In answer to the best sound system in an ev question…..

My Q4 had the Audi Sound Cube……10 Sonos speakers. No idea how good it is compared to others, but I like it. I’m sure there are better or others similar…..

https://electrichasgoneaudi.net/models/q4-e-tron/technology/soundsystem/

My Q4 Quattro has 310hp, so fairly quick. I’ve always had fast ICE, previous car was a Cupra and an AMG Merc.

I’ve said this before, but I drove the ICE cars too quick. Long journeys I’d always be in the right lane waiting for people to move out of my way. The EV is just a totally different driving experience. Way less stressful, it’s almost serene. I arrive to work after my 30 mile commute less stressed. I actually enjoy the drive now. In fact, I look forward to my long trip I do every month.
For me personally, even though I know the power is there, I’m much more content to enjoy the relaxing nature of the drive. Honestly there is a fight between me and missus about who is going to drive as we both want to do it. She’s always asking if she can use the EV, she has an ICE still and much prefers the EV.

Even stopping for a coffee to charge up is fairly relaxing….as much as a motorway service station can be.

If my EV was the single motor 200hp version I honestly don’t think I would notice.

I think in the public eye the demanding an apology is simply trying to make someone publicly admit to the person being wrong and “you” are right. This is not just English, its pretty common in world politics.

In terms of the Olympic athlete requesting an apology, she has dedicated her time and effort to be one of the best in the world, she sucessfully hit her target, the judges failed to see it and eliminated her. Why should she not have an apology? She is highlighting that there is room for improvement, that the current system is proven to be flawed and she had an opportunity taken from her, something she had worked incredibly hard at and may not get another chance to achieve. Seems fair to me.

My total household power cost is £18 a week for a family of 4. That includes car charging and the home use. My fuel cost was on average £60 a week. This is 70 mile round trip commute and day to day running family around. When I do my long trip once a month the saving is even more.

My EV is an Audi SUV (Quattro but it’s never been taken offroad). My ICE was a Cupra hatchback, 2 wheel drive and never taken off road.

I don’t break the cost down to an individual level, I just know that my ICE fuel bill has dropped from a minimum of £300 a month to a maximum of £100 for all my electricity usage.

Having owned a T6 camper and worked in it for bit…..space is such a big consideration from a work point of view. I know you’re looking at bigger, but having a permanent work base for me is so important. Working on a laptop all day for a week gets very annoying. I need my space for keyboard, mouse and additional monitor. Also this may only count for my setup, but also think about the seat you will use for working. I really wanted a proper chair. 8 hours a day on a standard campervan seat and table gets painful!

The idea sounds great, but really think about your working space and how that will work for you. I would love to do it, I completely get the wasted money in rental issue.

The thing is @ab1970 now you know how to top up it’s straightforward.Typically the information is available before hand so you could have done a bit of research.

I say that as someone who has an EV and went through the learning curve. I had no idea how to set mine up, set the apps up and what charging to do. My first long trip was a bit of a disaster. But that was on me not having done any research…just expecting plug and play to be nice and simple….( it is now that I know how, but it is definitely a step change from petrol or diesel….and I’m a bit of a Luddite so that didn’t help!!)

I second the Adidas Terrex shout above. I have these, get a new pair every two years….Used for lots of walking and even muddy mountain bike rides…..I have wide feet and can fit thick socks in and not have any discomfort.

https://www.sportsshoes.com/product/adi17264/adidas-terrex-anylander-mid-rain.rdy-walking-boots—aw24

I used to powerlift, former rugby player so it was part of our training. I lifted for about 15 years…..the snatch was always something I was absolutely uesless at. Non dymamic lifting I was fine, standard squats and deads I could lift heavy weights. I could clean ok, but snatch was just something I couldn’t master. I couldn’t imagine much of the British population being able to make olympic level. I’ve watched quite a fair few European level powerlifting comps and those boys and girls are incredibly strong and dynamic.

In terms of shooting clubs being on their backsides…..I’m not surprised. I tried to join two this year. The first three months you have to be accompanied, when it suits the chair person/instructor. Attitudes to new members was disgusting. It was my dad, me and my brother trying to join. At both clubs the person doing the 3 month assessment was retired, so we could attend during the weekday or not at all. Incredibly unhelpful attitude.

That’s awesome Weeksy!! Enjoy your beer, well earned!

Pictures please Derek…….

Good result – must be similar available at last minute? Update us all with where you find…..

Me and the girlfriend worked out that the £1100 I spent on the home charger would be paid back in 8 months by saving on fuel. Thats based on my ICE costing me £60 a week in fuel. If I only did home charging the costs is approximately £15 per week.

8 months of fuel would be £1900. 8 months of electricity is £500. (rudimentary man maths I know!)

Its not as simple as that though, we do charge occassionally at the motorway and at my flat. So will take approx 1 year before we break even. I’ve had the car since April, done just under 7000 miles.

The problem I see with street charging is the initial cost of deployment is going to be high. That money is going to have to be recouped somoehow, I would imagine this is recouped in the usage cost. Also, the cost of new EVs are way too high in my opinion, mine is leased via the salary sacrifice scheme, so I get an ok deal (relative to what it would cost on PCP). But this is really of benefit to the higher tax payers. Which in my simple mind kind of says….if you have a house with a driveway and earning a good income then you can save more money by getting a new EV. If you are on a lower income, live in a flat/terraced house you will continue to pay higher for your fuel (electricity or keep an ICE).

Doesn’t help the OP, but I did 80 days in Spain, 5 days in France, 80 days in Cyprus, 15 days in Spain just after lockdown travel restrictions ended.

I did a modicum of research and looked like it was legal to do so. I did get stamps on entering and exiting each country.

Had those tyres and they worked fine for me…..but bike shop set them up for me with new wheels!!

They even resealed after a flat. Tyre went down mid ride, proper flat. Gas canister, span the wheel and it held.

That Pinarello video…..my gosh, that one definately meets the Ridiculous marketing blurb brief!! I absolutely detest that AI voice used in Youtube vids.

@intheborders – I was basing that on topping up at motorway services, like for like. I could have charged the car for 30 mins at home and would have had enough battery life to complete my journey – this would have cost me a couple of quid. But missus wanted to get food from Leon at the service station (she really likes their food!).

Last time I topped up the ICE it was £1.49 per litre. Motorway was £1.72.

I live in a flat, fortunately it has secure underground parking with EV charging. Its not linked to my flat, but its not overly expensive to charge, I pay a monthly rate based on usage. But I do also charge the car at my girlfriends who has a driveway with an OHME charger.

I completely agree that the cheap to run narrative is only true for those people who have the offroad charging option. I’m looking at buying a new place and its not easy to find flats at a reasonable price with the secure parking where I can charge an EV. I have also looked at houses, but most houses in my price range are terraced with onstreet parking.

Maybe contact these people?
https://www.militaryintelligencemuseum.org/contact-us

Based in Chicksands, Bedfordshire, could go visit them and get a ride in while there. ( https://www.chicksandsbikepark.co.uk/)

JUst to kind of bring this back a bit on topic….At the weekend missus took the EV to Anglessey (from Liverpool – car was at 80% charge at the start of the journey) – came back and picked me up. We then travelled to Chester to pick a friend up and headed down the M56 heading to a gig near Wigan. . Battery was at 16%, was close to having enough miles to do the full return journey but we had already planned to stop to pick up a coffee and food as missus hadn’t eaten. Plugged car into the fast charging, went for a wee break, bought a coffee and she picked up her food. Back at the car about 20ish minutes later and the car was at 72% charged.

My ICE would have made the journey without needing fuel, but the missus would have still wanted to stop to get some food. It wasn’t cheap, cost £36 to top up. Probably a touch more expensive than what the equivalent distance in petrol.

It was a very simple experience. No queue for the chargers, 3 empty fast chargers and loads of medium speed chargers available. Coffee and food from Leon was also very nice for those interested!

Protests happening in Liverpool this afternoon. My office is directly opposite the Passport and Imigration office. Small crowd and lot of police.

Was sat outside the office with a colleague (very nice lad of African heritage) – older couple sat opposite us staring at him. He went inside and they came to stare at me, very strange. Didn’t speak to me, just stood close by watching me. I’ve just took the young lad and another colleague home. Our office closed at 2pm.

Very disappointed tbh. This city is built on immigration and is extremely multicultural.

Regular air traveller and fellow watch fan….I just put all my valuables in to my carry on that gets locked. I also have an airtag in the carry on.

I have to admit before I was flying as regularly as I do, I would just empty everything out into trays and would be thinking how easy it would be for someone to swipe my watch or wallet. But now I’ve worked out a routine, its fairly secure and also a smoother process for the security team.

I live in a waterfront apartment, it’s a duplex, looks amazing during the summer months. Great place to live…..

Cheap heating from May to October. Then I’m paying about £400 a month just for electric heating. It’s horrendous. Last year I lived in just the down floor. Definitely one of those places that looks good to live but the reality is that it’s a bit naff! Hard to get explain how cold the place gets, I’ve had days where my clothes hanging up on the wardrobe have been frozen!

BBC highlights is terrible. Missed it live as was in a meeting.

Very very pleased for Tom!

Extraction (both) I’d second. Missus went away last weekend and it was Live Die Repeat for me.

Even in England / Wales there is a bit of a small learning curve.

When I first got mine we did a trip to Anglesey and had a bit of a mare with finding chargers that worked, had to download a few apps, put £30 on them only to find that the charger just trickle fed a tiny amount of electricity. My Audi app would have told me the charging rate if I’d have had a look.

But it was a mare, and mainly because I didn’t know what I was looking for. So no wifi or phone signal trying to download an app. Quite stressful.

But now I know what I’m doing, as a system it now works well for me.

No idea if this uploads works…..but while folks are talking about my favourite subject….Panerai GMT

Salbutamol is a bit weird. My daughter is a very good runner (English schools level); she’s asthmatic and needs her inhaler.

Other daughter is a ballerina and also needs her inhaler. It’s a strange one, I watch them in the winter and they struggle, but then they do winter training camp in Cyprus and Tenerife and they’re back to normal. I definitely think our climate can interfere with people’s breathing and the warmer cleaner air helps relieve it. Obviously Froome doesn’t fall into that camp.

@fhelawman great pic, lovely looking dogs!

My old house had a plastic lawn, it stink in the summer! Twice a day I’d rinse it out and spray it with all sorts of chemicals!!

Specsavers Verifocals for me. Absolute game changers. In the deal there is a buy one get one free, I now have a normal pair and a pair of photocromatic. Honestly they are blooming awesome, I can once again follow routes on my wahoo and see in the distance!

I didn’t get on with the multifocal lenses. Dont really know why, but didn’t seem quite as natural feeling as the glasses are.

@binners we can’t pass comment on what we haven’t seen. Currently there is no video showing what caused the officers to need hospital treatment.

We have seen a video of a man lying prone, not resisting arrest, being kicked in the face and being stamped on.

We have seen the video with the man recording what was happening, we have seen the police officer pepper spray him from very close range, then two police officers take him down.

I personally think that it is ok to pass judgement on what we have seen.

What we have read from the GMP does not equate to what has been seen. We absolutely should be questioning the validity of their statements. It’s just as safe to assume that the person lying on the floor was already restrained, complying with the instructions, and was theen booted in the face. Maybe the officer was trying to remove the Ferrero Roche from the persons mouth?

In I have to admit, I’m a fan so probably biased….

But I do know what you mean regarding the weight and the feel.

Really glad you’ve got the emotional connection to it!

Love the Panerai. Got yourself a relative bargain! Nice heavy brown box?  Spare straps?

I like that Boardman. Doesn’t look a horrendous price?

Rudy fork and GX/SX mix. I think that’s ok. If I was in the market I’d be tempted.

Have we seen the video of the officers being assaulted and what leads to it?

I’m guessing that must exist?

@funkydunc I equally don’t know the order of events, but if I had seen a police officer punch an old lady in the face, or kick a man in the face when he’s on the floor – no I wouldn’t vacate the area. I would be filming like the person in the video was.

In terms of what was or wasn’t being said in Rochdale, does that matter in relation to the videos?

I feel for the police, its a tough job without doubt. However (and I accept it is only snippets), the videos do seem to evidence police brutality. To kick someone in the face, someone lying prone on the floor with steel toe caps on is all sorts of wrong. To then attempt to stamp on their head, is to me indicative of someone who had the red mist descend.
The behaviour of the policeman who pepper sprayed the young lad in the face and then takes him to the ground, also doesn’t appear to be the levels of professionalism that we would expect from highly trained police officers.

To try to use an equivalance of this happening in the US or Spain is also incorrect. This event happened occured within the UK.

I have to wait until next Tuesday….tickets booked. Not very good at waiting…..AAGGGHHHH!!!
(Free tickets from our Sky subscription, no availability today and can’t use them on a weekend)

For me, and I’ve said this earlier in the thread. Its not about who he has beaten, its about the numbers that are being produced. In the road cycling world there was always a theoretical limit of what was achievable clean. He is suprassing that limit.

You then look at his team, and to see an 80kg, 6 foot 3 rider pulling really hard on the flat (expected) and then continuining up the climbs, that to me is a bit more difficult to believe.

Of course none of this is evidence of cheating. Its just not normal. Its also not normal to see a Grand Tour winner being so effective in the one day races. Again not evidence of cheating. But as a lot of us here are …ahem… getting on a bit…. we can remember the old days. And certainly for me, it makes me wonder.

I think it is right to be sceptical. If he was winning within the previously regarded tolerances, I think I would be much more comfortable with that. I do think he is a once in a generation racer irrespective of whether he is on the gear. I would say he is a Nibali esq rider but better. (By that I mean he is capable in certain classics and momuments, as well as being an amazing climber so making him a top GC contender)

That’s not too slow, just checked one of my mountain rides, 66 miles, 6800 feet of climbing, average speed 13.6 mph.
I purposefully selected that ride to show you as an example as the climb was new to me with, so steady descent and it was also August in Spain, it was hot. The final climb was just under 6 miles at an average of 3.5%, average speed was 7mph. Earlier climbs were a fair bit quicker, that one was at mile 45 to 51 of the ride.

(To try to show an equivalence I was a 2nd Cat road racer when I completed that ride)

That clock is a bit too busy for me, too many characters to allow me to see the time easily……

I left mine at Manchester Airport for three weeks. Was 80% charge before I left the house to drive there. No idea what it was on, but it wasn’t such a drain that I needed to worry about the return trip (Liverpool via Chester to Manc airport)

Only thing that happened was after 2 weeks I got a message from the car saying “Key not in distance”. But I turned up with key in pocket and just drove away with no issues.