Jaguar Land-rover

[motorbiking]

There are a few reasons why people buy SUVs and other huge vehicles – status symbol, to spend their pension pot, desire of safety for “loved ones” etc. Perhaps 1% have a legit need, like caravan towing or off-road use.

But whatever the reason, they’re a pain, too big for the roads and parking spaces. And increased safety for one is at the cost of reduced safety for others.

Judging by the numbers, my guess is about half the motoring public owns one or aspires to get one, and the other half hates them with a passion.

What surprises me is that nobody in authority points out how antisocial it is and tries to discourage it. You wouldn’t expect it from the likes of Clarkson, but apart from occasional comments from pundits, nothing..

If most people drove normal sized cars, which were fine 30-odd years back, there’d be savings in road improvements and maintenance, and reduction in CO2 emissions.

That’s my rant!

Round my way you need a 4x4 just to navigate the pot holes. Also my 4 series is longer than the ms’s SUV and the model 3 is about the same size. All are 4WD.

 

[Highway Man]

I'd call that an utter disaster!

The DS is a posh car (with absolutely no brand snob points, which I consider a positive). But, underneath, it's standard Peugeot-Citroen oily bits. I've just bought new pollen filters for it and the Berlingo, they're both exactly the same part, £8 each for unofficial but decent parts.

The one major issue we've had was with the AdBlue system. Thankfully I found a brand new genuine injector and sensor on ebay. Garage replaced both, I did the software twiddling. Cost was under £200, would have been about £2000 if I'd chucked it at the dealer. Has worked perfectly since. I didn't get my delicate hands dirty but saved 90%. Sometimes an unconventional approach can save vast amounts. But probably easier with a DS than a Beemer or LR because the same parts are used in countless bread-and-butter cars too, so you don't need to pay luxury prices.

My wife had a softie automatic DS. Was a nice enough car.

 

[pete01]

My wife had a softie automatic DS. Was a nice enough car.

What's a softie?

 

[Highway Man]

A soft top.

 

[Highway Man]

What's a softie?

We got it so we could have the roof down so everybody could look at me in it.

 

[pete01]

Like this?

 

[Highway Man]

Very similar. You would have to crash into the back of it to get the size right.

 

[blup]

Going back to JLR it seems employee data including passwords were stolen years ago but we’re not changed by JLR. In the meantime the data was held by the hackers until a suitable bid came in, and the recent hacking took place.

 

[fillyboy]

JLR will survive this but the smaller companies supplying JLR won't be able to stand the losses, a lot of jobs will be lost as a result, a tragedy for locals.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Going back to JLR it seems employee data including passwords were stolen years ago but we’re not changed by JLR. In the meantime the data was held by the hackers until a suitable bid came in, and the recent hacking took place.

Sounds like British Leyland level incompetence.

 

[blup]

Sounds like British Leyland level incompetence.

Maybe at the time of the first hack, the choice was also whether to lock down systems to check for malware and they just decided to leave it