Graham Butcher

Hi and welcome to the forum, we are all a pretty happy and friendly bunch here by and large. Right, firstly, sorry to read about your horror incident on the M5 last week. OK, so you are looking for a Superb ideally, and I certainly can't blame you, they are genuinely good cars and are extremely comfortable and spacious internally and in the boot as well. I'm on my 5th IIRC the first 4 were all company cars and when I retired 7 years ago, I purchased my old company car as I knew its complete history, I thought it made perfect sense. Apart from doing all the required servicing as required, the car never cost me anything extra and was reliable apart from the occasion when it decided to shred the alternator drive belt for some reason, maybe something was picked up of the road which get tangled up with it, I don't know. Last April it got written off sadly by someone pulling out in front of me, the car at the time was 9.5 years old with 78,000 miles on the clock. It was a 63 plate L&K hatch. It took me 2 months of searching around covering over 2,000 miles looking for another similar spec Superb which I did eventually find in a garage 150 miles away, but it had over 140,000 miles on the clock, although the car did not show signs of that in its condition. I was a little dubious of the mileage especially with my old one having low miles on it, however I had been watching a few car channels on You Tube and there was a Octavia in one of those that was brought for just £200 with 431,000 miles on the clock and the car was in excellent mechanical condition and was then subjected to some restoration by Skoda themselves and also a body shop did a full respray. The car was the sold and 5 years later the You Tuber decided to try and buy the car back again which he did with 460,000 miles on it. The videos about this high mileage hero are listed below if you would like to watch them. Anyway, the original 8 videos sort of convinced me that the service history was the key thing, if a car has a good history, then high mileage is not anything to be overly concerned about, so I went ahead and purchased that high miler that I spoke about above and it is doing me proud and my local Skoda dealer/service Dept are also telling me that I did well in buying it and that the car is in good overall condition and was a bargain. (2794) The Pros & Cons Of Owning A +400,000-Mile Car - YouTube (2794) Here’s What An Engine With 432,000 Miles Looks Like Inside - YouTube (2794) Can An Old Car Achieve Over 800 Miles On One Tank? - YouTube (2794) The Pros & Cons Of Running An Old Diesel On Used Vegetable Oil - YouTube (2794) How Much Power Has Been Lost After 433,000 Miles? - YouTube Restoring A High Mileage Car To Its Former Glory: Part 1/2 (youtube.com) Restoring A High Mileage Car To Its Former Glory: Part 2/2 (youtube.com) Previous Owner Reacts To The Restoration Of His Old Car (youtube.com) (2794) I BOUGHT BACK MY OLD 460,000 MILE SKODA! - YouTube The garage that I purchased it from was very good and friendly, AA approved and has got excellent feedbacks and has an arrangement with Skoda Leasing and sources most of their Skoda cars from them. I can recommend that you ought to at least consider them as a potential supplier and they currently have a Superb estate, V6 3.6L petrol automatic but no other Superbs, but their stock is always changing. Used cars for sale in Mansfield & Nottinghamshire: Radfords Motor Sales Ltd (radfordsgarage.co.uk)

This is not new news, I watched almost the identical video from this YouChuber on Dec 14th, its just pure clickbait despite the date on the one you posted suggested that its just 2 days old, the one I watched is stating that it was 3 weeks old when I watched it. I have decided that this particular channel is just out to cash in on EV's and as such I don't believe you can put any trust on what he/they are claiming. A quick check on the videos listed on the channels video list reveals that they have similar things to say about the following brands in many videos, all basically saying the same thing, VW, Subaru, Tesla, GM, Toyota, Ford, BMW, Jeep, Stellantis, Porsche, Honda and even Hyundai. (2791) ChargeDrive - YouTube I try to do some quick checks on these presenters, for instance, you already know that John Cadogan does actually know what he is talking about and holds a degree in mechanical engineering, but also that MGUY that I posted his videos regarding the New Zealand fire, he is also a qualified engineer and a lawyer having been trained over here in the UK before moving to Australia.

I never said I believed that they had to, at all, I said that it might explain why. Perhaps it was more likely that nobody ever felt the need to try, but now we have electric cars it could be that it was felt that there was a need to prove just how reliable electric cars could be, maybe?

Having just watched the Top Gear Bolivia special, the cars they used were purchased unseen from a Bolivia online auction site, second-hand and were the cheapest clapped out ones, a Range Rover, Suzuki Jimmy and Toyota Land Cruiser, literally falling apart and constantly breaking down. When they got to the Andes, they managed to reach 5,250 metres when the engines could not keep running due to the thin air. They had to push start the RR and get the other going with that and headed back down again.

@J.R.Maybe it was staged by the BBC but the main point I was making was that they claimed that their cars, especially R. Hs. car was not able to go any further because it lacked air (oxygen) to provide enough power to climb higher. Which I thought might explain why no car has ever done a pole to pole expedition before and hence why the EV was able to do it, not needing oxygen for the motive power unlike a ICE vehicle does. That was it, pure and simple.

There has been talk about the Kia Niro recently here and funnily enough, while scrolling through YT for something to watch (I don't watch TV as its rubbish) and this video caught my eye, well worth a watch as it highlights some points about Kia, the Niro and also their warranty and strange goings-on at their dealer and maybe others as well?

They did indeed and here is the reference. The Fiat Panda 4x4, 40 years of adventure to the max | Heritage | Stellantis

@J.R.True, I do have an open mind. I think that they chose the mountain route as a shortcut to reach their destination (goal) as they are usually up against some time constraints as part of the challenge?

Yes, that was the one, I realise the oxygen thing is one of aclimazation, as there are I believe people who live up in the mountains. The cars were struggling to keep going. Didn't they take a viagra tablet to help with the thin atmosphere?

Correct, phones predictive text strikes again.

No other car has the capability of working in thin atmosphere, Top Gear tried to drive in thin atmosphere and had to do a U turn and drive down to lower altitudes rather quickly as not only were their cars failing but they were themselves as they failed to carry any oxygen with them. Thin atmosphere does affect electric drivetrains, since they don't need any oxygen.

But with the aid of ICE powered generator, thus proving that the electric power train can handle any terrain or temperatures.

Same for me, I have 2 motorways, M11 and M25 and neither of them are any good for me normally apart from about 6 days a year. If they really want to make the transition to electric happen, then they still have much to do yet.

Yep, I've not heard or seen that yet, but it doesn't surprise me, it really is getting harder to actually the truth these days. Depending on which day it is and which source, the story can change, one says BEV sales are down and nobody wants to buy them as a private sale, then another will tell you that BEV sales booming 😵 Clearly some of them are towing the governments lines, other not?

Well we never had such safety systems before, so... All the same I'd hate to think of anybody who was involved in a smash and suffered because the safety system had been removed.

I can't be certain, but maybe they only did the removal for certain countries where they thought that they stood a chance of getting away with it. I don't recall the UK being mentioned in the list of countries affected by their cheating.

Yeah, I can see what you say about John Cadogan, he does indeed waffle on with all the over the top padding and his attempts to inject what he thinks is humour, but his reasoning is pretty sound, he understands the concepts and the engineering, and he can see straight through the political posturing that is currently going and the corporate BS of the big corporations who are really only interested in the continual leverage of our money from our pockets to their offshore big fat bank accounts. As to the K class of vehicles, yes they do have their charms and their places in today's world, but the reason for the current crisis that Daihatsu finds itself in, is just another example of the aforementioned corporate greed. They did get the required safety standards to prevent occupants from becoming the collateral damage in accidents, and then they secretly removed all hidden from view safety bits in the name of increased profit margins, knowing full well that doing so placed people in danger should an accident occur. What more proof does anyone need to illustrate that we are just the means of feeding that gravy train and nothing else matters to the big corporations and politicians.

In case anyone is wondering why I like following John Cadogan on YouChube it is because he is more than the average YouChuber, he actually does understand what he is speaking about, he holds a degree in mechanical engineering . He says "If you're wondering what qualifies me to do this, I have a degree in mechanical engineering, and I've been a reporter for the past 25 years - reporting on the car industry, automotive consumer issues, and reviewing cars, in print, online, and on radio and TV." extracted from his website. ABOUT ME — Auto Expert by John Cadogan - save thousands on your next new car! Auto Expert by John Cadogan - save thousands on your next new car!

The problem being is that there needs to a few of those longer bays at almost every charging locations as towing will consume power at an alarming rate so regular charging stops will need to be taken and if there are only a few of them in the country then the roads will clog up with EV's towing which have depleted all there charge looking for a suitable charger, as at holidays times, all spaces are taken at most services so will be unable to ditch the caravan or trailers of commercial vehicles.

What a faff, all of that uncoupling and recoupling again and again each time. When I used to have a caravan, I used to hitch upto my Rover 2000 TC and only uncouple when I arrived at the caravan park, even when filling the tanks. It was a just a couple of minutes to pull up at a pump, refuel, and be on my way in just minutes with minimal inconvenience to others by blocking 1 pump only. I couldn't image what chore that would be uncoupling etc each time if the weather was bad or even at night.

Well those are type of VLOG that I follow mainly because there are so many disbelievers who think that VLOGers are only doing it for views and are clickbaiters. Many do it to get the truth out because the MSM is biased and often censored.

@Rootedyes I have been investigating charger points, hence why I said I have not yet seen any that a commercial truck or van towing could use. All have been of the type I described.

I honestly can't say that I have ever seen any myself. All I have seen are those where you have to park at right angles to the chargers, which would mean you have to drive into the bay. You also need to have a charge socket at the front, caravan would then block up the driving lanes, especially in motorway service areas.

Are there any chargers where you could rock up with a caravan on tow without having to unhitch it first?

Oh dear, then in that case you also will not believe these then either? Daihatsu pauses production over safety scandal - BBC News Daihatsu suspends production in Japan after safety test scandal | Japan | The Guardian Daihatsu scandal is a warning for Japan Inc. - The Japan Times Toyota unit Daihatsu could face $700m in losses as scandal halts factories - Nikkei Asia Toyota's Daihatsu to halt all vehicle shipments, in widening safety scandal | Reuters I struggle to understand why so many people are so blinkered that they will not even consider that YouChube is spreading lies and misinformation, so are main stream media such as radio, TV and newspapers and including various governments around the world for all sorts of reasons and yet people seem to prefer their versions even when it has been shown be so often pure BS. 🙄 Japan earthquake latest: Powerful quake tears down homes and triggers tsunami warnings - BBC News