gangzoom

^^ If you have no interest in EVs why do you even bother reading any discussions on the topic? If I was in your position I would just put my feet up and enjoy watching all the idiots waste their time/money rather .

^^ You have your opinion I have mine, we disagree which is fine. Time will tell what the future holds for EVs, I'm pretty sure which things will go, but forget what I think here's what one of the main editors of Autocar thinks after actually using a Zoe daily for 10 weeks. http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/our-cars/buying-renault-zoe-introducing-electric-car-convert

You joke about this, but with the latest Tesla updates even I've got real concerns. The summon feature is still 'beta' but what is to say if some one gets into the security setting of the car they could just 'summon' the car to any random destination on the map?? Car theivies in the future might just need an internet connection and the right bit code!! If hackers can get into the NASA, and Pentagon computer system I'm pretty sure some kid some where can break through the Tesla security. The below video isn't some staged press event, it's a real car effectively powering up, moving it self, all controlled via a iWatch...You really have to have a lot of trust your $70K+ car isn't just going to reverse straight out into the road!!

^^ Ironically Nissan has been pushing the newly update Leaf with the bigger battery pack + more connectivity. The Leaf phone App is now off-line, I presume it'll be back with once a fix is in place. The boss of Nissan said their first generation autonomous tech is coming end of the year in Japan. Not sure how much confidence I have in that given the phone App is actually very simple in comparison .

Nissan is stupid for not implementing a proper security check. Yes they need to fix it. Have I turned off the connected feature?? No, because I like having a lovely deforsted car first thing in the morning when everyone else is out scrapping their windscreens . You can actually setup the auto preheat via the built in timer in the car, and than disable the connected car feature, but I'm lazy and prefer to use the phone App.

I presume it's docking straight at a UK port?? If you work out which boat it's on you can apparently track its progress across the sea- That's what the guys over at the Tesla forum do. The downside to that is when it finally docks the wait is even worse, as you know it's here, but you still have no idea what the dealer is up to or why it takes 2 weeks to get it from the dock to the dealer . Bet you cannot wait!!

For anyone actually seriously interested in power generation this website provides a live feed from the national grid. You can see demand is very predictable with very little variation. The combined max power generation of the grid is over 60GW, most of the time the grid is around 30-40GW. If you presume people charge up their cars overnight actual demand on the grid is not noticeable. But to really capture solar you need battery storage, this will enable you to store solar to use at night, since you simply cannot 'turn off' a gas/coal/nuclear power station even if wind/solar are contributing enough power to met demand. There has been a recent spate of newly installed wind-mills around Leicester, apparently the reason they don't run 24/7 is because they supply TOO much electricity to the grid, so at times need to be shut down. So countries that generate too much power from renewables have the option to export the power. http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ This is the live feed from France, but also shows if other European countries are doing interms of exporting or importing electricity. Germany has by far the largest number of windfarms/solar so can export a lot of electricity at times. Norway isn't on there, but they generate 90%+ of their electricity from hydro, and also have the largest percentage of EVs on the roads anywhere....they also sell gas/oil to the rest of Europe, so pushing renewable for themselves but making £££ off fossil fuels from everyone else . http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/france/ Germany generated 1/3 of its power requirements from renewables last year, up from previous year, and far more than any other developed country. Ironically EVs there have no incentives tax or purchase. http://cleantechnica.com/2016/01/13/almost-33-german-electricity-came-renewables-2015/

Actually I would go as far as to say anyone who thinks buying a Tesla for the purpose of 'saving money' either has too much money or is just mad. If saving money was the pure motivation than a £500 banger with a 12 month old MOT is hard to beat, or you buy one of these for about £5K second hand and run-it till it dies . The issue of power generation needs to be sorted, and preferably via renewables which can do the job, but the government need to drive it. Still does anyone here really care that much about where the power comes from?? I know I don't, I just want the instant torque of an electric motor, comfort, and £10 to go 250 miles rather than £100 (Or for free if I use a Tesla Supercharger), where the electricity comes from I really don't care. Selfish I know, but that's my motivation for wanting a Tesla .....and if Porsche can deliver on the Mission E, in 2020 I'll happily look into one of those.

Have to say for the money the Mustang is unbeatable value, especially the road presence. Now all we need is for the Camero SS to be made available in RHD .

Thanks for you're insight into how I should spend my £50k. I'll keep it in mind .

That's called deprecation, it applies to virtually every car on the road. I'm counting on it to get me into a 2.5 year old P85+ for £50K in roughly 10 months time (about 60% of the list price) .

The longterm data is coming, one thing you can be sure of if a car is cheap and reliable to use Taxi services pick them up very quickly. There is a now a few taxi companies in the UK running Leaf for a few years and finding little to no issue. Quite a few cars have now done over 100K on the original battery with <10% loss of range. As battery packs get bigger the range loss will decrease, because for the same distance covered the battery has to cycle less. http://cleantechnica.com/2016/02/13/3-million-nissan-electric-taxi-miles-uk/ Nissan clearly have faith in the battery packs, they have just increased the warranty of the latest packs to 8 year and 100K. http://www.nissan.co.uk/GB/en/vehicle/electric-vehicles/leaf/electric-car-benefit/services-warranty.html The current EVs are only the start, and are all still generation one products. The Gen 2 car are coming in the next 12-18 months, and will bring a lot more range than the current cars. Car have a much longer gestation period than a phone, so we’re not going to see a sudden jump in battery capacity, but it is going to come in step wise changes. Probably the first proper gen 2 car coming to the UK is the Vauxhall Ampera-e, it should sell for <£25,000 and have a real life range of 200 miles on a charge, 0-60 in sub 7 seconds, 200bhp, 5 door. Set to start delivers in less than 12 month. The Nissan has apparently confirmed the Sunderland plant will be building the battery packs for the next generation Leaf, but so far hasn’t leaked any details about the next car – presumably so not to dent sales of the current car. http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/nissan-invests-%C2%A3265m-sunderland-battery-plant So anyone here hoping EVs will just die in the next 12-18 months will be sadly disappointed to hear it’s quite the opposite .

Only Nissan and Renault are doing monthly battery costs. My monthly cost INCLUDING battery rental and £0 deposit is £200/month. My mother in law just got a Zoe for £160 INCLUDING the battery rental and £500 deposit. For a brand new cars that come with sat nav, keyless entry, reversing camera, remote heating etc these are crazy cheap deals. My current 'fuel' cost on the Leaf is about 1.5p per mile. BMW are currently pushing the 330e on lease, I believe the best deals are £230/month + £2k deposit, which isn't far off the lease cost of a 320d.

Wait till summer, BMW are apparently getting ready to upgrade the battery to the i3, which will make it a 120 mile range car. The Leaf has just had a battery upgrade, the PCP deals going are pretty good at the moment, not much more than the £200/month I'm paying on my current Leaf with the old battery. Tesla are due to start taking pre-orders for the Model III next months but thats not going to hit production till 2018, though rumours have it the current S is going to be face lifted at the same time. But if your buying second hand £46K will now get you a 85kWh 18 months old Model S. So used prices are falling as expected - 50% value at 3 years. Like it or not EV are coming, this is the total sales of $70,000+ cars in the US over the last calendar year (when petrol prices are low). You don't need to be a genius to see which way the luxury car market it heading. Yes this is tiny segment of the market, but actually the most profitable, and when the likes of BMW/Audi/Merc start to see their cash cows disappearing they haven't got a choice but to go EV chasing. When battery prices fall, the same thing will happen in the next segment down.

I still find it funny how on a 350Z forum some people get so angry about EVs, especially when Nissan is one of the first/largest manufactures to push EVs. Now days though every one is getting on the bandwagon, well at least in hybrid form. There are so damn many of them I'm even losing track of whats coming to market . http://www.autocar.c...rmed-production http://gas2.org/2016...ance-sub-brand/ http://www.whatcar.c...details/1367119 http://www.autoexpre...ssat-gte-review http://www.autotrade...uto-show-233423 http://jalopnik.com/...s-of-1759173876 Porsche though have to be the most committed, 2020 isn't that long away, if they get this thing to market at the right price point I think we can be sure which way the 911 is headed....At least the Porsche designers are actually having to do some 'designing' for once . http://www.carmagazi...ocks-frankfurt/

If life really forces me to buy a SUV/4x4 it would have to be a specced out P90D-L Model X. 0-100 mph in 7.9 second in a 7 seater. Though there are better ways to spend £130k.

[quote name='MJC' timestamp='1455710605' post='1587449'] Anyone considering the new Focus RS? With a baby on the way and my lease car going back in a few months i'm on the lookout for something quick, but which will not depreciate as quick as the new Mustang. [/quote] I never thought I see the words, 'baby on the way', Focus RS, and Mustang in the same sentence. We nearly had a panic the other week when going shopping for push chairs etc...For a moment I realised why all of our friends with babies have a C-max type thing . Than we found this little beauty (BabyZen Yo Yo), even with a new born carrycot attached it folds the same way.....and it'll fit the boot of a Mustang with a no issues . [url="https://youtu.be/_ymFIbFEljs"]https://youtu.be/_ymFIbFEljs[/url]

You mean you don't like the 2 series active tourer?? I parked next to one the other day, it made the Leaf look sexy, and when that engine started....What a noise

Been playing with some shots I got with the new toy (Olympus EM-5 + pancake kit lens), really good bit of kit, really impressed with the image quality, especially given how small/cheap the kit lens is. However doesn't stop me wanting to spend more £££, the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 lens is on the shopping list .

Sounds like they used a computer to control a laser that was targeted at a sensor....Not sure how well I would drive if someone shined a lazer into my eye . The tech is coming like it or not, just about every car manfacutre is pouring money into automated driving, Nissan is actually one of the leaders.

Your be alright, all the current automated tech been developed is for use in EVs. Combustion engines have far too much latency compared to EVs

I don't disagree with you, which is why I kept my 335i for so long, and personally I wouldn't waste my money on any M car, not when other cars in the range can be made just as good. But a GTR is in a different league and if regular track work is involved than I cannot think of a better car. No idea if that's what the OP is after though. GTRs aren't that much to buy but their high running costs can only be justified if your using them to their full potential (on the track), and my total lack of need for track day work GTRs were never going to be on my list of potential cars .

Mine is exactly that mate, new downpipes, hi flow cats/exhaust mid section and a remap, and those are the figures. Hybrid turbo(s) will see 600hp apparently, injectors will see well beyond that and this is all without opening the engine, the beauties of a forged bottom end as standard Mine is the N54 twin turbo BTW, the gains are not so big on the later N55 but good numbers for bugger all cash are still achievable. And it cost less than £17K with all of this done, sweet rims, M3 footwork and a few fancy pants carbon bits. I would like to state for the record at this point that I am not saying my car is better or worse than a GTR, just I cant see why anyone would buy an E92 M3 instead The problem with really upping the power on the N54/N55 engine is heat....The guys over the pound are mainly obsessed with drag strip runs, so as long as the car can last 10-20 seconds at WOT it's all good. But put it on track, or even on a twisty B road where your on/off the throttle much more aggressively and things start going wrong. The biggest difference in the engine setup between the 135/235/335/435i cars and the current M3/M4 is the extra cooling the M cars get. This is the heat exchangers on M car, 6 radiators. Compared to a N54/55 car, 3.5 radiators. As to mods/costs, don't forget your be lucky to get 50% back the cost of the mods you install, Mitz's will testify to how much £££ I wasted on the 335i. It is/was the best petrol car I've ever owned and I wouldn't say on the road a M3/M4 was any quicker. But if your talking about a car designed for the track like a GTR - Sorry but after 1 lap when your tuned BMW goes into limp mode due to overheating you wouldn't see which way the GTR went. You can get around some of the heat issue with water/methanol injection, but than you have to setup a methanol/water tank, pump, run it all through a piggyback controller, but if you bugger up the install (or something leaks) your have a nicely toasted in-line 6 to look at . BMW are officially going with water injection for the GTS, but your still have to remember to keep the water topped up. http://www.gizmag.co...w-m4-gts/39736/ Still, it all depends on what your after in your car, for me on track performance is pointless so had no interest in replacing the 335i with a M car. However if you want a car that can do absolutely everything from going down to the shops to flying around a race track, I suspect nothing will come close to a GTR for the £ (Not even a Tesla ).

[quote name='Adrian@TORQEN' timestamp='1454492329' post='1581947'] That's when you make money, when it drops Always short [/quote] But when do you know it's not going drop anymore....Give me someone else's money and I'll have a gamble, but doing it with my own cash .

Looking at last 3 years FTSE 100, 6250 points 2013 currently below 6000 points, and probably a fair amount more to drop??. But I understand there is more money in dividends been paid?? !! Still a -4% drop in value over 3 years compares pretty badly to 3%+ interest rates if you took out a fixed ISA in 2013. The last 12 month FTSE 100 figures are just crazy, high of over 7000 in April 2015, now predicted to fall way below 6000. Easily a 10% drop in 12 months . Think we'll stick to ISA + premium bonds for the 'rainy day' saving fund. Will also only get one shot at owing a stupidity priced car by 2017, than its 18 years of been broke and spending money on kids instead, so no way am I gambling with the T-fund.