The radiator hoses are as old as the car bar a few that have been changed in the last 24 years. The radiator looks pretty good, the hoses look alright as well, I just had some problems before out of the blue so that’s why I’m a bit worried. I also had slight ovearheating last year during searing summer days under either very high load (slow and steep climb with 4 heavy dudes and luggage) or inching in traffic with the AC on. Nothing a short stop at idle with the AC off wouldn’t fix

I have some nice grippy summer tires that I used for a single season, so that should be okay. The spares will come from the winter set which are a bit older but they are good enough as spares (I wouldn’t drive on them for another season, but I tend get new tires after two seasons max).

Maintenence under my watch was pretty consistent. The car is at the shop to take care of anything I neglected. They’re changing the cambelt, waterpump, rocker cover gasket, a few bushings, pretty much the entire exhaust system and a few bits here and there. Pads are brand new, haven’t had the chance to bed them in yet.

Last year I went on a similar trip (roughly 2000km but only 1-2 passes in mild weather) and things went great. Now there will be a LOT of climbing and descending and it’s the height of summer.

Honestly I trust the car, but I like to be prepared. It’s an old hile milage hero (about 470k on the clock) with the venerable VAG 1.8T (and a cheeky map). On paper it has no business running, much less doing this sort of stuff, but it never let me down regardless of not being easy on it. If I had the time and money until the trip I would jury rig a sprinkler above the intercooler to cool the charge air a little further, but I don’t see how it would go well at this stage.