The grumpy thread

[Heidel_Kakao]

2 hours ago, MrDuke said:

Why do 'modern' keep-fit windows have such low gearing? I could drop a front window in the Dolomite with 1.5 turns - when I pull up to a ticket machine in the C*rsa, I'm pumping away furiously as the glass slides down slower than a stoned snail.

I wonder if the ones in the Dolomite and other old cars were designed to be manual from the beginning but the ones in the Corsa are electric ones that have been made poverty spec by making them hand wound. Just a theory though.

[loserone]

That and the modern seals are likely to provide more resistance, in the same way that no modern tyred car manages do forego power assisted steering

[meggersdog]

Came home from work today and there is a scabby Focus right across my drive. Well as there is no drop kerb it's not technically a drive but quite clearly being used as one. I have parked across the road so there was plenty of room to park without causing an obstruction. Got my rope from the car and by the time I'd found a towing eye a van had parked further up but infront of where I was going to drag this heap to. The thing is if they had parked opposite there would not be a problem. If they parked where I have now parked there wouldn't have been a problem. If they had parked where the van is now parked there wouldn't have been a problem. What a selfish prick.

 

 

Assume everybody is an arsehole until they prove otherwise.

[Jazoli]

37 minutes ago, meggersdog said:

Came home from work today and there is a scabby Focus right across my drive. Well as there is no drop kerb it's not technically a drive but quite clearly being used as one. I have parked across the road so there was plenty of room to park without causing an obstruction. Got my rope from the car and by the time I'd found a towing eye a van had parked further up but infront of where I was going to drag this heap to. The thing is if they had parked opposite there would not be a problem. If they parked where I have now parked there wouldn't have been a problem. If they had parked where the van is now parked there wouldn't have been a problem. What a selfish prick.

 

 

Assume everybody is an arsehole until they prove otherwise.

Why not just fit a drop kerb, as you should? It doesn't excuse the Focus' drivers manners but he was entitled to park there.

[High Jetter]

I don't think you can, legally - you have to get the local council to do it. You pay, naturally.

[meggersdog]

Yep has to be council and ten years ago wanted a grand to do it.

[Cord Fourteener]

9 hours ago, Mally said:

Van derived cars, limits are exactly the same as a normal car.

But be sure that your van is derived from a car.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles

 

 

'From the DVLA page 'those that do are likely to be similar to a Ford Fiesta van, Vauxhall Corsa or Renault Clio van'. So a Car Derived Van is a van derived from a car platform, and uses car limits, (there are strict definition but in general a car platform with panelled. Van derived cars use the limits for vans, even when they have seats. So your Berlingo or VW transporter for example, have to (in theory) stick to 60 on a dual carriageway.

[320touring]

What about a Berlingo or kangoo ?

 

They are or were both available as cars - rear side windows/rear seats etc.

[Mally]

In my mind a car derived van under 2 tonne is a 'car'.

A van derived car, or dual purpose is a different kettle of fish, or can of worms.

 

Can a camera tell what sort of vehicle just passed it, car or van?

Does a camera know you are towing a trailer?

[MrDuke]

1 hour ago, 320touring said:

What about a Berlingo or kangoo ?

 

They are or were both available as cars - rear side windows/rear seats etc.

They were originally designed as vans, then later on sold as cars. As van-derived cars, they have to adhere to van limits on NSL roads (50mph single-lane, 60mph dual). It's a properly stupid law, and the guy who did my speed awareness course admitted as much, but there you go.

[colnerov]

 

 Hi, Or you could look on the V5 and it will say which one it is. Because that's what they go by.

 Colin

[richardmorris]

On 10/24/2019 at 6:47 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

The 7300 extra points that were suddenly added to my Nectar card last week have vanished as Nectar seems to have realised its mistake. 

Easy come,  easy go....

I can’t remember the name of  the film, but I think had michael Crawford as a superhero, and Roy kinnear. Who at one point I am sure watches a Bentley disappear off the end of a dock into the sea and says “ easy come, easy go”.

weird memory I have!

[New POD]

5 hours ago, MikeR said:

lego shaped balls , on meds , cant drink ... can it get any worse ?

Look on the bright side.  I've just been to Bangor.  

[Richard]

12 hours ago, Tim_E said:

To be honest the only difference is 60 limit on a dual carriageway, but most people don't realise it. Not sure how much it's enforced. See goods vehicle not more than 7.5 t MLW https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits

 

10 hours ago, Mally said:

Van derived cars, limits are exactly the same as a normal car.

But be sure that your van is derived from a car.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles/car-derived-vans-and-dual-purpose-vehicles

 

 

 

59 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

'From the DVLA page 'those that do are likely to be similar to a Ford Fiesta van, Vauxhall Corsa or Renault Clio van'. So a Car Derived Van is a van derived from a car platform, and uses car limits, (there are strict definition but in general a car platform with panelled. Van derived cars use the limits for vans, even when they have seats. So your Berlingo or VW transporter for example, have to (in theory) stick to 60 on a dual carriageway.

 

30 minutes ago, MrDuke said:

They were originally designed as vans, then later on sold as cars. As van-derived cars, they have to adhere to van limits on NSL roads (50mph single-lane, 60mph dual). It's a properly stupid law, and the guy who did my speed awareness course admitted as much, but there you go.

 

I know the speed limits for vans but it's the first time I've heard of the limits being applied to van-derived cars. I think the speed awareness people are wrong on that one.

There's no actual definition for a car-derived van, hence the DVLA's description being wooly even by their standards. It's based on what the person who registered the vehicle put on the form. You could have two people driving in convoy in identical vans and only one of them would get a ticket. The limits on DVLA page can't be relied on, it's been wrong before and it's not quite correct now.

I've never managed to get a straight answer on whether speed cameras can differentiate between classes of vehicle. The only ways they could do it is by sending an enquiry for every vehicle travelling faster than the lowest speed limit on the road or by having somebody assigned to monitor each camera, both of which seem unlikely. I've never heard of speed cameras catching anybody on a lower limit but I don't want to be the one they make an example of.

[Richard]

5 hours ago, MrDuke said:

Why do 'modern' keep-fit windows have such low gearing? I could drop a front window in the Dolomite with 1.5 turns - when I pull up to a ticket machine in the C*rsa, I'm pumping away furiously as the glass slides down slower than a stoned snail.

Mk1 Astra/Mk2 Cavalier windows were like that. They were really heavy to wind too, the rubber knobs were always coming off them. That was one of the factors that contributed to the Mk1 Astra being the second most disappointing car I've ever driven.

[sheffcortinacentre]

Condorman was the film

[chaseracer]

25 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Condorman was the film

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_102660-Rolls-Royce-Silver-Cloud-III-1962.html

[robinmasters]

I might be being overly picky, but this fuel gauge has no red bit, and the tank is apparently 105%  full. 

[MrDuke]

Yeah, most of the work vans I've driven will register 'full' (on the max line) if you stop filling when the pump first cuts out. If you keep on pumping with a semi-depressed trigger and/or partially withdrawn nozzle, the needle will end up off the gauge, as above.

To answer the obvious questions: I've only noticed it in work vans, because they're the only vehicles I've ever brimmed with fuel, because I'm not paying for it. And I only went to the trouble of squeezing every last drop of diesel into the tank because Star/Nectar points.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

3 hours ago, New POD said:

....  I've just been to Bangor.  

...Didn't you have a lovely time the day you went there?

[Cord Fourteener]

3 hours ago, Richard said:

 

 

 

 

I know the speed limits for vans but it's the first time I've heard of the limits being applied to van-derived cars. I think the speed awareness people are wrong on that one.

There's no actual definition for a car-derived van, hence the DVLA's description being wooly even by thlleir standards. It's based on what the person who registered the vehicle put on the form. You could have two people driving in convoy in identical vans and only one of them would get a ticket. The limits on DVLA page can't be relied on, it's been wrong before and it's not quite ic.correct now.

I've never managed to get a straight answer on whether speed cameras can differentiate between classes of vehicle. The only ways they could do it is by sending an enquiry for every vehicle travelling faster than the lowest speed limit on the road or by having somebody assigned to monitor each camera, both of which seem unlikely. I've never heard of speed cameras catching anybody on a lower limit but I don't want to be the one they make an example of.

I'm fairly sure that only a grumpy cop and a miserable magistrate, or procurator fiscal or whatever the Scots have to deal with, would punish  a berlingo for doing 78 in flowing dual carriageway traffic.

The point is that you are informed of the law innit

[Cord Fourteener]

8 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

...Didn't you have a lovely time the day you went there?

Bangor NI or Bangor Gwynedd? Gobeithio bod chi di cael diwrnod braf?

[brownnova]

Da iawn ?

[Cord Fourteener]

2 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Da iawn ?

wir

[brownnova]

1 minute ago, Tim_E said:

wir

Un diwrnod byddaf yn dysgu Cymraeg yn iawn. 

[Cord Fourteener]

2 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Un diwrnod byddaf yn dysgu Cymraeg yn iawn. 

Mwy pwr ichi!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Anyone who has just joined this thread may wish to avail themselves of the AS subtitle option....

[chaseracer]

I was actually born in Bangor, but sadly can speak almost no Welsh.

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Tim_E said:

Bangor NI or Bangor Gwynedd? Gobeithio bod chi di cael diwrnod braf?

I went to visit my Dad in GWynedd hospital. 

He's 83.  Was born in Burnley and was speaking fluent giberis/ Welsh* to the nurses. He's got some rare nerve issue which affects his swallow and ability to talk.  They've found something potential sinister in his lymph glands.  I'm afraid that I told the Doctor, to stop using the words potentially more sinister when they mean potentially cancer 

 

[paulplom]

21 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

Thanks, but I've got one and the battery went flat yesterday 1/5th of the way trying to cut through it! Now charged and ready for action. 

Very handy for wheel clamps as well apparently.