Sc@ Chi

This. We've also been oversold on safety (I think they ran out of USPs so ramped up that ya gotta have ALL the safetys...)

But you're never going to get rich by selling light cars, sadly. Folk want to feel safe even if they're driving a Chrysler Voyager where they just ripped out the LHD airbags and didn't bother making RHD ones.

On 11/05/2025 at 20:18, cubastreet said:

Judging by the progress in the last 15 years I think if electric cars had been in constant development for the last 140, the charging, range etc would be pretty well sorted.

The new alternative would be a slow, noisy car with an engine you had to strip down to decoke every few thousand kilometres. 

You can't plug it in when you get home to refuel it with the solar power you've stored during the day, instead you have to go to a special station and pay whatever price they want to charge you. What if OPEC cut us off? the country would grind to a halt!

If you live in the country you might not be anywhere near one of the filling stations, so they would be impractical as farm vehicles.

Besides, who would want their cities to smell like burning oil? Would the government even let us use these vehicles that belch our so many noxious fumes?

 

ICE engines can be built anywhere with relatively local raw ingredients.

EVs require global trade to bring all the ingredients together.

Despite its looks, it's 2WD. Other than that, great idea and I too applaud the simplicity.

15 hours ago, 440bbm said:

can you see all these silly fuckers that bought a tesla, to stop using it and buy something else? baaahahahaha. good one nigel.

I can honestly say that I think the stigma attached to Teslas has significantly hurt their sales and it is definitely a factor when people are choosing an EV. The worse that CUNT behaves (and everything he does is intentional), the worse it is going to get for Tesla owners because they are a visible and vulnerable target. I don't agree with targeting individuals, but by fuck I'd love to torch a Tesla dealership (but that's NOT a statement of intent!)

A lot of people see this as a tipping point for society and feel they have to act - and don't give me that 'Violence begets violence' rhetoric. The right started this.

19 hours ago, BlownCorona said:

fuck that little truck looks like one of the most dangerous things ive seen in recent times. 

crumple zone is your legs and lower torso, tray folds down into cabin with no loadrest to ensure the 800kg load you place in the tray takes out the upper torso too. 

narrow commercial style tires, 500hp. what could go wrong? id be surprised if that thing makes it through any sort of impact testing which means it wont make it to the road. 

yes please for smaller cars, no thanks for terrible designs.

Probably why it's a 'truck', and exempt from crash test requirements in the US. I refer you to a comparison between F150 vs MINI crash tests:

Does look super cool though, like a great MTB vehicle - four riders and bikes. Well, until @BlownCorona burst my bubble...

On 06/02/2025 at 19:47, h4nd said:

Puhuhuhu. European reviews on Teslas:

I just saw a Youtube video where Stephen Fry debunked the story that Elon's a Nazi.

He said "The difference is the Nazis built really good cars..."

I think I'd actually like the fake engine noises - wouldn't seem right otherwise.

4 hours ago, nzstato said:

This might not be what you are going for (the towing capacity is borderline with ~1.5T).  But I bough my wife an Exiga - we wanted 7 seats (kids+) the the rules were 'no vans' and 'no-suvs'.  They are basically a legacy with an extended roofline to get that 3rd row of seats.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_Exiga

Has the typical subaru boxer fuel efficiency (or lack thereof) but they are available cheap.... and typically the interior is better appointed than your regular legacy. 

 

We had one and fuck I hated it. It eventually developed a random gearbox issue which couldn't be fixed and we sold it at a massive loss.

It drank petrol like nothing else and had NO power above 100kph. At 140, it felt like it was all done, but our Volvo V7 T5 was just getting its legs. Both 2.5L turbos so fuck knows what the scooby did with the energy...

Clever enough design and acceptable looks etc, but believe me: It's thirsty, like 5 litre V8 thirsty (15mpg) but without the grunt. So much so that when we bought an X-Trail T31 diesel turbo manual, it felt we could drive forever for nothing.

Yup, and as much as most people need, but I wonder about the practicalities of such a low top speed - wouldn't be able to easily drive from Wellington to the Hutt Valley, for example. Which is a shame as they look fab.

BYD are going to be hard to beat and that one looks like it'll sell in the hundreds in NZ.

However, does Elon just like buying companies and running them into ground? He must, 'cause why would he say this:

Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told industry analysts Chinese EVs are so good that without trade barriers, “they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world”.

I mean, we're ALL thinking it but why say it? Twat.

WOW! Sure someone's going to get a massive bargain:

This can't be the best way to sell this stuff?

2 hours ago, Tiger Tamer said:

If you are going to add 400kg to a car using a Leaf battery, let alone one with more capacity then, you are going to have to do a lot of strengthening and brake, spring upgrades.

But less ICE engine (but plus electric motor), most of the gearbox (I'm thinking in a mini conversion you could lose some cogs), fuel tank, heater, turbo encabulator - probably some other stuff.

Then add in motor controller, battery, cabling.

Nett is going to be less than 400kg?

What do people do instead of a vacuum booster for brakes? Just bigger callipers and rotors?

It's still a sinful amount of money.

Anyway:

Work this one out: (A quick Google exercise on my part)

• Elon wants to be paid US$56,000,000,000 p.a. (The courts have said no, but yes, that's fifty six billion dollars).
• Tesla sold 1,810,000 cars last year.
• Each car would need to contribute US$30,939.23 to his salary. I don't know what other income streams Tesla has. They sell carbon credits for example.

My take: A significant portion of the sale price of a Tesla goes to Elon. 

I think the issue is he made himself a political figure through his extreme views on Twitter. He's clearly delusional, which seems about right for a billionaire surrounded by 'Yes men'. It's probably par for the course - there's loads of 'successful businesspeople' (c.f. JK Rowling) who feel that their views must be awesome and can't resist making their extreme views public.

Anyway, didn't hurt sales of VW.

On 23/01/2024 at 07:32, yoeddynz said:

<snip>I still feel NZ is missing the boat by not allowing the really small evs that have become very popular in europe to be legal on the roads here.  Perfect little cars for folk who insist on driving to work and will never use public transport/bike/walk etc

Not only cleaner cities from the little cars but less car footprint jutting out into the road when parked up. </snip>

This. I think they'll come but would require legislation to determine where they can be used (I imagine motorways will be out, for example).

But could be just so f$%king awesome!

1944 “Brogan Doodlebug”, 10HP. The Doodlebug could achieve a top speed of 45 MPH and travel nearly 70 miles on 1 gallon of gas.

Can't be arsed fact checking the whole thing, but I've seen similar figures elsewhere, and I value having someone share that stuff.

E.G: 8 - 10 years to become carbon negative. Sounds about right, especially when you factor in the embedded carbon in the battery. Apparently it takes two years normal driving in an EV to offset those, i.e. to achieve parity with an ICE vehicle, but then you start to do the planet a favour.

I imagine those figures are probably close to accurate, because there's no free ride in life (or science).

Ultimately, EVs won't stop climate change. But they help a bit and are inherently better - torque, pollution, simplicity, maintenance and so on. My take, anyway.

Yup, I went on the Hyundai site and checked out a fully optioned Ioniq and yeah, unless someone buys me a lotto ticket and I win...

These seem to make sense to me: range extenders. Good for holidays?

Ha ha, so which department or ministry do you work for? You are quite right, which makes me think you're talking from experience on the inside (like me...)

Re: tracking apps. Govt can't legally do anything like that, but I expect these sorts of things to become common place. For example, a 50% discount on your car insurance if you have a tracker on your phone - so it's your choice to save money and allow the company access to your data to prove innocence or otherwise in an accident (speed, location, acceleration, driving habits).

It's exactly the same as those free checkups with the GP that your insurance company sends you. They want to know if you have a condition which they can exclude from your cover; they don't give a shit about saving you money.

Likewise, save 20% on your car rego if you have the govt's app installed. WIth AI to crunch the data, it's 'when' not 'if'.

Anyway, anyone else get a boner for the Hyundai Ioniq 5N?

It's the only EV of which I like the styling and the performance sounds a hoot.

Devices like described above must be common in Japan as our last two cars had devices fitted which accommodated a 'Snapper-type' card presumably for toll roads & congestion charging.

But the estimated times on motorway signs? That data comes from your mobile phone via motorway sensors which pick up your phone's ID only.

BTW, the Govt can't legally slap RUCs on petrol cars without removing the tax from petrol, so it should in theory be cost neutral. Ha!

First one of these I've seen:

The first quiet Hoggly Doggly? And will he/she need to pay RUCs? Do diesel motorbikes?

Hmm, I think you'd really want a particular car to be a hybrid. Surely it'd be less effort and a better result if you went full electric?

Sorry, forgot to add: How's pulling him off going to help?