[pegleg]

I've had my B Max for 4 years now and i'm thinking of changing it. Prior to that, I never had small engines, at least no smaller than 2 litre, but I don't drive far nowadays and no m/way driving. I found having only 125 bhp took a bit of getting used to, but I grew to love the car.
It's hard to find a manual car without a DMF, the things are failing all over the World. And B Max 5 speed box is a solid flywheel.
I'm after ecoboost 125 Titanium, same as the one I have now.
So, the hunt is on, d'you think I'm mad?

 

[Gremlin]

not mad, but look for a colour edition at nominally 140bhp

 

[Hywel S Wales]

Maybe electric ? Great especially if you are not commuting far (no range anxiety). Plenty of acceleration form standstill when you need it. Worth looking into.

 

[pegleg]

I'm not going electric Hywel for lots of reasons; apart from the domestic 3 pin socket, there are very few charging points around Wales and I do get about from time to time. Apart from that, I think EV's are better suited to City/urban areas rather than rural areas like mine where its 32 mile trip to the shops!

 

[Hywel S Wales]

Fair enough. I'm thinking of maybe a hybrid for my next car. Probably next year.

 

[Wiggy]

According to an article i read, by 2030 ALL new cars for sale will have to be fully electric.
No petrol, No diesel, No hybrid.
Wonder if it will happen ?
If electric had a vastly improved range, then i would seriously consider one, not for the environmental reasons but cos i'm a tight old git rofl.
But then the government probably has something up it's sleeve to be able to tax electric cars the same as they do for petrol and diesel, or am i just a cynic ?

 

[pegleg]

No matter what route that's used to power our cars, our hands a tied somewhat by the simple of rule of physics that states 'You can't get something for nothing'.
And the more you think about it...…………………….
There is always a snag!
What we need to do is just be a little less wasteful. On the road, at work, at home.

 

[pegleg]

Gone and done it. Titanium 125 Navigation with rear view camera and privacy glass, paint colour - Rush Red.
Should pick it up in the next few days.

 

[Hywel S Wales]

Nice colour. Good luck with it.

 

[pegleg]

Ah, Hywel. Found out colour is Ruby Red.

 

[Wiggy]

Do ford change the name of the colours ?
My B-max is red and it's listed as race red.

 

[pegleg]

Race Red is different to Ruby Red. Much darker. Ford don't change the name of colour/tints.
That would be a bit confusing.

 

[Hywel S Wales]

I'm looking at the new Honda Jazz. Clever hybrid powertrain.

 

[cianpars]

Still trying to justify the extra cost of an electric or hybrid car to myself but it seems to me that you need to keep the car a very long time or do 20k plus miles per year to cover that cost and electricity is not free either.

What I really fancy is a Model 3 Performance Edition, but £56k is just a bit out of my price range. KIA eNiro is interesting though, and the VW id3 also.

 

[Hywel S Wales]

I started off looking at buying an EV, but it seems a bit silly dragging a vehicle with a heavy battery that can do 150 - 200 miles for local commutes most of the time. I would only make use of the full battery range once or twice a year on holiday trips. Expensive too !

So then i thought maybe a PHEV. Some models can do 25 miles or so on battery only, so ideal for local running around. Just recharge every other day or so. You then have the petrol engine for the longer holiday runs. No range anxiety. Still expensive to buy though.

So now i'm thinking a self charging hybrid might suit me better. They are a bit cheaper. Excellent fuel economy. Easy to drive - bit like an automatic.
(In fact the new Honda Jazz doesn't have a gearbox at all !) Latest safety features and connectivity.... Tempting !

 

[pegleg]

If you don't want a gearbox, there's a yellow Daf 33 rotting away in a field near here!
Honda Jazz is very interesting and I guarantee that Honda will get it right.
There is still a lot of potential within the petrol engine such as the use of ceramics, but governments keep sticking their uneducated oar in. It doesn't seem so long ago that they were telling the public to buy diesels. The Automotive industry knows best and without successive government meddling, the petrol engine would have come on leaps and bounds.
During lockdown, I started using my old bike as the roads were so quiet and thoroughly enjoyed it. But that isn't zero emissions as I need food in order to pedal!
Rule of physics again.

 

[Hadrian1]

According to an article i read, by 2030 ALL new cars for sale will have to be fully electric.
No petrol, No diesel, No hybrid.
Wonder if it will happen ?
If electric had a vastly improved range, then i would seriously consider one, not for the environmental reasons but cos i'm a tight old git rofl.
But then the government probably has something up it's sleeve to be able to tax electric cars the same as they do for petrol and diesel, or am i just a cynic ?

I was watching Harry Metcalfe (of Harry's Garage on Youtube) He was driving from Oxfordshire into London in
an electric vehicle. He spent a considerably amount of time trying to find somewhere to charge it.
As far as charging at home, it's not just a case of plugging into a 13amp socket. You need a dedicated charging
unit wired into your house, and it's not able to be done in all houses.

 

[Hadrian1]

According to an article i read, by 2030 ALL new cars for sale will have to be fully electric.
No petrol, No diesel, No hybrid.
Wonder if it will happen ?
If electric had a vastly improved range, then i would seriously consider one, not for the environmental reasons but cos i'm a tight old git rofl.
But then the government probably has something up it's sleeve to be able to tax electric cars the same as they do for petrol and diesel, or am i just a cynic ?

I was watching Harry Metcalfe (of Harry's Garage on Youtube) He was driving from Oxfordshire
into London in an electric vehicle. He spent a considerably amount of time trying to find somewhere
to charge it. As far as charging at home, it's not just a case of plugging into a 13amp socket. You need a
dedicated charging unit wired into your house, and it's not able to be done in all houses.

 

[Hywel S Wales]

Interesting to read this too -

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...brids-cars-reliable-petrol-diesel-models.html

 

[Wiggy]

My train of thought with hybrid cars is that there are now two "engines" that could go wrong as opposed to just the one in a "normal'" car.And the battery pack is horrendously expensive if it goes wrong.The battery pack in the Nissan Leaf is either bought outright or rented ( we have a few of these at work for the midwives etc to use ), all with rented packs.

As for dedicated charging units, many car manufacturers will gladly install a charger for the customer at no cost to them provided it doesn't contraveine any local byelaws and is not located on a public thoroughfare.True, many people do not have a driveway but E-cars can be charged from a three pin plug, it just takes longer, they will even charge from a small wind turbine on a stick ( very slowly ).
Range for a fully electric car has to get way better before i would even consider one and hybrid is out as far as i'm concerned as they still defeat the object of a greener environment. When it comes down to it though, is a fully electric car green ? The juice to charge it comes from a power station which burns either coal,gas,oil,wood chips or uses nuclear fuel all of which have environmental risks associated with them. Unless a car can be charged from a turbine in your garden or solar pannels on your roof then a truly green car will never exist.