cycling to have new car

[icowden]

Well I definitely want a Tesla, but it remains firmly in my dreams. I suspect that we'll get to auto-utopia before I can afford one.
I've read a few articles now suggesting that we may quickly (20 to 30 years?) move to a situation where if you need a car you just summon one on your phone - no need for something to sit on the Driveway not being used, and thus also a chance to change the roads - no roadside parking needed - more gardens and trees, cycle paths etc?

 

[DRHysted]

Well I definitely want a Tesla, but it remains firmly in my dreams. I suspect that we'll get to auto-utopia before I can afford one.
I've read a few articles now suggesting that we may quickly (20 to 30 years?) move to a situation where if you need a car you just summon one on your phone - no need for something to sit on the Driveway not being used, and thus also a chance to change the roads - no roadside parking needed - more gardens and trees, cycle paths etc?

Have you seen the car tax for them!

 

[Drago]

Well I definitely want a Tesla, but it remains firmly in my dreams. I suspect that we'll get to auto-utopia before I can afford one.

Chap further down our road has the Model S - he's fed up with people trying to steal it (although, not so fed up that he feels compelled to empty his garage of worthless rubbish and put the car in there at night) and reckons the range drops to c.150-160 miles the moment you use the heater, headlights etc. That's good, but a Leaf at £80k less can do that.

On top of that, a recent US study compared the Model S to various other car for cradle-to-grave emissions. They discovered the Model S fared worse than the BMW 750iSE, so you'd be raping the planet to do nothing more than feed an ego. And it all too often comes down to ego, and that's why the planet is doomed. I'm glad I'll be gone, but fear for the mess my grandchildren will be left with because people think 300+ BHP BMWs are nice things to drive around in.

 

[Jody]

.........so you'd be raping the planet to do nothing more than feed an ego. .

Isn't that almost every part electric eco car?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Have you seen the car tax for them!

£0 just like the car tax on all cars

 

[DRHysted]

£0 just like the car tax on all cars

I didn’t want to use VED as this vehicle isn’t being taxed on emissions.

 

[Brandane]

User13710 said: ↑
Having said hello, the OP spends almost seven years thinking about what to post on a cycling forum, then decides to boast about his car.



No offence was taken, i dont know User13710 so dont care. i put a post in a section thats for generalising. the comments have been wide reaching in the extremes from what i can see. i joined a long time ago but was busy getting on with life and just started to look at the forum again recently. Not boasting about my car i expect the same can be said about plenty of people here who post pics of their bikes. If when it comes to the end i can look back and said yep i ticked most of the boxes i wanted to then i am happy, and irrelevant what any one else says or thinks..
and i still love to ride my bikes and drive my car whatever makes us happy is important..

Exactly; life is far too short.
You could have wasted that 7 years seemingly reading every single post on this forum and trying to find offence in as many of them as possible.

 

[Smokin Joe]

The elephant in the room is not vehicle emissions or how high we have the thermostat, but the one thing politicians and eco warriors never mention because they know what it would bring down upon their heads.

You could cut all greenhouse gasses by 20% tomorrow and ultimately it would make bugger all difference because in the not too distant future the population of the planet will have increased by that and more anyway - with everyone wanting the goods and comforts those of us in the west take for granted. There are simply too many of us and the only way to reduce that number is to have severe restrictions on the number of children people are allowed to produce. Of course that won't happen because of the "Infringement on people's God given right" to have as many as they want, but we can't complain about using the planets resources and polluting the atmosphere while there are so many of us and the number is continually expanding.

If that ever happens it will be when it is probably too late - even the Chinese couldn't manage it with a government that brokers no dissent from it's citizens.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I've thought for a long time there ought to be a 1 for 1 on children, you are only allowed to have one to replace yourself, once that has happened you then are sterilised. So for instance a couple get married, they have a child, as part of the split one of them has to decide who the child replaces, then that person cannot have another with anybody else, unless the new partner hasn't a child already. Very draconian but necessary.

 

[mustang1]

Indeed.

The model American male devotes more than 1600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks it and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly installments. He works to pay for gasoline, tolls, insurance, taxes, and tickets. He spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering his resources for it. And this figure does not take into account the time consumed by other activities dictated by transport: time spent in hospitals, traffic courts, and garages; time spent watching automobile commercials or attending consumer education meetings to improve the quality of the next buy. The model American puts in 1600 hours to get 7500 miles: less than five miles per hour.

(Ivan Illich, Energy & Equity)​

I suppose it depends if the person is having fun driving their car. Maybe somwtimso they do but mostly not .

The guys who came up with those numbers should do one for hours lost at work. If they work 10 hours per day and use 2 hours commuting, this spending 12 hours per day for work-baaed activities, that's a whopping 2900 hours (assume 48 working weeks) a year. Whoa!

 

[Brandane]

The elephant in the room is not vehicle emissions or how high we have the thermostat, but the one thing politicians and eco warriors never mention because they know what it would bring down upon their heads.

You could cut all greenhouse gasses by 20% tomorrow and ultimately it would make bugger all difference because in the not too distant future the population of the planet will have increased by that and more anyway - with everyone wanting the goods and comforts those of us in the west take for granted. There are simply too many of us and the only way to reduce that number is to have severe restrictions on the number of children people are allowed to produce. Of course that won't happen because of the "Infringement on people's God given right" to have as many as they want, but we can't complain about using the planets resources and polluting the atmosphere while there are so many of us and the number is continually expanding.

If that ever happens it will be when it is probably too late - even the Chinese couldn't manage it with a government that brokers no dissent from it's citizens.

I've always thought this too. The most "green" thing I have done in my life is NOT producing any children. But to stay OT, I've no doubt cancelled out my bonus points by burning a fair amount of petrol and diesel over the years with my liking for all things with wheels. All of which will become completely irrelevant when we have a major volcano eruption - it's only a matter of time. Nature will do SOMETHING to curb the human population.

 

[slowmotion]

View attachment 438299

400 plus BHP with methanol / water injection, 19mg on WOT.... Boys and their toys.

Lorks!

 

[nickyboy]

I've some close up first hand experience. My ex Missus is a director for a large electronics firm and earned easily 4 times as much as I did, and likely much more. Unfortunately, due to her Porsche 911 habit, and several foreign holidays a year habit she'll be working into her 60's. She could have quit in her 40's if she'd lived a more modest life.

You're right, many folk aren't so lucky and find it very tight. Which makes it all the more remarkable that so many of them saddle themselves with finance or PCP's to acquire cars they can't afford. The whole object of such finance and schemes is to sell people products they can't actually afford, and every year several million Britons fall for it.

Have you considered that it's not everyone's objective in working to be able to afford to stop working?

 

[Andy in Germany]

Indeed.

The model American male devotes more than 1600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks it and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly installments. He works to pay for gasoline, tolls, insurance, taxes, and tickets. He spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering his resources for it. And this figure does not take into account the time consumed by other activities dictated by transport: time spent in hospitals, traffic courts, and garages; time spent watching automobile commercials or attending consumer education meetings to improve the quality of the next buy. The model American puts in 1600 hours to get 7500 miles: less than five miles per hour.

(Ivan Illich, Energy & Equity)​

To be fair, that's possibly because the Model American Male (or female for that matter) frequently has little choice. I know of people who have to drive to work,.

I never had to own a car, and that involved making tough decisions, but I'm a bit cautious about suggesting that other people could automatically achieve the same.

I'm just grateful that I can live without one of the things.

 

[mustang1]

I did the same as some others on here. Got rid of the second car after I realised I was just using it as an excuse not to cycle to the station, and paying for parking. Now we just have the children transporter. Need Tesla to bring out the equivalent of an affordable Grand Scenic!

Hyundai Kona