Electric Cars

Exactly the same as my Petrol Automatic then !

It was a handle last time I drove an auto, with a detente to stop you going into reverse accidentally.

That's the same for many (most?) cars nowadays isn't it? Our (2009) Citroen C5 diesel has 'just a switch'.

First one I've seen, my Suzuki Vitara is completely traditional apart form the driving mode switch.

Pity about the price.

and my diesel auto...

it can be almost anything these days. There is no mechanical linkage to the box

Mine has an eCVT so doesn't have discreet gears (had a loner AYGO for a while[woman had reversed into me in a car park {miles and miles of nothing and she manages to reverse into me}] that was automatic but had discreet gears . You definitely new when it had changed gears).

The delay bugs me but is probably no longer in real terms than applying a manual brake .

Bit like my self charging hybrid then

RTFM. Mind you for a loner whilst #1 is being serviced probably not worth it. Took me a while too to get to grips with the touch screen info system ,but a few sessions with the manual, and a few "oh that's what that does moments" and I was fairly au fait with the system

Mine ' reads' road signs too (my eldest son hates it as it is "too automatic " beeps at you for speeding, beeps at you for getting too close to the car in front, beeps at you for crossing white lines beeps ... ).

Wouldn't have thought anyone would want to do a LONG distance in a 500 (city car init)

I've had electric parking brake on the last two cars.

The nice bit is the effortless hill start.

Talking of Dodgems, which really should be called collidems in my view, what voltage do they run on? There are healthy sparks on the overhead netting I recall, and people tell me they are still used in many fairgrounds, and I'd imagine cause much interference as well. I'd imagine its fairly low voltage for safety, but high currents. Brian

But the nasty bits (at least on the hire car that I had recently) were:

a) adding a few revs, while the clutch was down, automatically released the brake (I only tried that because of the death of a girl who did that and the car rolled away, turned over and killed her). Surely they could have interlocked that feature to prevent unexpected release while in neutral?

b) with the ignition off, there was nothing to indicate whether the handbrake was on or off. The switch pushed down for off or pulled up for on, but then returned to the central position. A toggle switch that stayed in the end positions would be better.

c) if you had a flat battery, you'd not be able to release the handbrake to push the vehicle into a position where you could jump start it. I know you can operate a back-up manual release, but for some cars, that needs to be dealer reset before the handbrake will work again.

I don't know what they use today, but apparently, traditionally, they used 100V DC - as that was the general supply for fairground equipment.

Mine doesn't do that. In addition, the automatic release doesn't work until, after starting, the car has been in motion.

Mine has a dashboard light which is always operative unless the car is in 'sleep' mode (it does that after about three days, but wakes when a door is unlocked).

Yes, that could be a problem. I keep a battery booster in the car.

The major design flaw they had in the first car (they are the same model) was that they hadn't moved the parking brake switch to the driver's side for RHD. They did that after a year or so on newer manufacture. It was too easy for the passenger to apply the parking brake accidentally!

I had one on a rental in Jersey a few years back.

I started on a hill. The handbrake stayed on, and I stalled. Then it let the handbrake off, just as I dipped the clutch :(

Andy

her way around surely?

"IT'S THE VOLTS THAT JOLT BUT THE AMPS THAT KILL"

Remember Van de Graff generators run at millions of volts but are safe(ish) to touch.

I believe the Voltage is about 100V or so, sufficient to give you a good 'belt' but in most cases wouldn't be fatal .

Aside. I remember muck> Talking of Dodgems, which really should be called collidems in my view, what

It's the volts that jolts and the mils that kills.

I remember mucking about inside a "Dansette" type record player still plugged into the mains I got a 240 belt that left me not wanting another, ever

Did that with the 300 v power supply for an R1155 receiver, lucky I'm here to not want it again.

Glad I never tried it with the PSU for out T1154, which was about twice that!