Tow Cars

Originally posted by Smight at BBSC Was fortunate enough to go to Garda a couple of years ago (2019 I think) in a Passat GTE (not mine!) with 4 adults, boot full and two 800s on a heavy double stacker.  Plenty of go to tow from the drivetrain but at 20-25mpg we have to stop every 250 miles and there were very few opportunities en route to charge so almost entirely on petrol.  In that situation a big diesel estate or van would've been the ideal. For a lot of UK events less of an issue but certainly not an ideal towing set up. Reckon if you're doing lots of towing atm and long drives to events a modern diesel maybe the best bet but not the most environmentally friendly by any means....

That's what's put me off hybrids, once you've done 30 miles or so on electric it switches to petrol.

Add in the fact that you are carrying more weight in the form of the batteries and electric motor, overall fuel consumption is pretty poor.

I had a series of hire cars in a previous job and got better mpg on the same journey - Retford to Cardiff - in a 245bhp Golf GTI than in any hybrid. And I was giving the Golf a very thorough 'test'

The ironic thing is, modern diesels are cleaner than petrols in terms of CO2 emissions

Originally posted by Peaky Originally posted by john80 Originally posted by Peaky As long as you never need to go to Bristol. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-50292596 I can miss a couple of sailing events in venues that are likely to become clean air venues. Most sailing clubs are in rural locations where this is not going to happen for the next ten years. You only drive when going to sailing events? I use the same car to get to work, cinema, hospital, restaurants etc.   In normal times anyway.

I live in Cumbria so nearest city is 50 miles away and not a big city at that. Very few cities are going to charge people for passing by on motorways etc. Most cities if you want to visit them have good park and ride facilities. This is the rub for rural residents in that we would have to buy a 40-100k electric vehicle to get a workable range. Essentially the electric revolution is not great for those who arguably need their cars the most as they have no other options.

People who are saying go for all electric, are probably the same people who are saying put your money in Bitcoin, keep away for years yet, Hybrid closest to where you need to be.
Terraced houses where they are already fighting over parking spaces (literally), and there are millions of them, city centres,all going to end in tears, home charging ain't going to work.

Edited by 423zero - 27 May 21 at 12:06pm

Originally posted by 423zero I am a member of the caravan club,

Ha, why does that not surprise me?

As to the apparent rush for Electric vehicles there is just one issue, just like dinghy sailing in many ways, absolutely no standardisation of Connectors, I have two vehicles, both different and the only time we've found a solution for the Audi (her indoors) was in a Hotel in Germany and one which was in working order. (Another issue, they are very often out of service) Then don't even start me on the number of different companys offering payment for service schemes in different regions.

We bought our Audi up in Glasgow (Online deal) and timed it with a break touring Northumberland, I think we found a working charge point with the appropriate connection point to our vehicle, once.

There is still a long way to go before departing from some back up via hybrid, or range extender, or spare generator...

So right now they are striclty the province of retired boomers like us with pretty much local journeys and Solar power to charge them with via our own charge points. How the hell they are ever going to bring charge points to some streets and older appartment blocks is beyond me.

Edited by iGRF - 27 May 21 at 11:17am

Agree the Kia ev6 looks really good-it does vehicle to grid as well so if you have PV panels it can run your home overnight