Residents' Association Forum

To crank it up:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/03/volt-ampera-europe-car-year/
"The Chevrolet Volt and its kissing cousin, the Opel Ampera, are Europe’s “Car of the Year,” beating compacts from Volkswagen and Ford
............
"The judges called the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera 'a mature product' "

"The Chevrolet Volt averages 235mpg and is based on the highly practical Vauxhall Astra," and it comes in at a fiver under £35,000.

Reviews...http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/reviews/chevrolet/volt/hatchback/review?gclid=CNOO1fuZ0q4CFQ1lfAodVivh_w

But can you park it in Low Earth Orbit over the Island?

Now, that would be something...

I'd be concerned about how much they'd sting you for a new battery in 8 years. If the car has depreciated in 8 years to 10-20% of its original value like most Chryslers do then you'd be left with a car worth absolutely nothing. The battery is a huge factor and is going to be expensive to replace.

Also, its all very well being smug about your electric car (like the majority of Prius drivers seem to be)  but (a) where do you think that electricity comes from and (b) where do you think all the used batteries will go?

All pertinent comment - the writers do seem to leave out the costs of the electricity/battery part of the equation and focus on the mpg.

But they are heading in the right direction, maybe.

Environmentally yes its in the right direction.

People imho get too hung up on mpg sometimes, any figures you see quoted you'll never achieve in real world driving.

I know people who have changed from a petrol to diesel car "to save on fuel". They have usually spent about £15,000 to change cars.

This usually achieves a jump from say 20mpg to 40mpg (although you wont actually get this in real terms).

Based on this, and say covering 10,000 miles a year, it would take you about 10 years to recover the cost of the car change in fuel savings. If you only do 5000 miles a year it will take 20 years. I'm being kind there also as diesel is more expensive than petrol. So it doesnt always make sense to change for something more "economical" (other reasons to change are of course a different matter)

Hence I didnt buy a Volvo diesel and I'm still driving a twin turbo V8 :D  well, that's my excuse anyway ;)

Didn't someone do a study and work out that if you take in all factors (i.e. including production, disposal of battery, fuel consumption over lifetime, etc etc) the most environmentally friendly car was the jeep wrangler? !!

Personally I think lightness is key ... but I am biassed so I would say that!

If you buy a light car you can get close to the performance (at least until legal speed limits ;) ) of a big V8 and enjoy relatively environmentally friendly motoring! Ok so beyond 60/70 mph a big engine would win but we err all drive to the speed limits right? !

I easily get 35 mpg out of my car on motorways, more like 27-30 when its being used in town or being driven with err a little passion and its still good for a sub 5 second 0-60 time (well quoted at 4.4 but thats about as realistic as some of the mpg figures I read).

Was interested to see when teaching son to drive before Christmas that the average mileage sank down to around 15-18mpg for the month before his test.  This reflected about an hour and a half practice a day, most days.  Usually we get about 34mpg for all-round driving. (2l Touran)

Thats a lot of practice!!

:o

Goodness you must have a lot of patience!

Well, he'd left it to the last minute before leaving for Australia.  It was a close-run thing - but he passed.

he'd have bankrupted you in fuel costs if he'd stayed!

nice car to learn to drive on btw!

(http://www.dieselstation.com/pics/2011-McLaren-MP4-12C-car-walls.jpg)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/carreviews/8319057/McLaren-MP4-12C-review.html

So - what they don't say is how it fares over speed bumps and potholes....but Craig's upcoming review might!  How much to replace a vandalised wing mirror on the MP4?

my friends who have them say the ride around town is surprisingly compliant. Its really a quite remarkable car.

I'll be doing some very big speeds in one later this month, but its what it's built to do.

Wing Mirror casing alone is circa £2500 by the way!

he does mention how it rides over bumps btw ;)

Bumps: so he does!  Well, potholes at least.  Quite remarkable that a car like that takes bumps as a hatchback would.

I had a Dinky car that looked like that once!  It does look rather a classic in the making.

if you still have it and its in the box its probably worth something. Dinky are quite sought after

just realised, he was at Dunsfold (top gear track) writing that, I was there at the same time doing some research.

Hmm road privatisation... does anyone else think that this would be a huge mistake??

To give a balanced view (  ;) ) - not just the usual Tory-graph link... I'll do three newspapers->

Independant:
"Successful bidders would pay upfront for the lucrative leases and be guaranteed a yearly payment from the Government for maintaining the roads"

Is it just me but when I read the above I think it sounds like the government will effectively be borrowing money albeit one without a principle repayment and one in which the 'lendee' has to factor in the maintenance costs on what they receive.

For the private company -> its a no brainer really:

The bids will be based on making money (capitalism at its best). So companies will price up the costs of the road maintenance and how much money they will recieve for the roads and they will 'bid' by working out the net present value of the contracts cashflows potting a nice sum of money.

There will be little to no incentive on actually spending any more money than they absolutely need to  The returns will be more or less fixed so the companies will do the bare minimum to fulfil the terms of their contract.

And we will have a similar situation as we have on the trains...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-to-fill-hole-in-nations-finances-by-privatising-roads-7576801.html


Guardian
"it has nothing to do with capitalism: it's all about trading years-long monopoly contracts for a short-term fillip to the Treasury, "

Fits my analogy - it will bring some money into the treasury now but we (all of us) will have to pay for that money over time...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/19/road-privatisation-david-cameron?newsfeed=true



Telegraph:
"Last night, it was not clear whether the Government would “sell” the roads or simply save money by paying private companies less to maintain and upgrade them than they currently cost to run. "

Surely the answer here is to SPEND less on the cost they currently cost to run ?? Rather than offer it on a plate to a private company to take it up??

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9152181/Privatised-roads-to-get-country-moving-again.html

Interesting post

Of course, the turnpike trusts and tolls were successful in improving the roads from the late 1600s......and I got used to paying tolls on some roads in the USA, Belgium, Portugal....

But like you I am concerned that this is yet another mortgage of the future to the friends and supporters of the currently-ruling party. 

I'll think it over and revert.  What do others think?

If the gov't wanted to fund new roads they have built with tolls - well then that would be a seperate debate and is a totally different issue.

I actually think I would be in favour (a lot depending on the road cost, toll cost, what roads they are building, etc).

I must sound quite leftist in my posts - I am not really.

My issue is with privatisation for services and coming up with clever ways to do so.

The argument I hear is that the private sector is more efficient than governments and the solution is to privatise those services. Why can't the gov't instead look at WHY they are so inefficient and correct that.

Fundamentally I think a public service does not fit with the capitalist model (where we assume profitability is the main driver rather than the provision of the best public service).

I worry along the same lines.  I thought the new proposition was only for new roads, the existing won't be made toll roads but more of our countryside will be sold off for new privately built and operated roads?

The plebs won't be able to afford them so you can just set cruise control and flash past the wireless toll points with your card debited automatically at a hundred miles an hour.  Perhaps they won't have speed limits. 

[third party pic - truckers can't spell]:
[img width=500 height=330]http://www.evilmilk.com/pictures/Found_The_Problem875.jpg[/img]

For sale: DeLorean DMC-12


No Time Wasters

It's the Volksworld Show this weekend at Sandown Park.  Expect Esher High Street to be jammed full of old Beetles and Campers for the duration of the weekend. 

My '66 bug will of course be on display!

ah good work, enjoy!

Ah that will be cool - I remember it from last year seeing all those campers broken down parked on the side of the road.

;)

Just drove past 6 camper vans in convoy on M25, presumably heading for Sandown.

Five were looking good, the other was a bit sad on the back of break down truck.  Mind you they were at the bottom of Reigate hill, who knows if they all made kit to the top...    :P

Statistically thats actually not bad for VW campers!

i.e. 1 out of 6.

What you probably missed is the other 3 that have not started yet and are still on their driveways!!

One thing about them though - they are stunning!

I've just re-read my postings about V-dub campers and they read a little mean spirited.

I absolutely adore them so retract any negative things I say about them!


I would _love_ to go to the show to see some... so going to try and squeeze it in somehow !

So couldn't make it to Volksworld but did see loads of lovely campers + beetles in the streets around our village.

Not completely convinced by the campers that have been 'lowered' - but they all still look grand.

Did anyone go? Rhodrich- any pictures to post up?

Nope - but have just cycled back from VW Twickenham where I was very impressed with the new little Up - Car of The Year.  Maybe when we have got the last kid through university, and don't need to cart loads of stuff around....

did you see this over the weekend..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/mike-rutherford/9155430/Mr-Money-Get-a-VW-Up-for-the-price-of-a-cup-of-coffee.html

How have I missed the UP - looks lovely and I think its time to trade in the OH's convertible (with broken wing mirror!!) .

Hmmm

It looks a great little car for two - with bags of space; occasional three plus luggage, or four with little luggage.  Well built, economical, yep....looks like another VW classic is here.

And that's rather an interesting offer for rental/leasing/whatever you call it.

Here is one picture from the weekend.

This 'bug' belongs to no other than Rhodrich - and he assures me it drove there just fine and managed to journey back ok too!



[img width=500 height=465]http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb123/jrvwjr/Volksworld%20Show%202012/VOLKSWORLDSHOW2012219.jpg[/img]

quite a trek! ;)

Nice car indeed.

Apparantly the panic buying on fuel has already started.

::)

people are so bloody stupid

..... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/9170200/Motorists-should-consider-stockpiling-fuel-for-strike-suggests-No-10.html

The title of that is a bit misleading, The government are considering stockpiling fuel themselves.

There is no suggestion that the general public should stockpile fuel which would be very dangerous.

The contingency plans for businesses are to allow people to work from home or to consider alternative transport.

Its still pretty ridiculous - the panic buying that results from news like this. I remember the explosion at the refinary causing queues at petrol stations. The worst is its self fulfilling... !

Where I grew up in Tanzania - our local petrol station and the ones around it were often running out of fuel!

It was almost part of day to day life that occasionally you just might not be able to get petrol when you wanted and generally you planned ahead.

My dad took this to the extreme that he was filling up as soon as his tank showed less than 3/4 and even now he hates letting it drop to below 1/2!!

Whereas my mate used to run his car dry ! I remember having to help him push his car to the local petrol station, only to find out that they didn't have any petrol and were expecting their next fill up in 3 days ! So his car sat there for 3 days! 

I had a gee whizz electric car run out of juice in front of me today. I ahve to confess, I sniggered

You didn't offer to tow it?

Heck if you had the Cayenne you could've just picked up the whole thing and put it in your boot!

ha no was in the other car

still might have fit in the front boot!

;D

hinchley wood out of fuel btw

No problem getting tanked up at the BP Hampton Court this morning.  No queues, all peaceful.

A tank will last us the best part of a month if no longer trips.

shhh keep it hush hush!

The other thing I always remember about panic buying is that it seems to hit some stations more than others.

I remember when the refinery had that explosion. The petrol station nearest my house (on kilburn high road) had queues on the road causing chaos with traffic and buses. Two streets away another petrol station (not on a main road) was pretty much normal.

It was almost like people seeing the queue and deciding to join in!!!

No strike date yet and still hearing stories of big queues and more petrol stations running out of fuel.

::)

Makes you wonder how we would all react if there was a genuine emergency we had to all prepare for... !

I think they are talking it up so that anything except Donor Dinners occupies the hacks' attention.  There is no strike yet called for.  The Union has said it wants to negotiate. 

This and the Great Cornish Pasty Saga are ideal distractions from the more difficult issues for our rulers!

yup driving in this am I was quite low and only found one place to get fuel (they commented they were very low and didnt know when more fuel was coming)

my wife just drove in and its all gone, probably needlessly too!

There are few things as alarming as leaders rushing round saying "Don't Panic"

People queuing from shell h wood onto the roads on all sides just now, daft

Well no queues outside the Hampton Court BP station yesterday evening.

I wonder why not...

???

[img width=375 height=500]http://gallery.seloc.org/albums/userpics/43126/fuel_photo2.JPG[/img]

total got a delivery yesterday i believe

The whole will they/won't they strike drags on...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17753488


Luckily looks more like they won't at the moment...

Oh dear!!!

http://www.elmbridgeguardian.co.uk/news/9659977.Motorist_hits_five_parked_cars_in_East_Molesey_road/

a friend of mine witnessed that, said it was unbelievable

Any idea why she did it?..

RIP Caroll Shelby, he took our own AC and breathed fire on it.

Aye, headlined on our front page.  Whither what's left of AC now, I wonder?

Hmmm... a pre 60's car is now exempt from MOT.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18146326

The Cobra was created in the 60's - but the Cobra was based on the AC Ace (which was built in the 50's).

So if you can find (and afford) a nice AC Ace - that will be no road tax and MOT to worry about... !

Trouble free motoring!

;)

This no MOT idea is ludicrous.  3 of my cars are from the '60s, and I'm very happy taking them for their annual MOT.  I'm glad it doesn't cover mine.  There has been no pressure from the classic car fraternity for this change - quite the opposite.  It's only going to take one high profile accident involving a pre '60 car, and there will be a huge backlash. Having a test that costs about £40 and takes an hour once a year is hardly 'red tape'....

agreed

I have to agree as well (this could be a first).

MOT is (well should be) first and formost a safety/road worthiness check - I appreciate some older cars may struggle to get through some of the tests in which case perhaps making classics exempt from certain (non safety) aspects such as emissions should be the way forward.

as long as the seatbelts, lights and brakes work, the tyres are legal the car doesnt have bits about to fall off then it should at the very least be safe. Classic cars should have these things checked at the very least.

Emissions aren't checked anyway on a pre '74 car (I think) - none of mine are.  The test is that the engine shouldn't 'smoke excessively'.  And they're not tested on anything that wasn't fitted when they were new - my old '51 bug didn't have any seatbelts in the front or rear for instance (which is the main reason I sold it, when fatherhood came)

If it ain't broke - don't fix it.  There's nothing wrong with the process as it works at the moment.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/classiccars/9272536/Fresh-start-for-AC-Cars.html

Order the new AC for ninety grand..... or not?!

looks lovely and generally anything Zagato touch is wonderful.

But at circa £100k (which it will be once options are added), they are simply in a league they will not be able to compete successfully in. I cant see how at that price they will be able to produce enough and make enough profit to provide the quality, reliability and backup levels buyers demand.

There are a number of cars at that price that will without a doubt be better.

I think, the smart move for them would be to up their game, make the finish unbeatable and the interiors uber opulent, produce very limited number of cars at circa £200,000 and offer a whole lifestyle package to customers like people like Spyker do.

this is a nice read and the video at the bottom is good too

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=25797

awesome!!

on the day of the secret gardens - I spotted this beauty (aston martin db6) in our village parked close to maybury lodge

[img width=500 height=375]http://gallery.seloc.org/albums/userpics/43126/photo_3~0.JPG[/img]

[img width=500 height=375]http://gallery.seloc.org/albums/userpics/43126/photo_2~0.JPG[/img]

[img width=500 height=375]http://gallery.seloc.org/albums/userpics/43126/photo_1~0.JPG[/img]

thats lovely, sorry, just realised I forgot to reply to your email bud, thank you for that.

no worries - it was gone I think before you would've got the email.

I guess you see loads of nice metal at your vmax days - but that db6 was one of the nicest things I have seen on the road in a long while and it was right in our village!!

Hoping someone on here knows the owner!

make no bones about it, that's beautiful, not sure i'd have parked there though!

Anyone else park their car on the road and notice it was covered in desert sand today?

Mine was and it was in a garage!

This is a bit of a cheeky (and hopefully unecessary ask) - but I don't suppose anyone has a roof box for a car that I could borrow for the weekend coming. Any size really .. .

Still hoping to pick one up on Thursday night from Halfords - fingers crossed I should be able to in time = but if not and you don;t mind lending me one then that would be great (I would take good care of it etc - and return the favour with either beers, bachman cakes or something??).

Left it too late to order one I think (as not in to take delivery during the week) and looks like we need to take a lot of stuff away this weekend.

Mate post it on the vmax200 fb page with your location if you like

Yes, thought is was a result of the ubiquitous building work going on around the village.

Turns out it was literally a little bit of the Sahara!! (http://www.clickliverpool.com/news/national-news/1216525-sahara-sandstorm-layer-of-dust-drops-across-england-and-uk.html)

Thanks Craig - I think the halfords near the oh's work has a few I like in stock (I need to buy one anyways).

Failing that I will just hire one (I prefer that option rather than to borrow one from someone being kind!) - I found a company in Surbiton that rents them out as well.

Yup! I thought the same until I cycled down Summer road,etc and realised it was not just our road!!

Had a cracker this morning, on the high street, pre 8am,  had a finger wagged at me in a manner as if to slow down. I was travelling at a vicious 12mph at the time!

Post deleted at request of member who has left forum - Admin

:D

Have you not seen his website and heard what he does in his spare time then?

;)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9578849/Wheel-clamping-banned-on-private-land.html "New parking laws that make it illegal for private companies to clamp cars come into force in October, although most motorists know nothing about them. "

Can Commuters now park in Boyle Farm and other private roads without being threatened?

thats an interesting point, I wonder whats enforceable now.

Credit where it's due, and I have Esher Tyre and Exhaust in mind.  I've used them before and have always had good service and no complaint afterwards, but I couldn't say I was known there.  However....this afternoon I go along on spec to get a replacement brake light bulb. "Would you like us to fit it for you, Sir?"  "Yes please."

Five minutes later: "How much do I owe you?"  "Nothing"  "Not even the bulb?"  "Just give the man who fixed it the price of a drink."

I gladly peeled off a tenner and left thinking "How civilized!"  And how sensible - they've hooked me for ever and I am spreading the word too LOL.

yup thats great service.

Interesting:  http://news.yahoo.com/insight-volkswagen-discovered-holy-grail-carmakers-060619189--finance.html  (Reuter article)

Just as well I like VW !

Maybe I should take apart my Touran and reassemble it as an Audi?

or a Bugatti !

Btw, anyone see the AC factory footage on top gear last night?

No! Its been recorded though so something to look forward to!

I think theyve got this new season spot on.

btw, anyone know a woman in a silver Toyota RAV4, seen a few times in the village? 2 door with rear mounted spare wheel with a red motif or writing on it,  if you do, pls ask her to slow up before she kills herself or someone else.

This is going to sound a little geeky with the star trek reference but I worry that VAG are a bit like the Borg looking to assimilate all the car brands in the world...

I too like VW - but the VW I like is that Mk 1 VW Golf gti.

Or a corrado (ugly though they were they had a certain charm to them!).

Don't get me wrong - modern golfs (audi a3's, seat leon, skoda octavia, etc etc) - are very good, very capable  cars. They look smart, have very good engines (throughout the range) and are built to a very good quality... but they are just so dull its making me fall asleep even posting about them!!

Okay, Dad, just wait until you see my new car, when they've made it, and if I can sneak out to buy it without the OH noticing.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/first-drives/volkswagen-gt

No room for all your babykit though, tra-la, better be a campervan for you for the next twenty years, been there done that....

Not that it means a lot really but 0-62 in 8.6 seconds from a 3 cylinder engine is really remarkable.

Haha - funnily enough I was looking at camper vans (almost bought one but got talked out of it by somone...) but then arrival of the baby put a stop to that!

I really needed to get the OH out on a camping trip with a camper before the baby was born as now she would not even contemplate the idea.

Keith - I would be impressed if you got that car! It looks good.

Once you have it - maybe we can do some late night drag racing on the streets of TD ... speed bump to err speed bump!

;)

could call it, the 0-10mph challenge :D

If you blow a vuvuzela anywhere near my cat - she would win that!!

Never seen anything move so fast... !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22035949
"Forecourt sales of petrol have plunged by more than 20% in five years, the AA has said. Government figures showed 17 billion litres were sold last year compared to 22 billion in 2007. The AA said rising prices and greater use of smaller and diesel vehicles had contributed to the fall in consumption."

Interesting.  Good for environment.  Fits with sundry anecdotal evidence in one's own life and circles.  Shell & BP have tended to suffer downgrades as investments,  Halfords on the other hand is booming!

The OECD predicts oil prices to rise from about $105 per barrel to about $190 pb over the next seven years.  Higher prices has made North Sea oil more exploitable and a partial resurgence in production is expected. 

Will this hasten the end of out-of-town supermarkets in favour of a return to High St shops, local convenience stores and the net?

One would be tempted to think that the rise in petrol prices will perhaps mean an increase in alternative offerings...

But then again - I read an interesting quote:

"Gasoline prices are rising rapidly. Nevertheless, more and more internal combustion vehicles are being sold and there are fears of a gas shortage. Experts predict that prices will continue to rise since proven reserves of petroleum are limited. Electric vehicle enthusiasts urge more emphasis on electric cars and trucks, since these will become more competitive as gas prices rise. They also point out the nonpolluting aspects of their technology. Business and government are being urged to push the electric vehicle, while conferences and associations are formed to coordinate this work. The electric enthusiasts are impatient that more is not being done to support electric vehicles, but they are convinced that such support must grow in the future.

The year is 1912."

And this quote is from a paper written in 1980:
http://sloan.stanford.edu/EVonline/schallen.htm

Brilliant - excellent spot!

So Keith put your name down for an Up yet?


I'm a little behind but watching old 5th gear episodes and in one they test an Up with the city auto brake system.

It's apparently only a 250 quid extra and works up to speeds of up to 18mph... It brakes for you to prevent you crashing into a car!

Amazing!

Waiting for that hot one to be marketed later this year.

Meanwhile I had the basic one for a couple of days last month as a courtesy car while the Touran was being serviced etc.  It's cute, plenty of room in the front and a satisfactory drive with a nice gearbox up to about 85mph.  Engine sounds a bit three cylinder when given the gun but the coming hot Up should have plenty of power in reserve. Once up the range from the basic one, they have a split rear seat which I would regard as essential.  I put five litres in the tank to take it back, and that was way too much LOL!  Hardly uses any petrol at all.....

It had 'daytime headlights' on all the time, which I gather is a continental EU regulation these days, and no way to switch the blighters off.  Other than that, I liked it a lot.

I am struck by how many of the cars at the frankfurt Motor Show look really ugly!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motor-shows/frankfurt-motor-show/10295966/Frankfurt-Motor-Show-2013-live.html

Those are largely just concept cars , the production models will be paired down versions.

Cars generally are having to evolve to conform to safety legislation hence the entire mercedes range looking slab nosed.

The Porsche 918 in your link is beautiful though and a giant leap forward for road cars in general.