EVs... no one wants them!

[Fastdruid]

Muzzer79 said:

I don't think I've ever seen an EV 'crawling' along a motorway or similar. They just drive like everyone else IME.

Like everything, people notice the extremes. You spot the crawlers and the speeders, the ones just minding their own business at ~70 get ignored. It'll be a tiny percentage of EV drivers where plans have gone awry (planned charger full, don't want to charge apart from at home etc) while most of them just get on and drive normally.

I *have* seen plenty of EV's crawling along being overtaken by HGVs...but equally seen plenty of ICE vehicles crawling along. Probably these days more likely to see an EV in that scenario than the stereotypical terrified old biddy doing 50...

[Dave200]

Fastdruid said:

greenarrow said:

Just a general observation, I'm not sure its cricket for people who don't list their own car fleets in the "my garage" section to take the **** out of those that do, even when they own or have owned a Toyota Avensis....I mean I am sure most of us have stuff in our past car ownership catalogue we would rather forget about now! I know I do!

I deleted my "garage" because people are s. All taking the piss does is mean people don't list their cars.

Conversely, I gave up updating mine over a decade ago. Who's got the time to do that?

[MightyBadger]

Dave200 said:

Conversely, I gave up updating mine over a decade ago. Who's got the time to do that?

The reason is because you are a bell that tries to be clever and take the piss out of other peoples garages and don't want it happening to your own?

You spend enough time talking pish on PH so you have time to update your garage lol.

Edited by MightyBadger on Monday 24th June 11:02

[Mr E]

FiF said:

The unanimous response in those much more enlightened times was that petrolhead or enthusiast was an attitude of mind and absolutely nothing to do with whatever someone did or didn't own or drive.

My garage contains Germanic V8, one of the finest handling sports cars ever made and a Japanese turbo nutter thing.
It also contains a comedy Italian hatch back, a crap Citroen, a pizza deliver yaris and a Nissan leaf.

At almost no point have I cared what anybody else thought about them.

[Dave200]

Mr E said:

At almost no point have I cared what anybody else thought about them.

This. It's mad how people wear their car as a badge of pride.

[DonkeyApple]

FiF said:

My take to summarise the above might be that, some, if they're a bit of a bell piece then behave like a bit of a bell piece across a whole number of activities simply because they're a bit of a bell piece without much self awareness. Such activities could include, but is not limited to, diverse activities such as driving and posting on social media.



For the benefit of the tape etc...

PS ,More seriously, DA, hope your Mrs is getting over the recent 530D encounter. Wasn't near an American base was it?

Thanks. She's finally calmed down.

The chap must have been doing close to 100 judging by the length of the tyre marks!!! Pesky 530D's. If he'd been in a Tesla he would have been doing 55.

[FiF]

740EVTORQUES said:

But at every price point there are enthusiast choices and rubbish choices. I leave you to judge which category a diesel Avensis fits into.

It probably fits into the use case for the owner, not up to me, you or any other to make sneering comments.

Anyone triggered by my observation needs to have a think about their attitudes displayed and recognise that if the cap fits then it needs to be worn.

HTH

[otolith]

FiF said:

The unanimous response in those much more enlightened times was that petrolhead or enthusiast was an attitude of mind and absolutely nothing to do with whatever someone did or didn't own or drive.

I think that's both a yes and a no. When it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, there is a difference between having no money and having it but putting it somewhere else. I find it a bit irritating, for example, that people will opine strongly about how Lotus has abandoned its roots, Chapman spinning in his grave, etc ad nauseum, but their garage indicates that they have owned a long list of rivals and never bought one of the cars they are insisting Lotus should still be making.

[cidered77]

otolith said:

FiF said:

The unanimous response in those much more enlightened times was that petrolhead or enthusiast was an attitude of mind and absolutely nothing to do with whatever someone did or didn't own or drive.

I think that's both a yes and a no. When it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, there is a difference between having no money and having it but putting it somewhere else. I find it a bit irritating, for example, that people will opine strongly about how Lotus has abandoned its roots, Chapman spinning in his grave, etc ad nauseum, but their garage indicates that they have owned a long list of rivals and never bought one of the cars they are insisting Lotus should still be making.

You can add to that people who say the Alpine 110 "should have had a manual gearbox" , "french crap", etc - but have never and will never own a 2 seat sports car. "Land Rovers break down a lot" for those never in the market for a large SUV, and course "i for some strange reason have picked never ever driving an EV as the hill i'm going to die on, as I'd miss the raw visceral thrill of my Toyota Avensis in a traffic jam"

[MightyBadger]

cidered77 said:

You can add to that people who say the Alpine 110 "should have had a manual gearbox"

Interesting they only went with auto to save weight, shame they cut out a bit of their target market doing so.

[GeniusOfLove]

MightyBadger said:

cidered77 said:

You can add to that people who say the Alpine 110 "should have had a manual gearbox"

Interesting they only went with auto to save weight, shame they cut out a bit of their target market doing so.

I think that's the marketing reason, reality is limited resources and almost no demand. 2nd hand buyers want them with manual gearboxes but the buyers of new sports cars all want cucks now, if they even had sufficient development resources to produce a manual they'd probably have sold about six.

[FiF]

otolith said:

FiF said:

The unanimous response in those much more enlightened times was that petrolhead or enthusiast was an attitude of mind and absolutely nothing to do with whatever someone did or didn't own or drive.

I think that's both a yes and a no. When it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, there is a difference between having no money and having it but putting it somewhere else. I find it a bit irritating, for example, that people will opine strongly about how Lotus has abandoned its roots, Chapman spinning in his grave, etc ad nauseum, but their garage indicates that they have owned a long list of rivals and never bought one of the cars they are insisting Lotus should still be making.

Picking up on that specific example, back in mid 70s I had a few decent 100 mile plus drives in a S4 Elan SE. Loved it, yet didn't buy one simply because all my spare money was being channelled into motorsport, specifically stage rallying. Had graduated from area championship road rallying, and just getting into national and international events. Clearly no spare money to buy an Elan however much desired.

These days for some time I have had the means to buy and run an Elan or an Elise, but being an old fart the agility and willingness to grovel in and out with some decorum such a low slung vehicle plus probable minimal use would make it all a bit of a garage queen. The difference is that I'm not moaning or making any comment about current Lotus product.

[Fastdruid]

MightyBadger said:

cidered77 said:

You can add to that people who say the Alpine 110 "should have had a manual gearbox"

Interesting they only went with auto to save weight, shame they cut out a bit of their target market doing so.

Given most DCT transmission cars (ie identical cars other than the gearbox) are 20-30kg heavier than the manual option I'd question if it's _really_ lighter or that's what they decided to claim.

GeniusOfLove said:

I think that's the marketing reason, reality is limited resources and almost no demand. 2nd hand buyers want them with manual gearboxes but the buyers of new sports cars all want cucks now, if they even had sufficient development resources to produce a manual they'd probably have sold about six.

It's something where there are oddities, take the Gordon Murray experience (IIRC with the T.33), they were going to offer an auto as there appeared interest...but when it came to people putting their money where their mouth was there wasn't enough interest in it.

Now personally I'll be honest, I'm not in the market for the A110...but if I was then the lack of a manual gearbox *would* be a deal breaker.

[vetrof]

740EVTORQUES said:

I’m devastated for my teenage daughters that they have been denied the opportunity of a life and self-esteem enhancing career as a grid girl by those Wokist bds.

Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be able to find OnlyFans. That's where all the boss babes seem to hang out these days.

[smn159]

Oilchange said:

The grid girls who lost their jobs were pissed

No wonder they lost their jobs then!

[otolith]

Fastdruid said:

Now personally I'll be honest, I'm not in the market for the A110...but if I was then the lack of a manual gearbox *would* be a deal breaker.

I did think about chopping in the Elise and getting the Alpine, and also about the 4C. The Alpine's looks and the 4C's wayward handling might have put me off, but in both cases the automatic turbo 4 didn't appeal enough to put a big chunk of money into the change.

[FiF]

otolith said:

Fastdruid said:

Now personally I'll be honest, I'm not in the market for the A110...but if I was then the lack of a manual gearbox *would* be a deal breaker.

I did think about chopping in the Elise and getting the Alpine, and also about the 4C. The Alpine's looks and the 4C's wayward handling might have put me off, but in both cases the automatic turbo 4 didn't appeal enough to put a big chunk of money into the change.

Frankly given a Euromillions win, my garage would include a base spec modern Alpine A110, the best one.

Plus a rally prepared original group 4 Renault Alpine, something like https://www.classic-trader.com/uk/cars/listing/alp...

Agree on 4C, how could they screw this up so badly.


Still not actually bought either so maybe that marks me out badly for the jingle jangle crew.

[Fastdruid]

otolith said:

Fastdruid said:

Now personally I'll be honest, I'm not in the market for the A110...but if I was then the lack of a manual gearbox *would* be a deal breaker.

I did think about chopping in the Elise and getting the Alpine, and also about the 4C. The Alpine's looks and the 4C's wayward handling might have put me off, but in both cases the automatic turbo 4 didn't appeal enough to put a big chunk of money into the change.

Its increasingly off topic but I'm in the same boat, while the idea of a small lightweight car with a manual gearbox and a NA appeals[1] (even "just" an inline 4) an automatic turbo really doesn't. Still I guess they're stuck between a rock and a hard place, how many decent NA engines are there these days that you'd want to put in such a thing?

[1] There are lots of things that appeal even though I wouldn't be buying one short of a big lottery win because while I could afford them I can't _justify_ buying them for how little I'd get to use them!

[greenarrow]

Mr E said:

FiF said:

The unanimous response in those much more enlightened times was that petrolhead or enthusiast was an attitude of mind and absolutely nothing to do with whatever someone did or didn't own or drive.

My garage contains Germanic V8, one of the finest handling sports cars ever made and a Japanese turbo nutter thing.
It also contains a comedy Italian hatch back, a crap Citroen, a pizza deliver yaris and a Nissan leaf.

At almost no point have I cared what anybody else thought about them.

That's the best way to be. One of my favourite you tube channels is the "Hub Nut" one. Most of the stuff he drives would be laughed out of court on this thread, would make an Avensis seem like the latest Lamborghini, but try telling him he isn't an enthusiast, petrolhead, whatever. One of my favourite cars ever is the humble K11 Nissan Micra. My wife finds it hilarious that I have such a thing for them, but my time spent driving two of them as hire cars on the door handles everywhere using every single rev, was some of the best fun I've had in road cars.

[greenarrow]

Back to EVs. Like many I spend too much time on facebook marketplace and I've noticed how cheap the early Nissan Leafs have become. Part of me thinks you'd have to be crazy to buy a car that the advert claims can only do 50 miles on a charge now it has 80-90K on it, but the other part of me thinks that if you want an urban run around, to the shops and back or the town, its a pretty canny choice. £1900 is the cheapest one I've seen. Very tempting proposition actually in many ways, just to buy an old one for a bit to see how I get on with an EV before making the plunge fully. Maybe for me, an early Leaf could become my new K11 Micra