Aw, I miss my V6 3.2 Audi A3 Quattro – and after the diesel 1 Series that I recently got rid of, I wouldn’t touch a diesel car again. I’m now cutting about in a new Fiesta ST and absolutely love it.
A little petrol engine with a big turbo is the way to go until electric makes sense for me.
that was an ace car, have look on AT, just 27 nationwide £2,250 - £6,995
A lot of fun for a couple grand, just need the insurance, £555 tax and to nick a fuel truck.
My last diesel was a 120d (E87) which I had running at 220bhp with 0-60 in 6s and even was silly enough to stick a performance exhaust on it in the hope it would improve the sound. It did get 50mpg though. Luckily didn’t get a N47/Timing chain issue but it cost a lot to maintain which puts me off.
It didn’t. Still sounded like a vacuum cleaner having a fight with a tractor 
Same here. Fabia Mk3. Loving the £20 p.a. tax and 43 mpg - against the £345 and 23 mpg of last vehicle. R-
I think the issue with diesel, in addition to CO2, is Nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide are referred to together as oxides of nitrogen ( NOx ). NOx gases react to form smog and acid rain as well as being central to the formation of fine particles (PM) and ground level ozone, both of which are associated with adverse health effects.
Modern petrol engines have been engineered to emit less CO2 but because everyone wants a big heavy SUV the the benefit of the engineering is much reduced resulting in greater CO2 emissions than was the case with the earlier saloon cars.
We are living in a strange transition period where the majority now knows the damage it’s been doing to health, and you have people wanting to switch but can’t for either cost, range or charging.
The next decade is going to be interesting where all the performance cars of the past are outdone by a basic affordable family hatchback.
Range and cost looks like it could be dramatically improving in the next two years. Just need to get the charging sorted so people can “fill up” like ICE cars now in minutes.
Whilst I’m glad I had the opportunity to drive the cars I have I wish this was sorted a few decades ago.
It’s also weird to think if we hadn’t discovered petrol reserves and Mr Ford hadn’t existed we might have all been driving electric cars for the past 150 years.
We kind of have a hundred years gap in history filled with ICE, our future peeps will look back on this like smoking. Its going to take so many decades to undo this mistake around the World.
1832 - 1910s
2010s -
Mine was a 118d M Sport (E87) with a DPF that the car steadfastly refused to re-gen. It either needed a new DPF (expensive job, as you probably know) OR I could part ex it and hope the dealer doesn’t look too closely before throwing it to auction.
I went for the latter and extremely glad I did.
Well the Transport Secretary is reported today saying that 2020 will be the year of change to electric.
With diesel sales expected to fall again this year he might be right.
I have seen figures published by the vehicle leasing association that nearly 90% of new car sales were arranged via a PCP type contract.
PCP plan prices are largely determined by the vehicles future residual value and if diesel sales continue to fall it is surely inevitable that the comparative cost between diesel and an AFV, Hybrid,PHEV or BEV will narrow and perhaps to the extent that they will cause a tipping point ?
It does look like this year we’ll see PCP deals on electrics get close to Petrol/Diesel which should help with the cost factor. These 2020/2021 cars look like they will have 250+ miles real range on a full charge that should also help convert those that need to do long trips frequently without stopping.
I think we just need the charging now to catch up. Its unrealistic to have everyone have a wallbox at home which isn’t possible for the vast majority or have every parking space with a charger.
We need the government to really push forecourts to install the 350 kw that can do a full charge from empty currently in under 8 mins like ionity.
I think 2025 will be the switch as it becomes simple to drive in, top up for 2 mins from 20% and be on your way like we all have done with petrol/diesel. At this point we should see 300 to 400 miles real range to rival ice based on how far it’s come.
Once this happens it flip so that ICE cars become dirt cheap facing 2040-2050 bans. I wonder if we’ll get mass car graveyards or they get shipped off to other parts of the world.
I’m guessing all car manufacturers won’t be producting ICE cars for the UK in 2030 onwards, so this could be the last decade you can buy them new.
In our generation its going to go from “oh look theres a new fancy electric car going by, isn’t it quiet” to “oh look theres an old petrol/diesel car, eugh it stinks mummy”.
I don’t think the government will need to do much prompting.
BP, the owners of the largest U.K. charging company, Chargemaster, are determined to beat Shell, another oil company with a charging company subsidiary, shore up falling revenues at existing sites.
We then get this sort of thing which for many EV owners will provide a range of 100 miles or so in a few minutes.
If I had to buy a car it would probably be a Polo or Fiesta ST. I would go for petrol - for many of the reasons already discussed. However, I am more than happy using public transport and my own two legs to get around.
Anyone see this today?
I think they’ve done well in making it like a love child of Tesla / Taycan and not going too nuts with the design. Lets see if it gets into production.
I did see that - but didn’t notice what appears to be rear view wing cameras - or are they just very thin rear view wing mirrors? R-
They’ll be cameras like the Honda e. If this did double the range now it would have my money.
https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/new/honda-e/overview.html
Also on the concept Fabia EV - thought unlikely to make it into production though. R-
If a parity or better occurs between petrol hybrid and diesel then I predict it will be the final nail in diesel’s coffin.
From my own experience I know that a PHEV will ease the transition to BEV.
BMWs have a 30 mile range and bearing in mind that many are used just for shopping and station / school runs it will quickly be obvious that the 300 + mile range demanded by reluctant buyers is a nonsense.
Add the benefit of lower BIK rates etc and the transition becomes much more desirable.
This is quite similar to a conversation I had at work. People buy cars for that one trip a year that’s a 4 person 300 mile-er and not the 364 days of 20 mile trips on your own.
I think the range will be useful in not needing to plug in every day. In the same way you wouldn’t go to fuel station every day.
But for the start I think plugging in everyday or every other day is still expected if you use it a good distance for work or travel a far bit.
I personally need to do 140 miles at least once a day a week. What I’m still concerned about is the general lack of standards in real guaranteed range in temperature and avg speed, so I need 140 miles and that’s including traveling at -5 in winter. So say at least 150 so I’m not 
for the last bit. From what I’ve read up on I need to be looking at least 200 miles WLTP that manufacturers say as that’s like traveling at a steady 30mph in 20c sunny weather, not at 80mph along a motorway in 10c avg weather like most of the year.
I have had my EV for just a year now. I have seen the temperature down to a - number once or twice, 3/4 c or thereabouts, but for a very short period. Throughout the day the temperature rose to around 6/7c and I have experienced the near 40c of the past summer.
In all that period the average battery consumption per mile is 4.9
With a 64 Kw battery it is obvious that I could do your journey very easily, although I would probably top up at some point in the day.
The new Vauxhall Corsa is being promoted today with a range of around 200 miles.
Vauxhall plainly have done their market research and are confident that their target market will be satisfied so if it takes a little longer, or perhaps a larger battery, to win you over no doubt in time they will 
We had a good few weeks of -3c to 3c here only finishing about two weeks ago. I’m sure we might have that again soon. By the time I get to work it’s usually a couple degrees warmer.
Well the ID.3/El-born this year both have a 62kWh with 260miles WLTP and the ID.3 has a Pro S version with 77kWh and 340miles WLTP.
I take the 260miles and 340miles as about 200miles and 280miles in me actually driving like I’m on fire in average conditions.
Either of those works for me. Roll on summer.
