Category: Cars

Misc thoughts and articles about my car and cars in general

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Canberra EV Festival

On October the 4th Canberra hosted an Electric Vehicle festival on the grounds of old parliament house.  At the show was a complete range of Electric and Electric assist vehicles (hybrid).  Two old Detroit Electric cars at one extreme and a Tesla Roadster at the other.  Along with the large companies showing off their almost electric Hybrid cars (actually not at all electric, they still get all their energy from petrol) there was a great collection of home conversion cars.  I met, in person some people and cars that I had researched on the internet.

Really has got me thinking… it would not be that hard to pull together the gear for an electric bike.  Of course I might have to learn how to, weld, cut metal and design stuff… also a shed full of tools might help, don’t have many of them.

Anyway it was fun and inspirational, here are a few links to get you going..

Hope this inspires you.

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Drivers as a reflection of our society

I know by the end of this post I am going to sound like an old man talking about the good old days, but you know what I don’t care!

Now my scooter keeps up with the traffic (top speed over 120Km/h most limits in Australia peak at 100Km/h), the only people I “slow down” are the ones that want to travel well over the speed limit and then I will always be in the slower lane. However I tend to leave a good three second gap in front of me as stopping distance.

Today on the way to work on my scooter I experienced the most stupid dangerous piece of driving I have seen in a long time. I was undertaken (passed on the left hand side, remember we drive on the left here) while trying to negotiate a left hand sweeping turn onto a on-ramp. The road was wet from last nights rain and I was taking the corner a little easier than normal and was off to the right to give myself room as I turn into the apex on the left. Just as I start to turn in a large family sedan appears on my left hand side. Now this is a single lane on-ramp, the car had two wheels on the verge (actually a bicycle lane) and the other two in the lane. Luckily I had given myself enough room that I did not run into the side of the car (turn in) or end up across a traffic island (not enough turn) so I did survive to swear loudly at the person. It was also lucky that she did not slide out on the corner due to the wet greasy conditions and take me and my scooter out because I had nowhere to go to avoid that.

Now do you know what advantage this person got from this extremely risking driving maneuver? Well it was five car spots… behind me! Just after passing me the person pushed into the right lane (nearly collecting a small compact car, obviously did not mater car or bike), I stayed in the left and in the stop-go traffic I was taken ahead of them quite a way.

So this person risked MY life and limb (I was traveling about 65Km/h) on there drive to work to hopefully save themselves what 20 seconds at most. Even then due to the traffic that time was lost. Now this was not some 19 year old “lead foot”, this was a “lady” in her 40’s driving to work for the day.

This is not a comment on old/young, male/female drivers but more a comment in general.

When did we as individuals stop thinking about the effects our actions have on other people?

This in most graphically shown on our roads, behind the anonymity of our vehicles we are impatient, aggressive and dangerous.

  • People a buying cars that protect themselves to the detriment of the environment and other road users (yes SUV owners).
  • People fit devices on the front of the car to reduce repair costs after small accidents, these same devices are shown to kill pedestrians much more effectively and at lower speeds than a car without a “Bull-Bar” or “Nudge-Bar”.
  • Drivers will double park, use disabled parks or parent parks just to save 20 meters extra walk to the shop.
  • Parents the stop next to and sometimes across a school crossing because they don’t have the time to find a park and walk in with the kids.

What happened to the days when people would:

  • smile and wait for the old lady to cross the road
  • give the learner driver just a little more room
  • let the lady with the kids in the back have the park that you “spotted first”

OK so call me the old man pining for the good old days. To be honest I think the world is full of individuals now and because of that I am unsure how a society can survive.

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Going on two

Well I am doing it! I am going to be using two wheels to get to work very soon.

I am selling my old large six cylinder car and getting a Scooter. Yep a scooter! This will save me a lot of money in running costs and give me a little joy on the way to work.

Now I have put a deposit on it and will be picking it up in a couple of weeks, so until then here is the stock image.

Forza Scooter

Now this isn’t you usual little scooter, this is a 250cc step-over sport scooter.

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Bose Suspension System

Ok so here is something a little different. Bose, the famous speaker makers, have come up with a new suspension system for cars.

This looks really cool, and active suspension system that uses linear electromagnetic motors to control each wheel. Each of the linear motors can push the wheel towards the ground or pull it up to the car, allowing all the bumps and potholes to be smoothed out. This will also prevent body roll when cornering and pitch when accelerating or braking.

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First Trip in the “New Car”

In a previous post I talked about the selection of my New Car, a
Peugeot 307 HDi.
Here is a brief account of our first trip in this car.

Just a quick reminder about the car for those of you that have not
read my article about the purchase process. This car is a five door
hatch, with a 2.0L diesel engine ( that’s right diesel ) providing
power through a 5 speed manual gearbox. On top of the normal specs I
had 16” alloy wheels and a tow bar fitted. It seems that
Australians in general cannot comprehend a diesel car that is not a
truck or 4WD. My wife and I find it very amusing when service station
attendants come rushing out to “warn” us that we will
damage our little hatch if we put that diesel in it. All my friends
and family could not understand or comprehend a diesel car, they
thought if would be rough, noisy, smelly and useless at any cruising
speed. They are wrong on all counts. The car is no rougher or noisier
than the petrol 307’s and provides excellent highway performance and
comfort. Our 307 was very miserly on fuel and gentle on the
environment, producing less carbon monoxide emissions.

We have owned the Peugeot 307 for about five months now but have
only used it around town and on weekend trips. I had two weeks
holiday at the beginning of July (winter here) and decided to go
north for the winter for about 10 or 12 days. Basically we had three
nights booked at a resort at Arlie Beach (in the Whitsundays) which
is about 1100Kms north of Brisbane, Australia. Then we spent five
days in Townsville where my little brother lives.

Having two children (10 and 4) along with my wife and myself we
decided to take the trip slowly and stopped twice on the way up and
back, having progressively shorter trips each day. Those nights we
stopped in cabins at caravan parks, supplying our own linen. This
meant carrying enough for four people over 10 days and included bed
cloths, so the car was full to say the least.

Even with the car fully loaded it did not feel sluggish at all,
acceleration was still good, ride handling and ride comfort seems
unaffected. It would have been easy to drive farther than we did each
day, with the climate control keeping things comfortable and our CD’s
keeping us amused. We took every opportunity to head of the highway
to check out dams, fairy cottages and lookouts and the Peugeot
handled all the different road surfaces and inclines without any
effort.

Here are some interesting facts about
our trip:
Number of kilometers traveled

 3256
Average mileage for complete trip

5.5L/100Kms
Max distance on one tank

 996Kms (55 liters to fill)

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New Car Search

Early this year I decided to bundle a car lease into my remuneration package. I ended up making an interesting choice in both the make, engine type and size of car.

Firstly I would like to spell out the reasons for getting a new car. My previous car (by the way it is for sale, anyone, anyone?) is a very nice fully imported 1989 Nissan. It is large and has all of the mod cons, you know the list, climate control, electric everything, woodgrain dash, etc. It has a beautiful smooth six cylinder motor, which provides plenty of power and good economy on the highway. Around town, however it used more fuel than we thought acceptable (approx 13 L per 100Kms).

One of the things that concern me is the effect we are having on our planet. Our continued destruction and thoughtlessness is slowly killing the only world we call home. With this in mind I wanted to ensure that my new car enabled me to “tread lightly” on this world. Based on this I decided I needed a smaller and more economical car but still one that was practical for me with my family of two kids. It had to handle everyday trips to and from schools, shops and friends and family. We would also have to do some driving holidays to keep the total mileage up (Australian Tax laws) and see this wonder land that I live in. Our last, and most difficult requirement, is that this car would have to transport my daughters Double Bass to and from school. That’s right I wanted a small economical car that can transport 4 people and a Double Bass.
You should have seen the car salesmen go white when we told them that.

Anyway after searching around and reading some reviews of small 5-door hatches, I decided to look at the new Peugeot 307, as it had a lot of the features that I was used to and a wider wheel base then most of its competitors. These alone would make it more suitable for our longer trips then the rest of the contenders. However I did really want to reduce the fuel usage as much as possible and I spent a long time researching on the net and in car magazines. What struck me was that small cars from Europe with Diesel engines were by far the most economical and with very low emission rates. People in Australia, however have a preconceived notion that diesel is dirty, produces low power un-drivable passenger cars. This means that only Peugeot release a small car here that runs on diesel.

Based on this research I went to the dealer and asked for a test drive. To my dismay they had no diesels on the floor and would not have one for months. Not to be deterred I took one of the petrol cars for a test drive (which included confirming the Double Bass fitted in the back with only one side of the seats down). I found the build quality, ride, handling and safety features to be better than any other car I had tested to date. But I was still very unsure about buying the diesel without a test drive. Luckily the local paper (Courier Mail) had a review of the car I was looking at comparing the diesel to the petrol. The reviewer highly recommended the diesel engine over the smaller petrol due to it more usable power and torque.

So I bit the bullet and ordered a Peugeot 307 Hdi.

I have now had this car for five months and I have not once regretted my purchase. It has been economical averaging 7.5 liters per 100Kms in town and 5 along the highway, it is very comfortable on long trips (550Kms longest so far, with family, computer, microwave and suitcases), and carries a huge amount in the luggage area.

We are going on a long trip soon and I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

Links:
Energy Wise Rally
Peugeot 307 Technical Details