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There were (pretty generous, in my view) scrappage incentives. Did you qualify for those? (And if not, why not)? Really? As well as paying your taxes, you also pay full whack for all your healthcare? Your street lighting? Your share of the armed forces? Your share of the education...

Ah.. so they were "good" but "dirty" cars then? About 55,000 out of 2.6 million registered in Greater London. Of those, not all were scrapped. Some were permanently exported (lots donated to Ukraine) and as has been said, some were simply sold into areas where there was no ULEZ. Result...

Oh please... :rolleyes: Go and live in an actual communist regime and then come back (if they'll even let you!) and cry about living in a "communist regime". "There are only two things that are certain in life, death and taxes". Benjamin Franklin in 1789. You're really not that special you...

Remind me what the criteria for that scrappage scheme was again...?

Nothing to stop you driving round in a perfectly maintained 10 year old petrol car right now. In fact, if you choose wisely, there's nothing to stop you driving round in a perfectly maintained Euro 6 diesel, if you prefer.

It's OK. Looking at Johnny's responses, it's clearly a conversation that needs having quite a few more times before it starts to sink in with some folk. In reality, it's a bit of a non-issue really. (Which is why Khan got re-elected recently). The policies are working, bit-by-bit, both for...

No wonder so many people die early from poor air quality here!

I think their type approval emissions requirements are very similar to ours, but their "in-service" (AKA "MOT") emissions requirements are way tougher than ours, so by 5 years old, few of them will get through the test. I often hear folk saying: "...but mine's really clean - it flew through...

No, there's no legal requirement. Quite surprising really, when you think how many things are regulated!

I do wonder though, (but have absolutely no facts, either way!) whether its overall better to leave the torque converter working (as you say, giving the transmission fluid a slightly harder time), or suffering the increased contamination of that same fluid with more clutch band particles by...

Fair enough. Mine's unusual in that respect. https://www.bmwblog.com/2023/11/17/bmws-externally-excited-electric-motor-explained/

One thing I'm not sure about with EVs... They don't have a clutch or a torque converter, so if the car stops, the motor stops. When running normally, the electric motor is turning and each set of windings only sees current for a fraction of a second, before it passes to the next set. What...

I think that at that age, the Merc is probably a conventional "torque converter" auto? If you come to a stop in "drive" (or any gear), and hold the car on the footbrake, the torque converter will just slip. It's just hearing fluid when it does that. There are no friction linings being worn...

No problem at all. The hard plastic tube is probably polyamide (nylon). Should be good for up to about 100 PSI of fuel pressure. Is it petrol or diesel? A couple of years ago, my son bought a non-runner on eBay (fuel leak). It turned out some idiot had jacked it up and trapped one of those...

To be fair, if Norseman doesn't really do many motorway runs, that might not be such a big deal? If he gets a plug-in and plugs it in, it sounds like it will be an EV most of the time.

If you are disciplined enough to plug in a plug-in hybrid (and most folk aren't, they just buy them for the tax breaks but never bother plugging them in), then you could see very significant fuel savings. Obviously, it helps if you have a "night rate" electricity tariff of some sort. The "low...

You could get a hybrid and it would work for you - no question. How well it would work, is the question. A "mild" hybrid would feel just like an ICE car to drive and run. You'd hardly know the electric bit existed. Personally, I wouldn't bother, as any fuel savings are likely to vanish into...

What's your total mileage (say) per month, and how often do you do more than (say) 100 miles in a day?

I once saw them described on an American forum as "training wheels for Luddites"... ;) We've been here before though. For some years, steamships did still carry sails!

Same here, to be honest. In fact, any hybrid, to me, is a bad idea. Worst of both worlds! I think a lot of them are simply just cynical attempts to get a better CO2 emissions figure on paper. They look good in the type approval emissions test because they can do a lot of the drive cycle on...