Crankarm
Guru
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Not so much commoners, but the great unwashed.
Some people - !
- Thread starter simongt
- Start date
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Not so much commoners, but the great unwashed.
DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
Depends on what you want from a vehicle. I want quiet and as much automation as possible. I'm a 'sedate' driver, not slow.
Happy to keep to limits and use the technology to ensure I do. Cars are much too dangerous to be used as toys. They should be pure utility and legally forbidden from excessive power and performance. Motorbikes too.
Yeah, I'm a killjoy. But cars should no longer be something you should have if there's not a need.
Happy to keep to limits and use the technology to ensure I do. Cars are much too dangerous to be used as toys. They should be pure utility and legally forbidden from excessive power and performance. Motorbikes too.
Yeah, I'm a killjoy. But cars should no longer be something you should have if there's not a need.
Shearwater Missile
Veteran
Me too, I like a car to be quiet. I like the technology of stop start and the cruise control which is very handy in speed restricted areas. The only problem I have is that when I am doing the legal limit or perhaps one mile an hour slower there will always be the smart arses who cruise up your backside as if I am doing something wrong. On a dual carriageway with speed limits and average cameras, they just come past you. Am I missing something here ? I don`t think so.
guitarpete247
Just about surviving
- Location
- Leicestershire
If I were to use public transport to get to work for Monday at 8:00 I would need to catch bus Saturday afternoon. I couldn't get bus home till Saturday lunchtime. Arriving home after I would have to get bus for the next week. I only live 12 miles from work but cycling is out of the question as I do not wish to be seen by my pupils whilst wearing sweaty lycra.
swansonj
Guru
Ebike and civilian clothes?
SuperHans123
Formerly known as snertos999
I've got an old BMW 325ti (2001) that was very well looked after by its one previous owner.
I drive to speed limits but on those odd ocassions where there is an empty stretch of motorway or dual carriageway or some snert is unneccesarily up my back bumper, it is nice to just effortlessly power away.
Also, it is a very nice place to be, very comfortable and quiet.
Once you have had a car with *some* power, it is hard to downgrade to a 1 litre.
I drive to speed limits but on those odd ocassions where there is an empty stretch of motorway or dual carriageway or some snert is unneccesarily up my back bumper, it is nice to just effortlessly power away.
Also, it is a very nice place to be, very comfortable and quiet.
Once you have had a car with *some* power, it is hard to downgrade to a 1 litre.
Saluki
World class procrastinator
- Location
- ...Norwich over the water.
When I had my petrol car, it cost me in the region of £2500 a year to get to work. Public transport is not an option. I have recently changed to a diesel so it's down to £1200 a year in fuel (less than half the cost of VED too). I have been offered an interview with a local company and, if successful, I should be able to cycle there for around half the working year - some days I will be at a much further away site for meetings so will need my car - but with cycling and vehicle commute costs, I reckon that I might well have change from £300 a year with luck.
I just need to get that job and my savings account will swell a bit
If I could get a more local job, even for a little less money, and cycle commute as often as possible, I will do just that.
I just need to get that job and my savings account will swell a bit
If I could get a more local job, even for a little less money, and cycle commute as often as possible, I will do just that.
SuperHans123
Formerly known as snertos999
Most of the posts on this thread talk about cost savings but not much about how a nice car makes you 'feel'
One life.
Saving for all of it until you are an old duffer who can't enjoy it as much when you were younger may not be life's best strategy for happiness.
One life.
Saving for all of it until you are an old duffer who can't enjoy it as much when you were younger may not be life's best strategy for happiness.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Yes, all. There's no enjoyment to be had on our congested, potholed roads. Ar least when the Volvo arrives I'll be in languid comfort, but driving still won't be enjoyable. It never has been for me - driving a car is as enjoyable as emptying the dishwasher they're both simply white goods to me.
And that's an irony. I don't like driving, but was actually a very good Class 1 driver, perhaps one of the top 3 in the regional at my peak before the stress and management got to me. Conversely, I love my motorbikes, but I'm not a very good rider so my technique is very steady and conservative. Just my luck that I am (or perhaps was) good at the one I don't like, but crap at the one I adore.
swansonj
Guru
I'm not sure I'm clear what you are saying, so apologies if I've got this wrong: you're saying you drive to speed limits, except when you decide not to?
And I respectfully suggest that if you think the appropriate response to having someone up your back bumper is to drive faster, you might like to reconsider your mental approach to driving.
SuperHans123
Formerly known as snertos999
Let me clarify.
I am often on the motorway between Swansea and Cardiff for work and stick rigidly to the speed limits.
There is a stretch of motorway around 3/4 of a mile on the way back from Cardiff near a place called Pyle. It is a long, clear, straight very gradual downhill stretch.
On a day like today when the sun is out and I am coming back from Cardiff mid afternoon and the way is clear, I will sometimes put my foot down and enjoy that small stretch at a speed above the limit.
Also, if I am on a dual carriageway for example and sticking the the limits and some plank glues to my bumper, I will put my foot down to create a gap if the way forward is clear. I see this as being lwess dangerous as haviong to brake for something suddenly and said car behind me smashing into my rear so to speak.
I don't consider either of these actions make me a bad driver.
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derrick
The Glue that binds us together.
- Location
- On the edge of London
It would be better to stop hogging the lane and move over. let him or her go.
swansonj
Guru
Thank you for answering constructively.
On the first point: I agree that your choices don't change you from being a driver with good car control, reactions, observation, anticipation etc, to a driver with poor car control etc. But they do change you from a driver who attempts to obey the law, to a driver who attempts to obey the law only when it suits you or when you feel like it.
On the second point: I don't consider that being intimidated by someone behind you into driving faster than (by definition) you had previously considered appropriate is a marker of a good driver. I certainly don't think that being pressured by another road user into breaking the law (breaking the speed limit) would be good driving. But I willingly recognise that someone climbing up your backside is a situation which has no particularly good solution.