Do you drive a manual or auto?

[Highway Man]

Presents?

Will be soon, I am flat out at work wiring up points ready for the lights and trees. We may not actually get them all done in time this year as we are struggling with the motorway projects and short on the highly skilled labour that we need.

 

[pete01]

Will be soon, I am flat out at work wiring up points ready for the lights and trees. We may not actually get them all done in time this year as we are struggling with the motorway projects and short on the highly skilled labour that we need.

When do you need me?

 

[Mottie]

Both the autos have flappy paddles to change gear, which are never used.

We have flappy paddles on ours. In normal/ECO mode, they only adjust the level of regeneration - Auto, 1,2 and 3. Level 3 is like touching the brake when you lift off the throttle, such is the drag caused by energy recuperation but in sports mode, they change the gears. Bit of a novelty though, it not exactly a sports car - probably of some use if towing a caravan up a steep incline maybe?

 

[Highway Man]

When do you need me

All road sweeping jobs are taken, we do have a need for a white line painter though that may suit you

 

[pete01]

All road sweeping jobs are taken, we do have a need for a white line painter though that may suit you

I've got previous experience...

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Car and van both automatic. Previously only ever had manuals. Wouldn't ever buy a manual ever again, autos are so much more relaxing to drive.

Previously had cruise control on manual cars, used to like using it. But on an automatic it's in a different league, you can just roll along pressing + and - as the speed limit changes.

I was talking to a young relative who's learning to drive just today. He's learning in a manual, because most old cars and parents' cars are. I told him to stick with that plan, as I've heard that drivers with an auto-only licence get charged around 10% more for their insurance, i.e. someone with a manual licence will pay less to insure an automatic car. The insurance industry thinks an auto-only licence is a riskier driver. In the past usually those who couldn't get the hang of driving would resort to passing an auto-only test, so I suppose this logic makes sense.

 

[Highway Man]

I've got previous experience...

View attachment 393735

I thought so

 

[Brigadier]

On what have electric cars got to do with this thread....somebody else had brought them up earlier in the thread.

On why EVs are a tax on non-EV owners... EVs and their infrastructure are heavily government (i.e. taxpayer) subsidised. This also means that they are yet another example of two-tierity.

Fossil fuel industry is currently subsidised to the tune of £20 billion a year in the UK.

It's no wonder they make such eye watering profits.

You can keep up your deluded bullshoite though, if it helps you through life

 

[Munroast]

Fossil fuel industry is currently subsidised to the tune of £20 billion a year in the UK.

It's no wonder they make such eye watering profits.

You can keep up your deluded bullshoite though, if it helps you through life

bit of an exaggeration there - more like 17.5b, which works out less than 7p per person per day

 

[Brigadier]

bit of an exaggeration there - more like 17.5b, which works out less than 7p per person per day

A subsidy though, nonetheless.

Would you not think that a century-old industry that makes multi-billion pound profits a quarter would have no need of taxpayer subsidy at all, let alone any more?

 

[Brigadier]

On what have electric cars got to do with this thread....somebody else had brought them up earlier in the thread.

On why EVs are a tax on non-EV owners... EVs and their infrastructure are heavily government (i.e. taxpayer) subsidised. This also means that they are yet another example of two-tierity.

How much, p. a.?

 

[diy_fun_uk]

I recall my first drive in an auto, I had to take some brackets to the galvanisers in a pick up (ute), driving down the road I went to change gear, instead of the clutch I pressed the wide brake pedal and screeched to a halt, good job it was a quiet street, the opposite occurred after picking up a manual camper in Auckland, ended up kangarooing out of the car park

Lol, I did exactly that when I drove one years back!

 

[SPLINE]

To the Brigadier.... I'd estimate about 100 billion p.a., or £1000 a year for the average working family. (Dole families get it all free of course).

 

[MNW67]

To SPLINE:

Google says much lower. Less than one billion per year. But they might have missed elements:

The UK government is subsidizing electric cars with a £650 million Electric Car Grant (ECG) from July 2025 until the 2028/29 financial year, providing discounts of up to £3,750 per eligible new electric car priced under £37,000. This grant, part of a larger £4.5 billion investment in zero-emission transport, aims to make electric cars more affordable by reducing upfront costs and is available on a first-come, first-served basis to car manufacturers meeting high sustainability standards.

 

[noseall]

they are yet another example of two-tierity.

Not really. They are just two completely different (driven) vehicles is all.