http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/06/bike-record-steve-abraham-longest-distance-cycle-yearlovly quote from steve near the end
And yet, and yet; subjected to some profoundly challenging driving conditions, it triumphed, and I decided I didn’t care what it looked like, or where the armrest was. Wednesday was spent driving alongside a cyclist while someone else took photos of him on miles of country road, causing huge inconvenience to other cars. I needed more than agility, which this has in surprising amounts; I needed enough acceleration that meant, when I’d finished, I could disappear at a speed that said, simultaneously, “I’m sorry for the delay,” and “Eat my shorts”. That I got. Does turbo-diesel get better all the time, or do my prejudices simply recede? The 2L TDI engine soared past everything.