The Car Thread: Mark III

[Anpanman]

I don't mind some of the beeping in mine - in fact I let the car steer itself most of the time

The only really annoying thing is the driver fatigue warning - it comes up when the wind is blowing the car all over the shop as it thinks you're falling asleep ; quick press of the ok button fixes it, but it is annoying as hell

Thanks for that I'll bear it in mind. I did notice it steering for me as well when I was passing badly parked cars on a forty zone and I had to go over the white line.
I'll get used to it in time.

[charlesr]

The Forester FSTi failed its MOT. Two rubber bushes where the rear subframe attaches to the differential are worn. ETA for parts: January.....
I might have to buy a car and sell it again in a couple of months.

[Anpanman]

Regarding our old car, I couldn't give it away and was going to scrap it until I found;

https://www.giveacar.co.uk/

Whereby you give you car and hopefully raise some money for charity, well today I received an email from them that our old WagonR has generated £50 for;

https://www.cats.org.uk/

Not a lot, but it's fifty quid they wouldn't have had.

[QualityChimp]

Was your car a Jaguar or Kuga?

[wakka]

We all had great times in the Vauxhall Labrador.

->Open Spoiler<-

deep cut for Partridge aficionadoes

[Anpanman]

.. just been away for two days in London at meetings and come back to two catastrophic comments...

[Finsbury Girl]

Haven't managed to get to Fraser yet but have managed some MTB weekends away

20241229_121208_copy1.webp

[QualityChimp]

Just a quick update on my car as I know some people are EV-curious!

Basically, I have a Peugeot e-208. It's not top-end, but it's affordable and our daily commute car and it's great.
Integrating with your phone for entertainment/maps/apps is brill and a step up from my 13 year old car I scrapped.
It's programmed to automatically warm up before we set off for work and that's been ace in the frosty weather.

We've moved to Octopus Energy and that's been fab too.
We paid for an outlet to be installed and it lasts about 220 miles, less if you're caning the heater.
When the range is running low, we'll plug in and let it charge overnight when it knows electricity is cheapest.
It's usually costing under £3 for an overnight charge and we charge between 3 and 4 times a month on an average month.

Last time we drove to Kingston-Upon-Thames to see relatives we took the Diesel, not realising the ULEZ issued a fixed penalty of about £85 a day, so fined us on the way in and again the next day on the way out.

So we took the EV, which has the range to get there in summer, but it was freezing, so rather than sit shivering, we put the heating on, but had to top up enroute.
This is where EVs are falling behind. At the services, there were about 8 bays, all full and people were queueing to charge.

In Kingston, there is on-street parking for residents and visitors with permits and some lampposts also have chargers, but you use your own slower charger.
Wish I'd have known the night before! We added a bit more on the morning before we returned, but again needed to charge on the journey back.

It was even worse at those services just outside London. There were loads of Tesla bays (with people still queueing) and I tried to charge there, but couldn't and it was a massive faff trying to download the app only for it to say there were no chargers nearby when I was stood touching it!
What it should have said was "Until you register a Tesla on the app, I will only show locations where non-Teslas can charge."

Found a standard charger and that was the worst yet - only 2 chargers, each with the older Leaf-connector and 1 CCS fast charge, so there was a massive queue of people in the freezing cold trying not to miss their turn to charge.

It extended the journey at least 30 minutes each way, probably closer to an hour.

By the end of 1 night away, I'd downloaded 4 different charging apps!

On a positive note, we chatted to some other lovely EV owners and got some advice on getting Octopus solar power and just talking with people about their weekends, but it's really poor that there are so many EVs and so few places to charge, especially at the flippin' services.

TL: DR EVs are great, but long journeys bring delays.

[charlesr]

My Forester STi 300bhp weapon is ULEZ compliant lol (probably repeating myself).

[charlesr]

Got my Forester in 2016 for £11k. In 8 years, I've spent £11k on it, including servicing, parts, tyres, MOT, but not insurance (£400/year) or petrol. Fairly affordable (apart from the petrol... lol)
It's still worth about £11k now (ones with slightly less miles are going for £15k) - if I didn't drive it, it would be going up in value faster.

[fishbowlhead]

I think if EV’s had standardised batteries that were always on tap and charged at service stations, this would go a long way on the day to day side of owning one for most people, swap the battery out and boom your off right away.

But they would all have to be the same cell across every manufacturer, a world standard, for it to in any way work.

[fishbowlhead]

My Forester STi 300bhp weapon is ULEZ compliant lol (probably repeating myself).

The car that just keeps giving

[Anpanman]

Just a quick update on my car as I know some people are EV-curious!

EVs are great, but long journeys bring delays.

Good stuff, enjoyed reading your thoughts.

I think if EV’s had standardised batteries that were always on tap and charged at service stations, this would go a long way on the day to day side of owning one for most people, swap the battery out and boom your off right away.

But they would all have to be the same cell across every manufacturer, a world standard, for it to in any way work.

Good point, I personally think the future is better with hydrogen but once we get over the hump with more charging points and back-end upgrades plus the new battery technology EV take up will start to increase again.

...and whilst I've got the mic, taking our daughter back to uni last weekend we had an interesting conversation about first cars, a subject she knows nothing whatsoever about. After giving her a few examples of sensible first cars that are relatively cheap to run and reliable she blindsided me with the comment - "actually dad I think I would like a Mitsubishi Lancer".

eh?

[fishbowlhead]

"actually dad I think I would like a Mitsubishi Lancer".

eh?

Proud dad moment right there ,


But no, no your not getting a Lancer

[charlesr]

Unless it's this one

https://www.rscscalemodels.co.uk/product/tamiya-1-10-tt-02-mitsubishi-lancer-evo-v-58713/