Bling

Lets discuss this, how would it work? I've yet to watch other parts if they have them, or work out how the electric motor is connected to the petrol engine... but i've never seen anything like this. Literally blew my mind. Would you 

tl;dr dude straps electric motor on top of most of a petrol one to convert car to electric

edit: I see he has a webpage with the info, driven via the timing belt, woah.

https://www.mihirvardhan.com/the-simplest-ev-conversion

1 hour ago, Raizer said:

@cletus any experience with TiTAN suspension/coilovers?
/Anything to look out for on them in regards to cert?

Seem to be pretty well regarded in Aus, but I'm 99% sure they are Malaysian rather than the Aussie made they seem to try to imply on the website.

Just shop talk, but the rear design of those means the amount of height adjustment you have is fuck all. I found this out when building my car with other brand stuff. I ended up swapping my short sleeves for longer ones for nothing, but I imagine they will be a this is it take it or leave it. Just a heads up anyway, my solution was easy, yours might not be if the height is exactly what you want out of the box.

I only charge from AC supply so I don't get as many electrons falling out of the cable when I unplug the car. I imagine DC charging is more of a flood of electrons vs AC.

I feel like if you half unplug something, and stick your fingers in the gap, you earned your Darwin award.

I'd compare it to checking if your fuel tank is full using a lighter for light. Still, should be something picked up and sorted during even basic testing...

Is the head off? What about just filling the bores with coke? Sounds like it's chooched anyway so nothing to lose? Rinse and repeat till it eats away at the rust holding the piston rings.

Yeah that is the smart move and one I have considered doing. That said, Ned's theory on leaving work early and charging halfway to where you are going also works if you can stretch the budget for a ~200km+ range EV. I will probably lean that way as stopping on trips is a common thing with kids anyway so nothing changes.

2 hours ago, kws said:

I don't even know what we're aguing about at this point.

Which vehicle is worth wasting resources on I think. 

I think neither since I won't be in the market for them. But I also realise how little impact wasting resources on cars actually has on our environment as a whole, to feel like it doesn't really matter. To me, driving around in an EV that has a range of 500km is wasteful if you only need to do that trip once a year. One stop on a long trip sounds like a sweet spot to me. But I would say that, I only get 60-100km from my "tank" depending on how I drive. Works perfect for me though.  

59 minutes ago, kws said:

I hate the hummer EV too, it's not the topic of discussion though. It too shouldn't exist. 

What is the topic then?

You said you'd rather they spend the resources on a roadster sports car instead?

That sounds equally pointless, even if you claim it fills a hole in the market. Does that hole need to be filled? I don't think so. Do we need Cybertruck's either? Nope. In the scheme of things, making either of them doesn't really matter.

Drain pipe snorkel, badly fitting wheels and a trademe decal kit along with some aggressive tail-gaiting and you wouldn't be able to tell it apart from the other Utes on the road.

2 hours ago, kws said:

How many roadsters/model 3XSY could you make for the same resources consumed by one stainless abomination though? The head of Toyota was onto something when he was talking about needing to make smaller cars that consume less resources (hence the argument for hybrids/PHEV), so what does Elon do? The opposite.

I get that you hate it. But have you seen the EV Hummer? It makes the resources required to build a Cybertruck look like nothing. 230kwh battery compared 123kwh. 

Roadster is a waste of resources too though, just wasting them for a different market. Truck is more likely to be used and not put in someones lounge than a Roadster at least.

Both are big uses of resource, but small fry compared to some dumping grounds we have seen mentioned filled with electric cars.

A useful bot would have posted the full carrying capacity with the tailgate down. Not a bad length for something that can fit 1.8 inside the tray.

From the footage I saw, they looked to have it loaded with 8x4 sheets of steel, lots of them. 

Haters are getting dumber by the minute it seems.

If we are talking 8x4 sheets of 10mm standard gib, you can stack 60 sheets on the back.

It does look pretty sweet towing a rocket engine though...

It's a shame they are ditching the rebate IMO. More options for those who shop the second hand market in years to come. Our power production is pretty green so they fit well here. Countries that burn coal / anything to produce most of their power, not so much.

Rebate on second hand cars seems to have dropped prices over the last year, more competition I guess? Not someone who shops for new cars so don't pay much attention to that end of the market to know pricing.

Could be a go'er.

Xmas BBQ catch up this month? 

Pretty sure I voted in that to go in the draw to win a prize.

So clearly any fuckwit can vote. Probably about as reliable as the "most stolen cars" list they release. Which is actually "most stolen cars WE INSURE" list.

I'd be more proactive about fixing it than just for WOF if my car locked up the rear when pushed. Not exactly a safe setup. 2c

Could just as likely be shit tyres?

Though you mention imbalance too. So that would be worth sorting, though I don't think it's going to solve the whole problem.

Would it be locking up as from the factory it had a proper rear cargo setup so has less weight now?

Add some weight on and see if anything changes.

Just had a look on my Ryobi account, it shows my batteries have three year warranty. Most of mine are 3-4 years old now so no help for me. I signed up as it adds more years warranty to their tools, but not batteries or chargers. Worth rocking in with the sub three year old batteries though. I thought it was two years but their site shows three years on batteries.

8 hours ago, locost_bryan said:

Offset steering wheel or pedals seems to happen in quite a few cars, gets mentioned in quite a few road tests. Father in laws Spark had it.

I think if it's offset enough to be quite noticeable and mentioned in a drive test, it's a bit shit. No matter how many cars it's the case in.  Mine could be offset too, but I've never noticed as it can't be much if so. Sounds like the steering wheel department and seat department don't talk lol.

Warranty them, think it's two year warranty on them. Probably a simple walk in with old walk out with new replacement at Bunnings.

On another topic, in case you are still looking at options for an EV with decent boot space. I have traded cars for the week (to be fair I will potentially keep it) and today had two large bags in the boot and our large pushchair which is two parts. Boot was barely half full, so plenty of space. 2014 Leaf. First gen had smaller boot as electronics were fitted behind the rear seat. I didn't think it would fit but I could have done a grocery shop as well as storing all that in there.

Swapped from CX5 and boot isn't biggest in that compared to comparable competition but still decent. Leaf doesn't feel lacking at all. Same deal with a front and rear facing child seat in rear seat, lots of space. Will probably hoon the Leaf for now as anything else I drive feels clunky in comparison.

I live in NZ, so my comments will be based on our market. No idea what they have there and it's pricing.

I just imagined Kia / Hyundai might hold their value more than MG here. Better reputation and all that. Kind of like great wall ute vs the typical ute you see on the road here.

Going by that last link, they couldn't even manage to line the steering wheel up with the driver's seat... How on earth.

4 hours ago, locost_bryan said:

Reliability for the MG4 does appear to be a concern.

MG didn't do too well in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey, finishing 25th (out of 32 brands) in the overall league table. The MG4 itself was reported to be one of the least dependable electric cars in the survey.

Shock horror.

If you think reliability is the main problem for someone buying a cheap Chinese car new, check out the depreciation lol. Warranty doesn't cover your investment tanking.

It's not as if the Japanese brands are drowning in margin. Not the case at all. Yet their vehicles cost a lot more than the likes of MG.