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

Today is the start of an extension of a traffic management scheme in Sands End, Fulham. Motorists have been loosing their minds about this for months. Some of the main protagonists look to have picked up bans this morning as they've gone full attack dog.

I don't envy anyone having to drive in London. I did it for many years and have no need to ever do it again

one day one of the kids in the back lent on the door handle, door opened and they fell out. Fortunately no one was hurt!

This exact thing happened to me when I was 5!

We got tyre extinguished!

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I'm not sure that's helping their cause. Should go buy yourself a new battery car, because they're great for the environment.

Apparently they do it to Teslas as well.
I hope the other SUV owners also get the hint and start to change where they can.

I detect sarcasm?

did they do the spare on the front too? shoddy work if not, you should complain.

Inordinatly

Damn. This would beyond fuck me off. What do they think is better? Sending this perfectly good car to a scrap yard and just buying a brand new car instead lol?
Edit: thought they'd slashed them. Misunderstood. Annoying but not as bad as I thought.

The 40 year old car debate... I have to say I'm with @NurseHolliday on this one and don't think he was be combative... Just honest and realistic based on ehis experience.

Mine is similar, having owned and used older cars as dailies. Admittedly the oldest was a 1983 Peugeot 505.

It was durable, reliable, lovely to drive and smelled of tweed fabric and petrol and burnt out wiring .... BUT, it did require a fair bit of fiddling and was at the workshop getting various things done as a rolling resto/keeping on top of things.

The biggest issue was constantly having to look at and tweak the Bosch k-jet mechanical fuel injection. If I did again I would avoid any system like that.

I loved that car but I cannot imagine having the time to keep it happy and reliable now that I have 2 kids. And I do have off street parking to work on a car. It's the time that is the killer.

I don't know why anyone would want to drive an old white goods car. I drove snotters for many years through lack of funds. There are no objectively bad cars for sale anymore. Pretty much all of them will cruise at 70 in comfort, be relatively safe in an accident and start every time.

Cheap Ulez motoring is a ten to fifteen year old petrol Micra or Yaris.

Edit to add.. family mobile Ulez slayers would be the Honda Legend or Lexus LS430.. Saloons ftw.

I’ve just remembered how good my 1982 XJ6 was. Amazingly comfy, splendid interior, air con, narrow enough to find gaps, quiet. The perfect ULEZ dodge.

Weren’t they notoriously unreliable?

Nah.*

. * Yeah. But reliability is the enemy of adventure.

I'm not sure that's helping their cause.

Nothing they're doing is helping their cause. It won't change anyone's behaviour in any way, it'll just be mildly annoying to a few people and get a few headlines. Still, they probably have a good giggle whilst feeling incredibly self-righteous while doing it, which is something positive.

family mobile Ulez slayers

cough C Max cough

What are his complementary measures? He’s all stick and no carrot.

I raise you the Verso.

V220 maybe the ultimate utility vehicle tbh, and it’s ULEZ compliant.

It’ll definitely make some people think twice about buying an SUV if they live in an area where the deflating is consistent enough.

Dunno man. Plenty of [most?] people sleepwalk into car buying decisions and don’t have the inclination to seek out the knowledge, they just follow the trend.

I’d be much more considered if I were doing it - an old 90 isn’t a sensible target, the owner isn’t going to be ignorant of the arguments and could present some sensible counter-arguments, a Range Rover driver won’t give a fuck, but a Kia Sportage owner might look at a Ceed estate next time or a Tiguan owner a Golf if they can be shown the logic and made to feel a bit socially responsible / peer pressured.

It’s a shame it’s necessary to get their attention with shock tactics, but like chucking soup at pictures or bridge dangling, it makes the papers so people have conversations about it.

yep this is all correct in my view.
i totally understand peoples frustration at the lack of action and a need to do something, even if its just lentil based action.

Sending this perfectly good car to a scrap yard

There are plenty of cars going to scrap yards right now that don't have horrific emissions, don't have pedestrian crushing front ends; etc etc. Often being scrapped for relatively trivial reasons too.

Spot on.