What's made you smile today?

[DaveMcT]

I learned car control on ice from a VW split screen van with all of 40bhp of ship anchor under the back end. The fronts would wash out on the slightest slippery surface so hitting "power" was the only way to steer it. The engine was so lazy it was quite easy to control. I then went to an Austin Mini and had a great time sliding it about.

Sheet ice always means no brakes and very gentle on the loud pedal. Sudden power on OR OFF will cause trouble. All you can do is hope there's no bend in the road when you hit that stuff.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I learned car control on ice from a VW split screen van with all of 40bhp of ship anchor under the back end. The fronts would wash out on the slightest slippery surface so hitting "power" was the only way to steer it. The engine was so lazy it was quite easy to control. I then went to an Austin Mini and had a great time sliding it about.

Sounds quite similar to the way a standard Imp handles. You could promote humongous amounts of understeer in the wet and, if you gave it the "rally" technique of "twitching" it the "wrong" way before committing to the bend you could really hang the back out but it was not very controllable. Tie it down nice and "tight" with the front end decambered and they really could go round bends though.

Or, how about

 

[portland_bill]

(the downside of that would be no more official stamps in the service book if I decided to sell her)

D'ya'know I think I'm going to do this myself.

You're a qualified mechanic. Get a rubber stamp made. "Old Jock Motor Repairs" or similar, set out like the ones dealers use. Then stamp the book yourself.
You'll have a service history, and few buyers will look into the detail.

I bought a 1993 Panda CLX in 1996 with 20k miles on it. Serviced it myself and traded it in at 108k, four years later, still running very sweetly. (As you'd expect from a 1.0 FIRE) Garage taking the trade-in quibbled about no service history. A £200 car then! My retort, "If my servicing was inadequate, it wouldn't have made it this far". He pondered a moment, and accepted that.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

You're a qualified mechanic. Get a rubber stamp made. "Old Jock Motor Repairs" or similar, set out like the ones dealers use. Then stamp the book yourself.

Great minds think alike PB! I have been giving very serious thought to this. The moral factor (of possibly misleading someone in the future) is bothering me somewhat, but then, on reflection, seeing how the bare minimum was done over the last 3 years by the supposed "experts", she's going to get a lot more preventive maintenance from me in addition to the scheduled service items. Yes, I think you just helped me to convince myself that it's the way to go.

 

[DaveMcT]

Great minds think alike PB! I have been giving very serious thought to this. The moral factor (of possibly misleading someone in the future) is bothering me somewhat, but then, on reflection, seeing how the bare minimum was done over the last 3 years by the supposed "experts", she's going to get a lot more preventive maintenance from me in addition to the scheduled service items. Yes, I think you just helped me to convince myself that it's the way to go.

If the work is done correctly this is not misleading. But a home mechanic can also sign the book and if they keep parts receipts, future buyers can see the car has had what it needs.

 

[AndyRKett]

It would appear he all new Vauxhall corsa has been revealed, the most interesting part being the all electric option with a 50kw battery and 100kw charging, means 80% battery in 30 mins of charge and can charge to 100% in 4 hrs on a home charger!

Also the all electric mini is also out, looks great and good specs, the most interesting part being it’s cheaper than the petrol version it’s based on. Both on the road in 2020 and the mini has had over 20,000 pre orders...

BNP Paribas has released an official report stating that the oil industry is now in a set and irreversible decline with electric cars being the future.

Mean while over at fiat there are no electric cars, no hybrid cars and my local dealership seems to be having a shift in business

 

[portland_bill]

That's a lovely pic.
There's a Nissan dealer in Swindon, with very large letters "NISSAN" on the side and front of the building. Last winter, the one on the side only lit NIS, the front only SAN. Seemd to work ok.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Mean while over at fiat there are no electric cars, no hybrid cars and my local dealership seems to be having a shift in business

No doubt much better profit margins and no warranty problems!

 

[varesecrazy]

So small on the phone screen I didnt notice the text..

Had to view it again..

 

[varesecrazy]

I knew you lived somewhere flat..and relatively coastal..

Hadnt thought of MIAMI though..

 

[StevenRB45]

It would appear he all new Vauxhall corsa has been revealed, the most interesting part being the all electric option with a 50kw battery and 100kw charging, means 80% battery in 30 mins of charge and can charge to 100% in 4 hrs on a home charger!

Also the all electric mini is also out, looks great and good specs, the most interesting part being it’s cheaper than the petrol version it’s based on. Both on the road in 2020 and the mini has had over 20,000 pre orders...

Seem to recall the Mini only doing 130 miles so poor effort and the small battery may go some way to explaining the cost. The PSA electric platform seems to be the best current effort at normalising electric vehicles so far into a standard model range with no change in cabin space e.t.c. Also both the Corsa and 208 are pretty good looking things in their own right.

I'm interested to see the next 308 and Astra, though an electric version will probably be in 30k range given the price of the e208 and the Corsa.

 

[AndyRKett]

Seem to recall the Mini only doing 130 miles so poor effort and the small battery may go some way to explaining the cost. The PSA electric platform seems to be the best current effort at normalising electric vehicles so far into a standard model range with no change in cabin space e.t.c. Also both the Corsa and 208 are pretty good looking things in their own right.

I'm interested to see the next 308 and Astra, though an electric version will probably be in 30k range given the price of the e208 and the Corsa.

I hear that with the launch of the electric corsa, they also plan an Electric Rally car version, this will be available for anyone to buy for about £45K and vauxhall hope to launch their own electric rally car series.

I suspect the small battery in the mini is due to them adapting an already existing platform rather than one specifically developed for electric.

More information to come out of the Frankfurt motor show is the Volkswagen ID3 which is now in pre-production, VW have said they are more or less ready to swing into full production with plans for 50 electric models across the VAGroup, and the plant had had significant investment with an ability to produce a new electric car every 1.5 minutes. Also the ID3 will be available with a battery up to 75Kw and 100KW charging which means something in the region of 200 miles to a charge and charging in less than an hour.

 

[DaveMcT]

The latest Porsche electric (that can't beat the Tesla Model 3 on any point but costs double) has a 20% oversize battery. Or rather: 100% charge is not really 100% so the battery is never really stressed so it lasts longer. And - the battery never "loses capacity" over time as its only losing the % you can't use anyway.

Others deal with the problem by limiting high power charge rates according to battery temperature and other stuff.

 

[StevenRB45]

It feels like they're doing this wrong...the reason for the huge infrastructure requirement is we need monster batteries..part of the reason we need monster batteries is..monster batteries. They weigh a lot...so you need a bigger motor..and a physically bigger car to fit all the cells in. That and they do use a lot of rare materials.

It feels like over engineering...if they could make the things lighter then they could have smaller battery packs for the same range so charging times would drop. Also the cars could be cheaper.

Not that I have any suggestions on the matter but the constant rush for bigger and bigger batteries will keep stretching the infrastructure. Seems like a lazy way of getting the range similar to when they all ran at small diesels and petrols with the boost turned up as it was the easiest way of 'achieving' the required numbers.

 

[DaveMcT]

Batteries last a lot longer if they are not always charged from near flat to 100% every time. Anyone with a bigger than needed battery who plugs it in every night (as almost everyone will) will never really stress the battery so it will last longer. The few times they need to "supercharge" it will not significantly affect the battery life.

My 100HP Panda gets about 250 miles per fill-up. I do 70 miles per day, so it gets pretty annoying how often I need to get petrol. I *could" drive significantly further as its rare that I'm ever putting in more than 30 litres (it's a 35 litre tank) but the fuel trip reads zero miles remaining with 6 litres in the tank.

If it was electric with (say) a 200 mile range, charging the car would usually not be an issue as it would be topped every night at a gentle rate. However, I'd want at least 200 miles range (real world) as I often do 160 miles round trips.

Battery tech is another issue. This link says that LiFePo4 does not use cobalt but the energy per kg is 1/3 less than the current systems used in cars. https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/types_of_lithium_ion
However it's not too easy to see when updates were made so things may be changing. I have an LiFePo4 as a starter on the bike. It worked extremely well with about 20% of the weight of the old lead acid and mid price between the best and cheapest lead acid types. The 4AH LiFePo4 could easily start a 1200cc twin from stone cold so would probably be fine in a Fiat Panda.

Dyson is claiming his car batteries will double the energy per kg of the Panasonic cells used by Tesla and be lower cost. We will have to wait and see on that one. Hopefully Dyson won't miss the market by faffing about for perfection.

 

[StevenRB45]

On a Skype call today at work.

Meeting ground to a halt due to my profile picture..

I cropped it out of a larger photo for work so it's mainly just my face in a 20p sized circle. Except of course Skype makes your picture square and much bigger..

On my picture I'm standing in the mouth of this..

Always good when the meeting starts with..."I meant to ask on last weeks meeting but why are you being eaten by a giant?"

 

[AndyRKett]

"I meant to ask on last weeks meeting but why are you being eaten by a giant?"

I hope you put them right and pointed out you were actually being eaten by a building

 

[portland_bill]

Saw an Audi bearing the number plate: OO08 SPY
Just to remind him he got second best every time he drives?

 

[varesecrazy]

You just reminded me..

Saw a modern Audi ..with the switched 'strobing' indicators the other day in town

'Abandoned' on double yellow lines



It was black and had the Hazard lights on

Approaching from the rear it looked like a 99p store firework display

 

[andydiver]

Those strobing indicators are an ill considered piece of pointless industrial design. Not only does the slender line of light not have impact from a distance, easily swamped by surrounding red light or glare, all the available LEDs are only lit briefly for a moment, the rest of the time spent off or individually turning on during the strobe. To cap it all it takes eyes longer to take notice, as the human eye is programmed to dwell on movement. A simple flashing block of light is far more effective. The strobing line is actually worse than pointless.

You just reminded me..

Saw a modern Audi ..with the switched 'strobing' indicators the other day in town

'Abandoned' on double yellow lines



It was black and had the Hazard lights on

Approaching from the rear it looked like a 99p store firework display