overtaking (even in Eco Pro) as easy as you can get, such a different torque delivery to any of the M's I've driven. The comfort is fantastic, I don't feel any discomfort this morning, and the ride quality on that air suspension is sublime.
From a fuel economy perspective, very impressed. I left JHB with my average consumption sitting at 18.6/100 (car definitely does not like town driving!), and got home last night with it now at 15.9/100, so a reduction of 2.7/100 over the trip, so my maths being bad I don't know what that actually averaged out at on the open road, I'd guess around maybe 10/100 give or take. I stuck to speed limits the entire trip, using cruise control. I found that to be far more relaxing that hitting higher speeds (yup, that is a signal that old age has smacked me like a ginger stepkid).
Glad to be home safe and sound.
I was going to head to George and up the Outeniqua Pass, but there were road works on the N2 that would've added considerable time to the trip, so I went up to Barrydale off the N2 via the Tradou Pass which was just as good going back as going down. The road from there to JHB was fantastic, lots of truck traffic though which was a bit unexpected, but nothing that wasn't too difficult to cope with.
There are stop and goes from about 20kms outside Colesberg that added 30 minutes on for travel, and then from Colesberg towards Bloem the truck traffic was pretty heavy again, but the road is in great condition and the truckers were actually pretty good, even though the trend of moving into the yellow lane is definitely a thing of the past now. There's obviously that road damage 40kms outside of Bloem on the CT side, managed to avoid it and not have a repeat of the trip going down, which I think has caused some serious underlying damage to my car sadly.
We left Hermanus at 845am yesterday morning, got home at 145am this morning, so a solid 17 hours, including stopping in Oudtshoorn and Colesberg for fuel and a bite to eat, a bio break for the missus in Aberdeen, again in Bloem (she's got a bladder the size of a Zippo), and one stop for the little fella to discover the wonders of peeing in the wild. Classy.
All in all, I'd give the quality of the roads a solid 8 out of 10, one or two rough patches, but again nothing that you won't be able to cope with. If you're not going N1, then I would highly recommend the Klein Karoo route, that scenery is just spectacular, the roads amazing (funny how as you cross from the Eastern Cape into the Western Cape, the lines are freshly painted in the WC and the road just felt better, dunno if it was just my imagination, but hey, a boy can dream).
As for the car, other than the incident in Bloem, the car was faultless, and the torque made overtaking (even in Eco Pro) as easy as you can get, such a different torque delivery to any of the M's I've driven. The comfort is fantastic, I don't feel any discomfort this morning, and the ride quality on that air suspension is sublime.
From a fuel economy perspective, very impressed. I left JHB with my average consumption sitting at 18.6/100 (car definitely does not like town driving!), and got home last night with it now at 15.9/100, so a reduction of 2.7/100 over the trip, so my maths being bad I don't know what that actually averaged out at on the open road, I'd guess around maybe 10/100 give or take. I stuck to speed limits the entire trip, using cruise control. I found that to be far more relaxing that hitting higher speeds (yup, that is a signal that old age has smacked me like a ginger stepkid).
Glad to be home safe and sound.
Sabretooth tiger
///Member
Happy to year you and your family are back safely. Sounds like you had a very nice road trip.
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