The future of performance motoring and why it makes me sad..

[Blobcat]

I also depair at the inevitable future of being forced into electric vehicles. Had a ride in one (a Nissan Leaf). Absolutely soulless thing.

And........they are very expensive to buy for what they are, their ecological benefits are highly debatable, they run on power from Drax B which isn't sustainable.
What else? If the expensive battery packs are to last, it takes several hours to charge them and a trip from London to Edinburgh will take days.

There's more........Where is all the electricity coming from to power these abominations? We can barely supply the National Grid at peak times.

Inevitable they will replace petrol/paraffin burners, but I'm glad I won't be around to witness it all.
As for banning sales of all the above cars by 2032.....................not a chance worldwide. And why should UK motorists stand by and watch Clint, Hank, Bud and Chuck continue to buy fossil fuelled transport when you know damn well they won't give them up.
Can you see the unrest it will cause with French motorists?

Once again, our politicians bow to enviromentalists who want to ban anything and everything that causes greenhouse gasses.
Funny that back in the 80's they insisted manufacturers fit catalytic convertors to our cars to convert gases that don't warm the planet into CO2, which apparently does!

Sorry, electric (only) cars get a big fat no from me.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions...

As soon as a working majority are electrified they’ll be the worse things for the environment ever and have to be taxed out of existence...

 

[AMGeed]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions...

As soon as a working majority are electrified they’ll be the worse things for the environment ever and have to be taxed out of existence...

Of course.
The only way to reduce congestion in the future is to price personal transport out of reach to all but the rich.

 

[Rappey69]

A modern supercar will wallop them.

Lets get this into perspective, your talking hyper performance cars, engineered to be fast, and costing how much ?

The tesla is just a family saloon that is far from being a sports car ,but does actually drive nice and at 400k miles the tesla taxi still looks like its only done 50k.
Don't knock it until you've tried it springs to mind about the model s.
Im reasonably confident that the majority of people that hate electric cars have never been in a really quick one and once they do they will change their views !
I had Absolutely zero interest in electric cars, until I experienced the awesome super smooth acceleration of a model s .
You buy a amg or M, or ferrari for its power as feeling fast acceleration is highly addictive but the costs and living with and owning those beasts is rather high.
If you want handling buy a lotus, if you want to accelerate faster than any other production car its no longer petrol but electric , without the crazy servicing costs.
I would have a model s in a heartbeat if I could afford one, for the sole reason of its acceleration . The grin factor is more than any other car (or motorbike) can give , as proven by hundreds and hundreds of reactions from youtube vids.
I have no plans to give up my diesel any time soon though if that's any consolation

 

[flowrider]

The push for electric vehicles is mainly an European thing, what's happening in the rest of the world? When have the African and Asian countries committed to changing over to all electric vehicles?

 

[bembo449]

they haven't as far as I know ?? when the powers that be going to do when our tiny little island cant be any greener ??

 

[flowrider]

they haven't as far as I know ?? when the powers that be going to do when our tiny little island cant be any greener ??

Compulsory charcoal filtered underpants will be next.

 

[LostKiwi]

Don't knock it until you've tried it springs to mind about the model s.
Im reasonably confident that the majority of people that hate electric cars have never been in a really quick one and once they do they will change their views !
I had Absolutely zero interest in electric cars, until I experienced the awesome super smooth acceleration of a model s .

Totally agree. The smooth efficient endless powder delivery has to be experienced to be believed.
The thing to remember about the emissions side of electric cars is that although they are fuelled from fossil fuel powered electricity generation at present they don't have to be. In France for example they would predominantly use nuclear sourced electricity. As time goes by more of Europe will move to renewable sources. The petrol/diesel powered vehicles on the other hand can never be anything but CO2/NOx producers.
Electric is not going to suitable for everyone. It won't be suitable for areas of low population density, exploratory work or low infrastructure (Africa, remote parts of Canada, Siberia etc). For developed countries with high population density it does make a lot of sense if the infrastructure is put in place. We shouldn't forget that when the car was first sold there was no infrastructure for that either. I'm sure there were a lot of hansom cab drivers decrying how bad the car was too.
On Thursday we went to Bordeaux. We drove to the edge of the city and took the tram. It cost €4 for 4 people including parking for the day. If public transport is that cheap why would you bother with taking a car into the city? This is what the UK needs to learn. Instead of making car ownership so expensive make public transport cheap, efficient, reliable and pleasant.

 

[Conor]

.. I have just realised the biggest curve ball and seeking a stern talking to from you guys!

I have realised the SL 350 comes without ABC, meaning a bit more piece of mind, but no V8. The V8s are obviously V8s, but come with ABC, and the anxiety / potential cost.

The whole mission is to get a V8...........but i'm not sure I want to have to deal with the ABC shenanigans in the form of anxiety of malfunction or actual repair costs.

I guess ABC is susceptible to malfunction due to age and mileage or is it one more than the other? i.e. Would a low mileage / younger car be better?

 

[LostKiwi]

Yes the 350 does not have ABC unless specced as an option. All V8s and V12s came with it standard.
Reliability wise age makes little difference. It's more about maintenance and an element of luck.

 

[om613]

Watched this on ITV4 recently. So yes it's the usual TV tw*t presenters debacle and the default reality TV format ... but some was OK: https://www.itv.com/hub/speed-freaks/2a6222a0003

This is the Co. behind the gear....https://zero-ev.co.uk/product/tesla-large-drive-unit-kit/

 

[Blobcat]

.. I have just realised the biggest curve ball and seeking a stern talking to from you guys!

I have realised the SL 350 comes without ABC, meaning a bit more piece of mind, but no V8. The V8s are obviously V8s, but come with ABC, and the anxiety / potential cost.

The whole mission is to get a V8...........but i'm not sure I want to have to deal with the ABC shenanigans in the form of anxiety of malfunction or actual repair costs.

I guess ABC is susceptible to malfunction due to age and mileage or is it one more than the other? i.e. Would a low mileage / younger car be better?

Get an SLK 55 - all the V8 in a less cumbersome wrapper with none of that ABC or SBC nonsense

 

[Conor]

Get an SLK 55 - all the V8 in a less cumbersome wrapper with none of that ABC or SBC nonsense

Oh yes.. I forgot to mention.. Thay was the other option I have been considering. In fact it all started with the SLK but the SL is a much better looking machine.

But that said, from a practicality standpoint.. The SLK is probably the one to go for if I want an AMG, really.

 

[MalcQV]

Lets get this into perspective, your talking hyper performance cars, engineered to be fast, and costing how much ?

The tesla is just a family saloon that is far from being a sports car ,but does actually drive nice and at 400k miles the tesla taxi still looks like its only done 50k.
Don't knock it until you've tried it springs to mind about the model s.
Im reasonably confident that the majority of people that hate electric cars have never been in a really quick one and once they do they will change their views !
I had Absolutely zero interest in electric cars, until I experienced the awesome super smooth acceleration of a model s .
You buy a amg or M, or ferrari for its power as feeling fast acceleration is highly addictive but the costs and living with and owning those beasts is rather high.
If you want handling buy a lotus, if you want to accelerate faster than any other production car its no longer petrol but electric , without the crazy servicing costs.
I would have a model s in a heartbeat if I could afford one, for the sole reason of its acceleration . The grin factor is more than any other car (or motorbike) can give , as proven by hundreds and hundreds of reactions from youtube vids.
I have no plans to give up my diesel any time soon though if that's any consolation

I was actually referring to on a track or fast A/B road.

I don't know how to say this any other way. Whilst my Ferrari accelerates rather rapidly (it's not by any means the quickest) it is the drama and way in which it does that. It's normally aspirated so the speed comes on linearly but when you reach about 6500 RPM it really kicks off. and that noise, just that noise. My spine is tingling just typing this. Then as you drop a gear and toe and heel (or in my case either side of my right foot) and get it right it is sublime. Then you floor it out of the bend (or almost) and get the flick of the tail (the traction control is **** poor when on) and that crescendo of a symphony of eight manic pistons and 40 valves moving at unimaginable speed.

The EV you speak of is silent and apart from acceleration has nothing, nothing whatsoever to compare and never will. I have no interest in silent running nothingness and soulless iPhone like tech.

This might help you understand why I think an EV is a souless electrical gadget. I'm crap with putting my thoughts and feelings into words as you may have guessed.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news...iving-for-fun/ar-AAGi9E0?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=iehp

I do not ride a bike but I know you are talking rubbish (even though you probably don't think so). You have probably never ridden a fast bike. My Ferrari is stupendous at going fast and making a noise, but to a super bike it's tame. An EV should not been spoken in the same sentence. I've been on the back of mere 500 and I cant tell you you are talking bollocks.

That comment is totally laughable and I am sincerely sorry if I have offended you, but you really have no idea about the bike thing
I love my three ICE. I will hate an EV though am totally convinced my next new car might be one.

 

[V6Matty]

I was actually referring to on a track or fast A/B road.

I don't know how to say this any other way. Whilst my Ferrari accelerates rather rapidly (it's not by any means the quickest) it is the drama and way in which it does that. It's normally aspirated so the speed comes on linearly but when you reach about 6500 RPM it really kicks off. and that noise, just that noise. My spine is tingling just typing this. Then as you drop a gear and toe and heel (or in my case either side of my right foot) and get it right it is sublime. Then you floor it out of the bend (or almost) and get the flick of the tail (the traction control is **** poor when on) and that crescendo of a symphony of eight manic pistons and 40 valves moving at unimaginable speed.

The EV you speak of is silent and apart from acceleration has nothing, nothing whatsoever to compare and never will. I have no interest in silent running nothingness and soulless iPhone like tech.

This might help you understand why I think an EV is a souless electrical gadget. I'm crap with putting my thoughts and feelings into words as you may have guessed.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news...iving-for-fun/ar-AAGi9E0?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=iehp

I do not ride a bike but I know you are talking rubbish (even though you probably don't think so). You have probably never ridden a fast bike. My Ferrari is stupendous at going fast and making a noise, but to a super bike it's tame. An EV should not been spoken in the same sentence. I've been on the back of mere 500 and I cant tell you you are talking bollocks.

That comment is totally laughable and I am sincerely sorry if I have offended you, but you really have no idea about the bike thing
I love my three ICE. I will hate an EV though am totally convinced my next new car might be one.

Anyone might think you have a thing for red Malc

 

[MalcQV]

Anyone might think you have a thing for red Malc

It is second only to yellow (my previous F355 was yellow) but I would be lying if the Z3 in red did not stand out to me when I went to see it)

The 360 is often found in red (surprise, surprise) but I ordered the CLA in red and it is a no cost option - Bonus

 

[Blobcat]

It is second only to yellow (my previous F355 was yellow) but I would be lying if the Z3 in red did not stand out to me when I went to see it)

The 360 is often found in red (surprise, surprise) but I ordered the CLA in red and it is a no cost option - Bonus

I agree yellow ones are faster my old 996 SPS was spectacularly fast in yellow - most thought it was a 748.
176mph showing on the dash was best (or worst) I had from that - most fun north of 90

 

[A.J.]

It is second only to yellow (my previous F355 was yellow)

As far as I am concerned Yellow is the best colour for a Ferrari anyway, no contest !!

 

[V6Matty]

Personally I really like them in very dark green but how many of those have you seen?

 

[AMGeed]

I read today that if just 10% of the population drove an EV, we would need an extra 7 power stations to supply the electricity required. Looking at the speed it has taken Hinkley Point to begin to materialise, I think its pie in the sky to expect electric cars to appear in any great numbers for years to come.

 

[LostKiwi]

I read today that if just 10% of the population drove an EV, we would need an extra 7 power stations to supply the electricity required. Looking at the speed it has taken Hinkley Point to begin to materialise, I think its pie in the sky to expect electric cars to appear in any great numbers for years to come.

I can't help wondering about their calculations there.
Overnight we have massive available energy production. Most EV owners would charge overnight and not during the day which is where I would see there being issues (specifically between 8am and 9pm).