Wow, now that's pricey..

[neil_merseyside]

Disco 4 headlights can come out in about 5mins each side and that's being generous. In fact the pop the grill at the front and slide the catch up on the headlamp and that's it ! Just need to unplug the connector. However as mentioned further up, these new fancy dan LED headlamps are ticking time bombs n the second hand market in years to come. Can see older cars being written off if a front end bump was to happen.

Blimey they'll be nicked to order then, or are the lamps/catches 'protected' by the bonnet?

 

[Fab Foodie]

I changed a headlight bulb in my Dacia the other week. Took all of 5 mins and that included going into the shop to buy it. Cost a few quid and I changed it parked outside the shop.

low- tech simplicity is worth a fortune....

 

[MrGrumpy]

Blimey they'll be nicked to order then, or are the lamps/catches 'protected' by the bonnet?

Yes you need the bonnet up. Other than that a piece of p......

 

[winjim]

The folk that invented the Lipo got an award recently, but that's been the only main 'evolution' in battery technology in many years. We need more research.

Not Goodenough?

 

[fossyant]

I was astonished to find that the entire headlamp on the XC90 can be removed in seconds with no tools. Unplug the connector, pull out two shaped metal rods which are ordinarily held in place by the closed bonnet, and the assembly pops off.

Conversely, the same job on the smart requires the removal of the bonnet, front wings, and front bumper.

I was telling a colleague about my son having his 'copy' alloy wheel caps knicked (the originals were tatty) which cost just £2 each. She said her friend had had her Audi A3's headlamps stolen - £1000 plus fitting from the Dealer. Insurance weren't terribly helpful telling her it would increase premiums, so she sourced pattern parts for..... £600. Good grief.

These are parts that do get damaged - I lost my rear cluster to some idiot's attempt at parking last month. Ebay, £40 for whoile new cluster. 5 minute job to swap over (bolted on from inside).

There are cars having parts knicked these days - common for premium model steering wheels to go missing, headlamps. Oh and don't ever own a little Fiesta ST - all the fancy bit's get stolen to go on the chav's 1.0 base models.

 

[Rocky]

I changed a headlight bulb in my Dacia the other week. Took all of 5 mins and that included going into the shop to buy it. Cost a few quid and I changed it parked outside the shop.

low- tech simplicity is worth a fortune....

But.....how many chefs does it take to change a light bulb?

Six......one to change the lightbulb and five to tell you how they did it at their last place.

 

[keithmac]

Quite common at one point to come out to your car and find the front end stripped, bumper/ headlights/ bonnet etc stolen!.

A lad I knew had his windscreen stolen from his Ford Escort overnight!.

 

[Pale Rider]

This is the point on our 2013 that you could replace the Xenon bulbs, requires headlight removal which is a significant task not for the side of the road..

View attachment 495855

So much for the EU and its regulations.

It's enough to make you want to Brexit.

 

[icowden]

Indeed, and first generation Leaf's (Leaves?) are suffering suffereng from seriously curtailed range as they age. It's not at all uncommon to find older models from 2012 or 2013 with barely 50 miles usable range without headlamps and heater in use.

Looking at the bigger picture, are they really any cleaner when their useful life is half the age and mileage of a conventional car? The answer is a most assured "nope".

A "seriously curtailed" range is dropping from 60-65 miles usable range (rated range was 73 miles - this is not a real world use figure) to 50 miles usable range?
And because a 2012 Nissan Leaf has " half the age and mileage of a conventional car" that's the standard we should be measuring against? Really?

In 8 years battery quality, range and lifespan has drastically increased. If you read the articles I linked to, modern EVs can last as long or longer than an ICE car without any more problems than an ICE car. They just require less maintenance.

 

[Drago]

But that isn't translating to real life.

Take my neighbour and his Model S. The moment you switch on the headlights and heater, which one does quite a lot in the UK, the range is almost halved. These studies are calculated using pie in the sky manufacturers figures, not what people are actually experiencing.

Oh, and if you visit the Leaf forum you'll see the latest model regularly reaches the same condition at 70 or 80,000 miles, owners struggling to get 50 or 60 miles out of them.Make a cuppa and spend some time reading their woes.

The bottom line is these "studies" are making assumptions about certain attributes of these vehicles when making their calculations, and these assumptions are not what is being experienced by owners. Conversely, they all assume some kind of 'real world'figure for the ICE models they're comparing them against, so they're introducing bias from the point of first datum.

And the only thing that requires less maintenance is the engine. Brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, etc, haven't gone away, and the secondary (and sometimes multiple) cooling systems for the batteries and inverters on many models are bringing new maintenance demands. Look in ICME and you'll see service times to conduct the work and the mileage/intervals aren't actually reduced very much at all.