general chat thread

[KevJTD]

Cars don't have to be lardy...
This morning, 5 door hatch, ac, central locking, alloys, seating for 5 still. OK its smaller, but not that cramped. Same build year as the lard Audi
But almost 1/3 the weight! No wonder it's 50+ mpg.
This is the way rather than deferred emissions of the battery powered car, I say deferred as they conveniently forget the huge energy needed to build them in the first place and there's an assumption that the electricity arrives at their home without any emissions being used in its production!
OK I know something has to be done, but near 3T battery cars are not the answer

[LooLooSud33Spider]

For context a Sud comes in at roughly 830 kg so that Lardy Audi is actually three times heavier ! And I’ve Just found out that the battery pack in a Tesla weighs approx 550kg. That’s two 3rds the weight of a full Alfasud THATS JUST THE BATTERY !!!!!! Utter MADNESS

[junior]

If we took the same view as Sud and examples such as Citroen Ax when the aim was to get good mpg and low service costs.

Then applied it to to a modern car with all the advances they could be fantastic and be almost as green as a hybrid.

The world seems to be nuts and I have been talking to friends about eco tyres and thinner oils, etc for better mpg for years.

Yet no one seems to do it. They all seem to be to waiting for someone else to do it. I just don't get it.

[Kegsti66]

What you need to remember is that safety regulations have made so much more requirements needed, the structure of modern cars is so involved, and we all expect powered devices , windows, seats, etc. It all adds up and this new wave of EV,s are probably still partly current construction designs modified. They will get trimmed down to more basic units I think, like Lauren said.
Much that I love older cars, they are know where near as safe in a crash. Saw a test once with , what appeared to be a "nasty looking" half plastic Renault head on with a Volvo estate from the '90s. They opened the Renault door after and you may have had a broken lower leg. The Volvo dash was into the seat back and a driver would have probably been in two parts.

[KevJTD]

How to make yourself feel old

Lad at work, Glenn I'm always trying to educate on the joys of music he's never heard of, him being in, his 20s and all that.

The Chemical Brothers tune "hey boy, hey girl" came on the radio so I cranked it up and asked him if he liked it, a classic dance tune like that.... surely he knows it.

Blank looks! Says it sounded familiar, but didn't really know it

Only when I looked and it was released in 1999 did he say, "well I wasn't born until 2000"
How the hell did that happen, Al those years passed.... Guess being in your 50s it's bound to happen, a generation apart

Anyways, enjoy


https://youtu.be/tpKCqp9CALQ

[alfadave]

Get him to listen to Exit Planet Dust.

[KevJTD]

Had a 2009 Punto to MoT yesterday, learner driver hoping to get it through without big issues.
Unfortunately the rear axle beam had other ideas.

Passenger side had a slot in it from being corroded badly, worse was to come on the drivers side Whole underside was rotten enough to push your fingers through, half the spring pan was just crumbling away.

Felt really sorry for them, a new beam could be bought I guess but with the labour to for it and swap all the brakes etc over, plus the leaking shocks and emissions through the roof meant his 137k car is really just scrap, before he'd even got chance to have the pleasure of driving it on his own!

[LooLooSud33Spider]

That’s a shame. Back in our day. That would be simple fixer upper. We used to get fun from touring the local beakers for the bits and then fixing it up and learning about cars. Sadly too many youngsters these days don’t have either the desire or see any value in getting their hands dirty. I always get a smile inside when I see young uns getting involved. And We need them or the whole classic scene will die out

[KevJTD]

Went for a quick look on an old fourm a lot of us used to go on, some still do I'm sure, but jeez louise. Talk about hard work!
Bombarded with ads, very fussy layout, I know I'm biased but this place is SO much better as far as I'm concerned.
Only went to see if there's and 156 V6s for sale, still quite fancy an early one. Even the classifieds is a muddle!
Bitch over

[KevJTD]

Giulietta reached a milestone this weekend, not an unknown number nowadays as cars last longer especially diesels but I am happy to be doing my bit for the environment, by NOT expending energy and resources on building new and vastly heavier cars and using ones that already exist, that's my excuse anyway!

[KevJTD]

Welcome to your future
This is from a Nissan Leaf I had in for Most today. 2016 model so 6 years newer than my Giulietta.
Look at the details.
71k on the clock.
Full electric obviously, and on full charge you get 80 miles before a 2.5 hour recharge is needed. Not very useful is it.
Now I know they've improved since this was new, but not to the 500+ mile I get to a tank of diesel. And I don't have to refill every day.
And I am in no position to spend over £30k on a newer version of this folly. Or of a mind to. Despite the promise of a Lancia coming to UK soon...

[Kegsti66]

That is a grim looking dash mate.
It is not even clearly laid out with its information
Are we just miserable old sods?

[LooLooSud33Spider]

And you didn’t have your seatbelt on either !!!

[KevJTD]

I think we are indeed now miserable old sods
No belt on but I was parked up
These electric cars are mostly a PITA to test.
It has a toggle for reverse, drive or neutral and you press a button for park.
Trouble is as soon as you switch it off it goes into park so you can't rotate the wheels, so you have to leave the "ignition" on
At least it had a manual handbrake, something to be cheerful of I suppose!

[KevJTD]

I usually post some moaning doom and gloom, this or that that's bugging me or whatever.

This week though I am happy to report that I became a grandparent for the first time, our Rob who a few of you have met before has made me very proud again, him and Shannon had a baby girl on the 28th.
Went to see her today and she's gorgeous of course, as all babies are, Shannon says she'll be a car girl like Rob and me, but Shannon is a horse girl so that could be the way...she was still exercising horses on Xmas Eve just a few days before giving birth. Shannon has almost as many horses as Rob has Clio's!

[LooLooSud33Spider]

Fantastic news Kev. Congratulations to both Rob and Shannon xxxxx

[Kegsti66]

Great news to start the year Kev. All the best to the whole family.

[alfadave]

Congratulations!

172 horses is a good Clio!

[Kegsti66]

Congratulations!

172 horses is a good Clio!

I see what you did there Dave