The new news 24 thread

[crad]

also speaking of the grauniad, good news for us shitists

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/16/suvs-emit-more-climate-damaging-gas-than-older-cars-do-study-finds

[SiC]

I agree. Like that kid was killed by the runaway Defender. Why does anyone need a several tonne off roader with an instant 400bhp around a city packed like London?

I strongly feel that cars should be acceleration limited in highly populated areas. The cars know where they are from GPS and it's easy enough to ring fence major cities of the world (drone software does it with airports). Would reduce the potential damage in an accident and reduce the emissions from braking/tyre pollution. There is zero need for someone need to be able to get to 60mph in sub 5 seconds and to 30mph in sub 3 seconds in anywhere there is residential houses. That's so fast that an accidental slip of the foot means that at 20mph you're soon 40+ mph in a literal second. 

Of course it won't happen as car companies sell cars on gadgets and performance. So they'll fight nail and tooth over any such restrictions. 

[chodweaver]

I agree. Like that kid was killed by the runaway Defender. Why does anyone need a several tonne off roader with an instant 400bhp around a city packed like London?
I strongly feel that cars should be acceleration limited in highly populated areas. The cars know where they are from GPS and it's easy enough to ring fence major cities of the world (drone software does it with airports). Would reduce the potential damage in an accident and reduce the emissions from braking/tyre pollution. There is zero need for someone need to be able to get to 60mph in sub 5 seconds and to 30mph in sub 3 seconds in anywhere there is residential houses. That's so fast that an accidental slip of the foot means that at 20mph you're soon 40+ mph in a literal second. 
Of course it won't happen as car companies sell cars on gadgets and performance. So they'll fight nail and tooth over any such restrictions. 

If Khan has the autonomy/audacity to expand the ULEZ the way he has, I'd like to think the same could be done to curb the cruising culture's excesses

[richardmorris]

Went for a short walk this morning as its a beautiful morning. I can recommend runnymede as the new writ in water memorial is stunning. Great views from the raf war memorial too.

[horriblemercedes]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Long article today in the Observer newspaper on 'SUV's'. Very muddled rehashing mostly clichés.

Letting down tyres is very dangerous - surprised to see that in a national newspaper.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/05/monsters-of-the-road-what-should-the-uk-do-about-suvs

I read the article. It reads like the protagonist just isn't very clever but believes in what he is doing and is capable of following a process by rote 

[Eyersey1234]

Just seen this chodtastic Land Rover being towed on the M1

[goosey]

2 hours ago, crad said:

think the article is spot on tbh. the crux is that cars are far too big, and SUV's are the biggest offenders. nobody needs one. if you need space, buy an estate. if you need it for offroading, get a jimny. if you need it because you need to keep up with the jones', you need some sense knocked into you.

What about if you need space and go off-road but don’t want 2 cars ? 

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, goosey said:

What about if you need space and go off-road but don’t want 2 cars ? 

I'm sure there certainly is cases of this. But we all know the vast majority of SUVs around London are purely shiny city transport status symbols - aka Chelsea Tractors. 

[Metal Guru]

12 minutes ago, SiC said:

I'm sure there certainly is cases of this. But we all know the vast majority of SUVs around London are purely shiny city transport status symbols - aka Chelsea Tractors. 

Yes the Range Rovers and Bentgaycars etc are purely status symbols and unnecessary. It doesn’t help their cause that they are usually driven by twats who got their licence out of a Christmas cracker (or more likely obtained in somewhere where the driving test involves little more than handing over the required “fee”).But so then are the Lambos and Ferraris seen by the dozen “up west”, but no one seems to target those and they’re probably even worse emission wise and take up almost as much road space ( they’re just a wide if a bit shorter). 

No they bracket all SUVs  together. My son has a Kia Sportage. Roughly the same size as a Ford Focus just a bit higher ( don’t think we’re short for space in that direction), same engine size , (1.6) slightly higher emissions maybe but not silly figures. Almost every manufacture makes a smallish SUV (crossover?) and that has the green in a rage. Possibly because they hate cars so much , they have little real knowledge ( certainly nothing technically), abd no wish to learn.

[SiC]

40 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

My son has a Kia Sportage. Roughly the same size as a Ford Focus just a bit higher ( don’t think we’re short for space in that direction), same engine size , (1.6) slightly higher emissions maybe but not silly figures.

They're not similar. They are bigger in virtually every way. 

https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/kia-sportage-2021-suv-vs-ford-focus-2022-5-door-hatchback/front/

 

Nearly 200kg more weight in a Sportage. Or 8 bags of cement being driven around in the car all the time. 

40 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

slightly higher emissions maybe

Add that against everyone having them as people do now then on a whole it's a huge amount more. Negating savings in engine technology improvements on reducing emissions. 

40 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Almost every manufacture makes a smallish SUV (crossover?)

They're still the same case above where the equivalent hatch is lighter, smaller and more efficient than the equivalent SUV. 

40 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

just a bit higher ( don’t think we’re short for space in that direction)

That is the crux of the safety issue with cars getting taller. Fine for the occupants but any pedestrians they hit are far more likely to be hitting the grille/going under rather than going over. Thus the impact point and highest area of energy transfer is more likely on the torso or head rather than the legs - areas where much more damage sensitive parts of the body are. 

The easiest way to show this is in the frontal view. Think about where a 0.8 metre to 1.5 metre (e.g. 8-12yr old child running out) would be hitting these two. Maybe easier to crouch to the rough height of such an individual in front of an SUV and equivalent shorter, traditional hatch to get a real world idea.

It'll be far more likely the legs and lower body hitting the top of the Focus grille line than the Sportage. Hit the legs and you're going over the top on the Focus. Hit the mid torso on the Kia grille line... doesn't bear thinking about what will happen.

 

This is why in an impact with a pedestrian, SUVs end up far more likely killing that individual. The flat high fronted nature makes them pushing far more energy into that ped than a lower height equivalent vehicle. 

[artdjones]

3 hours ago, SiC said:

There is zero need for someone need to be able to get to 60mph in sub 5 seconds and to 30mph in sub 3 seconds in anywhere there is residential houses. That's so fast that an accidental slip of the foot means that at 20mph you're soon 40+ mph in a literal second. 

I totally agree with this. Total non car enthusiasts are buying cars that accelerate faster than a Ferrari Daytona or a Countach. And way faster than the hot hatches that there was a moral panic about back in the 90s. And these cars weigh over 2 tons, not 900kg. One day there's going to be a bus queue of primary school children mown down by a yummy mummy who presses the loud pedal too hard then panics. Then it will be all long faces and handwringing.

[loserone]

I seem to recall that a 1.3 maestro did 0-60 in the same time as a BMW 520i and faster than a Ferrari Mondial 

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

They're not similar. They are bigger in virtually every way. 

https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/kia-sportage-2021-suv-vs-ford-focus-2022-5-door-hatchback/front/

 

Nearly 200kg more weight in a Sportage. Or 8 bags of cement being driven around in the car all the time. 

Add that against everyone having them as people do now then on a whole it's a huge amount more. Negating savings in engine technology improvements on reducing emissions. 

They're still the same case above where the equivalent hatch is lighter, smaller and more efficient than the equivalent SUV. 

That is the crux of the safety issue with cars getting taller. Fine for the occupants but any pedestrians they hit are far more likely to be hitting the grille/going under rather than going over. Thus the impact point and highest area of energy transfer is more likely on the torso or head rather than the legs - areas where much more damage sensitive parts of the body are. 

The easiest way to show this is in the frontal view. Think about where a 0.8 metre to 1.5 metre (e.g. 8-12yr old child running out) would be hitting these two. Maybe easier to crouch to the rough height of such an individual in front of an SUV and equivalent shorter, traditional hatch to get a real world idea.

It'll be far more likely the legs and lower body hitting the top of the Focus grille line than the Sportage. Hit the legs and you're going over the top on the Focus. Hit the mid torso on the Kia grille line... doesn't bear thinking about what will happen.

 

This is why in an impact with a pedestrian, SUVs end up far more likely killing that individual. The flat high fronted nature makes them pushing far more energy into that ped than a lower height equivalent vehicle. 

It’s an older Sportage, the new one is bigger probably to accommodate batteries but I get your point on height.

[Metal Guru]

57 minutes ago, loserone said:

I seem to recall that a 1.3 maestro did 0-60 in the same time as a BMW 520i and faster than a Ferrari Mondial 

Not really. 12.5 secs v  10.4. v 7.6 sec. 
(sorry to sound like wee wee).

[stuboy]

I had an idea... I'll maf cleaner spray the sensor... let it dry then go to tesco... would go over 22mph .... it was a long 2 mile drive there then back... replaced it with 30quid ebay one and vroom off it went... I. Have asked about bosch complete unit for sale on ebay.

 

So have an idea.. think it through.... look a dickhead... ha ha ha

[Yoss]

ULEZ PEZ station shot of the day.

It's the first time I've had to pay my £12.50 to nice Mr Khan and had to top up before I hit the motorway. Then this hero pulls up in this. I wanted to go and shake his hand but I controlled my urges and just went over and said how impressed I was that he was still using such a fine machine in London. He said unfortunately he is now restricted to just using it at weekends and he'd thought about selling it but its value had plummeted so he may as well keep it. I've been having a good day anyway but this was the cherry on top.

[stuboy]

44 minutes ago, Yoss said:

very nice....

[Six-cylinder]

9 hours ago, SiC said:

I'm sure there certainly is cases of this. But we all know the vast majority of SUVs around London are purely shiny city transport status symbols - aka Chelsea Tractors. 

Is telling people they should not drive SUVs as bad as being told you should not drive old cars because they are polluting and unsafe!

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 04/11/2023 at 09:29, wesacosa said:

Looking to buy my first low budget vehicle from the general public since my 9-5 in 2013 (and that was an unseen eBay punt) since then my cars have come from a classic auction, friends of friends and forums.  Is it just me or has it got far more frustrating.  Nobody seems to write anything worthwhile in adverts so you have to ask even the most basic questions. Bumtree and Facebook seem to be full of wannabe Mike Brewers, usually pretending they are private sellers. eBay seems to be full of traders asking 50 percent over the odds for some scabby Focus polished to within an inch of its life.   I'm sure the nice cars are still out there but it seems much harder to sniff them out than I remember 

8gen civic in 1.4/1.8 flavour are ulez and less boring than an car

[Noel Tidybeard]

6 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

8gen civic in 1.4/1.8 flavour are ulez and less boring than an car

...and a 1.8 civic is so much better on fuel than it has every right to be

[wuvvum]

10 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Just seen this chodtastic Land Rover being towed on the M1

FTFY.

[wuvvum]

I bought another Spacy yesterday.

Well sort of.  It's actually a US market Elite, but it's basically the same bike with a 150cc engine rather than 125.  There are differences, such as the separate rear indicators and the fact that you can't turn the lights off, and there's an engine off / run switch which the Spacy doesn't have, but those are relatively minor things.  Interestingly it has both a centre stand and a side stand - the Spacy never had a side stand from the factory.  It also has an awful lot of what appears to be emissions bollocks bolted to the engine for a nearly 40 year old scooter.  I spotted it on FB Marketplace on Saturday evening about 20 miles away, and headed over on Sunday morning in the Maxus - my first successful FB vehicle purchase.

It was imported about 18 years ago and has never been registered, and the paperwork has long since been lost, so there's little chance of it going back on the road.  I bought it for spares anyway - it's been dry stored in a shipping container so the plastics have suffered a bit but the metal bits are in good nick, including an excellent exhaust.  These are completely unobtainium, so I removed it today and it will be carefully stored in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment until it's ready to be fitted to the Spacy in the spring.  It also has a working pop-up headlight mechanism, so that's going to be finding its way onto the Spacy at some point too, along with a few other bits that are in better nick on this bike.   I did think about swapping the engine over but with all the emissions crap it probably makes less power than the 125 anyway.  I'm proper chuffed because I'd been looking for more Spacy bits (especially the exhaust) for years with no luck, then this turns up dirt cheap (for a Spacy) and practically on my doorstep.

Much of the rest of this week's fettling time has been spent trying to stop water getting into cars.  I had a heater running in the nearside rear footwell of the Toyota most of the afternoon trying to dry out the carpet.  All my efforts to stop water getting in round the rear door have failed, so I've now sealed the whole top half of the door aperture and all round the windows with Gorilla tape.  The Rover has also been letting water in again through the roof as the headlining was soaked - on inspection the silicon sealant I put round the GPS antenna last year has cracked.  I broke out the Captain Tolley's and applied it liberally to the cracked bits - will see if that does any good, if not I'll have to get some more silicone sealant.

The Getz is also getting very damp inside, although I'm not sure whether it's actually letting water in somewhere or whether it just suffers really badly from condensation as some cars do.  I've not found any signs of water ingress so far.  In the wet weather though I've been having to drive around with the aircon on - just the blower on its own can't seem to keep the screen clear unless it's flat out, in which case I can't hear the radio.  I also had great fun* pulling the centre console apart to replace the bulbs in the backlights for the heater controls as I was getting annoyed fumbling around in the dark and trying to remember which dial was which (this would probably be easier if I didn't have so many vehicles with different control layouts).

The Renault 6 is getting slightly less wet inside since I fibreglassed over the holes in the scuttle panel, but it's still nowhere near watertight.  That will be going away in the garage for the winter soon, which means that the Innocenti will need to come out - less than ideal but I think the Innocenti has a better chance of not dissolving completely.  In theory I could squeeze the Innocenti into the back of the Maxus if I took the bumpers off, but then I'd have to find another home for all the stuff that lives in the back of the van.  I should buy another van really, but I seem to keep spending all my money on other stuff...

I topped up the antifreeze on the two Renaults and the Volvo and started them up to let them get warm and circulate the coolant.  I drove the Renault 6 up the road and was pleased to find that the front brakes are still nice and free, so the new piston has evidently done the trick.  Then I got back to the car park to see steam pouring out from under the bonnet of the Volvo.  Like a twat I'd forgotten to switch on the radiator fan, but when I looked at the temp gauge it was still in the green, albeit towards the top of it.  Turns out the radiator cap, which had been a bit dodgy for a while, is now completely failing to make a seal - to the point that once everything had cooled down I squeezed the top radiator hose and heard the whistle of air coming out from round the cap. 

So the system obviously isn't pressurising at all, which is lowering the boiling point of the coolant.  I'm not sure what to do - I don't think it's the cap itself that's the issue as that's relatively new, I think it's where it fits onto the rad that isn't quite straight meaning I can't get a flush fit.  A new rad is out of the question (because £££).  I might try a smear of Tiger Seal round the hole, see if that sorts it.  I took the car for a drive and the temperature is holding steady at just under half when the car is moving, even when I caned it to pull out onto the bypass - it's only when I come to a stop that the needle moves up to half way and it starts steaming.

I also jet washed the underneath of the 107 and was going to Lanoguard the back of the sills (I did most of the underside of the Rover and Toyota a couple of weeks ago which has used most of the bottle but there's still enough left I think) but it hadn't dried out enough by the time it got dark so that'll have to wait until tomorrow, which is supposed to be a nice day.

[stuboy]

1 minute ago, wuvvum said:

I bought another Spacy yesterday.

 

Well sort of.  It's actually a US market Elite, but it's basically the same bike with a 150cc engine rather than 125.  There are differences, such as the separate rear indicators and the fact that you can't turn the lights off, and there's an engine off / run switch which the Spacy doesn't have, but those are relatively minor things.  It also has an awful lot of what appears to be emissions bollocks bolted to the engine for a nearly 40 year old scooter.  I spotted it on FB Marketplace on Saturday evening about 20 miles away, and headed over on Sunday morning in the Maxus - my first successful FB vehicle purchase.

It was imported about 18 years ago and has never been registered, and the paperwork has long since been lost, so there's little chance of it going back on the road.  I bought it for spares anyway - it's been dry stored in a shipping container so the plastics have suffered a bit but the metal bits are in good nick, including an excellent exhaust.  These are completely unobtainium, so I removed it today and it will be carefully stored in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment until it's ready to be fitted to the Spacy in the spring.  It also has a working pop-up headlight mechanism, so that's going to be finding its way onto the Spacy at some point too, along with a few other bits that are in better nick on this bike.  I did think about swapping the engine over but with all the emissions crap it probably makes less power than the 125 anyway.  I'm proper chuffed because I'd been looking for more Spacy bits (especially the exhaust) for years with no luck, then this turns up dirt cheap (for a Spacy) and practically on my doorstep.

pics??

[JJ0063]

Two MOT fails in a week ffs, Mrs JJ’s fiesta now!

Typically checked the lights last weekend and they were all working so ones blown in the last week. 
 

I guess a pair of TRE’s in nearly 16k miles in the last year isn’t bad going though. 

[greengartside]

Another SMOLL update on the Fiesta from t’auction.

I put on my brave pants and decided to tackle the blue smoke issue with this one. I’d pre-empted that the air filter and plugs were going to be absolutely gopping. I was not disappointed.

 

That’s some serious neglect, the air filter is fucked! The plugs were terrible, this is after I’d cleaned the plug threads of oil, they were all absolutely saturated - I’d say the rocker cover gasket’s given up.

So after a quick set of new parts, it was time to sort this once and for all. Armed with a can of Wynn’s stop smoke snake oil, I poured the gloop into a warm engine (which was more responsive after I’d replaced the air filter - what are the chances?!) and then I let it do it’s thing.

 

After 10 minutes of running, this is at idle. I’d call that a win. It still produces a bit of condensation but the blue smoke has virtually all gone. I’m hoping it’ll scrape an emissions test and then we will be good to go for a year.

MOT booked for December 4th at 10am!

[chaseracer]

21 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Is telling people they should not drive SUVs as bad as being told you should not drive old cars because they are polluting and unsafe!

QED.

[Metal Guru]

13 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

QED.

The higher pollution is offset by not consuming the resources needed to make a new car. 

[RetroShite]

Today's marketplace bargain!

 

[stuboy]

On 31/10/2023 at 12:40, SiC said:

Don't discount changing this again soon. The cheap MAFs are generally absolutely dogshit. It'll work for a bit but they don't last and often bugger up the fuel economy too. My TT had a BBT branded unit from Euro Car Parts on it. I was getting ~20-25mpg with reduced boost. Replacing it for a genuine Bosch (only £60 too) restored it to 30+ mpg and all the power back.

decided too buy complete unit ( price for a bosch sensor on its own was naff all difference), wever i just separate it cause i is lazy yet too be decided

[SiC]

decided too buy complete unit ( price for a bosch sensor on its own was naff all difference), wever i just separate it cause i is lazy yet too be decided

The Bosch sensors usually have a weird security screw on the MAF sensor to housing that is a bugger to find. Looks like a security torx but it's not and one doesn't fit.

The complete unit makes sense. Also the air guides on the front are an important calibrated part of the complete sensor.