lol-lol

Thanks and interesting. If I could have got a EFB/AGM for less than £100 I might have gone for it. Living in suburbia and usually driving out toward the countryside or motorway I do think the start stop would be used other than every few kilometers so well within the 20,000 restarts a standard battery will do and probably 5 minutes at least between require restart in country roads and not at all on motorways where the diesel is really at home and on country roads I would think about taking the turbo petrol Clio which seems to match the diesel for fuel consumption on those shorter journeys. I have seen prices of £200, £300 and even £400 for AGM batteries and often they are only 70 AH or less. I see a disturbing lack of evidence of AGM is terms of their recharge rate compared to conventional batteries. I have that simply formula that conventional lead acids are OK charging at 10% Amps rate ie 80 AH battery can handle and will absorb 8A at 14.5V ie say 115 joules per second and probably retain about 100 joules and the rest is heat wastage. So will an AGM accept 12A, 16A, 20 A if available from that oversized heavy duty alternator which one will have fitted with the start stop system ? Where is the comparison data ? If the standard battery only lasts 3 years then I would hope to be able to switch to Lithium Get the Lead out......

We learn that in motorcycling big time. Lucky to get two years out of a lead battery. I think with bikes they tend to fit the smallest battery they can get away with due to effect of the weight on performance. Answer I found is to go to Lithium battery. Easily can loose 2 kgs which is over 1% of the weight of the vehicle. More importantly the daily charge loss is a fraction of lead and cracking massive if not the actual AH which tends to be considerably lower. Just wish cars would catch up on the tech and the volumes bring down the cost of Lithium car batteries. 18 Kgs is a big lump of lard for a battery. My 1 Kg Noco Lithium starter will start any of my cars and do it several times if required. We have lost spare wheels form the car, fuel tanks now the size of teacups all in the name of weight loss but we still have this bloody heavy batteries hauling around. At least it is positioned over the front axle I guess is something, could be worse it could be in the boot further messing up the weight distribution and traction.

Not having had a diesel for ten years or so ie when the employer provided a car and said you can have any VAG car except a Skoda (not the brand image the company wanted, changed its mind now glad to say) so I had a SEAT Altea XL with the rubbish 2 litre CD (140) linked to the rubbish 6 gear wet plate DSG, which used more fuel than my current 1.4 TSI Octy with 7 speed dry plate DSG and the wiesel was much slower of course. Nothing to commend it unless perhaps I wanted to tow with it which I did not. I see no reason the "plain jane" battery will boil as the voltage regulator will keep the system at 14-15 volts. The standard battery would not be capable of recharging as quick as an AGM or EFB but I cannot see me doing very many start stops thousands not tens of thousands so do not see the need for those much more expensive batteries. Is not the Yuasa only 70 AH ? Good for several hundred thousands starts but I cannot envisage anywhere near that many start required unless one lived in central city and diesels are looking to be banned from such places over the next few years or pay huge entry charges. Battery deffo a 096 .....https://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/product/hankook-mf57412-car-battery-type-096/ Brand Hankook Manufacturer Part Number MF57412 Voltage 12 Capacity (C20) 74 Cold Cranking (EN) 680 Terminal Type A, Standard Automotive Terminal Layout RH+ Hold Down B13 Dimensions (Including Terminals) L277 x W174 x H190mm Weight (kg) 17.5 Warranty 4 Years Battery Technology Sealed Calcium Battery Application Engine Start Country of Manufacture South Korea

Gone for a standard battery as a replacement in mine as I do not see the logic of paying out £200 for a start stop battery which can do 50,000 restarts when I can get one for £60 than can do 20,000 restart, I do not drive in London or any other big city ever. Battery I choose to replace is badge Hankook ! Type 096 74 AH capacity. 680 A cranking power. If I am driving around Worcester or another local city I might switch off the start stop . Hope much fuel does a 1.4 TDI use at tickover ? Not very much I would have thought. Car only done 17k miles and is a 65 plate. Why on earth did the first buyer buy a diesel doing so little miles I wonder. To be worth its capital cost of the s/s system it would need to start stopping every mile and do a lot more than 20K miles I would have thought. Was a Bosch battery an original fitment, I would have thought so ? Anybody else said nuts to fitting an expensive AGM or EFB battery and gone standard on their Fabia III ? I found Tayna and Tewkesbury Battery Megastore as cheap as any body and I have a Halford Trade Card ! ?

Possible fuel ie air or the fuel not getting to the very high pressure the PD engines require. Bought a NOCO GB20 jump starter late last week, what a bit of kit. Started my Megane Scenic and the went straight on to start a Focus ST with a flat battery what a bit of kit ! . Good luck, may need someone with fuel pressure checking instrument VCD -PD error codes.... https://sites.google.com/site/1810martin/vcds-and-pd-tdi-engine-health-check

Only 130 to 140 mile range he was getting ! He did not say this was winter affected which viewers would have expect him to say. Mediocre review. I am still leaning towards the MG5 estate myself. Wonder if it can really do 115 mph.....

Fortunately there is a site which has all the data for running cost, Fleet news. If one sets the filter for estate car it misses out some estates so I set to small car, 60k miles 3 years and this what you get........ https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/car-running-costs-calculator?Years=3&Miles=60000&CarType=small-car&Manufacturer=&Model=&CO2From=&CO2To=&BIKPriceFrom=&BIKPriceTo=&SortBy=IsFleetPick&SortDesc=False&FuelType= 19 of the top 20 cars are Dacia which most knowledgable car mag people know. Logan is the estate, bigger than a Fabia estate, not quite as big as Octy. Had a Logan with the 3 cylinder Nissan/Renault turbo engine in, 65K miles made money even at Public Transport rate of 25p a mile. Had fun in it even beating a Fiesta and topping out at over 115 mph. https://www.dacia.co.uk/awards.html LPG versions with 100 hp set new records for low running costs. You still get the full size petrol tank as well. The first Suzuki Slow to appear on this list is about 110th down if one can bother to look that far down. The below model should be going cheaper soon as the new versions of the Dacia road cars Logan/Sandero/Stepway are out soon and based on Mk4 Clio platform which is very nice an includes the Clio RS of course. Make Derivative P11D Value Cost per mile Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Essential P-LPG 19MY £8,925 19.79p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Essential P-LPG 6Spd 21MY £10,175 20.28p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0SCe 65 €6 Access 21MY £7,765 20.56p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Comfort P-LPG 19MY £10,075 20.68p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0SCe 75 €6 Access 19MY £6,765 20.72p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0SCe 65 €6 Essential 21MY £8,765 21.40p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0SCe 75 €6 Essential 19MY £7,765 21.50p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Comfort P-LPG 6Spd 21MY £11,775 21.87p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Stepway 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Essential P-LPG 19MY £10,285 21.92p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Stepway 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Essential P-LPG 6Spd 21MY £11,135 21.94p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0SCe 75 €6 Comfort 19MY £8,775 22.31p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0TCe 90 SS €6 Essential 6Spd 21MY £9,765 22.48p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Stepway 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Comfort P-LPG 19MY £11,285 22.86p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 0.9TCe 90 SS €6 Essential 19MY £8,525 22.97p View data Add to compare Dacia Logan MCV 1.0SCe 75 €6 Access 18MY £8,265 23.19p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Stepway 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 SE Twenty P-LPG 20MY £11,685 23.25p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Stepway 1.0TCe Bi-Fuel 100 GPF SS €6 Comfort P-LPG 6Spd 21MY £12,795 23.62p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Stepway 1.0SCe 75 €6 Essential 19MY £8,975 23.68p View data Add to compare Citroen C1 Hatch 3Dr 1.0VTi 72 SS €6 Live 21MY £10,120 23.84p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 0.9TCe 90 SS €6 Comfort 19MY £9,675 24.01p View data Add to compare Dacia Sandero Hatch 5Dr 1.0TCe 90 SS €6 Comfort 6Spd 21MY £11,365 24.06p View data Add to compare Dacia Logan MCV 1.0SCe 75 €6 Essential 18MY £9,265 24.14p View data Add to compare

DACIA Sandero from £99 a month with no worries ie warranty etc. New Sandero, based on mk 4 Clio will be brenchmark for all cheap 4 wheel transport IMO.

The AA sometimes have some interesting cars in this price range. Bought a nice Jaaaaag Type S for silly money. Ford's 2.5 V6 paired with ZF 6 HP gearbox so would do 40 mpg on a run sat in luxury.... & Sabine doing a 9 min 12s lap in the 2.7 l diesel version, also economical and quickish.

Something naturally aspirated else with a turbo pop u are back with no car as cost to fix is more than you paid. Depending on how important running cost are a 8 to 10year old Ford or GM with no turbo. Fix with costs of tens of pounds rather than hundreds and thousands.

One of the biggest worries is tyres as the Uk does not make car tyres any more I gather.

It is possible to supply thru the UK land bridge by using a process called Customs Transit but it adds more cost. Many EU companies are looking to supply direct to Ireland either using the newly uprated ferries from France to Ireland or airfreight but there is much less air freight due to covid so is more difficult and costly, hiring a 747F (F for Freighter) dont come cheap.

Unless they airfreight the goods then they have to create an Indirect Export Declaration ie a T2 movement as part of a less than container movements ie a multiple parts shipment and compiling all the customs documentation for this has gone from virtual zero to a massive trail of paperwork. was glad I got my tail-fin exported from CZ well before BREXIT and the additional cost over the goods cost was less than £20 I recall. They need a proper EU agent now really as buying these sorts of goods from EU countries has become much more complex and the Fast Parcel Operators, particular some of them, have incredibly demonstrated they were nowhere near ready to so EU to UK shipments and this has resulted in goods delays of day and weeks and large demands for money, extra customs fees, customs duty and import VAT. Might settle down in a few weeks but expect to see extra fees displayed on consignments to the UK as Superskoda cannot just use EU Acquisition and VAT rules and have to obey the customs export and import customs rules.

Back in this time ie 2019, Source London was owned by my employer, a French conglomerate but we sold it to Total later last year I gather. Sad to be out of EV manufacture and charger distribution but it was interesting to hear of all the hassle with blocked charging bays etc. One has to persuade EV owners to move from the charge bays after they have been charged and not park there half or all day.

Fired up the Tracer (after trickle charging the battery overnight). I think I come to the conclusion that motorcycles generally underspec the battery size compared to cars. Probably as they are more weight sensitive ie really do not want a battery with another 2 Kgs of weight. Have ordered a new battery, off massive electrical dealer CPC Farnell of all places. £22 and no delivery charge. YTZ10S equivalent. https://cpc.farnell.com/leoch/ltz10-4/battery-motorcycle-ltz10-4-sealed/dp/BT06659?st=12v rechargable It would have been £82 from Tayna for the Yuasa, delivered. Leoch Lithium would be cheaper at £70 delivered. https://www.tayna.co.uk/motorcycle-batteries/leoch/lfps-x12/ LIthium next time hopefully.

Indeed the MG5 is rapidly becoming a contender and already some healthy discounts meaning getting the price down to just over £20k for the base model. He did say in the 6 way shoot out the Renault was 55 kWh which I think is incorrect as it is 52 but either way it did get kind of close to the upper 4 miles per kWh which I gather is the ultimate measure and it is the heaviest, not sure about their relative Cd aero drag Coefficients.

Awesome result for the Renault Zoe, the only one I would consider from this batch of cars. Best value and by far best range. 240 miles or even 250 plus achievable in more normal conditions ie 15 to 25 C. It just need some styling to make it a bit less Noddy like I reckon. Lowered (25/30 mm) and stiffer suspension.

One race I did enjoy for LH was Turkey where the was so little grip and Lewis put in a great drive. Also enjoyed Daniel getting fastest lap in his last race for Renault, two in the season including Spa. Hope he and Lando mix up the grid etc next season.

I am more than half as much again as Hamiltons weight and half a foot taller and sadly my reactions are not what they were in my 30s. Stlll like sub 4s or even sub 3s to 100 kph vehicles though. Rossi was within 1.5s of Hamilton lap time in the car, Hamilton was 4 second off Rossi on the bike and dropped the M1.

F1 is 90% car 10% driver. Watch motogp or rally or anything else if one wants to see racing etc. Still hoping Mclaren might shake things up this year in F1 now they have the merc engine to match their chassis. Mercedes employing two short drivers is noteworthy and makes George's achievement in the merc even more impressive where he felt like Donkey Kong in the cart as the merc is currently for little guys.

Some data from a French website, sadly you need to go via a European server now asit does not work from UK anymore...... I find mine (150 hp version) has plenty of poke. I think one might find a difference with a full car of people and luggage but then I would set the car in "Normal" mode rather than my usual "Eco" mode and then put in to "Sport" mode when I am on the twistys. I have Octavia VRSs, and Fabia VRS. Best Skoda I have had is probably the 1.8 TSI with the 7 speed as a L&K. 150 mph on the clock in an Octy and still accelerating is impressive. Torque is fine in the turbo petrols and if you stick to DSG you can always switch modes at will and get the box to exploit what torques is there. Only if I was towing would I now get a diesel particularly as the petrols are so good on mpg and the 7 speed dry box is low maintenance compared to the 6 speed wet. Done about quarter of a million miles in diesels, postly manual but a one DSG and quarter of a million in petrols, mainly the 7 speed DSG. Liked the 1.9 PDI, thought the 2 CR was a bit flat with all those counter balancing and did much less mpg than the 1.9 PD ie 60 mpg was easy with those in the Fabia VRS, A3, A4 etc where as only got 50 mpg or so in the Altea XL/Toledo 2 l CR. SUVs do get a bit of a mpg hit, new Mk 4 Octavia has a drag cofficient of 0.24 in the hatch hence it phenominal top speed ! I love my current 7 speed Octy 3 and average well over 50 mpg, oft 55 mpg ish. ZEPREF...................................................................................................................................................................... Vehicles Skoda Octavia III 2.0 TDi DSG V S Skoda Octavia III 1.5 TSi DSG 2013 - 2019 2017 - 2019 26 950 € 27 490 € Gearbox: automatic 6 gear with sequential mode automatic 7 gear Power 150 PS @ 3500 150 PS @ 5000 Torque 320 Nm @ 1750 250 Nm @ 1500 Weight claimed / verified EU 1 1350 kg / 1475 kg 1 1210 kg / 1469 kg 1 Weight/Power ratio 9.8 kg/PS 1 9.8 kg/PS 1 1 Weight (EU) heaviest verified in running order = Weight with 90% fuel load + 75Kg (driver & luggage) Top Speed claimed: 214 kph 220 kph 0 to 100 kph claimed: 8.6 s. 8.3 s. Average Verified Performance* 400m 16‚1 s. 16‚7 s. Km 29‚Ƽ s. З0‚Ƽ s. 0 to 100 8‚4 s. 8‚Ƽ s. 0 to 130 14 s. 1З‚9 s. 0 to 160 22‚Ƽ s. 22‚З s. 40 to 140 min 1З‚Ƽ s. 1З‚7 s. 80 to 120 min Ƽ‚8 s. Ƽ‚8 s. 80 to 120 in KD Ƽ‚8 s. Ƽ‚8 s. 80 to 180 min 24‚З s. 2Ƽ‚1 s. 100 to 0 ЗƼ‚З m. ЗƼ‚2 m. 130 to 0 60 m. 64 m. Kph as default unit * Average measurements (at real speed) of several vehicles based on tests from the following automotive magazines: Auto Motor & Sport, Auto, Auto Zeitung, Auto Bild, Automobile Magazine VERDICT Theory Accelerations Flexibility ZePerfs Index 103 103 Perf/Price Ratio 113 113 Note: These values are average and identify a trend... For detailled ranges of values you can use the battle comparison feature: Battle Octavia III 2.0 TDi DSG vs Octavia III 1.5 TSi DSG The manual versions (1.5 TSI not avialable or 150 hp 1.4 TSI Vehicles Skoda Octavia III 2.0 TDi V S Skoda Octavia III 1.4 TSi 2013 - 2019 2013 - 2017 27 240 € 23 090 € Gearbox: manual 6 gear manual 6 gear Power 150 PS @ 3500 140 PS @ 4500 Torque 340 Nm @ 1750 250 Nm @ 1500 Weight claimed / verified EU 1 1255 kg / 1495 kg 1 1255 kg / 1374 kg 1 Weight/Power ratio 10 kg/PS 1 9.8 kg/PS 1 1 Weight (EU) heaviest verified in running order = Weight with 90% fuel load + 75Kg (driver & luggage) Top Speed claimed: 218 kph 215 kph 0 to 100 kph claimed: 8.4 s. 8.4 s. Average Verified Performance* 400m 16‚2 s. 16 s. 0 to 80 Ƽ‚9 s. Ƽ‚7 s. 0 to 100 8‚Ƽ s. 8‚4 s. 0 to 120 11‚9 s. 11‚6 s. 0 to 140 16‚4 s. 16 s. 40 to 140 min 14‚4 s. 1З‚4 s. 80 to 120 min Ƽ‚9 s. Ƽ‚8 s. 80 to 120 in 5 10 s. 8‚8 s. 80 to 120 in 6 12‚Ƽ s. 10‚8 s. 80 to 180 min 2Ƽ‚8 s. 27‚1 s. 100 to 0 З6‚1 m. З4‚6 m. Kph as default unit * Average measurements (at real speed) of several vehicles based on tests from the following automotive magazines: Auto Motor & Sport, Auto Zeitung, Autopista Fastest laps times on tracks : Auto Zeitung 1:51.40 1:52.80 VERDICT Theory Accelerations Flexibility Track ZePerfs Index 101 103 Perf/Price Ratio 111 122 Note: These values are average and identify a trend... For detailled ranges of values you can use the battle comparison feature: Battle Octavia III 2.0 TDi vs Octavia III 1.4 TSi

Dartmoor also confusing, use to be national limits and then the made the whole moor, all 365 square miles, 40 mph with villages eve less. Ahh the old days of maxing out across the long straight road wondering if a sheep or horse was going to run across. Why did got make sheep fog coloured ? Speeding way in non Urban areas are just distant memories, sensible I suppose.

I am from Devon. Lived on Dartmoor (the big moor not like the other two smaller Bodmin and Exe moors) so know a bit about it though if you want to realize space try Canada for size. You get your 5p off a litre. Not sure about your 50 miles as I cannot think of anywhere in North Devon that is more than about 20 miles from a town such as Bideford, Okehampton, Tiverton etc. Government biuld the North Devon Link Road, with its auto ice sensors. Good news Noel Edmunds has moved out towards Bristol from North Devon.

Is the post Covid world needing personal cars ownership or is the hire when needed model more likely to be the future. My company tried this in Paris with some success and as a Civil Servant they seemed to be favouring this model. When many of us now are only doing tens of miles a week on average is it really worth it ? I use to reckon that using a car much less than 10K miles a year it was worth reviewing and I have suddenly gone from 30k miles a year to about 5k miles a year. Maybe that will change when most of us have had the Covid vaccine but probably not fully now were are use to Teams and Zoom etc. It would be nice to hire a Model S now and then rather than just drive a Skoda and have it one the drive. One of the new 2021 (Feb) Sanderos, based on the mark 4 Clio, looks good to me though I would like the auto though need to check the CVT against the EDC/DSG. All the cars I need and at half the price of other brands.

In Germany doing 200 or 250 kph on the autobahn is just a trip to work whereas in the UK it could result in prison driving that fast. No wonder it is not much incentive to buy are car or motorcycle than can "ton up" in the UK. As ex-Department of Transport I appreciate roads have design speeds and the UK has road pollution issues but some relaxation of speed limits ie 80 mph plus 10% plus 2 mph ie genuine 90 would be nice in good conditions on certain UK motorway at certain times.