Graham Butcher

Will do, this morning I did notice that the engine sounded different when started from cold.

Or in short, we should be living and working in 15 minute cities, so no need for cars, park and ride schemes, just walk/cycle or use local buses/taxis and trains for the occasional long trip then eh

The real irony is actually in my first sentence of my original post, public transport is not the solution that it is being touted to us as. The car will always be the best and most time efficient regardless of it being ICE or EV, surely a man of your calibre can see that this is the case and clearly is of way more importance to someone working. Being retired does not stop our brains being active and taking a real interest in the well-being of working people. I don't doubt that any of us retired folk want to become an ostrich and stick our heads in the sand and ignore what is happening around us? 😉

This is an extreme case that you have shown here. Where I live London is the biggest employment centre but housing is the most expensive so there are literally thousands of people moving here from London because of prices for housing is way more affordable here and then commuting back to London for work because the rates of pay and or the skilled jobs are located there. There is a limit to the times you could move home to suit your work as no job will provide security of tenure and moving house is a very costly affair when compared to commuting and maybe adjusting your job slightly.

So did your uncle Ben have to walk 24 miles, each way then? The entire premise of the video was looking at the average commute, which was determined at about 24 miles each way and also excluded large cities like London etc. once again for obvious reasons. Yes of course there will be loads of incidents where people may only have to walk a few hundred yards to work, or cycle a couple of miles to their place of work like I did when on the buses. It goes without saying, does it not, that if you don't have a car or get a lift from a friend/colleague etc that you either cycle, walk or use buses and trains. That then also limits the type of job you do and where your place of work is as well. For example in the example that John gave, a distance of 24 miles would take an average person around 8 hours to complete, so that would be impracticable, 16 hours a day to get to work and back again + 8 hours shift?, so nobody is ever going to take a job that far from home if it means that they have to get there before everyone else and or leave last. Cycling is a possibility as that would be around 1hr 40 mins at a brisk speed, 2 hours at a leisurely pace? So in essence, people will adapt their employment needs to their location and travel/transport abilities. I don't think I have ever seen any case where public transport beats a car when going door to door, and there have been countless attempts at doing it.

I have been driving in Eco mode taking advantage of coasting when ever possible, so went back to normal mode and engine braking was very noticeable, so it may be a worn turbo? I now have it booked for a diagnostic test on 4th June as I don't want the oil flow becoming so bad, if it is getting into the combustion chambers and let a runaway engine develop.

That was why I never answered the question as it was obvious that was the case. Even during normal hours I expect many still prefer to drive even though like those working on the buses, I expect rail workers get free travel?

Well now, I did say ignore cities and those that live in them as they will benefit from such schemes, but even then, that will depend on how many buses you need to catch on the way to complete the journey. But given the parameters given in the video, which are typical for most commutes, looking at the one my sons does, with a minimum of 2 buses (he actually goes out of the city to a smaller town, therefore he has far less traffic leaving the city, and he has the benefit of bus lanes and bus gates. In order for him to arrive at work for 8am by bus, he has to leave home by 6:20am, driving means leaving home 7:30am so even with the bus lanes and gates, he needs 3hrs 40mins as opposed to 1hr for the round trip. So on 6 day week, that means he would spend another 16 hours just commuting and we all know that time is money and time is the one thing that you'll never get back. Even those living in a city like London, full of bus lanes and gates, over a similar distance journey, I would still expect the car to win (assuming parking was not a problem) because unlike a bus, a car can take whatever route it likes so armed with a decent satnav, can see where the holdups are and divert round them.

Yeah, bus fares at least for time being are more favourable, but not as user-friendly and take far more time, thus more time of your life wasted.

Considering we are being urged to ditch the ICE car in favour of "clean" electric ones, or better still public transport? Take a typical commute of 24 miles each way, which for the majority of people seems about right. Ignoring those who are able to live and work in a big city. Most people it seems live in a small town or village where the housing is more affordable, but work in a bigger place because generally there are more jobs available and rates of pay are often more attractive. My son has a similar trip each day. Someone has done an experiment to find out, and here it is.

Please do share it, I to tend to drive mine gently, not slow, but gently 😁

Surely if the piston rings are stuck, wouldn't that kind of suggest that the cars had not been used for a long period of time and maybe some corrosion had set in? Certainly is not the case with my car, it is use daily.

Strictly correct, but in my case I was told by the Skoda repair centre that I had a leak and the indie shop said not, so not sure at the present time, hence the post requesting peoples thoughts on the matter. Logic tells me that there is no leak externally as already mentioned both @gidi19 and myself are seeing any signs of oil on the ground, but could it be leaking into the exhaust, possibly via the turbo, but then surely the DPF would become blocked and the engine run lumpy and also the DPF light come on in the instrument cluster?

@Bap33 I hear what you're saying and I agree it is too much, my other 4 superbs used to go for the full service interval with maybe half a litre of oil, but then, I had those from new and they were never thrashed and the last one I had for 10 years and it only had 78k on it when it was written off. But here's what I don't understand, neither @gidi19 or me, have any reports of smoke from the exhaust and I've had friends and family following me and nobody has seen any smoke from the car even when changing gears or slamming the pedal to the floor, and the car passes emission tests, so if the block was burning oil, where is the smoke?

While this report is not about EV's but serves to highlight dangers of batteries and those in the UK will be well aware of the sleeved pins on a normal 13A plug top. The original plug tops never had sleeved pins, they used to be solid brass and some bright kids at school quickly discovered that a 1p coin would fit perfectly between all 3 pins and make good contact between them, so they stick a 1p there, insert the plug back into the socket and await the unsuspecting teacher switching on the socket and bang, trip the main circuit breaker and the school would close while the electrics were investigated. It seems that they have discovered similar issues with Chromebooks (I see no reason why this does affect all devices with USB sockets) This video explains the problems and huge risks being taken by these kids.

More on that EV fire.

Thats odd because mine has a similar issue and with similar miles as well. When my car was last at the official service dept they told me that the engine was very wet with oil and that they would have to book it in for further investigation as they were unable to pinpoint its origin. They said they would have wash the engine down, then spray it with white powder, take it for an extended drive and get up on the ramp and trace the leak back to its source as it would be visible in the powder. Now just like yours, there is not a single drop of oil on the ground where I park outside the house, no signs of anything leaking on the ground, watter oil or anything. The car does not lack power at all, starts on the button, no visible smoke from the exhaust and there is no oil smell from the hot engine either. I took the car to my indie garage for a MOT and also booked in with them for another date to look for the oil leak. They said that while they are doing the MOT, they would have a quick look at see if they could find any sign of the leak, and that would enable them to get the parts in ready for the following week to fit. The car passed its MOT with flying colours and not a single advisory and they said that there was zero sign of an oil leak, the engine was clean as was the entire engine bay and all the under engine protection shield was clean and bone dry. Mechanic also said that if ever I was looking to sell it, he would like first offer on it and then cancelled the date made for the following week. So, given that car had also just passed the MOT and also passed the emissions test with ease, where is my oil going? It is using 5 litres in approx 3,500 miles, that is slightly better than yours but it is way higher than what I'm used to so I'm guessing here that we do indeed have the same issue, so over you guys for your collective thoughts on what is happening here?

Bedford were experimenting with electric traction way back in 1982 and the UK Government made grants available for them and they were the main, if not the only customer for them. Just listen to the many problems with them back then, but full marks to them for being pioneers.

If that is the case, then there is another hidden gotcha and that is if the unthinkable should happen and your involved in an accident, regardless whose fault it was, and the car was actually inspected, and the tyres discovered, all insurance cover could be withdrawn as it would be an illegal modification. We all know how they will wriggle out of a claim if you give them half an inch.

Much the same as England then.

Odd, do you know why?

Personally, I'd go with neither. My car has not been modified and rides on new springs and standard wheels and tyres and even then it will still bottom out on some of the pillow type speed bumps at just 20mph, so lowering the car is just asking for trouble. I've seen some cars that have smashed the front spoiler/bumper where they have hit the speed bumps and then the car has become stuck on them, doing god knows how much damage to the car.

Slow driving round the yard is one thing but another altogether when you're doing more speed on pot holey roads etc with your wheels turned to round bends etc, personally I wouldn't like to risk it.

Correct they are used when coming in to land.

Fine, you continue in your bubble and believe what you like, as for me, well I know the truth, I saw it and I cannot magically produce something that has been taken down, just as BJ's Russia report, and when it did come out it was so heavily redacted it could have been about anything other than the truth 😒