Car (or bike) Chat!

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Originally Posted by Marco

Aye, and probably still a horny bastard, eh? :D

Marco.

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Well, I reckon I may have to ease up on the weight training and sex a bit by then. :eek:

Expensive bonfire!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...t-hour-bought/

Car insurance renewal £631 quoted. For a sub 1000cc small hatchback driven by a pensioner with a clean licence and no claims and mileage under 4000 miles a year. Ridiculous. I shall have to haggle with them as I usually do.

try uswitch. i got a chunk off mine and better cover

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Originally Posted by struth

try uswitch. i got a chunk off mine and better cover

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I shop around each year, but still get the best quote from Aviva, who I've been with for about ten years now.

I dare say I can get the premium down a bit with some haggling, it usually works. I got £400 taken off last year's renewal quote for cover on two cars.

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Originally Posted by User211

So I actually ended up in one of these for 45 minutes. In white. Don't like white. Or yellow:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkJlG3wjRyI

Comfortable? Yes. People think these cars are going to be uncomfortable but they aren't. This I would say was just a tinsy bit less comfortable than my Boxster. Still very comfortable, in other words. The longer the drive you have in these cars, the more comfortable you think they are. Strange phenomenon.

Fast? Sure, faster than mine. Sonics? You can hear a whistle from the turbos. When I got back in mine I actually thought it sounded better. Because it does.

Worth the extra money? Well, I don't really think so. The trouble is the Boxsters and Caimans are so good, these have a tough time warranting the extra money. And it is a lot more money.

My vote for the most impressive bang for your buck would be a Caiman 981. You don't even need the S variant, the basic 981 is pretty fabulous really. But you can't take the lid down like a Boxster, which wrecks summer fun. It drives better than my Boxster (not by much but you do realise it) and the naturally aspirated flat 6 is more fun than the 718, though a tad slower.

Don't get me wrong this is a better car. But just look at the frigging price of it. Relatively, not worth it for me. By a long shot. More than happy with mine when I got back in it. It looks a lot better too to my eyes.

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My sister has a Boxster, and what a fun car! A sporty convertible that goes plenty fast enough to get you in trouble, and a 2 seater convertible! What's not to like? The problem with owning a race car is having all that power and not being able to use it. Unless you've got a track, it's just frustrating. You'll wind up with a glove box full of tickets. I vote for the Boxster and spent the rest of the money on your stereo!


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Originally Posted by walpurgis

Is it industry driving the trend towards non-internal combustion cars or is legislation? Or both?

I can see that this is happening to 'protect the environment', but does it? Nobody seems to address the environmental impact of producing highly toxic batteries and eventually having to safely recycle them. Or the enviromental cost of producing electricity to power electric vehicles as compared to burning hydrocarbon fuel (not all of it is fossil fuel). Hybrid vehicles I suspect are an interim non-solution.

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I agree, the push towards electric doesn't make all that much sense. The electricity has to be made somewhere? At a coal burning plant? Plus the disposal of the batteries, etc. and if by magic tomorrow there were no more gas powered cars, and all were electric, a billion people in the Middle East would starve to death. I'm not sure what is motivating the push to Electric, but it's not well thought out.


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How much oxygen does a electric car use compaired with a petrol ?

The world is cutting down trees at a alarming rate :eek:

My view is that the next extiction will be as a result of human pollution / contamination , may sound extreme but we all have views

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Originally Posted by alphaGT

I agree, the push towards electric doesn't make all that much sense. The electricity has to be made somewhere? At a coal burning plant? Plus the disposal of the batteries, etc. and if by magic tomorrow there were no more gas powered cars, and all were electric, a billion people in the Middle East would starve to death. I'm not sure what is motivating the push to Electric, but it's not well thought out.

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Thoughts that come to mind regarding future 'electrification' and use of personal transport.

It won't be any good hanging onto an old petrol 'classic' like say a Morris Minor or MGB. 'Cos where will you get fuel if petrol ceases to be generally available? You can't stockpile modern petrol, as it has a very limited 'shelf life', literally only months, unless you use additives and they don't extend that time by much. Diesel can be stored for years I believe. Although I think storing significant amounts of fuel is illegal anyway.

There will need to be an awful lot of charging points provided. You'd probably need one at home too. How will your breakdown recovery people get you going again if you get stranded with no energy left in your battery?

I've no doubt that personal transport will be tightly controlled in times to come. Vehicles automatically governed to local speed limits. Maybe even the times of day you can be on the road and where you go controlled as well.

Just think of the power the government could have. In times of emergency, vehicles just shut down by remote signal. Charging points turned off by the authorities at any time they see a need. The whole nation or selected areas literally becoming 'no go' zones.

A huge amount of control over people and their mobility will occur. It's bad enough already.

Are folk aware of the potentially crippling costs of running an all electric car?


With modern hybrid vehicles it is clear that some parts are monstrously expensive to replace.


Taking the Toyota Prius as an example.

A new battery pack for instance will cost thousands of pounds. See here: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...ent-cost-guide You will probably find the shown dollar prices equate to pound prices in this country.

Projected and actual battery life seems good, but there will be exceptions of course.


Electric motor/transmission units. These have been known to fail and in the UK expect possible cost of replacement new parts to be maybe £4000 to £5000.

Doesn't seem to be much info out there, but I found this: http://www.priusonline.com/22-toyota...transaxle.html


All the above will apply to wholly electric cars. Just think, if you are unlucky enough to experience battery and transmission failure, you could have a ten grand bill or a scrap car.