coldel

Unfortunately mate the world is full of idiots - the only saving grace is to know you are not one of them!

Most people just go out and drive their new cars - glad you are enjoying yours

Its 350bhp because its a 350z, obviously

Chris Eubank - On the moment he knew he had Nigel Benn beat: “In the ring I looked at him and saw a relentless savage. But I also saw a man with a slight doubt on his mind. When he looked into my eyes he needed reassurance. I thought ‘It’s too late for that mate. You’re mine’â€

Its amazing what the insulation of things like this can have on people - I was sat working at my desk about 500m from it when it happened, we were looking on the news websites and watching it live but I never really felt threatened. Then I left the office early and wandered out onto Victoria Embankment to see the road shut off and police everywhere and up the road could see the bridge closed off and then it really hits you. As to the point above, people are being murdered each day in the UK but we do not panic, but when the news channels go mental over it in a battle to be seen the channel with the best coverage it only works to get the point these people are trying to make across. It was ridiculous with reporters ringing MPs inside the building and asking them where they were being moved to, what police were with them, what weapons they were carrying - and the MPs were almost at pains to say what stupid questions to ask of them live on TV whilst it was still ongoing but the reporters didn't relent.

I wasn't actually making any comment about degredation, just that its plugged in day and night, it was just an observation I don't think I have yet to walk past and see it not there.

Suspect he wont take anything less than £12k for it?http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-350Z-SHOWCAR-LOW-MILES-SWAP-SWOP-PX-/152474995510 Shame someone clearly wasn't taking things seriously when buying such a lovely example.

Apparently the government is pushing out the incentives to get EVs up to 100,000 sold in the UK (where are we now, 90,000?) When they are offering £5k off a £20k car makes a lot of sense assuming charging capabilities are easy. I see probably one or two EVs a week around my way on the road - I guess in more built up areas where you cannot charge from the house they are less relevant. The model X that is around here is sat on a driveway always plugged in day and night.

Gotta be a wind up Tom Tyson would have had him on the deck inside of three rounds I remember watching this young kid called Tyson go up against Trevor Berbick - Tyson went into the ring in all black. Never said a thing. Stared the guy out. Then just brutally took him apart. He was terrifying.

In my lifetime, the standout was Eubank vs Benn fights, two guys so well matched but so different in style. I wanted Benn to win being an Essex boy...so disappointed! When living in Japan I took up Karate, was quite shameful trying to even get close to some of those Japanese in terms of flexibility - my kicking was atrocious but punching apparently quite handy for someone coming into it later in life As it happens have signed up my 5 year old to his school martial arts classes starting next term

I remember my dad wiring up a portable black and white TV in the back of our VW Beetle to keep me and my brother amused - he was well ahead of the curve on in car entertainment

I was going to say, how did we all manage how comes my mum isn't in a wheel chair after all those years getting us out of the back of a Ford Cortina. Its easier for sure as you dont have to bend down quite so far, but seriously unless you have some medical condition most adults are capable of getting a child out the back of a four door hatch back. At 39 I was getting my young son out the back of an R33 and it was fine. 1st world problems eh...

Anyhow more serious note about to try get home I work near Westminster ... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So its trebled in 3 years over here ? You seem to think there is no infrastructure but they are growing rapidly with already more charging points than there are filling stations many companies have a financial model and are investing heavily ( yet most people charge at home) I'm talking about 30 years not 10 , but as i said twice you don't need incentives, they will tax the worst polluters off the road and give benefits to low polluters like they have in recent years ie congestion charge, tax breaks for company cars, parking permits, use of fast/bus lanes, road fund licence and fuel duty There are many ways to change behavior incentives are a carrot , taxes are a stick they will use both. Phones are a good analogy as once a technology becomes more widespread it becomes cheaper, they were never free they were sold as a part of a contract , the cost was hidden , bit like a car lease . Underlining stuff doesn't help please don't be so pedantic. You cannot tax all ICE cars off the road, because then who pays to keep the road network going? EV cars will have to pay something. All cars paid VED years ago, before government called it a pollution tax. Ultimately the same amount of money has to come from drivers thats economics, if the majority on the road are EV cars, then they will pay as much as ICE will have to - it will be called congestion tax based on miles or similar. Yes EV have trebled in three years, its far too early to decide if that rate of growth will continue without any serious government support etc. So far those like GZ have gone for it, he is typical of an innovation investor in tech, but many people aren't. So its moved up 1% in terms of new car sales in two years. Even Denmark has said already sales have slowed and they only have around 5% market share of EV. Phones are not a good example, because the cost is so much different. I could give a smartphone a punt because the cost is not really a barrier, the infrastructure was already there for non-smartphones and I could use the same network. Otherwise you could argue how Google Glass is an example of how EV will fail, but of course thats not a reliable comparison either. I'm kind of dropping out of this now, have just made my point, technology is fast, take up isn't always the same speed.

Happy to let this one go through without pictures - if you can snap any photos tonight will obviously help

Aye no argument about the cost of running it - cost of entry is highly prohibitive though which is why Norway Denmark etc throw huge amounts of the countries budget at overcoming that. As GZ said he spent £250 on electricity on the leaf in 18 months or something which is great. I think the arguments are clearly there, the real world though sits outside a theoretical debate on the pros and cons. The UK is still selling 2m new vehicles a year of which 98.5% are ICE, its likely that many of these cars will still be on the road in 5-10 years time. EV growth in the UK has gone from a market share of something like 0.5% three years ago to 1.5% now - yes it will grow, but to be a majority in say 15 years time they need to be selling at 50% market share now. Rich I get what you are saying, I know EV will become massive, but the time scales are unrealistic unless something big happens. The UK is not going to give the incentives that Scandinavian countries do, there are no companies putting their hands up to put in the infrastructure at scale to get EVs to huge proportions right now (the mobile phone example is irellevant as cost of entry is nothing like the cost of entry for EV cars, phones were made free in some cases, cars will never be). If I were going to stick money on it, EVs to overtake ICE in market share (without any large scale event i.e. oil, government turning hugely green like Scandinavia etc) - 2050?

am afraid mate, Strudls exhaust mod thread has this added to it at the end. But take your point, as much as we all love modifying our cars, do it safely.

Wow I didn't know that haha. I did notice on cars with odd shaped exits (ie rectangular etc) that if you look closely its just a big lump of metal stuck onto a small round exhaust sat back about 1 or 2 inches from the back of the car.

Interesting I hear this from people, but the numbers don't stack up as well. Something like 40m cars in the UK and around 2m sold new each year - around 3-5% sold new are EVs. Around 5% of the 40m are currently EVs. So to get to a majority you have to physically sell lets say 30m EVs over the next 20 years. Given status quo of the current situation that would mean selling 1.5m EVs per year for the next 20 years out of the 2m new cars being sold annually at the moment, every year, starting now. This is just not going to happen. I cannot see it personally. The only way it could happen is if the major manufacturers turn their sales/R&D policy around in the next 2-3 years to be EV first because some major world event means EV has to be prioritised over petrol/diesel (which could happen). Just some thoughts anyway... Well I reckon diesels will be more or less priced off the roads within 7-10 years no doubt supported by a scrappage scheme like last time. Hybrids are the stop gap at the moment offering the best of both worlds but the technology is still expensive and people need to be encouraged ie taxed to make the right decision If you think where electric cars were just 10 years ago and where they are now , all the big players either have electric vehicles in their range or hybrids, people would not have predicted that 10 years back, with major developments in battery technology just around the corner, EV's are so much more of a possibility than anything else If you look outside of the UK countries like Norway have vehicle sales dominated by EV's or Hybrids thanks to various perks for those who bought them, which is pretty much the same tactic that fueled the massive surge in diesel cars 10 years ago, is this carries on then within 10 years ICE will be in the minority there, things will move much faster than many people can believe I still have friends from my old job working European markets who are in Denmark and surrounding countries - the reason EV took off is their super strict policies (and costs) around emissions as well as the big incentives to buying EV (many of which are rescinded now because even at 50% starting income tax rates the country cannot sustain it). I remember when I was in Oslo 3 years ago the Model S was the most common taxi car. EVs have been around for two decades, Tesla have been at it for nearly as long. Its not like they suddenly produced an EV over the last couple of years. There are still so many barriers to overcome, most of all infrastructure (how do you charge these things if you do not own your own private space to charge from home) that if you want to increase sales of EV each year from under a few percent to fifty plus. Additionally the average cost of a new car in the UK currently is around £20k I think, if EV wants to be the majority, then it needs to be affordable to that lower half of the population buying cars under £20k.

Interesting I hear this from people, but the numbers don't stack up as well. Something like 40m cars in the UK and around 2m sold new each year - around 3-5% sold new are EVs. Around 5% of the 40m are currently EVs. So to get to a majority you have to physically sell lets say 30m EVs over the next 20 years. Given status quo of the current situation that would mean selling 1.5m EVs per year for the next 20 years out of the 2m new cars being sold annually at the moment, every year, starting now. This is just not going to happen. I cannot see it personally. The only way it could happen is if the major manufacturers turn their sales/R&D policy around in the next 2-3 years to be EV first because some major world event means EV has to be prioritised over petrol/diesel (which could happen). Just some thoughts anyway...

I think the look of the X is not bad, it's not great and the front is just awful its not a car you get out of and look back at, twice. For me I am really against the tablet centre consoles that Tesla seem to think is necessary for an EV (thats the real jetson thing they need to lose I think) - its just a huge distraction and as there is nothing tactile about it you have to take your eyes off the road to operate it.

It should be ok - your car is grounded via the negative cable, so removing that first will mean no chance of a short. Assuming you didnt push the positive back on with a metal spanner or anything?

Alfie is an expert at wrecking our family car which is why we spent £1500 on a Megane which gets dirty bikes thrown in it, footballs, dogs (not ours!), food, sick etc. If I were spending circa £60k-£80k it wouldn't be on something to ferry kids around in - but all to their own

When the Regara comes along and defines a whole new segment which they are calling 'megacars' Apparently it can induce wheelspin whilst travelling at over 180mph

Absolutely the future (oil running out petrol prices will go up etc) - cannot deny Tesla engineering, you can deny their styling though what a hideous looking front end. There is a black one (do look better in black I think as it hides the plasticky look) at the end of my road, big machine and can see why it appeals to families and the like whilst having plenty of grunt. I will probably end up in an EV at some point in the future for everyday driving, but will always have my roaring old fashioned car for my weekend out on my own Interesting that the reviews I read on this also mention great performance (as you would from a big battery pack and associated motors) but handling was not that great, read that across AE, AC Telegraph and a few others, said the steering was numb and hard to connect to the road? How did you feel? Also rear visibility an issue?