The Micro Car thread

[Richard A Thackeray]

No it wasn't.
It was more of a small/lower range car, much like the Morris Minor. Think more along the lines of a modern day Fiesta or Corsa.
Large family cars of that era were more like the bigger Fords, Vauxhalls, Humbers and Rovers.

Okay, the working class mans 'large' car. not the middle classes
It's still tiny compared to the modern Micra

 

[Profpointy]

My Dad had a standard 8 ! I remember it well, but it lacked a heater so was bollocking cold in the winter. Replaced it with a brand new (wow!) MkII Cortina in 68. I got the Cortina in 1980 or so and got a few more years out of it. Pretty good car to be fair

 

[swee'pea99]

A lot of the extra weight and reduced interior space can be accounted for by safety features required to pass ENCAP safety regulations.

I'm sure that's spot on. I wonder when the thinking will start to shift, with increasing recognition of the damage inflicted on people outside cars by efforts to limit damage to those inside them.

 

[Fnaar]

I've written a haiku to sum things up:

I'd love a small car
Gaseous emissions hurt
The environment

 

[Drago]

Pay per mile, and make it quite a weighty fee. That'll stop people driving their kids 400 metres to school.

I like the idea of banning the sale of cars I've XYZ CD, or over a certain weight, or which don't do a genuine set MPG. If individuals won t do it voluntarily the Government should make them.

As cyclists most of us are at least half way there in terms of our outlook, but the rest of society is doomed. After all, what hope is there when one page of The Guardian is publishing dark warnings about a possible runaway greenhouse effect, and several pages on they publish their rave review of a horrifically polluting V8 Lexus?

Society, companies, and especially individuals, simply need to stop moaning and putting their lazy self interest first. A friend of mine I worked with in the States recently told me that he will give up his gazillion litre 3 tonne pickup truck when all the polluters in India and China sort out their act. With that attitude we are, quite literally, doomed.

 

[swee'pea99]

Pay per mile, and make it quite a weighty fee. That'll stop people driving their kids 400 metres to school.

I like the idea of banning the sale of cars I've XYZ CD, or over a certain weight, or which don't do a genuine set MPG. If individuals won t do it voluntarily the Government should make them.

As cyclists most of us are at least half way there in terms of our outlook, but the rest of society is doomed. After all, what hope is there when one page of The Guardian is publishing dark warnings about a possible runaway greenhouse effect, and several pages on they publish their rave review of a horrifically polluting V8 Lexus?

Society, companies, and especially individuals, simply need to stop moaning and putting their lazy self interest first. A friend of mine I worked with in the States recently told me that he will give up his gazillion litre 3 tonne pickup truck when all the polluters in India and China sort out their act. With that attitude we are, quite literally, doomed.

Absolutely. Keeping up with the Singhs, or Wongs, will be the death of the planet.

 

[MarkF]

I am waiting, giddily, for the new Jimny, I am so glad they didn't go all silly SUV, even shorter than the last one too.

 

[Drago]

Nipped out to fuel up the Smart this morning. 67.7 mpg - that's by my calculations, not a work of fiction from a dash fuel display. Not bad for the sort of journeys it's been doing, particularly with the roof down, but I'm determined to improve on that.

 

[Drago]

And here's another one I found today...

It's called the City EL and I believe is from Denmark. It's been in production for nearly 30 years, with improvements allong the way. I guess it's the proves the old Sinclair C5 concept was practical with a touch more space and power Hell, if they sold them here id have one by the end of the day. The average car journey is single digit miles with a single occupant, so this would be ideal for people who don't make imaginary excuses for needing a Range Rover.

 

[NorthernDave]

I'm sure that's spot on. I wonder when the thinking will start to shift, with increasing recognition of the damage inflicted on people outside cars by efforts to limit damage to those inside them.

Already happening and has been for a few years - pop up bonnets / bonnet airbags are starting to become more widely fitted if not exactly commonplace yet, but they will due to the safety tests requiring 'Vulnerable Road User' (VRU) protection. Many cars have collapsible wing top brackets now so if anyone is hit they'll crumple a couple of inches to absorb some of the load.

https://www.euroncap.com/en/vehicle...xplained/vulnerable-road-user-vru-protection/

A lot of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) also have VRU applications as well.​

 

[mustang1]

I had a Chevy Matiz 796cc for 8yrs it done 400 mile round trips loaded up with passengers dog and luggage no problem, It really used to come into its own round the narrow twisty Dorset lanes down here and would park in tiny spaces, I've upgraded to a 3cyl 997cc
Celerio now better fuel consumption at 67mpg but not as much fun as the Matiz.

My dad had a couple of those when they were still Daewoo Matiz's.

 

[swee'pea99]

Already happening and has been for a few years - pop up bonnets / bonnet airbags are starting to become more widely fitted if not exactly commonplace yet, but they will due to the safety tests requiring 'Vulnerable Road User' (VRU) protection. Many cars have collapsible wing top brackets now so if anyone is hit they'll crumple a couple of inches to absorb some of the load.

https://www.euroncap.com/en/vehicle...xplained/vulnerable-road-user-vru-protection/

A lot of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) also have VRU applications as well.​

Forgive me, but that's not what I meant at all. If anything, it just exacerbates the problem I'm concerned about: excess weight, and the consequent pollution. I think cars need to become far *less* 'safe' - the focus needs to shift from building in protection, whether to occupants or bystanders, to building out (ie, removing) everything possible, in order to reduce weight to a bare minimum.

 

[mustang1]

And it's why most cars now look pig ugly and lack the clean lines and elegance of older designs, such as -

View attachment 423004

All bikes look the same too thanks to the nice folk at the UCI. Grrr
[QUOTE 5342717, member: 9609"]A few years back the EU brought in a rule for Vacuum Cleaners that after a certain date domestic vacuum cleaners were not to be more powerful than 900w - It did seem a bit daft, but in the face of possible climate change and a society that obsesses with buying the biggest and most powerful of everything it was a very sensible step in the right direction.

Wouldn't it be nice if this same sensible environmental awareness could be brought into car manufacturing - Lets say after 2020 no vehicle is to be sold that produces more than 70bhp. - obviously some vehicles need to be more powerful (lorries / school run range rovers), these could be deemed as "Special Types" and limited to 40mph[/QUOTE]

This reminds me of the gentleman's agreement in Japan where cars were optionally restrained to 280hp.
EDIT: actually the Germans had a voluntary 155mph limit which seems to apply liberally these days.

 

[mustang1]

Pay per mile, and make it quite a weighty fee. That'll stop people driving their kids 400 metres to school.

I like the idea of banning the sale of cars I've XYZ CD, or over a certain weight, or which don't do a genuine set MPG. If individuals won t do it voluntarily the Government should make them.

As cyclists most of us are at least half way there in terms of our outlook, but the rest of society is doomed. After all, what hope is there when one page of The Guardian is publishing dark warnings about a possible runaway greenhouse effect, and several pages on they publish their rave review of a horrifically polluting V8 Lexus?

Society, companies, and especially individuals, simply need to stop moaning and putting their lazy self interest first. A friend of mine I worked with in the States recently told me that he will give up his gazillion litre 3 tonne pickup truck when all the polluters in India and China sort out their act. With that attitude we are, quite literally, doomed.

Isn't there some tax on petrol that has/had the effect of paying per mile, and also taking into consideration the car's fuel efficieny (weight, power, that kinda stuff)?

 

[screenman]

A lot of the couple's I know retired and working have disposable combined incomes of hundreds of pound a week, you will have to put costs up a long way before they stop driving everywhere. Unfortunately.