What's made you grumpy today?

[The Panda Nut]

Yes, I remember the Raleigh, never owned one but a close friend had one and it did seem to spend a lot of time being "fixed".

The earlier models had a fixed engine pulley which were the ones I liked for their simplicity. I have worked with the later ones though, like half a DAF Variomatic without the vacuum override? Lots of scooters these days seem to use a version of it. For those not in the know, just listen to one when accelerating. If the revs rise rapidly and then level off but don't drop as the machine increases it's speed then it's got a vario type drive.

Aye, I find them interesting but. I do get a bit concerned by the complexity of them. Got an relatively expensive battery and all the control systems to go wrong too. Some seem to use metal belt CVT transmissions too - which are pretty notorious for going wrong. However i rather like the idea of Dyno-starter motors for stop/start which do away with conventional geared starter motors. I think I could be tempted by a hybrid but not as a long term keeper.

We needsome hybrid tech people. I cant see these being impossible to deal with and would love to understand them. If I cant understand it I wont buy it. MAKES ELECTRIC CARS AN ISSUE. There are a few prorams on now that are helping to demystify now thank heaven. Fat chance of a dealer explaining. Thet cant even figure our the Panda 4x4 systems. more sense could be had of a wall. They used to give some basic information in sales blurb but cleRly cannot be a**** to any more. Big problems with electrc cars, apart from price are What is the DEPRECIATION! and inabilty to service at home which further hikes tge price as I have done 50% of this for the last 50 years. I wonderhow manyDIY fatalities we shall see.

 

[AndyRKett]

After more than 2 weeks with the Skoda I'm now feeling pretty much at ease with it for daily driving. The driving experience, as far as what's going on when you're behind the wheel is very similar to the Ibiza - bearing out what you say above Andy.

Being basically the SE version with a few additions - reportedly worth £2000 if ordered separately - it has the ordinary dash display so is very similar to the Ibiza although, for some reason only known to Skoda? the speedo is marked in 20mph increments so doesn't have a 30mph marked?

View attachment 439891

Mine looks almost Identical to this, despite now being an 8 and a half year old car.

Same tachometer, same speedo, same fuel and coolant temp, there are some stylistic changes and mine does read in 10mph increments. Then in the middle I have the same LCD screen with oil temp and all your other usual trip computer stuff.

The layout of the rest of the dash is also largely similar. The screen being above the heater vents is probably the main difference but I think they do this on newer cars to lift the screen more into the eye line of the driver.

Talking about the touch screen, on mine the screen sits below the air vents, quite a lot further down the dash, which is probably much the same as every VW built between 2005 and 2020, you do have to look down and take your eye more away from the road to use it.
I have added an Alexa Auto to my car. I have Amazon prime music and this way I can literally voice control whatever I want to come on the radio, whether that is a radio station or a specific song. I can also voice control the lights on, on the front of the house when I am coming home, put the heating on or the hot water and even put the kettle on this is far more useful than the touch screen and I get a verbal response from the Alexa to let me know I have been understood so again nothing to need to touch or check visually.
This is really what cars need not bigger touch screens and complex menus with fancy graphics.


There is one oddity with the speedo on my car which is that it goes up in smaller units of 10mph with marks for the 5mph increments inbetween, then you get to 80mph and the next mark is actually 90mph and the next speed is 100mph, it then goes up in 20mph increments after 80mph. which can be quite confusing if your brain thinks you're doing 85mph and you're actually doing 90mph and before anyone tells me I shouldn't be going that fast I drive a lot on the continent where 80mph is the upper limit and so being a couple of mph over the limit might not be a concern but being 10mph over is quite a difference.

 

[The Panda Nut]

90... a speed you do twice each trip. Or when on lane 1 of the M3. Greatly similar to tge 2002 leob. Probably the same unit behind the facade. Wht alter something that works. I dont object to making money from sensible sharing and ongoing updating. Nice clear display.

 

[AndyRKett]

90... a speed you do twice each trip. Or when on lane 1 of the M3. Greatly similar to tge 2002 leob. Probably the same unit behind the facade. Wht alter something that works. I dont object to making money from sensible sharing and ongoing updating. Nice clear display.

I think it probably is, I think VW has been using the workings behind this for years. The needles will be driven by servos so you can pretty much program them to do what you want where you want on the gauge. Tried and Tested technology, then they only need to update "the look" to modernize it between model years or change fonts and other graphics to suit it to different cars. if it works it works, and you can spend your R&D money on something else.

Fiat on the other hand, historically seemed to want to "redesign the wheel" with every new car model, they hardly ever carry things over from one model to another. Take the Punto, 500L and 500X all built on the same platform but all have completely different interior layouts and finishes.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I think it probably is, I think VW has been using the workings behind this for years. The needles will be driven by servos so you can pretty much program them to do what you want where you want on the gauge. Tried and Tested technology, then they only need to update "the look" to modernize it between model years or change fonts and other graphics to suit it to different cars. if it works it works, and you can spend your R&D money on something else.

Fiat on the other hand, historically seemed to want to "redesign the wheel" with every new car model, they hardly ever carry things over from one model to another. Take the Punto, 500L and 500X all built on the same platform but all have completely different interior layouts and finishes.

Nice but daft

 

[vexorg]

We needsome hybrid tech people. I cant see these being impossible to deal with and would love to understand them. If I cant understand it I wont buy it. MAKES ELECTRIC CARS AN ISSUE.

They are not that complex. A big motor (pretty basic and very old design), and drive unit / controller (probably best treated as a black box that is swapped out), battery, and charger unit (again black box of electronics). Some have water cooling, but again, not rocket science.

If anything they should be cheaper to buy and maintain long term.

 

[StevenRB45]

Email from Evri formally Hermes..

Good news your parcel has been delivered to your local shop as requested.

I'm pretty sure my local shop isn't in Haydon bridge..as that's half way to Carlisle from here.

80 mile round trip...

 

[The Panda Nut]

Email from Evri formally Hermes..

Good news your parcel has been delivered to your local shop as requested.

I'm pretty sure my local shop isn't in Haydon bridge..as that's half way to Carlisle from here.

80 mile round trip...

Good old Evri. True consistency. This or thrown ocer tge fence under the hedge to rot unseen till the spring. Oh deers

 

[The Panda Nut]

Good old Evri. True consistency. This or thrown ocer tge fence under the hedge to rot unseen till the spring. Oh deers

Carlisle's nice at this time of year I understand. Do let us know....LOL

 

[StevenRB45]

There is one oddity with the speedo on my car which is that it goes up in smaller units of 10mph with marks for the 5mph increments inbetween, then you get to 80mph and the next mark is actually 90mph and the next speed is 100mph, it then goes up in 20mph increments after 80mph. which can be quite confusing if your brain thinks you're doing 85mph and you're actually doing 90mph and before anyone tells me I shouldn't be going that fast I drive a lot on the continent where 80mph is the upper limit and so being a couple of mph over the limit might not be a concern but being 10mph over is quite a difference.View attachment 439899

Seems an odd choice given they could have kept the scale and the extra numbers it grants are far beyond what the car could achieve.

Perhaps someone at VW subscribes to the "if it's on the Speedo it must go that fast" similar to school children.

 

[StevenRB45]

Carlisle's nice at this time of year I understand. Do let us know....LOL

Well having been on Evris website it says it's at the shop I asked them to leave it at...

So on the way home we shall see if shrodingers parcel is in Northumberland or Tyne and Wear.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Seems an odd choice given they could have kept the scale and the extra numbers it grants are far beyond what the car could achieve.

Perhaps someone at VW subscribes to the "if it's on the Speedo it must go that fast" similar to school children.

I thinknout 74hp Leon has a 140mph speedo. It could be an FR model not a 1.4S

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Seems an odd choice given they could have kept the scale and the extra numbers it grants are far beyond what the car could achieve.

Perhaps someone at VW subscribes to the "if it's on the Speedo it must go that fast" similar to school children.

T
My 999cc Scala, with a VAG claimed top speed around 120mph (probably down a hill with a favorable following wind) shows 160mph on the speedo.

 

[The Panda Nut]

T
My 999cc Scala, with a VAG claimed top speed around 120mph (probably down a hill with a favorable following wind) shows 160mph on the speedo.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeereeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Nee naw Nee naw Nee naw.....

 

[AndyRKett]

Seems an odd choice given they could have kept the scale and the extra numbers it grants are far beyond what the car could achieve.

Perhaps someone at VW subscribes to the "if it's on the Speedo it must go that fast" similar to school children.

I have done 130 in it (mph not kph) it was shockingly stable at that speed, not in the UK I might add. But we all know if it says it on the speedo then that is the top speed.

In all honesty it’s probably the same unit they used in the R and GTI and various other models from that era so the transporter vans and scirocco probably Passat as well, so they just set it up for a range that would be above what any one of those cars would reach

 

[StevenRB45]

In all honesty it’s probably the same unit they used in the R and GTI and various other models from that era so the transporter vans and scirocco probably Passat as well, so they just set it up for a range that would be above what any one of those cars would reach

Me being me I checked this before I posted the original and it's not the case.

The GTI has a 180mph Speedo () and the R 200mph (there's not enough laughing faces for this one).

Given yours would suffice in all 3 and the R has a 155 limiter...it's entirely for willy waving purposes.

 

[StevenRB45]

T
My 999cc Scala, with a VAG claimed top speed around 120mph (probably down a hill with a favorable following wind) shows 160mph on the speedo.

Ours has very similar performance figures (just over 120) but I suspect that didn't put a 130mph on the Speedo and went to 140 mainly as it's in 20mph brackets so finishing at 130 would look odd.

Moot point given there's a significantly larger and easier to read digital Speedo directly in your line of sight that will show you 30, 50 and 70... it's pretty much for show.

 

[AndyRKett]

Me being me I checked this before I posted the original and it's not the case.

The GTI has a 180mph Speedo () and the R 200mph (there's not enough laughing faces for this one).

Given yours would suffice in all 3 and the R has a 155 limiter...it's entirely for willy waving purposes.

The actual dials and the software that drives them may be the same and the cosmetics change depending on what it’s fitted to.

The “limiter” is only applicable if someone hasn’t coded them out.

If you’ve watched mighty car mods and I’m sure you have, it doesn’t take a lot of tweaking to a golf R to have something that will frighten a Lamborghini owner.

 

[StevenRB45]

It doesn't but unless you smash the screen on the dash with a hammer while tuning the car..

It's not needed.. which is just as well as the shrinking scale makes the 200mph Speedos rather cluttered, this is only a GTI..

So they could have a less cluttered Speedo...they choose not to for reasons.

Uk R cluster..



If you can determine the degradations between 160 and 200 mph clearly at that speed on the Analog clock then best of luck to you

 

[AndyRKett]

So they could have a less cluttered Speedo...they choose not to for reasons.

Uk R cluster..

View attachment 439925

People who drive Golf Rs need to know all the information all of the time. Screw looking out the window, if you don't know exactly what speed you are doing both in MPH and KPH at the same time., Are you even driving???

Go back and look at my dash, there is literally only MPH on the dials, if you want it KPH can be brought up in the middle on the digital display. It has to be said with mine that they never sold the cabrio in the US, it was really only sold in the UK and some asian countries, which most of do the speed in KPH so really my dash was very specifically only for UK cars. The other Golfs and various models and incarnations would have been made in a different factory and catered for a wider spectrum of users, I suspect on a european version of the R the KPH would be around the edge and the MPH in the middle. There is also a scale in white round the outer edge with black markings so I suspect it really would not be all that hard to read.

In the uk you need to know 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70MPH. In europe you only need to know 50, -130kph and on the derestricted areas of the Autobahn who cares what the speedo says? so anything much above 80mph or 130kph is pure decoration.