Any - Knee jerk reaction - again | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Thu 1 Oct 2015 13:42

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Snakey

I see the former Labour 'Science Minister' is now saying that pushing people towards diesels with taxation was a mistake (duh really)

His proposal is a hilarious repeat of their own mistake - proposing to offer scrappage on diesels to push them into electric/hybrid cars.

So they have learned literally nothing. When we have a mass of electric cars and not enough capacity on the grid what will they push us towards then, petrol cars?

Edited by Snakey on 01/10/2015 at 13:49

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 14:13

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Engineer Andy

Rather says it all about the quality of politicians these days, and Labour ones in particular. God knows what Corbyn's latest bunch will 'propose'.

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 15:00

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - nortones2

Was less of a mistake than VAG management made! What Government could anticipate criminal behaviour on such a scale, by the private sector? Yes, I know. The Tories. They'd have expected the private sector to be recidivists. So familiar with their fund raisers and City mentors....

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 23:37

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - csgmart

Was less of a mistake than VAG management made! What Government could anticipate criminal behaviour on such a scale, by the private sector? Yes, I know. The Tories. They'd have expected the private sector to be recidivists. So familiar with their fund raisers and City mentors....

Well, 13 years of Labour didn't achieve much did it? Arguably it goes to demonstrate no shade of Goverment is qualified to make decisions like this.

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 18:32

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Smileyman

I'd love a scrappage scheme for my car, 150k miles, £2k for nothing sounds good ... oh but it's petrol. Can't buy an electric car, with a daily commute of 80 miles the range would not be good enough.

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 20:14

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Sofa Spud

I'd love a scrappage scheme for my car, 150k miles, £2k for nothing sounds good ... oh but it's petrol. Can't buy an electric car, with a daily commute of 80 miles the range would not be good enough.

A VW e-Golf should cope with 80 mile round trip!

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 20:29

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Wackyracer

The new Tesla would be able to do an 80mile round trip but, it is quite expensive.

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 20:39

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - RobJP

A VW e-Golf should cope with 80 mile round trip!

Note : SHOULD.

Looking at a competitor site, they got 85 miles out of one.

Another site got 99 miles out of one - but they admit that was on a test track, and 'at it's most efficient'.

VW in the USA say 70-90 miles in 'real-world' driving.

All looks a bit marginal on range to me. In addition to which, you've got a 13 hour recharge time from the mains, or an 8 hour from the special wall unit.

Not to mention the 'weekend away' trips that you can no longer do. Unless you hire a car. In spite of having your £30k car sitting on the drive !

In addition, the e-Golf is reckoned (currently) to have a residual value of 25% after 3 years. Ouch !

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Thu 1 Oct 2015 23:41

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Ethan Edwards

It's a 30k toy for people who don't need a real car.

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Fri 2 Oct 2015 10:59

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Sofa Spud

It's a 30k toy for people who don't need a real car.

Actually £26,325. - compared to diesel Golf GT 2.0 TDI 5-door at £24,775.

£0 road tax, £0 congestion charge (which matters if you live in or near London) and daily 'fuel' costs measured in pence.

Obviously not suitable for long-distance motoring but for local use or medium-distance trips it would make an ideal second car.

And if it is a toy, then a £26K toy for people who don't need a real car seems a lot better value (although probably a little less fun) than a £125K toy like, for example, an Aston Martin DB9, also for people who don't need a real car!

What is a 'real car' anyway? Arguably the last 'real car' was the 4½ Litre Bentley of the late 1920's!!!

Edited by Sofa Spud on 02/10/2015 at 11:02

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Fri 2 Oct 2015 12:03

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - RobJP

At least with an Aston Martin (or even the 1920's Bentley), you drive it, fill it up in 10 minutes, have a break for another 20 minutes, then keep on driving it. Repeat until destination/tiredness. For more a 'real car' than the e-Golf !

With the e-Golf, you're limited to a choice out of :

1. staying within 35 (maybe 40) miles of home on a day trip.

2. Going (maybe) up to 50 miles from home on a day trip IF you KNOW there is a charging point for a few hours. God help you if someone else with an electric car wants a day trip to the same place though !

3. Going up to 70 miles from home on an overnight stay. Again, IF you can plug the car in for the night.

Electric cars will send us back to the early/mid-19th Century, where people never left the county they were born in, unless by the new-fangled trains.

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Fri 2 Oct 2015 12:19

Any - Knee jerk reaction - again - Bolt

Hybrids stand more chance of getting more popular, all electric is a long way off, imo, mainly because of charging and distance they can travel, also too many on charge at once will kill the grid

Electric companies are saying they may need power cuts in winter as it is, so I doubt grid will take thousands of electric cars charging as well

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