kwhelan

2 hours ago, Jacko said:

Prime candidates for seem to be SUVs, and from my sample while driving: everyone who drives a new ford ranger

Judging from the sample set "whos crashed into me and neighbours fence in the last 12 months" 1x Suzuki Swift, 1x Mitzi Canter Truck, 1x Vt Holden, 2x Honda Odyssey, 1x  Honda Accord....

After the first few crashes, AT put in a new 50kmh sign. The Suzuki actually crashed into it, and it did slow the car down before it hit the fence, so good job there. 

to be fair tho those arn't really the deaths, not sure of stats but I would assume most are on the open road, the tragic ones are either one off where the car left the road, tired, drunk or incompetent or are some sort of headon where somebody has crossed the white line involving many vehicles.

The cops need to get their act together over the accidents too, spend hours looking for all the evidence as to whose fault it was including shutting roads or lanes for 12-24 hrs sometimes like they did on the desert road over easter. I n Europe the focus is on getting the traffic moving again quickly. get the vehicles off the road, sweep up and get traffic flowing. If your dead your dead no court case is going to solve that not that their seems to be ever much done with all the evidence gathered anyway.

As of Friday, 125 compared to 107 last year , and for 12 months to today its 398 compared to 329.

we obviously had few lucky low years and things were maybe skewed into thinking they had it solved. Time to get rid of some of the sillyness like 3km holiday limits and actually makes some changes that work. Not that were ever going to achieve miracles on our simple 2 lane overcrowded highways. Compulsory insurance would be a start and more cops on roads. Last 12 months Ive driven up and down north island and barely seen a cop. Can't be just luck. The fear of a ticket is the only thing that keeps my speed in check to be completely honest.

ex.Over Xmas and new year went HB to Wanganui Taranaki Taupo and home saw one cop going in other direction and one speed camera. I guess because they were all on leave after doing allnighters on the 23/24 Dec handing out lollies and things to xmas travellers.

6 minutes ago, huff3r said:

We get it, you don't like speedway. Plenty of people do, and I wouldn't say it's that minor at all. It has a huge following. But of course you'll have an explanation why that following is actually small or non existant.

I don't like it so people shouldn't do it. Cool story bro. 

Don't react to trolls, your being played with.

well just watched E6 last of latest top gear season 25 and I would rate this season as one of the best seasons.

pretty dramatic seeing them compete in monte carlo rally and have car burst into flames mid run.

Think matt was a genius casting and the 3 of them work really well together, their jokes are a bit more current than the original three

10 hours ago, 3pedals said:

time it went , totally inaapropriate activity in an urban area - move on 

come on thats not a even a good attempt at trolling, expected better from you

this is the sort of thing that makes me smile

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/entertainment/tv/top-gear-sets-new-guinness-world-record/ar-BBKA2om?li=BBqdk7Q

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/woman-struck-and-killed-by-self-driving-uber-vehicle/ar-BBKrj5e?li=BBqdk7Q

the new season of Top Gear season 25 is 4 episodes in and they are really into their thing now.Chris Harris and Matt Le Blanc have really got a good relationship and matts comic timing is pretty undeniable. been some great articles electric motor-x bikes, 2cvs etc. I actually prefer it to the grand tour which seems just repeats of ideas. Top gear seems to have kept some fresh ideas coming in. matts articles about some massive crane or other industrial equipment are great fun.

less intelligent people (the masses) are easier to control, when there's no jobs left and the worlds falling apart

hence the programmed dumbing down of society, replace news with clickbait and reality shows and people are just lambs to the slaughter

I was under the impression all BMW had world radios, you just had to program them from japanese to world, which isn't hard, certainly was the case on my e39

99% of them have international radios on ebay and work fine here, the jap import cars have japanese specific bands which is what causes the issue

you just need one that increments in 0.1 otherwise you could pick up 93.3 and 93.5 but not 93.4.  type issues and it will list the upper and lower limit as well which from memory are about 88 to 106 on FM

https://www.lovenewzealand.net.nz/new-zealand-radio-stations.php

1 hour ago, 3pedals said:

We don't operate cake mixers - suggest you read the post slower and adjust the inclination of your location - you might come up with some insight rather than the dross you have spurted out above. 

haha gotta love autocorrect and failure to proof read doh

On 1/03/2018 at 5:26 PM, 3pedals said:

Sure but what you are doing again is using the extremes - camshafts and followers  in most other cars are not  $14 grand and the root cause of failure is likely to be a maintenance issue.

The SMG pump is likely to be design related but that is a risk of that type of transmission system as are the problems with DCT types - buy them and take the risk -- or as we all basically agree you could mitigate it ( MBI) BUT  you could also choose to eliminate the risk by not buying SMG / DCT  type cars therefore it is not a risk you have to manage. 

If we took  a risk based approach to buying a vehicle rather than an emotional one half the cars on planet would have died in gestation and manufacturers would be less inclined to use the buying public as crash test dummies. 

The issue was raised about the electronic complexity of the car - my key  point was and still is the electronics are unlikley to be the problem,  mechanicals and poorly maintained mechanicals are. 

And on the point of you can't maintain your way out of failure - not 100%  but you can do a sh*t load better than average, we do it at work with trucks doing 2-300,000 km per year they don't break down and some of them are well over 3,000,000 km without a breakdown. 

how many cars of that age need cams and followers or big end bearings or whatever so I'd call that an extreme. To purchase a BMW without an MBI is a lottery or gamble in anyones book. people will always gamble, some win too.

the problem with risk based buying is you don't know the risk until heaps of people have bought and discovered the issue by which time its too late. Second hand buyers get to research and learn from others misfortunes or get a repaired model with the bugs ironed out once parts have been recalled and swopped. you'd never consider a giulia based on that theory

with the amount of floods and other overseas issues previous Water ingress is a real unknown risk when buying an import. Why electronics are on the floor under carpet or tucked into boot wells is still beyond me. there has to be a better location

if everyone bought based on risk the whole world would be driving toyotas based on any conversation with someone who manages fleet vehicles will tell you. To be fair other brands are now cutting into those glowing records of past fleet ownerships

to say some of your trucks are doing 3,000,00km doesn't prove that maintenance is working and your beating the average, it may well be but it may also be brand specific. Your not proving that owning a fleet of Isuzus is more reliable than a fleet of kenwoods and "the some" are the ones that the boss is concerned with. Why are they off road and for how long

3 hours ago, allan said:

So you produce a sh*t product dress it as lamb and sell it for an exorbitant price. Then when the wheels fall off maintenance etc floods in the owner/s get pissed off sells it and doesn't buy another one. If that is all true how have they managed to stay in busy for so long? what is missing because most company's would have been done years ago especially in the competitive auto industry.  

because they give you a comprehensive warranty from new so these major failures don't actually cost you apart from downtime ,it just makes them bad second hand time bombs and because all the euros are similar good luck finding one thats much better.

the economy figures aren't quite what they cracked up to be according to top gear

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/bmw/3-series/330e-se-4dr-auto/first-drive-0

11 hours ago, 3pedals said:

Depreciation is about 26% / annum so if you buy a 2-3 year old car with 50,000km on it for $50,000 the biggest drops have occurred over the next 3 years it will drop to $20,000 or so in value or a about $10 grand a year- thats pretty hard to spend in maintenance. 

 If you do the suspension/ gearbox/ waterpump etc at the end of the first year for say  $10 grand  as preventative maintenance then you get 2 years return on that investment and you are still $20 grand up - if you then sell the car and chuck in another $30 grand to get another 50 k car you again do another $30 grand BUT  if you keep the car for another 2 years and spend $5 grand on some more stuff you save a further $7 grand so all up after 5 years you can be $27 grand up. 

BUT best of all you get to drive an as new functioning car for the full period 

depreciation is very model independent and I would suggest If I had bought a new car and at 50,000km it needed 10k of maintainance I Would say I was had. Why on earth should you be doing suspension/gearbox/waterpump at year 3-4. Any one in their right mind would call that a lemon.

Every dealer practically now has 5yrs or 100k warranty and thats because they don't expect there to be any issues that will cost them.

Show me a japanese car that needs 10k of mainataince at 50,000 and I would say it was a dud and an exception. You could own any number of cars for 3 yrs do no maintainance except the required for warranty oil/fluids/tyres and sell it in basically brand new condition at 3 yrs old, less depreciation of course

The only cars that are worth 50k at year 3 started off at some exorbitant  high price( mostly euro).I get that a percentage hits a higher price more so the losses are greater but anyone who buys new is just burning money in my opinion.

Any walk around Geoff Gray or mercedes dealer shows you The smart buys are the 12month tradeins or ex dealer models with 10k on the clock

come on buttercup it was supposed to be offensively funny, its nothing you wouldn't laugh at on family guy or south park.

I f you or your friends havn't called someone gay in your own conversations then your obviously gay

https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2018/01/no-mate-nissan-leaf-not-just-coolest-thing-gay/

bloody funny article and the comments are interesting

season two has been a bit average until this weeks ep 5 

insane ripsaw tank in Dubai and 1500 hp dune buggies

some stunning video work

1 hour ago, 3pedals said:

It also makes real sense for average users if you choose the right vehicle 

I currently commute 23km each way to an office plus I do 5 road trips for work of about 500km each, my fuel bill  is about $3,100 per annum

If I replace my 328 with a 330e I can commute entirely on battery and then do the road trips on fossil fuel - this gives an annual cost of between $850 and $970  per annum (depends on fuel price and achieved economy ) so over 10 years the saving is $21,300 ( easily enough to buy a replacement battery) - and service costs are also reduced

If I go to an i3 with  which is a bit small for my use (with a range extender)  the same commute and road trips can be done for $430 per annum  and I would burn only 67 litres of fuel compared to 1441 litres.

330e is on my shortlist 

The electrical infrastructure for either is simple and can be home based and office based. The Tesla because of its enormous battery and guzzling of electrons can only effectively be charged from an industrial grade 3 phase supply. 

 

is there an initial cost difference in 330e to factor into your savings? will work just let everybody charge their vehicles and how would they achieve that or will you have to go park somewhere else, possibly moving your car to let someone else have time on the charger,

you want to swing over town to pick up that trade parcel on the way home,bugger better think and plan how you'l do that

will electricity stay at the same rate as it is now or be charged at higher rates for peak charging times etc

you would be the first person on here to moan at the lack of sole and boredom of driving an appliance, yes its practical and friendly but its not a car, it has nothing to give you except a means of A-B 

batteries are not the answer to the problem they are nearly as damaging as the fuel, batteries leak when disposed of just as well as fuel tanks do and they explode and burn in accidents re richard hammond so insurance premiums and disposal costs will have to be factored in

I think his humoured point was valid tackle industry first while improving diesel or fuel to be cleaner or leaner makes more sense, one cruise ship does more damage than a whole city of cars so tackle that first

The latest Ministry for the Environment report New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting Series: Our atmosphere and climate 2017 reported on data collected all over New Zealand between 1960 and 2016 which showed a significant decrease in extreme wind events and a small decrease in extreme flooding events over that period.

“The statistics and data do not back up the desperate claims that we are experiencing more extreme weather events. We are experiencing less in fact, despite 1 degree of warming.

James Shaw is full of it

14 hours ago, M3AN said:

I'm actually surprised the BBC can't sue them. It is effectively Top Gear.

agreed thought the same, guess it would just boost their publicity and marketing tho which would then backfire, prob thought better of it

10 hours ago, Michael. said:

Global warming. More like global profiteering  

think its pretty hard to deny that there global warming, but  i disagree with the notion that humans caused it and therefore we all should pay carbon taxes etc, its just the cycle and it will continue long after humans have gone from this place

9 hours ago, BreakMyWindow said:

Like a modern day muscle car.

 

Only good in a straight line.

aye?

https://nurburgringlaptimes.com/lap-times-top-100/

plenty of muscle cars in the top twenty

Started again, first episode not too bad, you have such familiartity with them but there wasn't a lot of driving, plenty of scenery and camera shots. Showed some good shorts of bits to come and some of it looked epic. they've started another celebrity drivers track and it was absolute S%$t. 

Most interesting part was the 3 car challenge between old tech lambo hurrican, hybrid nsx and a fully electric Rimac concept one.

Show ends with hammonds big crash in Switzerland hillclimb in the Rimac. Interesting thing was the car kept reigniting itself for 5 days after the crash as the cells of the batteries imploded on each other in a thermal reaction. Like a samsung note 7 then really, maybe thats why all those californian homes are burning due to all the electric cars.