That Autoexpress test ignored some of the  Winter tyres that perform best in the ADAC tests. The ADAC vids for various sizes are on Youtube. I need a couple of proper Winters as a pair are both ageing and below 4mm, Michelin Alpin 6 again.

Still makes no sense, max regen on model 3/y is 76 kW and an average of 20-35kW provides all the braking you need on an alpine descent within the law, it depends on gradient and speed obviously but that’s the order of magnitude. The battery cooling system can easily handle that charge level even on the hottest day. I doubt davy was hooning it. Battery already full/ very nearly ful seems the best explanation as he thought rather than nerd possibilites that might be possible if you drive flat out down Pikes Peak.

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Jet wash?

Yup, twice a week with warm water after swimming, no more problems:

The original Michelin Primacy 4 on the Zoé lasted 17000km on the front, lots of mountain road use is my excuse. ;) I changed at 3mm in the middle and tread still showing at the edges. Fine in the dry not so fine when cold and wet.

Replaced with Cross climate+ . No downsides noted. Economy should be worse but not measurably so. No difference in noise noted. Excellent in the cold and wet with a reassuring feel. Nearly as good as Michelin Alpin on snow and ice. Even at 40°C or more in Summer they feel fine. What was unexpected was 24000km for the fronts.

So if I’ve understood Starmer has done something that would noramlly force a resignation but we’ll never hear about it because superinjunctions. That does smack of conspiracy bollocks to dish dirt from fresh air. Russian propaganda merchants at work?

I’ve spent a week trying to get an answer to a question that you refuse to give.

TandemJeremy used to do that, Tjagain doesn’t, an example to follow, theotherjonv. Would you keep on asking the same question IRL? I wouldn’t: I not a cop, the Stasi or a Vichy.

Could also have hit the operating limit of the battery, basically won’t take any more input without impacting on it’s ability to deliver output, even though it’s not full!

That makes no sense at all, Mert. Got a technical explanation with a link?

I think the A6 eTron looks gash, Daffy. What’s with that huge ICE false grill and false exhaust diffuser things. On the other hand the ID7 looks OK in a designed-ten-years-ago way apart from those awful ninja wheels – how much is an upgrade to steels with a few holes in? Both look like they’re trying hard to be ICE cars compared with the Ioniq6 or Renault Scenic.

excluding trans women from some services and spaces for the good of others,

That I agree with in some cases: a women only sauna or swim session for example. It’s sometimes a case of respect for both a religious community and the transgender community being mutually exclusive.

without being hateful and refusing to even call someone by their chosen name and address them accordingly

I agree with that. And (this is a tease) I recently noted theotherjonv refering to Redcar (Christina and the Queens) as “they/their” when Redcar currently identifies as a man which the French press respect refering to him as “il” because that’s what he wants.

She spreads hate

And other people use the crap (I hesitate to say hate, she’d have gone long ago if it had been that obvious) she comes out with to spread hate – both ways. No winners in this particular spat. I would say she gives the more extreme trans campaigners rope to hang themselves when they’d be better out there organising more gay pride type events which show the community in a positive light. Sadly I think her demise has done nothing for the transgender cause, on the contrary, it’s just more fuel for Reform.

Polarising isn’t good and too often in the modern world people take sides because they feel forced to. Ask people if they have views on LGBT and IME they’re very tolerant. It’s just not an issue, at work, in clubs, socially it doesn’t matter to people because they’re not affected/interested/bothered. Until you enter into the detail of extreme cases. A man decides to self identify as a woman and wants to race against women or expects to be welcome at a women only swim session, then the general tolerance breaks down and you have two extreme camps and editorials that divide STW. And another policy for Reform

Actively diverting all/most charge power *specifically* to optimise the battery temperature for charging after connection also hasn’t.

“Diverting” says you’re taking from one to give to the other. That’s not the case because battery conditioning doesn’t use much power so there’s more than enough power for both. The battery heating is going to pull about 3kW (check out user experience on forums such as the Tesla forum). Even on a 7kW home charger that’s not “all/most” and on a typical 50-250kW public charger insignificant.

If I’m wrong, someone tell me – is it really only me that thinks this?

I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong but there’s a lot of pot-kettle-black in your post, theotherjonv. It takes two to tango.

Ernie can be provocative but in this case I don’t think he is. I’ve had some heated debates with Ernie over the years and his style has evolved; less personal, more fact based, which I appreciate and make and effort to do the same (though he does sometimes bring up the historic personal stuff I said whilst forgetting the personal stuff he said – wink.)

Anyhow – Thames Water. I worked for Welsh Water in those glorious days when it served the people as best it could. We were doing our best to meet the EU normes in terms of water quality and pollution with a programme of investments funded by the users and with no share holders to pay. I got out while the going was good but could see the writing on the wall as the politics went from compliance to not getting caught. A bit like not doping as apposed to doping but not getting caught.

In the case of Rosie Duffield I like to be fairly open minded on gender issues whilst utimately putting women’s right above transgender rights if forced to make a choice. You can view her demise as cancel culture or at odds with Labour policy. She hasn’t gone beyond the range of views I expect to find in society and politics. I’d rather Starmer were forced out for being an excessively right-wing-authoritarian-austerity-non-environmentaly-friendly-anti-EU-pandering to the rich nob.

Some cars are starting to use the initial energy from charging to heat (or cool) the battery with (almost) zero charging being done,

Been done for years, any car with battery heating and cooling. The ones that haven’t had it are exceptions such as the Leaf. The only reason that the charge is lower (but not “almost zero”) is that the battery can’t take more when its cold. Which was my original point and is correct whatever an i4 owner might claim for their “special” car.

With or without setting the navi the car warms/cools the battery as soon as you start it on very cold or hot days. You can see it on the watts display in Winter, and see and hear it in Summer with the fan going flat out – and see the growing puddle of condensate under the car.

For someone in the industry you post some strange stuff on this forum, Mert.

The regen doesn’t disappear completely when the battery is cold (unless the battery is already full when you start that alpine decent). It’s just limited to the max the battery can take at that temperature which you can see on the regen watts readout on the dash.  When the battery is very cold the car will give a regen warning and it’ll feel like there’s almost no regen but some limited regen is there. As the battery warms up down the alpine decent the regen watts increase.

In practical terms the Zoe (a 12 year old design with a heat pump for heating/cooling) peaks at forty something watts of regen in Summer down the col d’Aubique and about a quater of that on a very cold day. I can’t give the exact figure, only estimate from the power indicator as the exact watts display is replaced by a big red regen limited warning. By the bottom of the hill or after 20 minutes it’s up to about a third and after another hour between half and two thirds.

and non existent in an i4..

Get it properly cold then get back to me. The battery physics are the same in every EV. You can’t fast charge a cold battery, simple as.

Once you fitted the cranks you can take the tension cap off, same with the headset tension cap. It’s only there to provide the correct preload on the bearings. If your cranks fall off it’s because the two pinch bolts weren’t tightened enough, which I understand because overtightening strips the threads which is where my contribution to the thread come in. On many Shimano cranks the bolts are too short and don’t bite on all the threads, so replace the pinch bolts with longer bolts and you can up the torque slightly.

Except anything remotely smart or well designed will pre heat/cool the battery as the very first thing it does on a planned/programmed charge cycle. So unless the heating/cooling systems in the car hit their operating limits or you’re a “random charging user”, it shouldn’t make much difference

Not sure how that’s supposed to work when it’s parked in a freezing public car park and the charge point is not far away. Get in, drive down hill with a regen warning because it’s so cold (the one time having the heater on makes absolutely no difference to range and economises the brake pads) and then plug in. Charge rate slowly increases as the battery is warmed up.

Charging today reminded me that the charge rate is temperature dependant. It’s best around 20-25°C ambient and slows above or below that. Leave the car out below freezing then try to charge it before driving anywhere and it’s really slow.

Has never had COVID!

Has never had symptomatic Covid.

Cape de pluie

I’ve had enough of silly buggers for a while

Just dip in when you’ve got something to say, say it have a look at what others are saying and leave it at that. Sometimes people post intersting stuff but there’s not need to comment, sometimes they post crap but there’s no need to comment on that either. There are a couple of people who often post stuff I agree with and there’s no point repeating. But sometimes I chip in to contribute or test ideas.

I’m intrigued by the Alli-Starmer dirt you speak of, theotherjonv. I think I made my views on Alli clear back around page 50, Starmer is dumb to be so close to someone so rich and “generous”, gay or straight or whatever.

I’d much rather have a 6 year old posh car than a 1 year old basic one.

You’ve got both. wink

The problem with old posh cars has always been running costs. Once the warranty runs out you’re in for posh car bills. See the RS6 or whatever threads on this forum. Some of that will no doubt continue with EVs but their relative simplicity might make old posh EVs slightly cheaper to run – I still expect that what look like quite simple things will cost a fortune to repair, the battery cooling systems for example.

Wink.

I was very into cars then moved on and treated them as unreliable, expensive, idiosyncratic, highly polluting but unfortunately necessary in the modern world. One day the Renault dealer lent me a Fluence to try and despite it being a pretty poor EV I enjoyed driving it. A magic carpet on wheels, a mix of go cart and luxury limo. A few years later they lent me a Zoe and I was doomed to owning one – couldn’t resist.

Even with a formal diagnosis of two types of dementia a person can still be judged to have capacity. Again my own very limited experience. It’s a how long is a piece of string thing. Is this person capable of making this decision/ signing this document now? Yes and they make the decision/sign it, no and it’s attourney time.

Short term memory issues won’t necessarily prevent a person making decisions for themselves. They can still be judged to have capacity with quite serious memory issues – IME anyhow. Only when not understanding the current situation was an attourney asked by medical staff to make medical decisions, and that was the point the LPA became very useful.

Don Powell can’t remember what he did the previous day but is fine in the moment and doesn’t need attourneys making decisions for him.

I’ve got a 6 speed 2×3 which I’ve converted to 7speed derailleur with bits from Ali. I’ve done a three week tour through France on it with a Borough front bag and a tent on the rack. It gets used around town and taken on holidays being SNCF and DB compatible. I put it in its bag when taking it into shops, hospitals, hotels etc. It’s not the nicest bike to ride but I’ve got used to it, fond of it even. Buy some really stiff tyre levers.

I can’t answer the question but this might help if the LPA is recent.

https://www.gov.uk/use-lasting-power-of-attorney

The bar for not having mental capacity is quite high (low) in my very limited expereince.

the question seems pretty neutral to me?

Just like the Brexit. It’s not the question that’s the problem it’s what motivates the reply: Spite, greed, callousness, ignorance, stupity, hate, selfishness, racism… .

who thinks rich pensioners should be given the £300 anyway?

I do, but I wouldn’t call it a fuel subsidy I’d call it a state pension increase which every pensioner (including the rich) would get in relation to their NI contributions record. I’d go a step further and have a universal income for anyone over 18 (or 16 if living independantly) which would top up low/zero incomes to bring people out of poverty. Giving the very poorest money is never going to turn into an economic “withdrawal” and is money that will be recycled in the ecomony to the benefit of all. Being stingy with the poorest is a poor economic choice.

I prefered the pickups in a recent Epiphone to 2010ish Gibson, Tom. The Epiphones were brighter/cleaner and IMO better as a source for pedals. You’ll notice a difference but whether you’ll like it is another matter. I had a frustrating time with “fancy” Telecaster pickups and learned that price was absolutely no guarantee of a sound that pleased me.

But Tesla superchargers are generally around 50p, Daffy. EV visitors to France will be pleased to hear even more Tesla chargers are open to all. I’ll be paying 43cents at the time I’ll be charging on Saturday. :)

I take your point though, at 85p EV are more expensive to fuel than comparable ICEs.

The obvious candidates of similar size (Zoe, Mini?) are 3 door

The Zoe is four door or five if you count the hatch. The early e208s don’t have a good reputation for reliabilty or range, but the newer are ones with the bigger battery are better in both respects.

Last drank over two years ago , I can recommend it.

and when it comes to the 2CBC, a majority of people actually support that too.

The majority of people supported Brexit and 40% still want hanging. A disincentive to have kids in a country with a birth rate below 2 since the 70s and currently 1.56,  in a country that also hates immigration is **** stupid. Quite apart from the morality and ethics of child poverty. The majority are selfish arses and don’t want anything paying for they don’t benefit from directly, and sometimes they’ll cut off their nose to spite their face rather than see other people benefit from something that they’d benefit from too.

Anyone got an 18 million flat to lend me?

You seem to have a good grasp of “legal’ and ‘illegal’ Mr Starmer, but not a clue on ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. Your moral compass is taking you into the cess pit and Labour’s popularity with you. Fool.

Keys, not permanently but for frustratingly long search periods.

But if you have a holiday let what is to stop a punter running a three pin charger lead out to their car through a door / window etc?

A shitty earth. Do you tell the owner their house earth doesn’t comply with the regs because they’ll obviously ask how you know and then you’ll reply “my car charger tells me and won’t work”.

having a laugh & getting well paid at the same time.

Having a laugh at other people’s expense, often foreigners and/or minorities, is a dick think to do, there was too much of that to continue to watch.

Get laid: yup

Ride a bike: yup, up Luz Ardidenne yesterday

Have fun: nice swim, a bit of DIY, picked up the German exchange people from the station – yeah all of that was fun today, even typing this reply to your rant as I sip a relaxing infusion is fun.

Sleep tight.

I’d expect 1/ be pleasantly surprised by 2/ might take up the offer of 3/ and would be unlikely to use 4/ at 50-60p unless you’re very remote.

Not a chance! I want them to be much better people than me ?

I wanted mine to be what they wanted to be. What I was getting at was be a role model. If you don’t want an alcoholic don’t abuse alcohol, if you want them to treat people well – treat them well, if you don’t want them to be a lousy driver be a model driver, if you don’t want them to eat badly eat well, if you think being aware of what’s going on the world is important watch the news from multiple countries, if you think Europe’s great show them, if you think languages will be useful to them then make multiple languages a part of their life.

Lead by example but don’t place the bar so high they’ll feel a failure, I didn’t want him to be much better than me (even if he is), I wanted him to be him – straight or gay, a captain of industry or DJ, a carpenter (that failed he doen’t know one end of a screw driver from the other)or an intellectual higher flyer because they’re all equally valid.

Too many parents want their kids to be better than them, so put them under pressure to succeed and make them feel failures even when they are succeeding.

And far too many parents want their kids to realise the dreams they didn’t realise themselves. So don’t want/expect them to be better than you. Lead by example but let them choose their own attainable goals then help them as best you can.

Only bad parents wouldn’t worry about it.  The fact you are worrying about it means you are not.

Oh dear, I must be a bad parent. Not that I’m worried, I doubt junior worries about it either. Funny that, he’s 26 and we rode up to Luz Ardidenne on roadies yesterday chatting happily on the way. Sure we’ve had our moments and some of it pissed me off but I don’t think worrying about it would have helped. As with most relationships, put yourself in their shoes and mix what they would expect you to do with what they hope you’ll do with what  seems reasonable to you.

If I’ve any advice, it’s to remain resolutely positive, keep helping them even when there’s naff all return on investment, never do anything out of spite, and be the person you hope they’ll become.

I don’t know how old you are but knee and hip replacements are done young in France if needed and give people their lives back. I sometimes ski with a Gendarme who had two hip replaements in his late 40s and another triathlon club mate has had his knee replaced in his 60s. I ride horse with a guy who has just turned 70 and is the middle of both hip and knee replacements. The knee replacement has got him back on a horse and he’s having the hip replacement to get back on a bike.