What's made you smile today?

[StevenRB45]

I was sitting doing the maths yesterday....

I quite like the new C4...it has a 175 mile range real world (we'll say that probably 200 summer, 150 winter).

If I don't install a charging point at home I'll probably end up charging it on one of the rapid chargers at work. They are currently 64p per KWH hour or does about 3.5 to 4 miles per kWh.

So that's between 16 and 18 pence per mile..which is basically what the C3 doing 40 odd mpg on super unleaded (damn you wetbelt) costs..before the garages pass the 5p duty raise on in full..plus more anyway have not passed the cut on.

However...when looking at C4s the electric ones are currently about 2k cheaper than the petrol ones also you get to avoid the wetbelt puretech and it's very stringent service regime or the diesel o doom with it's dodgy cam chain, adblue tank and all the other modern diesel fun and it has an 8 year powertrain warranty.

So environmentalists aside at price parity it could work nevermind the fact that car for car they seem cheaper at the moment.

Obviously if I put a charger in at the house...it will be but then it'll cost an additional grand or so.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Breaking news from the department of stating the flipping obvious to anyone with 5 braincells.

More Efficient EVs Would Be Cheaper, Less Stressful On Power Grid

A new white paper by the ACEEE insists that more efficient EVs with smaller batteries would be cheaper and better for the power grid.

insideevs.com

A few years back we had some interesting cars like the bmw i3 that used waste carbon fibre on its interior to make it lighter, but as batteries have become better and weight has become less of a concern it seems the manufacturers have gone back to making normal mainstream cars and just throwing a motor in place of the engine. It would be good if they used some lighter materials and made more effort to cut the weight and balance the weight of the car better against the range.

Why do all electric cars need to be made out of steel? Alloys obviously have a weight benefit but also are more easily recycled.

Composit materials use less hydro carbons than plastic, and there are plant derived plastics.

If you are going to make an electric car then use sustainable materials, ironically things like leather is more sustainable than man made fabric interiors

 

[The Panda Nut]

My thoughts are, until it is an economic alternative it will only increase sales by Government forcing the public to buy something they don't want and cannot afford.
Until it is sold on it's own merits, it doesn't deserve to thrive.
So a small cheap EV would increase sales, however there is not enough profit element in that for the manufacturers.
Wind and solar has only increased on the backs of the public paying high environmental charges to subsidise them through their energy bills.

I am going to try the little Dacia and see what its like. At £14999 or there abouts RRP it might just be the first ev that could be of interest. Its still more than I want to pay and unless its good enough to to see off our 1.2 Panda in a number of ways - especiually running costs - and with a battery warranty that is 10 years or so it is still no go. As we have solar and send 1000KW+ back to the grid there is scop for us to save some money on fuel.

Golf has passed another MOT for another year, no advisories. This will see it through till it’s 10th birthday next September (how has that been 10 years already!)

Total breakdowns in the last 9 years.

1x washer pump (windscreen)
1x aircon compressor pulley… that’s it, but hey you know how unreliable VWs are

Service wise it’s had a service nearly every year on the year. And twice a year when I first got it and was doing 20k a year.

It’s had a cambelt, water pump and idler pulley. It’s had a set of discs and pads all round.

And probably 4-5 sets of tires.

Pretty good going I would say for 9 years of motoring, obviously now I have jinxed it

Our Leon was much the same it just kept on going to 23 years. Due to neglect it needed too much to bring it back to standard to be worth doing as lots of minor things were needed. 10 years is a baby!

 

[StevenRB45]

I am going to try the little Dacia and see what its like. At £14999 or there abouts RRP it might just be the first ev that could be of interest. Its still more than I want to pay and unless its good enough to to see off our 1.2 Panda in a number of ways - especiually running costs - and with a battery warranty that is 10 years or so it is still no go. As we have solar and send 1000KW+ back to the grid there is scop for us to save some money on fuel.

Thing is though that is too expensive for what it is the 14995 one is less than 50bhp.

In the current market 1-2 year old electric cars make the cheap new ones look like terrible value.

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More power, more range, doesn't look like it should have "little tikes" written on the back.

Not a fan of the Spring...a good cheap car should make you wonder how they've done it for the money. With the spring it's obvious..the exterior looks cheap, the interior looks cheap, it has no power, no range and it still costs 15 large. It's basically a 4 seater Citroën Ami for twice the price given it's 0 star ncap rating..reheated Chinese market Renault Kwid.

 

[FiatMatt94]

Got a pair of Bosch superplus wipers for the Seicento along with a new rear wiper as they weren't clearing very well on the way back from Cheshire so that's now all good just the rear one to do when it turns up & also decided to upgrade the headlight bulbs to Osram Nightbreakers +150 as I never thought I'd ever come across lights that were worse than a old Mini until I got the Seicento, they are awful , whilst changing the bulbs though I also solved a small issue the car has had ever since I've owned her, the headlight adjuster on the offside wasn't working at all, only the nearside was operating so I took the bulb out on the driver's side & the bulbs looked quite new but they were unbranded cheapies which is probably why they were so dull on closer inspection it turned out who ever had fitted the bulbs must have dislodged the lens of the 3 pegs that hold it in place as the lens was moving around inside the light, so I put the lens back on the plastic pegs inside the light, all 3 looked intact which apparently is pretty rare, put everything back together & tested the new Osram bulbs which look quite a lot brighter but also I now have a working pair of headlight adjusters

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thing is though that is too expensive for what it is the 14995 one is less than 50bhp.

In the current market 1-2 year old electric cars make the cheap new ones look like terrible value.

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

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More power, more range, doesn't look like it should have "little tikes" written on the back.

Not a fan of the Spring...a good cheap car should make you wonder how they've done it for the money. With the spring it's obvious..the exterior looks cheap, the interior looks cheap, it has no power, no range and it still costs 15 large. It's basically a 4 seater Citroën Ami for twice the price given it's 0 star ncap rating..reheated Chinese market Renault Kwid.

I wasnt more than looking.... maybe I wont even bother after reading this

 

[varesecrazy]

I am annoyed there is no supporting photo.. ,

But walking in Turin I walked alongside a white 169 panda,( there were a few around honest..)

This caught my eye because the rear edge of the sill was crumpled and missing paint, as was the front edge

I was walking to a corner shop. At 8 am

On my return to the Train Station 10'ish.. I will get a good picture

10 am arrives, there is a 1/4 mile long queue.. Lots of horns honking and a little shouting

But I cannot get a shot of the poor panda,

What made me smile..?
It is parked outside a large office building

"Auto Club Torino"

If they don't know how to look after a Panda,
there is no help for "Quick-fit"

 

[StevenRB45]

I wasnt more than looking.... maybe I wont even bother after reading this

If it was slightly more than Citroën Ami money it might be acceptable but it's not really fast road usable with 45bhp..you're gonna be holding people up once you get above town speed so unless you just want to go from one borough of London to another it's probably not gonna be great. To get one with a mind blowing 65bhp and slightly better battery...is 17 grand.

Not against cheap electric cars...but this one just seems like the the modern equivalent of a Yugo and the current market "adjustment" on nearly new electric cars means there's literally no reason to put up with something this low standard for this amount of money unless you've got a pathological aversion to a nearly new or pre-reg car.

 

[The Panda Nut]

This

 

[The Panda Nut]

D in L presented me this with a grin.

 

[The Panda Nut]

ev's for the environmental good Lol

 

[The Panda Nut]

Day trip to Plymouth. Some tub called Mayflower (2) in the dock not sure why. What a great town. And full of Range Rovers, Minis and Jags! But not one Fiat. Saddo's Lol
Damn me if we were not stood by a lovely man directly descended from one of the names on the memorial. We think a far flung relative of my wife's may have been on the little ship too.

 

[Cheest]

I already had a hard time holding down my lunch because I had to see a Cybertruck parked in my tiny town. Now to see a Hummer EV…might be some serious alcohol consumption by the fire pit tonight.

I’ve heard tell that one or two of my English ancestors came across on that tub. I’ve also had my grandmother tell me she was born in France but her birth certificate said Palermo, Sicily. So, I’m calling BS on the Plymouth story. The English ones were probably on the run from Johnny Law pre Plymouth and snuck in through Canada. The Italian and Norsk branches have been here around a 150 years. My native Ojibway and Lakota lines have been for thousands of years, so when I hear the usual anti immigrant tropes, I usually say, don’t let the door hit you on your ass on the way out.

Oh, and Welcome to the US. Land of Wide Open Spaces and Narrow Minds.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I already had a hard time holding down my lunch because I had to see a Cybertruck parked in my tiny town. Now to see a Hummer EV…might be some serious alcohol consumption by the fire pit tonight.

I’ve heard tell that one or two of my English ancestors came across on that tub. I’ve also had my grandmother tell me she was born in France but her birth certificate said Palermo, Sicily. So, I’m calling BS on the Plymouth story. The English ones were probably on the run from Johnny Law pre Plymouth and snuck in through Canada. The Italian and Norsk branches have been here around a 150 years. My native Ojibway and Lakota lines have been for thousands of years, so when I hear the usual anti immigrant tropes, I usually say, don’t let the door hit you on your ass on the way out.

Oh, and Welcome to the US. Land of Wide Open Spaces and Narrow Minds.

I think this was a garage trying to do some street advertising / sales at the town fair beer festival that was underway. There was a Lincoln SUV there as well. Priced at $108,000. Its environmental vitues were described including 16mpg. Not sure it really qualifies for an environment award. My son hired a car to return us to the airport - managers special - and was given a Dodge Ramm. 6 cylinder engine of unknown capacity with an 8 speed autobox. We ended up being quite enamoured. It swallowed three and a huge quantity of luggage and was able to pick up its heels and go. MPG seemed quite good and it was very comfy and quiet at some fairly high speeds. I certainly get the big pickup thing much more now. Car too big for round here though. Panda wins around here every time.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Back to civilisation this morning. Panda started first touch and drove us home through monsoon conditions in Rickmansworth, M25 being flooded and delayed by an accident. We passed two other top quality Italian stallions in the first mile too. (169 and a 319) Magic!

 

[SB1500]

My thoughts are, until it is an economic alternative it will only increase sales by Government forcing the public to buy something they don't want and cannot afford.
Until it is sold on it's own merits, it doesn't deserve to thrive.

For this, and this reason alone, they won't stick around. Unfortunately, we will need somewhat of a bigger political change than our recent change of hands to seal the fate of EVs.

So a small cheap EV would increase sales, however there is not enough profit element in that for the manufacturers.

For a while, but 'being poor' with cars has always meant... no fancy leather finish... no fancy electronic toys... no sweeping coupe styling or powerful, satisfying acceleration. But if anything, your little Fiat would go farther on less petrol than the big Range Rover that the boss owned. Your mobility was not a penalty of your wealth, so long as you could scrape together enough for some kind of car.

Mobility is quite important in a free society. It's quite important in a car as well, after all, we all want to get as high an MPG as we can. More distance for our money. More reliable car (so we don't sink more money than necessary). Until you are very wealthy, and buying an actual luxury or sports car, these things are safe to say, quite important factors.

With EVs, they expect society at large to simply suck it up, and accept that they can't (easily) go far. Too bad. You scrape together £22k (rumoured price of the ''affordable'' upcoming electric Grande Panda) and instead of buying an entry level luxury hatchback, you're getting a rebadged Corsa / C3 now, and you can't drive as far without time and cost penalty.

Give it some time... Whilst wealthy buyers of high end cars are happy to sink money into flashy but unreliable, impractical ego-wagons, it won't fly with real people. They sink a lot of money into something like an electric car, and it's got the equivalent of catastrophic engine failure by 6 years old due to age (or a minor accident in the Tesco car park) and you can be damn sure they'll sooner get a bus pass than buy another one in the future. Them and me both.

Wind and solar has only increased on the backs of the public paying high environmental charges to subsidise them through their energy bills.

Around ten years ago, on a road trip in NI, you'd be stopped often enough by those huge lorries with oversized loads carrying the parts for wind turbines as the little mopeds with flashing lights cleared the roads, or closed the country roads. It was a big thing, pretty much every farmer contributed to ruining our landscapes by investing in 'clean energy'.

Then, nothing for a while.

Recently... the same thing I describe above, but it's lorries coming to remove the now cut up, rusted/corroded ruins of the wind turbines. Odd. I thought they were supposed to make the land owners money!

 

[The Panda Nut]

As long as its the wealthy doing the trials I'm pleased. My son has an etron. Its very nice but he leases, so it will be away next year. Not long enough to assess long term reliability. I wonder how all the sand around Cape Cod will affect the motors. I have little doubt it will. It will be interested to see if his new lease cost is a lot different when turning in a used ev as deposit for the next car. Hes my guinea pig for ev costs.

 

[SB1500]

As long as its the wealthy doing tge trials Im pleased. My son has an etron. Its very nice but he leases so it willbe away next year. I wonder what all tge sand around Cape Cod will affect the motors. I have little doubt it will. It will be i teresting to see if his new lease cost is a lot different when turning in a used ev as deposit for the next car. Hes my guinea oig for ev costs.

Leasing is a great idea, if you have the money, for cars like that. Though Audi's and similar cars on that level are very much not representative of the kinds of expectations the likes of us buying our Fiat's might have when buying / owning a car for longer than a lease term.

It'll be when the most recent wave of EVs (particularly the low end ones) hold up into 6/7+ years old with the usual standard of ownership I'm sure many of our friends and family 'treat' their cars to, that I look forward to seeing

 

[The Panda Nut]

I fear the cost of disposal of end of life EVs. Im also unclear of what an EV life expectancy is but suspect less than a petrol car. Disposal will not be cheap as far as I can see. Im glad I bought the Panda. in its 5.5years, leasing would have cost £16.7K. Buying cost £12.4k less10p interest lost.... From now on the car is free.7

 

[FiatMatt94]

The new rear wiper turned up this morning & fitted it so now I have a rear wiper that clears the entire screen rather than just the bottom half it then brightened up a little this afternoon so rather than sit in the garden twiddling my thumbs I decided to get the rear bumper off & clean up the rear panel before putting Dynax S50 on the panel, the panel itself was in a lot better condition than I expected with just 2 very small surface bits to do as I've seen some horror stories about the rear panel rust on Seicento's which is what made me want to do it, so I cleaned the area before wire brushing the 2 loose small surface area's around the edge, put Vactan on the area's I wire brushed then went over the entire panel with Bilt Hamber Dynax S50, I need to find another colour coded rear bumper though as where I suspect she's had a very minor tap at some point in her life perhaps in a car park or similar the bumper is snapped near where it mounts to the bracket so it's a little out in the corner on the driver's side, there's no damage to the actual body itself though which is what made me think a car park or similar as the paints cracked on the bumper around the affected area

Then I cleaned up the foam impact buffer things as they were filthy

& Then put little Scarlett back together again before getting Fish & Chips for dinner