Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I echo that range anxiety to an extent, but it will only factor into the tiny minority of my trips. For me, going fossil fuel free is worth that extra hassle for 1 / 2 trips per year.

All my usual destinations are within 150 miles, so should be fine.

I do like that colour. Reminds me of the metallic blue Ford used for the Racing Puma. I've got the best part of 5 litres of the FRP blue slowly going off in my storage unit, which I really should get round to using some time.

Range anxiety is strange. With some exceptions, I suspect that most people will never need it.

It's a bit like the anxiety that drives the SUV/SAV thing -
"It's safer to be high up in traffic so I can see more."
"Well it does rain a lot. What if it floods?"
"We'll use it to get to the outdoors and go hiking"

Purchasing decisions seem to be driven by outlier scenarios. Our reason for not going electric (yet) certainly was.

I agree; for most people anything that manages 200 miles will do for 99.9% of trips.

For me (when going to sport is a real thing again) I do a minimum of 23 trips a year at 210 miles round trip; pretty much all motorway.

The Tesla Model 3 LR (and maybe performance) are the only cars i'd currently consider that would reliably deliver that every time.

All my usual destinations are within 150 miles, so should be fine

Totally the deciding factor on whether range anxiety is a factor.

With the V60, I've had it for 5 weeks and already done 1,800 miles. And I'm an entirely recreational and social weekend driver... choosing to go out to the middle of nowhere on a Saturday or Sunday to hike peacefully where few people will be.

Each weekend I'm averaging 360 miles, which is a single roundtrip to somewhere there would be no charging.

This weekend I plan 400 miles and it's to a camp site. Even though there are caravan electric hookups most camp sites do not allow one to plug an EV into the ring circuit.

So for my use range anxiety would be a real thing and present on almost every use of the car.... but my use isn't normal family use at all. Most people are doing shopping runs, school runs, local National Trust visits, the family < 50 miles away at weekends, commuting less than an hour to work... for most, I do think range anxiety isn't a thing and that's where a Tesla or Polestar 2 (or BMW i, or Jaguar e-pace) or even a Nissan Leaf would shine.

how are you going fossil fuel free dude? are you getting all your electricity from a sustainable source?

and i hope you are still keeping the little MG for the tears of joy and pain

I had a driveway where I could install a charger

this made me think - is there any progress in developing decent charging points for on-street parking? or do people have to make do with cables lying across pavements... seems like such a pain point in the adoption of EVs - particularly in populous areas like London, who would undoubtedly benefit most from EVs

It varies wildly by borough.

I'm in Wandsworth right now, Balham. And here there is ubitricity lamp post chargers everywhere. I've parked in multiple places and it's flawless... the easiest charging I've used and incredibly affordable. Because the lamp posts are to the kerb, the cables don't cross the path or obstruct the path in any way... they typically lay in the gutter for the ones I've seen charging.

In Haringey though there are only a few Source London charging points, they are sparsely distributed and so expensive that a fossil fuel car would offer cheaper running costs. I don't see them used at all. Instead I see people running cables out of flat windows to power extensions and then running the charging cable across the path. Not only is there an obstruction but this is trickle charge and so the obstruction is there for hours or overnight. A few people have purchased safety strips, but wheel chair users and prams are going to feel them even if they're not a trip hazard.

So it's wildly inconsistent.

Attached are the Zap Map showing Wandsworth vs Haringey to give an understanding of the difference. There are more charge points in the zoomed in Balham than in the zoomed out Crouch End (one at the bottom, a couple at the top)

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how are you going fossil fuel free dude? are you getting all your electricity from a sustainable source?

and i hope you are still keeping the little MG for the tears of joy and pain

Good point, but at least a full EV gives me the option of being fossil free, where's a hybrid can never do so.

Yep, keeping the RAC in business by retaining the MG.

Would you feel comfortable sharing some numbers?

good man. best and worst of both worlds

36 months, 5k miles per annum, £550 pcm

Or 10k miles per annum £590pcm

That is with the optional tow ball (for bike rack goodness) but no other extras.

All servicing, roadside assistance and connectivity included. They collect the car for servicing and return it, washed.

So on top of the pcm is insurance and electricity.

Hello golfers. How are the greens today?

Thinking further about the fossil fuel comment and what I am actually pleased about is that I will have zero on road emissions of NOX and CO.

My current diesel Passat kills people by farting out poison next to pavements. I'll be glad to stop doing that.

Bloody VWG. Fraudulent, unrepentant tossers.

Yes, I am part of the group claimant action against them. In a big way.

The Ratio of Lamposts to cars is about 6:1 so even if they are all converted we will have a shortfall.

I got a hybrid because of range, I've despatched a Honda Bros400 with a 90 mile range and know what a pain it can be. On some motorways I had to refuel partway through a tank because it couldn't do the distance between 3 service stations,

Balancing the figures for Lease cost and BiK tax also goes against PHEV s a XC60 diesel was £40k a PHEV was £60k . I can buy a Diesel XC60 and a Hyundai Hybrid for £60k so is Volvo just making a vast profit on the PHEV?

Each weekend I'm averaging 360 miles, which is a single roundtrip to somewhere there would be no charging.

Do you do these non-stop or are there stops involved?

My patience for non-stop driving is not much more than 90 minutes so I'd be the ideal EV customer if charging at services was easy.

The Ratio of Lamposts to cars is about 6:1 so even if they are all converted we will have a shortfall.

The ratio of petrol pumps to cars is worse. 33 million cars for 8,400 petrol stations. But it still seems to work. Looks that that will improve things to be honest.

I love cruise control even in my little A2. However, you can get in to a smaller version of elephant racing. If I'm doing a set 73 and passing a set 72 the road is blocked for some considerable time. Unless I switch it off.

Maybe not all cruise control systems are the same but at least some I've used allow you to put your foot on the accelerator to get around something and it settles back to your cruise speed once you release the pedal without cancelling the cruise control.

Slippery slope.

Yeah this is why I'm letting myself do labour intensive TLC with cheap parts/cleaning products but otherwise not letting myself spend any money on it.

isn't a hybrid basically like charging your car from a petrol generator? Its just the same fossil fuel going in? I heard those Lexus ones had a hilariously low mpg.

£100 for replacement parts

Oof, I hope that was for a Honda one? I got a non-Honda replacement, £35 delivered. Looks good tbh.

Rubbish Guestimate:

8-10 pumps per petrol Station is one pump per 450 cars.

A diesel car has a 500 mile range and takes 5 minutes to fill, 100 miles range per minute.

Each pump can supply 100x60 minutes of fuel per hour, 6000miles worth.

divide that by the 450 cars it has to service each pump can supply 13.3 miles of fuel per car per hour.

Swindon's finest :)

Mixed feelings about buying a car still tbh, but we have reasons. I know it's now a boring, sensible cheap car but it was quite a radical design in 2006!

Since you've already taken the dash apart, it's very easy to fit an aux cable to these cars if you don't have one already or don't have Bluetooth.

I wouldn't say taking the dash apart was easy, the clips are right fuckers! But I didn't manage to break any and I could do it again. Would quite like a proper bluetooth installation as we're currently using one of those fag lighter FM transmitter things the previous owners gave us.

What would you recommend to give it bluetooth?

I got Meguiar's because it was cheap tbh - my brother-in-law introduced me to their shampoo and it's all limited time deals on Amazon at the moment.

Do you approve of this before I buy some?
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0009IQXFO/?coliid=I24HO73U0HYD9O&colid=LS9G1HSQ090I&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Also, do you have a recommended wax? The paintwork needs a good buff first to bring it up, I think I need one of those electric buffer things and some kind of paste but I have no idea what I'm doing...

I have a RAV4 hybrid that does 58mpg in London, it's a fantastically clever thing engineered as a whole to scavenge wasted energy.

Some Hybrids are just an electric motor bolted to the back of a the gearbox.