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In the jungle

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Everything posted by In the jungle

  1. "Flood the zone with excrement" (I paraphrase to avoid censorship) That infamous quote is by far right activist and convicted criminal Steve Bannon. He advocated it as a technique for dealing with opposing voices particularly on the internet. You just drown out the opposition's opinions under the weight of column inches and repeated posts. What you say does not have to be true or rational there just has to be an overwhelming amount of content. That is the technique you see deployed here by what I will charitably call EV enthusiasts. Just take a look at who are the most frequent posters.
  2. More than 80% of cars sold in Europe are manual transmission. There is a good reason for that.
  3. Did you ever wonder why race cars are always built to the minimum allowable weight?
  4. Porsche have argued endlessly. supported by hard facts that their equivalent auto box for the 911 is superior to a manual transmission but people still demand the manual and the manual commands a premium on the used market. I have a soft spot for the Scirocco. I had a second gen which I bought brand new in 1986.
  5. I have only owned cars with manual transmissions. The Celerio manual is 2.5 seconds quicker 0-100 kph than the CVT variant. It is quicker 0-100 than any Suzuki Swift model available today. The peformance is, of course, due to light weight rather than because it is massively powerful and the manual variant of the Celerio is 45kg lighter than the CVT. The fact that it has a manual transmission is a key reason why I bought it and manuals are fun. I want to be engaged in the process of driving as you are with a manual. I like manual transmissions because they give the most direct relationship between application of throttle and what is delivered at the driven wheels. With any type of automatic gearbox you do not have that. I was not budget constrained in buying the Celerio. I bought it because I liked it. I have two other cars which are considerably more expensive and, of course, they are also manual. EVs also give you a direct relationship between application of throttle and what is delivered at the wheels though in many cases the manufacturer has chosen to put electronic interference between the throttle and the driven wheels. But EVs currently fall down in another of my purchasing criteria which is light weight. I have owned very few cars over 1000kg and many have been considerably lighter. Most EVs do a very good job of disguising their weight by weight distribution but ultimately weight compromises their dynamic properties. That isn't a matter of subjective opinion. It is physics.
  6. That is why I said most EVs. There are notable exceptions at the expensive end of the market. There is a good video put up today by Rory at Autotrader comparing the Taycan, Tesla Model S track and the Audi Taycan equivalent. The Taycan and Tesla are such exceptions. Not sure about the Audi which seems a bit luxo-barge biased to do well in stock form at the Nurburgring. And of course Nurburgring is only seven or eight minutes, as opposed to the 24 hours of Le Mans. And note the part in the video where he says you need to cool the battery of the Tesla for 20 minutes to get full performance for 2.3 seconds.
  7. "The touted bogeyman negatives over electrical supply generated by petrochem with regard to carbon emissions can be shown to favour energy efficiency even when taking into account losses in transmission vs ice efficiency. Add to that the reduction in urban background noise pollution, environmental distribution of exhaust toxins" The problem with that point is that to a significant extent EVs constitute the rich in urban areas exporting their pollution to the poor who live near the power stations.
  8. Most EVs are a bit of a one trick pony in terms of performance. Good at traffic light drag racing but compromised in other respects by weight. They are not going to win Le Mans anytime soon.
  9. I haven't tried. I have probably done around 120kph max indicated in the Celerio. I wouldn't want to drive any car at 160kph on Thai roads. One of the problems with the Neta is that it only does 120kph max. That is just not enough margin of safety for overtaking.
  10. The MG4 is very impressive at the Thai price. Tesla model 3 is too but Thai price is daft.
  11. I think it was one of those two. I don't know the MG range well enough to know the difference between them. I infer from your post that they are based on what was originally an ICE chassis.
  12. The Celerio in manual form is not outclassed on performance. 0-100 kph is about the same as the Neta. Top speed is 40 kph higher and it's 300 kg lighter.
  13. Mine was 312K out the door. 12 months comprehensive insurance and vehicle recovery. Free service labour costs for three years.
  14. I followed an MG along a country road I know well. Lots of lefts and rights of varying radius at about 100 to 120 kph. I don't know the exact model but a smallish SUV. It was a sloppy horror in the corners. Particularly poor when transitioning left to right and vice versa.
  15. Celerio manual weighs 785kg Neta. Don't know, don't care but a lot.
  16. That's what I bought this year as a daily driver. It's fun to drive and it has a proper gearbox. My annual fuel bill is less than it costs to insure an EV.
  17. "The event aims to show that ancient puppets served as a prototype for modern robotics." FFS!
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