What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[SB1500]

Or maybe just electric?

Although the whole thing about getting us to buy electric doesn't seem to be going at all according to plan does it?

I read in the budget that whilst on one hand they're 'protecting motorists' by keeping the fuel duty freeze in place... the next line says they are keeping tax for EVs at £10 (Thought it was £0?) and raising them for engine / hybrids in 2024..... Not great. Still, it could be £1,000 a year in tax, and it still wouldn't pay off to trade in for an EV lol

If you are serious, just confirm that the engine will have a timing chain, not a wet belt. I think they all should be chains by now, but worth asking.

Wet belts seem like a stupid design, and using them seems like a stupid decision. So subsequently, I strongly feel like PSA engineers might have won-out and had that be used on the new cars :-(

If something happened the CT I think I'd be back with Fiat in an old Panda or the new one depending on timing / pricing. Though in saying that.. I feel that the next time I need a car I'll restrict myself to a section of my everyday savings rather than finance... No matter how new, fresh or fancy, I've learnt, you get used to them and they feel like a very boring part of everyday life... but the figure on the bank statement, hurts more with time! lol

Might enquire with Citroen next time I'm near. Though in accompanying a relative looking to buy a new van (Peugeot/Citroen/Vauxhall/Fiat/Toyota variant of the same vehicle) - the dealers don't really seem to know for certain about things such as standard / optional equipment... I suspect that at this stage half of them might not know about the belt / chain question either

 

[Cheest]

I read somwhere that Stellantis are shutting multiple American plants too - Jeep and Dodge I read?

Yup. Stellantis has effed up royally in the US. I won't even think of buying another Wrangler because it's become a bloated mall crawler with power windows and ungodly expensive. The quality has also gone down the tubes.

As for electric here, dunno. I've seen a lot of Muskrats Cybertrucks, aka, Deploreans, lately. Even saw one in Winslow, Arizona with Wisconsin plates on it. I still want to see it tow a camping trailer over a hundred miles of mountain roads.

 

[vexorg]

As for electric here, dunno. I've seen a lot of Muskrats Cybertrucks, aka, Deploreans, lately. Even saw one in Winslow, Arizona with Wisconsin plates on it. I still want to see it tow a camping trailer over a hundred miles of mountain roads.

It's the cold here that really kills the range, people in arizona probably have to google what snow is.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I read somwhere that Stellantis are shutting multiple American plants too - Jeep and Dodge I read?

Ironically one of the biggest issues facing stellantis in the US is the 1.4million unsold cars most of which are petrol or diesel, usually with bigger engines because people want cheaper to run fuel efficient engines not gas guzzlers.

Dodge makes the chargers and challengers as well as jeeps main products are big gas guzzling 4x4s Chrysler’s sales have tanked massively over the last decade or so. In the states at least EVs are not the problem a very big issue is the lack of EVs stellantis makes for the US market.

 

[porta]

I read somwhere that Stellantis are shutting multiple American plants too - Jeep and Dodge I read?

Think Jeep is Stellantis golden girl, but the rest of ‘Chryslers’ ranges are either inert or on life support

 

[porta]

Yup. Stellantis has effed up royally in the US. I won't even think of buying another Wrangler because it's become a bloated mall crawler with power windows and ungodly expensive. The quality has also gone down the tubes.

As for electric here, dunno. I've seen a lot of Muskrats Cybertrucks, aka, Deploreans, lately. Even saw one in Winslow, Arizona with Wisconsin plates on it. I still want to see it tow a camping trailer over a hundred miles of mountain roads.

Think I’ve said before that Jeeps just keep getting bigger (although they are doing smaller cars now) if you stick a MK1 panda 4x4 next to a Willys they’re about the same size!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Or maybe just electric?

Although the whole thing about getting us to buy electric doesn't seem to be going at all according to plan does it?

Like heat pump central heating a great idea but far, far far.... too expensive. I shall continue to watch instant mpg, use eco in the car, drive slower and try and use less fossil fuel as I dont have the funds to play this game.

 

[Cheest]

Are these Tilley Stormlights from your side of the pond always a pain in the butt or is it just screwing with me. Burns bright for two hours, slight breeze comes up, it goes out. Pecker.

Bear in mind that the Tilley mantles are Unobtainium on this side of the pond and I modified a Coleman 21 mantle to make it work.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Like heat pump central heating a great idea but far, far far.... too expensive. I shall continue to watch instant mpg, use eco in the car, drive slower and try and use less fossil fuel as I dont have the funds to play this game.

Hmm, Heat pumps? I don't know enough about them yet, but the impression I get is you need a very well insulated property with recycling/heat exchanger type technology to make them work properly. Simply taking your average existing dwelling, let alone something ancient like my deceased brother's cottage, throwing out the gas boiler and substituting a heat pump will leave you shivering whenever the outside temperature drops significantly. This is well illustrated by the quite large extension my youngest boy has had built onto the back of his old miner's cottage. It's not quite doubled the size of his house and consists of a large family room downstairs with a bedroom and bathroom up stairs all tacked onto the back of the existing cottage and accessed from the main house through the kitchen. There is a door between the kitchen and the older part of the cottage which consists of a large sitting room, two bedrooms a hall and a bathroom. The new part of this structure is extremely well insulated with massively thick insulation in the walls, under the floor and in the roof. The older part of the building has blown in cavity insulation in the walls and that's about it although he's just about to have underfloor and loft insulation installed. it has a modern combi boiler and radiators in all rooms with thermostats on all but one of the radiators - which is a towel rail - However, in it's present form, when it gets cold, if you close the door between the kitchen and sitting room, the new part of the house stays "toasty warm" with the radiators riding on and off on their thermostats while the older part is noticeably colder with the radiators going flat out all the time. By the way the whole house is double glazed.

 

[bugsymike]

Hmm, Heat pumps? I don't know enough about them yet, but the impression I get is you need a very well insulated property with recycling/heat exchanger type technology to make them work properly. Simply taking your average existing dwelling, let alone something ancient like my deceased brother's cottage, throwing out the gas boiler and substituting a heat pump will leave you shivering whenever the outside temperature drops significantly. This is well illustrated by the quite large extension my youngest boy has had built onto the back of his old miner's cottage. It's not quite doubled the size of his house and consists of a large family room downstairs with a bedroom and bathroom up stairs all tacked onto the back of the existing cottage and accessed from the main house through the kitchen. There is a door between the kitchen and the older part of the cottage which consists of a large sitting room, two bedrooms a hall and a bathroom. The new part of this structure is extremely well insulated with massively thick insulation in the walls, under the floor and in the roof. The older part of the building has blown in cavity insulation in the walls and that's about it although he's just about to have underfloor and loft insulation installed. it has a modern combi boiler and radiators in all rooms with thermostats on all but one of the radiators - which is a towel rail - However, in it's present form, when it gets cold, if you close the door between the kitchen and sitting room, the new part of the house stays "toasty warm" with the radiators riding on and off on their thermostats while the older part is noticeably colder with the radiators going flat out all the time. By the way the whole house is double glazed.

Not a fan of cavity wall insulation, cavity is there for a reason and whether foam or beads injected in, it creates a path for moisture across the cavity.
Daughters house built in the 70s has had it done some years ago and makes some rooms damp, trouble is being foam gone hard it is impossible to remove.
Another stupid Government Scheme offering free or cut price insulation. I would sooner have a cold dry house than a damp one.
Same as removing chimneys, they gave good ventilation and with coal fires kept the houses at a reasonable temperature.
Note I say coal fires, electric dries the air to much for me.
I recall when delivering news papers as a 14 year old around a Council Estate as the paper went through the letter box the smell of paraffin heaters was strong and all their windows were steamed up so not good either.
Air source heat pumps require a fair bit of electricity which is getting dearer inspite of promises to the contrary.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Not a fan of cavity wall insulation, cavity is there for a reason and whether foam or beads injected in, it creates a path for moisture across the cavity.
Daughters house built in the 70s has had it done some years ago and makes some rooms damp, trouble is being foam gone hard it is impossible to remove.
Another stupid Government Scheme offering free or cut price insulation. I would sooner have a cold dry house than a damp one.
Same as removing chimneys, they gave good ventilation and with coal fires kept the houses at a reasonable temperature.
Note I say coal fires, electric dries the air to much for me.
I recall when delivering news papers as a 14 year old around a Council Estate as the paper went through the letter box the smell of paraffin heaters was strong and all their windows were steamed up so not good either.
Air source heat pumps require a fair bit of electricity which is getting dearer inspite of promises to the contrary.

Ditto regarding the cavity wall insulation. My daughter is a civil engineer specializing in doing house conversions - ie putting swimming pools in the basement and renovations to listed buildings and other "high end" stuff - When the "craze" for cavity insulation first became a thing I was going to do it and she talked me out of it for exactly the reason you mention above. Actually our house, now 40 something years old, has a rudimentary syetem of insulating board in the cavity when built. It's a kind of expanded polystyrene with a black face on one side and a reflective aluminium face on the other about 1.5 inches thick I'd guess. Must be quite effective because the heating bills for this detached house are measurably less than our previous terraced dwelling. Daughter made exactly the same point as you - the cavity is there for a reason, one of which being ventilation. I know of at least one of the dwellings on our estate which had the cavity insulation blown in which now has damp problems, so I'm very glad she talked me out of it.

I remember paraffin heaters, still got two "Alladins" in the garden shed - don't know where I'd buy the paraffin now a days though? The venerable Pilrig Motors had a pump dispenser in the shop. You'd regularly see an "old buddy" getting their can filled up when in buying spares etc. Wedid use them in one of the old flats we had when very young and the windows were always running. The smell you tended to forget until after you'd been out for a while and then returned to it - our clothes must have stunk!

Like electric cars, I'll not be buying a heat pump any time soon.

 

[portland_bill]

Paraffin heaters are still available for greenhouses, and I think B&Q sell paraffin in small quantities for that purpose. The moisture created may not be a problem in a greenhouse.
To supplement the coal fire, my mother had a calor gas heater. That gave a lot of heat, but also a lot of moisture.

 

[portland_bill]

I read in the budget that whilst on one hand they're 'protecting motorists' by keeping the fuel duty freeze in place... the next line says they are keeping tax for EVs at £10 (Thought it was £0?) and raising them for engine / hybrids in 2024..... Not great. Still, it could be £1,000 a year in tax, and it still wouldn't pay off to trade in for an EV lol

I thought the budget only changed the first year tax. Some time ago, the tax for the first year was made greater than subsequent years, and this is what the chancellor has played with, adding a £10 charge for EVs, and increasing ICE cars by large amounts.
I did wonder what might happen if you cancel the tax after one month. How much is refunded? Do you get 11/12ths of the initial payment, or only 11/12ths of the 'normal' annual amount.
Then if after another month, you tax it again, would that still be at the higher rate, or at the 'normal' rate. Might be an expensive experiment, or might save a chunk.

Wet belts seem like a stupid design, and using them seems like a stupid decision. So subsequently, I strongly feel like PSA engineers might have won-out and had that be used on the new cars :-(

I thought PSA had changed their engine to now have a chain. I think Ford have, or are doing the same with theirs.

If something happened the CT I think I'd be back with Fiat in an old Panda or the new one depending on timing / pricing. Though in saying that.. I feel that the next time I need a car I'll restrict myself to a section of my everyday savings rather than finance... No matter how new, fresh or fancy, I've learnt, you get used to them and they feel like a very boring part of everyday life... but the figure on the bank statement, hurts more with time! lol

As you know from your Panda, a new car is a want, not a need. Save your pennies, and buy outright whenever possible. A personal loan from your bank is often significantly cheaper than any car finance. (That's how I used to do mine.) Easier to save once the mortgage is paid.

Might enquire with Citroen next time I'm near. Though in accompanying a relative looking to buy a new van (Peugeot/Citroen/Vauxhall/Fiat/Toyota variant of the same vehicle) - the dealers don't really seem to know for certain about things such as standard / optional equipment... I suspect that at this stage half of them might not know about the belt / chain question either

On the PSA engine, the belt can be seen through the oil filler hole, as will a chain if used instead. There's now a little special tool to measure the width of the belt, used through the oil filler hole, it measures the belt width, as they will swell in the early stages of deterioration. Now a check on every service, I believe.

 

[vexorg]

I thought the PSA 1.2 was still a wet belt, they just fixed the issue

 

[The Panda Nut]

Not a fan of cavity wall insulation, cavity is there for a reason and whether foam or beads injected in, it creates a path for moisture across the cavity.
Daughters house built in the 70s has had it done some years ago and makes some rooms damp, trouble is being foam gone hard it is impossible to remove.
Another stupid Government Scheme offering free or cut price insulation. I would sooner have a cold dry house than a damp one.
Same as removing chimneys, they gave good ventilation and with coal fires kept the houses at a reasonable temperature.
Note I say coal fires, electric dries the air to much for me.
I recall when delivering news papers as a 14 year old around a Council Estate as the paper went through the letter box the smell of paraffin heaters was strong and all their windows were steamed up so not good either.
Air source heat pumps require a fair bit of electricity which is getting dearer inspite of promises to the contrary.

My brother tells me his quarterly electricity bill is £2000!!!!!!! That would be 3 years billsfor me. OK I have say another £400 for oil and £400 for solid fuels but my total heating bill is £1400 a year and we keep the place as warm as we like.

Next door have nearly finished having their heat pump work done which included having all the walls insulated internally. Must have made their period house look less period I suspect. They seem to have been to hell and back having all the work done too. Its not for the faint hearted.

 

[porta]

My brother tells me his quarterly electricity bill is £2000!!!!!!! That would be 3 years billsfor me. OK I have say another £400 for oil and £400 for solid fuels but my total heating bill is £1400 a year and we keep the place as warm as we like.

Next door have nearly finished having their heat pump work done which included having all the walls insulated internally. Must have made their period house look less period I suspect. They seem to have been to hell and back having all the work done too. Its not for the faint hearted.

Using wool in the cavity is, by far, the best solution…it’s fireproof, insulates really well and allows the walls to breathe. The only issue is that it’s horrendously expensive, despot the fact that farmers get bugger all for it

 

[StevenRB45]

I thought PSA had changed their engine to now have a chain. I think Ford have, or are doing the same with theirs.

On the PSA engine, the belt can be seen through the oil filler hole, as will a chain if used instead. There's now a little special tool to measure the width of the belt, used through the oil filler hole, it measures the belt width, as they will swell in the early stages of deterioration. Now a check on every service, I believe.

Short version is the Puretech is a chain if the car is a hybrid.

The new variant engine for the hybrid includes among the mods a chain. The none hybrid remains a belt but the none-hybrid is an endangered species and the belt is now on version 5.

Incidentally the tool is largely useless as beyond gen 1 belts spread is uncommon as the design/material of the belt was changed to eliminate it but yes it's on the list of checks.

They remain a pain in the arse if allowed to self destruct however it can be managed by shock horror.. servicing correctly and not running the belt until it disintegrates into your oil system.

Looking through the oil cap is handy though as if your belt is shedding material into the sump the surface texture changes..so if it is you can see by looking. Anything other than a smooth black belt you've got problems unless you've got the latest Mk5 belt which oddly is grey and fuzzy (god knows why...it just is).

 

[portland_bill]

Short version is the Puretech is a chain if the car is a hybrid.

The new variant engine for the hybrid includes among the mods a chain. The none hybrid remains a belt but the none-hybrid is an endangered species and the belt is now on version 5.

Incidentally the tool is largely useless as beyond gen 1 belts spread is uncommon as the design/material of the belt was changed to eliminate it but yes it's on the list of checks.

They remain a pain in the arse if allowed to self destruct however it can be managed by shock horror.. servicing correctly and not running the belt until it disintegrates into your oil system.

Looking through the oil cap is handy though as if your belt is shedding material into the sump the surface texture changes..so if it is you can see by looking. Anything other than a smooth black belt you've got problems unless you've got the latest Mk5 belt which oddly is grey and fuzzy (god knows why...it just is).

Thanks for that. Car Mechanics magazine recently did an article on changing a Puretech belt. Seemed not too much more work than an exterior belt, as PSA have designed it to be extracted through a cover. Unlike the Ford one that seems to need half the engine dismantling.

 

[StevenRB45]

Thanks for that. Car Mechanics magazine recently did an article on changing a Puretech belt. Seemed not too much more work than an exterior belt, as PSA have designed it to be extracted through a cover. Unlike the Ford one that seems to need half the engine dismantling.

Unfortunately it's one of those...it has a name for it.

So regardless of anything it will be known for it.

It's now spawned enough YouTube videos from "knowledgeable" people that regardless of the reality it will be known as being as bad as the ecoboost.

Just because most of those videos are based on people who have ran a gen 1 belt (stopped being used 2016) until it caused the engine to destroy itself...well that doesn't mean they are less valid.

Even the car mechanics magazine, they dismantled an engine well over belt change interval.. because well..if they hadn't done that there would be nothing to look at...

 

[bugsymike]

My brother tells me his quarterly electricity bill is £2000!!!!!!!

Next door have nearly finished having their heat pump work done which included having all the walls insulated internally. Must have made their period house look less period I suspect. They seem to have been to hell and back having all the work done too. Its not for the faint hearted.

That would definitely be a choice of heating or eating for me on Old Age pension!
I am not convinced heat pumps are economically viable, even less so now electricity prices still increasing, which since we were originally told it was to subsidise wind and solar until established, which we are now told is cheaper than other forms does sound like a like large dose of BS to me.
Neighbour up the road has put exterior insulation and then had it rendered along with many other improvements and claims it to be very effective, although I suspect not cheap