Electric, Hybrid and Alternative fuelled vehicles - News and Discussion

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Stanley Melrose said:

Anyone got £40,000+ to spend?

 

<https://www.ford.co.uk/cars/mustang-mach-e?emailid=email:nov:2019:c:pre:ba:nc:cx727:::::(eu5)_cx727reveal(email 5)uk-fob1906143::nwp:vm:none:trigger>

 

Stan - who once test drove a 7.0 litre Shelby Cobra Mustang . . .

 

You can spend £40k on a Nissan Leaf....

Shame a Mustang is apparently now an SUV that looks like a Hyundai.

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

Saw something about it on the BBC. Whether this says more about me or the car but I was rather put off by the idea of buttons to open the doors instead of ordinary handles.

That really puts me off too, especially since reading about the guy who died in his burning Tesla because the electrical door handles wouldn't release. Give me an old fashioned mechanical door handles any day!

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

And once again......only interior colour is Black 

I can understand that, because pale interiors are much harder to keep clean, but what's with the fashion for only offering one exterior colour on modern cars? The ford there is a good example - several different shades of grey, but only red if you actually want something that can be seen... The 'blue' they offer is basically grey as well...

[boxbrownie]

8 minutes ago, Nick C said:

I can understand that, because pale interiors are much harder to keep clean, but what's with the fashion for only offering one exterior colour on modern cars? The ford there is a good example - several different shades of grey, but only red if you actually want something that can be seen... The 'blue' they offer is basically grey as well...

Harder to keep clean......just how dirty are your clothes? 

[Nick C]

33 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Harder to keep clean......just how dirty are your clothes? 

It's more usually the carpets rather than the seats!

[The Fatadder]

1 hour ago, Stanley Melrose said:

Anyone got £40,000+ to spend?

 

<https://www.ford.co.uk/cars/mustang-mach-e?emailid=email:nov:2019:c:pre:ba:nc:cx727:::::(eu5)_cx727reveal(email 5)uk-fob1906143::nwp:vm:none:trigger>

 

Stan - who once test drove a 7.0 litre Shelby Cobra Mustang . . .

Rather strange that the bright blue shown in the press photos isn’t chooseable in colour selection box.

 

doesnt look half bad, assuming they maintain the price.  Though as ever it does rather point out the ridiculousness of the governments luxury tax being set at 40k on EVs 

I think next year will be a very good year for new EVs, makes me almost regret that my current car didn’t have another year to the renewal.  Still looking forward to the i3 though 

[jjb1970]

On the subject of tax, I think we all know that as the proportion of ZEVs increases so too will the tax burden on ZEVs. I think the changes to VED watering down incentives to buy low emissions cars were very premature but they were always going to happen at some point. And ZEVs still benefit from up front incentives. 

[jjb1970]

10 hours ago, Budgie said:

 

Whaaa...? You can't blame the cars for the way the Chinese generate their electricity. 

 

I would also question the accuracy of the statement quite aside from the point you raise. 

[jjb1970]

2 hours ago, Reorte said:

Saw something about it on the BBC. Whether this says more about me or the car but I was rather put off by the idea of buttons to open the doors instead of ordinary handles.

 

I think it goes further than that. I thought the Tesla 3 would be my ideal car but putting all the car controls and instruments onto a large central touch screen does not appeal to me at all. Personally I have serious doubts about the ever increasing use of touch screens to control car functions. It strikes me as odd that we quite rightly are banned from texting etc while driving but it is OK to divert drivers with touch screens to adjust the ventilation etc. 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, APOLLO said:

Electric Cars ? - You still have to fill them up with petrol !!!!

 

 

Ah well ----- !!!!

 

Brit15

At least that's not as bad as the lady who couldn't see how much petrol she had so far put in and used a cigarette lighter to find out.

The answer: Plenty enough to set everything alight.

[melmerby]

8 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I think it goes further than that. I thought the Tesla 3 would be my ideal car but putting all the car controls and instruments onto a large central touch screen does not appeal to me at all. Personally I have serious doubts about the ever increasing use of touch screens to control car functions. It strikes me as odd that we quite rightly are banned from texting etc while driving but it is OK to divert drivers with touch screens to adjust the ventilation etc. 

That's me b*ggered then. My "touch" doesn't activate touch screens very well.

The new Birmingham Library had all touch screens for it's catalogues when it first opened, but I couldn't get them to work although others could.

I couldn't have been the only one as they have all grown keyboards and mice now.

[jjb1970]

There is a lot to be said for a knob, turn one way to make warm, turn other way to make cool. And another to make stereo louder, turn other way to make quite. And an analogue speedo in front of the driver. 

[melmerby]

2 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

There is a lot to be said for a knob, turn one way to make warm, turn other way to make cool. And another to make stereo louder, turn other way to make quite. And an analogue speedo in front of the driver. 

Mine's got speech activated thingy's. I haven't yet managed to get it to do what I want! Must be my Brummie accent.

I can at least use the controls on the steering wheel which are proper buttons.

[Nick C]

39 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

There is a lot to be said for a knob, turn one way to make warm, turn other way to make cool. And another to make stereo louder, turn other way to make quite. And an analogue speedo in front of the driver. 

Very much so - you can adjust those by feel, without having to take your eyes off the road, whereas a touchscreen you have to look at.

[Ron Ron Ron]

4 hours ago, Nick C said:

That really puts me off too, especially since reading about the guy who died in his burning Tesla because the electrical door handles wouldn't release. Give me an old fashioned mechanical door handles any day!

 

The Teslas have a mechanical release lever for emergencies or power failures, as well as the electric button/switch.

 

The emergency release shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary (what it's designed for), because unlike the electronic door release, it doesn't lower the glass slightly to release from the door seals (frameless door windows).

Note: with frameless door glass, the glass automatically lowers slightly when opening the door and raises again when the door shuts.

The advise not to use the manual release is to prevent premature wear or damage to the door seals.

 

 

.

[Ron Ron Ron]

On 17/11/2019 at 11:08, jjb1970 said:

I am really rather impressed by what Volvo are doing. I remember various predictions of doom when Geely bought them but Volvo have been doing great things under Geely ownership with well engineered and stylish cars. .......

 

We had a mk 1 Volvo XC90 from 2005 to 2013.

Fit and finish and interior quality was very good for the mid naughties. Much better than the other current Volvo models of the day.

Although not as good in some areas compared with the BMW 5 series Touring it replaced, nor with my wife's Mercedes.

I had service loan cars when the XC90 went in for servicing or a bit of warranty work (V70, S80, V50 & C30).

Nothing special about any of them and well below premium make standards. The XC90 was in a different league, if not at Merc., BMW or Audi quality.

 

Now with the current crop of Volvo's, quality has improved right across the range.

We looked at buying a mk2 XC90 last year. 

We were quite impressed, but Mrs Ron thought it was too big for her and our needs.

After being given a couple of lifts in someone's new model XC60 T8 hybrid, I began considering that car, rather than a Merc GLC or Audi Q5.

We ended up buying one of the new model (mk2) XC60's...not the hybrid though, as it was far too expensive.

Ours has top trim spec. with leather (inc. dash top) and all the bling and gizmos, including auto pilot, internet connection, B&W stereo, air suspension, even massage seats !!!! 

Compares very favourably with the equivalent German premium cars.

 

It's received some good comments from various passengers.

So yes, do look at what Volvo are doing.

Their Polestar 2 EV is supposed to be a real stab at the premium EV market.

 

 

.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Ron Ron Ron

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

The Teslas have a mechanical release lever for emergencies or power failures, as well as the electric button/switch.

 

The emergency release shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary (what it's designed for), because unlike the electronic door release, it doesn't lower the glass slightly to release from the door seals (frameless door windows).

Note: with frameless door glass, the glass automatically lowers slightly when opening the door and raises again when the door shuts.

The advise not to use the manual release is to prevent premature wear or damage to the door seals.

 

 

.

It is legislation that mechanical/emergency release is provided, but that has never stood in the way of a good internet story eh? 
 

And after seeing the video clip of the woman trying to fill the Tesla with petrol....who knows, but I am sure it was a vehicle just loaned to her briefly so maybe she really didn’t know it was an EV.......after all it was America and most of them don’t even know where Europe is......or care!

 

[jjb1970]

16 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

after all it was America and most of them don’t even know where Europe is......or care!

 

 

Bit uncalled for, and untrue, in my experience the average American has a better knowledge of Europe than most non-Spanish European's have of Central and South America or most of us have about Asia. But I guess we all like laughing at thick foreigners 

[Reorte]

15 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I think it goes further than that. I thought the Tesla 3 would be my ideal car but putting all the car controls and instruments onto a large central touch screen does not appeal to me at all. Personally I have serious doubts about the ever increasing use of touch screens to control car functions. It strikes me as odd that we quite rightly are banned from texting etc while driving but it is OK to divert drivers with touch screens to adjust the ventilation etc. 

 

Well as I've said before my ideal car doesn't have any electronics in it at all outside the stereo (although a few bits in the engine to make it run better are good too), so I'm rather put off by any modern car, electric or otherwise.

[Reorte]

14 hours ago, melmerby said:

Mine's got speech activated thingy's. I haven't yet managed to get it to do what I want! Must be my Brummie accent.

I can at least use the controls on the steering wheel which are proper buttons.

 

You just know that sooner or later it'll pick up something being said on the radio at just the wrong time...

[boxbrownie]

58 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Bit uncalled for, and untrue, in my experience the average American has a better knowledge of Europe than most non-Spanish European's have of Central and South America or most of us have about Asia. But I guess we all like laughing at thick foreigners 

 

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Bit uncalled for, and untrue, in my experience the average American has a better knowledge of Europe than most non-Spanish European's have of Central and South America or most of us have about Asia. But I guess we all like laughing at thick foreigners 

Not really, and not really .....https://news.gallup.com/poll/12043/americans-know-little-about-european-union.aspx

[jjb1970]

57 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

 

Not really, and not really .....https://news.gallup.com/poll/12043/americans-know-little-about-european-union.aspx

 

You said most American's don't know where Europe is but use a 2004 poll claiming American's don't know much about the political EU to prove that point? It's a completely different matter. How much do you think the average European understands about governance in the US, or even better, how much do people on this board know about APEC or MERCOSUR?

[raymw]

It's on a 'need to know basis'.

[melmerby]

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

You said most American's don't know where Europe is but use a 2004 poll claiming American's don't know much about the political EU to prove that point? It's a completely different matter.

You can do the same with geographical knowledge. The US as a whole has poor knowledge of where foreign countries are.

IMHO it is probably due to the parochial education that they receive where they are taught the USA only is important and nobody else is worth bothering about.

(People like the current incumbent of the White House don't help)

 

e.g. Many thought Saddam's rockets could hit the UK because they thought that Iraq & the UK were reasonably close to each other and stopped coming to visit as a result.

Quite a few think that Scotland is an area of England and likewise think that the distances between places are miniscule (maybe to them!)

e.g. Hi, so you're from England, I have a friend X who lives in Glasgow. Do you know them? (It's true, I was asked this whilst on holiday in Europe).

[Stanley Melrose]

Some years ago (36!) we toured California in an RV.  It was originally registered in Florida as shown by its registration plates.  I was asked if I'd driven all the way from Florida at one RV park by an American.  I said I hadn't but then he asked where I was from.  I replied , "Guess!"  He said "South Africa" and then said I was from England.  "Gee," he said, "that must have been one hell of a drive . .  ."

 

They're not all like that but if memory doesn't let me down, I was told that only around 5% of Americans have passports so the vast majority don't travel outside the US and have little idea of the rest of the world.  I was also told (by yet another American) that 25% of Americans are illiterate and a further 25% are alliterate, i.e. they can read but they never do.  I suspect this statistic may well be way out of date, given most people's addiction to using mobile devices to communicate these days and need at least a basic ability to spell and read.  Mind you, this latter point may well apply to other countries, including the UK!

 

Stan