Car (or bike) Chat!

[Pieoftheday]

Well here goes anyway, I have a 2009 yamaha fz6 s2, 1st registered in 2016 but only went on the road April 2021 when I bought it. Great bike ,i think but the brakes could do better, not much initial bite and feel a bit spongy, theres no brushing off speed with a feather lite two finger's it's a more old skool grab a handful! So I'm looking to improve. I recall many years ago, braided hoses were the very thing to get rid of the spongy feel,does this still hold true? Ta

[struth]

brake fluid could be passed its best, or/and you might need to bleed them. it does absorb water even if not being used.

[Pieoftheday]

brake fluid could be passed its best, or/and you might need to bleed them. it does absorb water even if not being used.

Hi Grant, the dealer replaced all fluids, as it had been stood 12 years and did a PDI as per a brand new bike , Jim

[struth]

I suppose it depends on how bad they are, but if poor i would be getting the fluid checked anyway as a starting point. any bike i had, had pretty decent brakes.

[Pigmy Pony]

As Grant says. Yamaha's Fazer/FZ models inherited their technology from previous Thundercat and R6s. The brakes should be nothing short of excellent straight out of the box, and for 'normal' riding, upgrading hoses shouldn't be necessary.

I'd be inclined to take the dealer's claims about brakes overhaul with a pinch of salt and seek an assessment elsewhere.

[dave2010]

Non plug in hybrids are a a waste of time for various reasons.

Chacun à son goût.I think it very much depends on needs and how much driving one does. Many people only drive a few miles each day - maybe a 40 mile trip max, so if a plug-in hybrid can do that then it is a reasonable thing to do. However, there is not a great deal of point if the car only does a few long distance trips a year - in that case a pure EV car is a better bet. The so called "self charging" hybrids - that's just a marketing gimmick to make buyers think the manufacturers are trying to be environmentally friendly. I think that is called greenwashing. Some manufacturers - for example Toyata - do have good hybrid EVs which are not plug-in models, but that only improves the petrol consumption a tad. Some of them can do about 70 mpg - but they are still polluting. In some areas Toyota has sold those deliberately (maybe in the US) to satisfy regulatory bodies so that they can then sell huge gas guzzling SUVs or similar.

The plug-in hybrids might be of interest to people who do a mix of short and long trips.

If you are going to change cars I would seriously recommend you think full electric there are over 70 to choose from in the UK.

Indeed - that's why we have two EVs, plus one petrol car with a convertible hard top which we haven't quite decided what to do with. The Tesla Model 3 is good on a nice day - but quite often it has problems. Tesla's service is lousy. It will do 300 miles in one go - if the weather isn't bad. Charging at Tesla chargers is very fast. The Renault Zoe is great for round town, and it will also go quite a long way. 200 miles is feasible, though it's affected by weather quite badly.

I am still thinking of doing test drives in the Ford EV, and the Porsche. I expect the Porsche to beat the Tesla, but at over £80k it really ought to. Few of the other EVs really match the Tesla Model 3, or the Renault Zoe.

Many people just don't want to change, and want to hang on to their petrol or diesel cars - which makes sense up to a point, but if those are nearing the end of their useful (reliable?) life, then going to EVs is definitely a way to go - though maybe consider a plug-in hybrid EV+petrol if mainly short journeys are done.

[dave2010]

I know every report I’ve ever read says the same too but I’ve had the Prius over 6 years now and I’ve kept a record of every fill up (I know that’s sad ��…just like to keep an eye on it!) and it’s definitely the case; when I see 55-65 mpg it’s always been on a long run

It’s also a myth about their batteries failing, they just don’t. When you look at the hundreds of Prius for sale it’s extremely rare to read their battery has been changed. There are Prius taxis with 400,000 miles that are still on the original battery

I loved my Prius - and I could get 55 mpg most of the time without any specially delicate driving. Eventually though the battery did fail - so it's not a total myth that the batteries fail - but that was after 12 or so years. Lockdown did not do it any favours. I know people with a couple of Priuses - one older than mine was, and one newer one. They said that the new one had better mpg, which they reckoned was 70 mpg.

[AJSki2fly]

Chacun à son goût.I think it very much depends on needs and how much driving one does. Many people only drive a few miles each day - maybe a 40 mile trip max, so if a plug-in hybrid can do that then it is a reasonable thing to do. However, there is not a great deal of point if the car only does a few long distance trips a year - in that case a pure EV car is a better bet. The so called "self charging" hybrids - that's just a marketing gimmick to make buyers think the manufacturers are trying to be environmentally friendly. I think that is called greenwashing. Some manufacturers - for example Toyata - do have good hybrid EVs which are not plug-in models, but that only improves the petrol consumption a tad. Some of them can do about 70 mpg - but they are still polluting. In some areas Toyota has sold those deliberately (maybe in the US) to satisfy regulatory bodies so that they can then sell huge gas guzzling SUVs or similar.

The plug-in hybrids might be of interest to people who do a mix of short and long trips.


Indeed - that's why we have two EVs, plus one petrol car with a convertible hard top which we haven't quite decided what to do with. The Tesla Model 3 is good on a nice day - but quite often it has problems. Tesla's service is lousy. It will do 300 miles in one go - if the weather isn't bad. Charging at Tesla chargers is very fast. The Renault Zoe is great for round town, and it will also go quite a long way. 200 miles is feasible, though it's affected by weather quite badly.

I am still thinking of doing test drives in the Ford EV, and the Porsche. I expect the Porsche to beat the Tesla, but at over £80k it really ought to. Few of the other EVs really match the Tesla Model 3, or the Renault Zoe.

Many people just don't want to change, and want to hang on to their petrol or diesel cars - which makes sense up to a point, but if those are nearing the end of their useful (reliable?) life, then going to EVs is definitely a way to go - though maybe consider a plug-in hybrid EV+petrol if mainly short journeys are done.

I don’t think many will hang to ICE vehicles for long if fuel keeps going up, it’s very noticeable here in noddy Devon how quiet the roads have got over the last two months, and it’s usually busy this time of year with grockles.


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[dave2010]

I don’t think many will hang to ICE vehicles for long if fuel keeps going up, it’s very noticeable here in noddy Devon how quiet the roads have got over the last two months, and it’s usually busy this time of year with grockles.

I think it depends on how much driving people want/have to do. Other factors include whether work is going to pay. I have met people on different sides of the ICE/plug-in/EV discussion who find that if their work pays for fuel/electricity in some way that affects their behaviour. Some have EVs with very low range, but they don't care as it's just enough to get them to and from work, and work is going to pay. There are other people who don't even know how to drive a plug-in hybrid in EV mode, and they don't care as if they get the fuel paid for by their employer they are really not that bothered.

The fuel factor is not completely insignificant though. Although the Tesla Model 3 costs more than a Prius, and in some ways they are similar [though the Tesla has far more instantaneous power] there is likely to be a £15k difference in price if bought from new. However for any one doing the basic maths- and there is quite a bit of variation and wiggle room there - the likelihood is that comparing cars over (say) a 9 year period, the total cost of an EV will turn out to be less - based on comparing initial costs and fuel costs alone. Additional factors are likely to be maintenance plus taxation, which seem likely to favour EVs over shorter periods, plus as has been noted petrol costs are likely to increase. Electricity costs will also increase, but the likelihood - at least in the short term - is that they won't rise faster than petrol prices.

For people who can afford new, or nearly new, EVs those will tend to have a price advantage over ICE vehicles in the years to come. OTOH until ICE cars are totally banned, less well off people may find that they can afford an older 2nd hand car, but not be able to switch to EVs as some vehicles will maintain high prices even in the after use markets.

Re the state of the roads, there are many people right now trying to go round the NC500, and I'm guessing that trying to get to Applecross the hard way (over the very steep mountain road) is going to be hard just now.

[struth]

I don’t think many will hang to ICE vehicles for long if fuel keeps going up, it’s very noticeable here in noddy Devon how quiet the roads have got over the last two months, and it’s usually busy this time of year with grockles.


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ive noticed a lot less taxis in area. more are walking into town etc.