Car (or bike) Chat!

[Alex_UK]

Nothing like the velocities Jon has manged, the biggest number I saw on the 'Blade was 156mph, on an empty M61. Never again. Scary how quickly they get there. I then had to roll off the throttle as the jacket I was wearing was quite loose fitting and acting like a sail. The bike's front end went very light. I believe jumbo jets take off at about 120mph, and they're heavy buggers

I did 150mph on my ZX6-R - on the insistence of a police motorcyclist... attending a charity run from Norwich to Lowestoft around 1999 when the bike was nearly new and they put all the faster modern bikes at the back. They closed off all the junctions onto the A47, but were keen not to disrupt the traffic too long. I was at the back, pootling along at 70 watching everyone else disappear into the distance - copper on his BMW came alongside and ushered me on until we caught up! I was crapping myself I have to say...

I did max it once, to about 165 on a very open straight stretch in Thetford forest, but never again. I just kept thinking a deer would dash out into the road. A friend of a friend was killed on a bike when his head hit a pheasant, so Bambi would have given me no chance.

[InThe Sticks]

We had a Smart car recovered in to us today that had apparently hit a pothole.
I think it was more of a sink hole to do that much damage..

[struth]

Daughter hit a pothole a few weeks ago and tore her tyre out. Nothing as bad as that tho. Must have hit it some force

[Marco]

Bloody hell... Probably too busy texting someone to keep their eyes on the road!

Marco.

[CageyH]

Bloody hell... And what's that no-name shitey cheap tyre on it, too?

Always amazes me how folks refuse to spend proper money on ultimately the only thing that keeps them on the road!

Marco.

A Dunlop I believe.

[Marco]

Lol - I noticed that. Thought it was some cheap Chinese shite, as I hadn't heard of 'blu response' before

Marco.

[CageyH]

If it was a Chinese tyre, would it have cornervirus?

I think it is an eco sporty model, or some other marketing spiel type of tyre.

[Marco]

If it was a Chinese tyre, would it have cornervirus?

I think it is an eco sporty model, or some other marketing spiel type of tyre.

Yeah, not my bag.

Marco.

[dave2010]

Have been testing a bunch of different cars - several pure EVs, plus some hybrids and plug-in hybrids. I found a couple I liked - but perhaps they have problems. I was quite surprised that I really liked the new Toyota models - dead easy to drive. OK - I drive a Prius normally anyway, but I didn't think I'd like the newish ones. A couple of snags though. One model of the plug-in Prius from a year or so back has 4 seats - not 5. It has an arm rest in the middle of the back seat - not quite sure why. It's not a moveable one, so probably there's something under it, such as a battery. The one I drove was really nice - but now kind of "remaindered" as the garage is having difficulties selling it. Reason. The next model fixed that problem with the arm rest, so is a proper 5 seat version. It was an order, which was cancelled when the "true" 5 seat version came out. I guess nobody else thinks it's worth it now, even at a substantially reduced price.

What about the new plug-in versions? These might suit some people - though the range is only about 30 miles. They do have the advantage that for people who do shortish journeys mostly they'll be running on electric, but they can obviously go a lot further with petrol in the tank.

What's the snag with those? Well - the para above says the first thing - "the range is only about 30 miles". The second thing is that there's really not much boot space. Over the years with our Prius - which has now done over 130,000 miles, as it has become older I have used it a lot for moving stuff around - now sometimes even quite grubby stuff - loads of junk to the dump etc. Years ago we had a Volvo - that was really good for moving things, and surprisingly had a very tight turning circle. We also had a VW transporter van at one time, which was a motor caravan conversion. That was also great for shifting stuff, but no good for going to dumps - certainly wouldn't have been in recent years the way those places are policed nowadays. A third snag with the car, shared with many other new cars, is it doesn't have even a small spare wheel but only one of those repair kits. I don't mind the lack of a wheel so much as the lack of a sensible place to put one. I thought that if I had a car without a good spare wheel I'd simply buy one anyway, but the manufacturers don't provide anywhere sensible to put one. Should be an option. I don't believe in the small wheels, or the repair kits. Sorry - manufacturers.

So - one big snag with some of the new cars is lack of space for luggage - such as for going on holiday - and for junk - when eventually the poor things get used more for that than anything else. After all, who really keeps their cars in pristine condition after 10 years or more? [OK - I know some do - Marco perhaps!].

[Made in 1968]

Detest the things. Ten bob millionaires tend to go for em