Will you miss the car?

chris25 · Post by **chris25** » 13 Feb 2008, 08:31

snow hope wrote:YES!!!!

The power of 150 horses under your right foot!
The exhileration of 0-60 in 10 seconds or less.
The way you can travel anywhere, any time. Freedom.
The enjoyment of going for a drive. Up mountains, to the beach, to the countryside. 2 hours to Dublin, 1 hour to the North Coast (for me).
As a youth - going out with your friends, girlfriend, Privacy.

Anybody who hasn't had those feelings has missed a lot!

Of course we will miss the car....... (I gave up the dreaded weed in 2000 as well TB)

I also agree with that. The freedom my car has given me is phenomenal. It's given me new jobs, taken me places I would never have gone to before, saved me hours of time, given me hours of enjoyment time and to be honest I abosoloutely love my little car but then, at the same time, I also heavily dislike the car culture.

If the streets were quiet then perhaps the kids would be out playing there and people would walk or cycle from A-B, imagine how relaxing the environment would be compared to the average A-road in Britain today. (like renewablecandy said)

Post by **clv101** » 13 Feb 2008, 09:05

What future for motorcycles in the future? Perhaps double the fuel efficiency, similar personal empowerment, cheaper and less resource intensive to manufacture...

Do we have any PowerSwitch bikers?

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 13 Feb 2008, 09:37

Not giving up the car unless we get a fast crash or the government makes me.

I plan to buy a mini cooper for a couple hundred quid, pull the engine out and put some batteries and electric motors in.

I plan to run it off a small windmill.

Since it will be for the extreme luxury of taking the kids to school and going for the groceries I expect I will have to drive it at most fifty miles a week so it should be perfectly feasible.

Post by **clv101** » 13 Feb 2008, 10:00

fifthcolumn wrote:I plan to buy a mini cooper for a couple hundred quid, pull the engine out and put some batteries and electric motors in.

Did you read this?
The Post Peak Car

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 13 Feb 2008, 10:15

clv101 wrote:
fifthcolumn wrote:I plan to buy a mini cooper for a couple hundred quid, pull the engine out and put some batteries and electric motors in.
Did you read this?
The Post Peak Car

Mmmm. I like the looks of "Chantal".
(Switches into testosterone mode)
"Here: take my money, sign me up for four of those stupid looking cars if I can have a kiss"....

Post by **clv101** » 13 Feb 2008, 10:22

The videos of that little Fiat look fantastic - I expect a very similar thing could be done with a Mini.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 13 Feb 2008, 10:23

jonny2mad wrote:Ill miss it for things like car bootsales no cars how will people transport their crap to sell, car boot sales are my favourite hobby as are pop festivals and I think a lot of people will stop doing things like that .

Hmm, tricky one. Bike-trailer sales, perhaps? You can get quite a lot on a bike trailer...

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 13 Feb 2008, 10:32

Ballard · Post by **Ballard** » 13 Feb 2008, 22:31

clv101 wrote:The videos of that little Fiat look fantastic - I expect a very similar thing could be done with a Mini.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08 ... d_mini.php

And British made too...

Personally I hate cars, they ruin towns and villages, they turn normal people into sociopaths at the turn of a key, and are ?violent? as they career past my young children but of course they are amazingly convenient and comfortable.

sentiententity · Post by **sentiententity** » 13 Feb 2008, 23:42

No, I can't wait. There's so much to hate about cars...really something for everyone-

The way so many people's psychopathic tendencies pop up as soon as they get behind the wheel.

The way cars destroy what should be pleasant urban life, and then this is exacerbated by idiotic politicians and planners pandering to petrolhead lobbies. The most hideous environments we make, out of town shopping centres or strip malls as the Americans call them, are designed for the benefit of cars not humans. Those vast deserts of car park are so bleak.

Comfort? I had to drive a fair distance at the weekend and it's played merciless merry F--k with my sciatica.

Car parking is utterly the worst use of land humans have come up with. This supports more life than a car park:

It's a volcanically-polluted salt lake in a high-altitude desert.

The freedom of car driving is a myth for nearly everyone nearly all of the time. Most people spend most of their driving time limited by traffic jams, looking for parking spaces, etc. And this doesn't include the time spent working for your car to fuel, insure it, pay the depreciation, etc...It's not a coincidence that most car adverts are shot at 4 am on midsummer's day on a pass in the Alps.

Driving is to cycling as TV is to real life.

s.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 14 Feb 2008, 12:42

sentiententity wrote:...It's not a coincidence that most car adverts are shot at 4 am on midsummer's day on a pass in the Alps.

Nah. They just use computer graphics these days (or in one notorious case, the Marshall Is. with the new millennium's first sunrise).

We once tried to get into Andorra (OK not the Alps but the Pyranees) and it was full.

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 14 Feb 2008, 15:32

Ballard wrote:
clv101 wrote:The videos of that little Fiat look fantastic - I expect a very similar thing could be done with a Mini.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08 ... d_mini.php

And British made too...

Personally I hate cars, they ruin towns and villages, they turn normal people into sociopaths at the turn of a key, and are ?violent? as they career past my young children but of course they are amazingly convenient and comfortable.

That Mini's a great piece of hybrid technology; it would be even better if it were retro-fitted in buses.

I have a love-hate relationship with cars. Like others here, I dislike the car culture and the fact that in so much of Britain, people are forced into car dependency. Living most of my life in the south east and particularly in London, driving has seldom been a pleasurable experience. It's something you endure. But then so is travelling on the buses and tubes in London.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 14 Feb 2008, 16:18

Funny to think that before about 1700 travelling was something you only did if you absolutely had to: if you got exiled, if you got burned out (naturally or otherwise), if you went off to 'seek your fortune' (which was generally only done if the alternative was desperate poverty). I suppose about the only exceptions were pilgrims. Even the word 'travel' comes from latin/french for 'hard labour'.

So, about not enjoying travel, well, nowt new there, then

Kentucky Fried Panda · Post by **Kentucky Fried Panda** » 14 Feb 2008, 19:53

clv101 wrote:What future for motorcycles in the future? Perhaps double the fuel efficiency, similar personal empowerment, cheaper and less resource intensive to manufacture...

Do we have any PowerSwitch bikers?

I have a bike 650cc v-twin, about 50MPG if I behave.

We're still waiting for a viable turbo diesel motorbike to hit the market. So far the 4 big Japanese manufacturers haven't mentioned anything on the horizon.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 15 Feb 2008, 10:16

50 mpg if you behave?

I take back everything I said in praise of bikers being kinder to the planet. I despair.