June 2020
Hey spamming dumba$$, you DO realise that this is a UK-based website and not the US-based 'dot com' one, which has NO connection to this one?
D'Oh! Read more
Just took motorbike in for its first MoT today, 3 years old.
Bike was registered on 16th June 2017, just checked Gov MoT site and MoT expiry shown as 15th December 2020.... Read more
I’ve been looking for a particular copy of What Car magazine for a while dating from 1990 and I’ve finally obtained it through EBay. It’s the first privately run multi car crash test run by the European motoring press and it shocked the public and pressured the car manufacturers into action. It pretty much instigated the big safety push of the 1990’s which saved countless lives.
They took a selection of large executive cars and ran them into an offset concrete barrier at 35mph, something that today’s superminis would survive with relative ease. The results were appalling. Effectively you were dead at the wheel of the Fiat Croma, Honda Legend, Nissan Maxima, Renault 25 and badly injured in a Volvo 740. You would’ve walked away from the recently launched BMW 5 series and the Mercedes E class but the rest were mangled.
It’s an eye opener into how poor cars were structurally before the 1990’s and a big thank you should be directed to the magazine for saving lives at great expense to themselves. Not long afterwards every manufacturer was pushing safety as their priority. The French transformed themselves, going from bottom of the pile to top rankings with the Laguna and 406. Vauxhall’s later airbag clad Cavaliers and Omegas were solid in a bump too.
I’ve often wondered how the other cars based on the same architecture as the Fiat Croma would’ve faired. Would the Saab 9000 have done much better? The Rover 800 was based on the Legend so likely would’ve folded up like a wet paper bag too. A Ford Granada would’ve been an interesting addition too with Ford pushing its safety credentials in adverts mentioning its standard ABS breaks.
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My dad had a 1973 Volvo 144 saloon and for it's time it was impressive re crash protection:-...
Good morning fellow car nerds, and a very happy Wednesday to you all ! ;-)
Looking for a bit of advice/direction/comment, if I may, on a small dilemma I'm wrestling with.... Read more
>>Wow! Is it because they are for a MB?
No, it's just that particular tyre on that website is very expensive, if I shop around I can get 4 ( known/premium brand ) tyres for £500 or a set of "Singalongamaxes" for a lot less.
Trawling through Ebay it appears that the average family car advertised 2017 model is circa £20_£22k for most mileages of around 25k and this includes the traditional premium brands. Bearing in mind that most have lost any manufacturers and possibly be requiring new tyres do you think these are sensible buys? Does the quality of these cars justify the asking price and do they perhaps have another 7years motoring left in them? Would it perhaps be better to buy younger with a bit of warranty or look at lower mileage older cars? I appreciate market forces price them were they are but how much of a buyers market is it. Read more
The taxman allows 25% per annum to be set against your tax if solely for business use (assuming your business is successful enough to generate a tax bill). You can get a lot of car for £40K, but at the end of three years it will only be 'worth' around £16K. If you sell it for more than this you will be taxed on the difference. This is why there are so many bargains to be had in the luxury section.......(and why the taxman is still waiting for me to sell my TR7 ;-)
Hi, Can anyone suggest an EV that is engaging / interesting to drive? It seems like a nightmare to go from a manual or fast auto ICE engined car to an EV, especially one with single pedal driving. I wouldn't mind so much if I could choose myself when to use electric or ICE for a hybrid. Same with regenerative braking or any other adjustment or control I could have. . Please tell me this isn't the future. It seems like we are reverting to fairground dodgem cars. We'll then hate them so much we'll beg for automated self driving cars from Gxxgle map directions. Then we'll realise that a Zoom call would do just as well.... Read more
Is this instead of a Mustang (your prevous thread) or as well as? Either way we'd need to know your budget. If it's high-end, than a Jaguar I-Pace should suit you, or perhaps a Tesla.
I have Bridgestone "205/65r16 95t" tyres on rear of my 2003 Honda CRV. Needs new front tyres. I've been offered a pair of new tyres: Nexen "205/65r16 95h"
Does it matter that the speed rating is H and slightly higher at the front? Not an expert on this stuff. Just want to make sure it's safe to proceed with these tyres and won't cause any issues with insurance, safety, stuff like that Read more
Speed rating won't matter.
It does in the UK. Insurers will use any available get out of jail free card to avoid paying out, using tyres with a lower rating than the manufacturers specified minimum is one sure way to give them a way out....
I've been reading the latest reviews of the new model, unsure if this is progress or just the latest slow development of the Jazz theme of maximum space at any cost. I think the driving dynamics will be much as before, steady and nothing exciting. The mechanicals are now a static petrol engine acting as a generator for batteries and motors plus a boost at motorway speeds. It all seems excessively complicated to justify equivalent MPG of 55-60 and no guarantees all the tech will carry on working for 10 years? It is still a petrol powered car but seemingly with all the negatives and none of the positive of a 100% EV. Very expensive to buy and insurance group 19 seem to be the final straw. Read more
Are they available to test drive at the dealers yet?
This is a high price to pay for zero emissions. How long will it take to get anything back from the cost per mile/service intervals Read more
I have had Abarth 500, 500 Twin Air and Panda Twin Air 4x4. No major problems with any of them.
My wife benefited from the 2009 Government Scrappage Scheme, which offered £2000 trade in against a new car. She traded in her old Citroen ZX worth perhaps £200 in bad light against a new Daihatsu Sirion, the most reliable supermini most people have never heard of.
The manufacturer contributed £1000 towards the scheme and the Goverment the remaining £1000, which they immediately recouped from the VAT charged on the new car. Smoke and mirrors or what?
Our present car is worth more than £6000, and we will be keeping it until the economies of scale bring down the price of EV's. Read more
The last Scrappage scheme was basically a lifeline to the German (although not exclusively) car industry and put a significant number of new diesels on the road which we now say are bad for the environment. The fact is the environmental debt created by the production of any new car is considerable particularly electric vehicles.
Please exercise common sense and not add to the problems we are trying to avoid.
All vehicles should remain on the road as long as possible to reduce overall environmental impact, better to be a bit dirty now for a much cleaner future rather than a bit cleaner now for only a slightly cleaner future. This will allow technology to improve in battery production and longevity as well as the massive investment that charging infrastructure will require. To put it in perspective all homes that want fast chargers of larger vehicles are going to require three phase supplies and local power infrastructure will have to be up graded to match. The cost in terms of cabling and local transformers will be huge not to mention that the national grid will stand everybody charging at once. While we may be able to encourage cleaner electric cars it would be stupid to only solve half the problem.
As someone who is considering going to all electric I'm seriously concerned about the whole infrastructure surrounding electric vehicles, currently if you'll excuse the pun I'm firmly in the plug in hybrid camp.
I do believe electric is the future but it will be a combination of battery and hydrogen fuel cell which is a far better technology as will not require masses of charging stations and current fuel stations could be converted. Basically slow charge at home and fuel cell hybrid for longer journeys.
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yes the date on the GOV website said 15th December 2020