bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by bpg on Sept 20, 2023 11:38:28 GMT
You cannot or should not use your left foot for braking in an automatic.
Why not ? Two pedals, two feet. Unless you have the mental dexterity of Bob the goldfish what's the problem ?
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Sept 20, 2023 11:49:31 GMT
Yeah, that’s one I’ve never really understood. About a million years ago it was pointed out to me that brake pedals are wider in autos to allow easy access by either foot. If I’m just pottering about I tend just to use my right foot for everything but if I’m pressing on, or indeed close manoeuvring, I’ll usually use my left foot on the brakes in an automatic.
|
|
|
Post by EspadaIII on Sept 20, 2023 13:20:30 GMT
I taught myself to left foot brake years ago and I use it all the time in autos. Makes a lot of sense, especially when getting out of a tight spot. Avoids unintended acceleration beloved of old people who go on to accidentally either kill their wives by crushing them against the wall, or ramming the car through the wall and into the street several floors below.
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by bpg on Oct 4, 2023 11:10:16 GMT
Things people say by reading pish in the press: www.thescottishsun.co.uk/motors/11317116/motors-expert-major-problems-evs/EVs have a shorter range depending on how you drive 😂😂😂 Of course we all know if you drive a petrol or diesel flat out on the autobahn you're still going to get 60+ mpg. Quoting the RAC, a breakdown insurance company, as the source of fact about battery life of EVs. They see the cars with issues just like any petrol or diesel cars with issues. It's like trying to find a balanced review on the internet, plenty of people post about a bad experience very few post good news stories. Finally, my personal favourite, tyres wear out faster. I have to replace the front tyres on our EV because the tracking is out, too much positive camber, or toe-in, has scrubbed the outer shoulders. The rears are still at 6mm after 3 years, the middle and inner tread of the fronts is at 5mm.
|
|
|
Post by EspadaIII on Oct 4, 2023 12:36:56 GMT
It's all clickbait. Have to find a way of getting your brand in front of the gullible public.
Met a guy yesterday I last saw two years ago in Thessaloniki. He was buying an ID3 and I was waiting for my I5.
'How you getting on with your electric car?' he asked. 'I'm loving it!' I replied. 'How's yours?'. 'I sent it back. It was awful. Very unreliable'.
VW are going to have to really fight to retain market share. Not sure any of their regular EVs have enough quality over the competition to make a strong case for buying; unlike the Golf which really was the only car you ever need.
Mind you, the Cupra Born (such an odd name) looks great and I think may be the best of the VAG EVs below £50,000.
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by bpg on Oct 4, 2023 12:58:23 GMT
The tyres wearing out faster thing is just a rehash of the petrol Vs diesel argument 20+ years ago and diesel engines having more torque than petrol wearing tyres out faster. Humph must have ATS on speed dial. 🙄
We looked at an ID3 three or four weeks ago. The interface was not as bad as I expected reading various reviews, not great but not laggy like I expected. The deal breaker was the sill thickness or more specifically the distance from seat base to ground over the side of the car. My wife is 5' 8" and more legs than body, she could not get her foot on the ground without her calf rubbing the sill. I'm 5' 11" more of a 50/50 body to leg ratio, I found the same. I tried the seat at various heights my calf always touched the sill. You can imagine the state of trousers after a drive on dirty, salted, gritted roads. First world problems and all that but it would really annoy me in the winter having a dirty trouser leg after driving the car.
I guess they must be designed for 10' Teutons.
|
|
|
Post by Humph on Oct 4, 2023 16:18:11 GMT
I find the RWD Mercs really easy on tyre wear, usually 50k miles plus from the fronts and 45k miles or more from the rears. Not cheap tyres though. Divided by the mileage I guess they’re ok I suppose.
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by bpg on Oct 18, 2023 18:30:02 GMT
"They don't make them like they used to"
Volvo S60 front left indicator bulb went today, first bulb to fail, excluding the usual Volvo dipped beam bulbs which fail on a regular basis for fun. Thirteen years this month since the car was built, shocking reliability 🤪
10€ for a replacement orange, bayonet bulb 😱 'ow much ! I did the driver's side too as preventative maintenance.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
|
Post by WDB on Oct 18, 2023 21:19:00 GMT
I remember having my S60’s original indicator bulbs replaced before an MoT because I’d been warned they might fail. Not because they didn’t illuminate but because so much of the coating had flaked off that they were no longer orange enough. It must have been about ten years old at that point.
The E220 had xenon headlamps but must have had bulbs elsewhere. I never had to replace one, though. Nor the first i3, which had last-century halogen lamps. The current fleet is all-LED, so I think the Volvo must be the last car whose bulbs I’ve had to change.
|
|
|
Post by EspadaIII on Oct 19, 2023 5:46:43 GMT
Still got cars on the fleet with halogen or tungsten bulbs. However I can't remember the last time I changed one.
Still see cars driving around with one side completely dark. At first I thought that was an electrical issue but my garage said they see it frequently and it is simply laziness. The owner knows the bulbs have burnt out but waits till the MoT to sort it.
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by bpg on Oct 19, 2023 6:19:50 GMT
The Volvo is the only car I have left which I can easily switch a bulb out in 5 minutes and be on my way. The indicator bulbs on this S60 aren't the usual shape bulb. The failed bulb was burnt out, the other side was just as dirty almost brown when compared with the new orange units. It'll do for a spare in 2035.
LEDs don't often go, but when they do, ££££ for headlight units. I could have ticked the shuttering headlights with Ford GT mimicking day running lights for 1,200€ when I ordered my Focus. Not much point as I don't drive much after dark these days and the LED units with auto high beam do the job when required. Halogen was not an option.
|
|
|
Post by bromptonaut on Oct 19, 2023 17:05:31 GMT
Headlight bulbs in both the 'lingo and the Fabia are reasonably easy although being a slight chap with small hands makes it less problematic.
Nothing though is as simple as several PSA cars Pug 104 and 205 then Cit BX where the entire headlight unit clipped in to a sort of press stud type fitting. Whole unit could be taken inside the house and cleaned.
|
|
|
Post by Alanović on Oct 20, 2023 7:26:10 GMT
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by bpg on Oct 20, 2023 7:49:56 GMT
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
|
Post by WDB on Oct 20, 2023 9:42:54 GMT
Love the velour interior in that. Wish my dad had bought a BX instead of a Maestro in 1985.
|
|