See this report:

tinyurl.com/34x2c7

The headline may not accurately reflect what the council has said, but charging people by the length of their vehicle can not be described as helping to choose a green car. Maybe in crowded residential streets it may encourage people to have small cars so you fit more in, but that can only work if people park correctly.

If, and a big if, the council thinks this will cut emissions then a 15 year old Fiesta is going to pump out more nasties than a brand new Ford Mondeo. Then there is diesel versus petrol argument.
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Just came back from a week in Puglia, and for the first time rented a car as we were staying somewhere really remote.
Was hesitant about doing this , as my observations of driving in Italy havent been good. I expected it might be worse in the cities, but the only one we really spent time in was Lecce, which is not very big.
My observations- if you can avoid it, dont do it. I get wound up by some drivers here but by comparison we are superb. Appalling lack of consideration for others, lack of concern for personal safety or those of passengers ( I lost track of the number of children unbelted, in the front, and I reckon general use of seatbelts well under 20%). Obsessive use of mobiles while driving ..complete disregard for speed limits, no overtaking zones..some appalling road surfaces and signing.
Two examples I will remember for some time..
Crossing the street in a town called Ostuni , on a ped crossing, we had to slap a car on the bonnet to stop it driving into my daughter. The driver was on her phone and had a child about two sprawled across the back seat.
In another town I watched somebody parked near the corner of a street , couldnt be bothered to negotiate a U-turn to go in chosen direction, simply reversed blind around the corner at speed to achieve the same effect.
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I have three pre-1993 cars with aircon systems which use - as originally installed - R12 (Freon) refrigerant. One car has been in storage for some years and the a/c has not been regularly run. I fear therefore that it will at least need a check and top-up. And eventually, so will the other two.

BUT... R12 is apparently no longer available, even to maintain existing systems. I have heard of two options: top up with a "drop-in" R12 substitute, or empty the entire system and replace seals, pipes and maybe compressor then refill with R134a (which is not compatible with R12 and is itself rumoured to be due for phasing out soon).

Neither option seems attractive. Compatible substitutes are said to be unreliable "Band-Aid" solutions, and changeover to R134a is expensive. This seems bizarre: it is surely less wasteful of resources and more environmentally friendly to keep existing R12 systems intact and running well than to have to empty them, dispose of the R12, fit new parts and use alternative (but probably equally environmentally-unfriendly) refrigerant fluids.

Although R12 is not now used in new cars in the EU or in the US, it is apparently still possible and legal in the US to obtain and use recycled/recovered R12 to keep existing R12 systems topped up. Is this possible in UK? (and if not why not?).

Any comments or advice?

br1anstorm Read more

Has anyone seen the devices currently advertised on the net & other places called "AUTO COOL" a solar powered device for around £15.
Fitted on the top (inside) of a wind up window, allegedly keeps your car "cooler" whilst parked in the sun.
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Has anyone got one and does it actyually work ? Read more

Today I was one of the lucky 2000 who got to drive a Jeep on and off the road.

You may remember that I managed to bag a free place on this event via an internet banner ad.

Well despite my initial reservations, Jeep delivered what they promised. My daughter and I arrived quite early at West Harptree near Chedder. We then waited for my sister to bring my nephew who was also going to be a passenger.

The weather was slightly changeable but generally dry and sunny.

When they arrived we registered and I handed over both parts of my licence and grabbed a coffee whilst I waited for the event to start.

Each driver and his/her party was sorted into 4 groups who took part in the following in no particular order. Each activity lasted around half an hour.

1) Introduction to ESP and Quadradrive (Jeeps version of Traction Control employed by Land Rover).
2) Off road driving experience
3) On road trial
4) Agility driving.

1) Was as it says really. A couple of short videos about ESP and then a demonstration of Quadra Drive. The vehicle they used to demonstrate the quadra drive was specially adapted to enable switching off of this feature so that we could see it with and without. Essentially 3 wheels were placed on rollers whils the forth was on solid ground. The Quadra Drive feature enabled the vehicle to use the one wheel with traction to pull itself out of the rollers.

2) Was for me the best part of the day. My daughter and nephew sat in the rear of a Jeep Commander whilst I, under instruction from Chris the off road instructer drove the vehicle over a short off road course. IMO any vehicle without traction control or quadra drive would have had issues with this course. My Discovery 200TDi would almost certainly have come unstuck. This was no green laning jaunt but serious off roading with huge crevases and dips that had the vehicle tilted sideways at 45 degrees, climbing and decending very steep inclines, negotiating 3 feet potholes etc. A sherman tank would have been at home on this course. IMO this part could have lasted longer.

3) Took us in a Jeep Grand Gerokee on local roads. Although I was invited to "see what the vehicle could do" I was concious that it was not my car and that there were plenty of other road users, so I kept the speed down. I had driven the Grand Cherokee in the USA a couple of years ago so I was not unfamiliar with this ride. However I preferred the roomyness and the ride of the Commander. I fellt that the GC was a little soft on the road for my liking. Having said that I enjoyed the drive very much, but could have booked a similar test drive from a dealership - not something that I could say about the off road experience!

4) This gave us a chance at manovring the vehicles around obstacles. A smaller Jeep Cherokee and a Jeep Commander were made available, and I had a chance to drive both around the course. This involved zig zagging between cones drivng forwards then doing the same in reverse along another line of cones. The organisers had placed two cones on the reverse course quite close together, catching some of us out as we found that distances were hard to guage via mirrors. Ironically this probably showed the Commander in a less than favorable light. Although it is accepted that the vehicle would be less maovrable with its increased size, the presence of the 3rd row of seats and the size of the door mirrors impared its rear visability more than was necessary. Having driven to the event in a car with blind spot mirrors fitted as standard, I really felt that this £30K's worth of off road vehicle was lacking from such a basic oversight.

After the event we all said our thank yous etc and were presented with a partig gift. This was a small oak tree sapling that we were asked to consider planting. Although the representatives made no mention of the thought process behind this gift I wondered whether it was to do with carbon offsetting, perhaps it was Jeep's way of settling their CO2 account with mother nature for the fuel burned during the trials.

I was pleasently surprised that there was no hard sell throughout the event. The organisers were all professionals in their own fields. The qualified off road instructers were hired in by Jeep. The Lady who sat with us when we went on the road was a freelance plublicity/marketing agent who was paid a flat fee for the event. Although there were brochures available we were free to have a good look at the vehicles, drive them and then leave after our turn was over.

In all the experience was definitely worth the trip from Cornwall. Read more