OT Car Insurance

[Mark]

Might be easier to fit a speedometer though.

[Tim Streater]

20mph eh? Another good reason to avoid the place.

[Dave Liquorice]

Depends a bit on the car and how many gears it has got. In a car with four forward gears it's rather easy for the speed to creep up in fourth =

and many such cars aren't really "happy" at 30 in "top".

For 30 mph in my, five forward geared diesel, car I use 4th. Top means the revs are only 1500 and the turbo doesn't start to about 1800 rpm. It's still run an pull but it's not really happy. 4th pops the revs up t= o

2000, turbo is working, things are happier.

Anyway now off to read the small print of Aviva's multicar policy. They =

rang last night and with almost no persuasion knocked nearly =A3250 off =

their asked for renewal price to become competative with Admiral.

Bonkers!

[tony sayer]

Confucius he say "If you don't ask you don't get"

[tony sayer]

In article , Tim Streater scribeth thus

Indeed I only go there when I have to. If it were down to me I'd be off out in the sticks but other members of the tribe need to be here else its yet more commuting...

[Tim Streater]

Mmmmm. I consider myself lucky, given the lunatic way cyclists behave there, that I didn't have a collision with one during my time commuting to Hills Road.

E.g. that ped xing on Hills Rd by the Bot Gdns - I saw a cyclist more or less mow down a pedestrian on the crossing there - against a red light!

[Dave Liquorice]

I didn't really have to ask. Just mentioned that even the slightly reduced renewal costs were not competative they asked what I had quoted =

and effectively matched it.

But I agree, "If you don't ask, you don't get".

[tony sayer]

In article , Tim Streater scribeth thus

Daily occurrence that. I saw a couple of young oriental ladies hit each other in the middle of a pedestrian crossing on their bikes, and then after they have got up apologised to each other bowed at each other then went on their way;!..

Things yer see when you haven't a video recorder handy;)...

[ARW]

My van does not like doing 30mph in 4th gear. It's at 1000RPM when doing that. And I certainly would not call it a very very underpowered vehicle.

[tony sayer]

You sure the alternator isn't powering it;-?...

[Andy Champ]

This is the legendary torque of diesels? Like most legends, not actually true?

I'm happy with an engine that will run in top in a 30 limit (in fact at

30 I could use _any_ of the gears) and has a smooth torque curve up to about 5k and power beyond that. Very easy to drive. Perhaps that's why they call it a GT? OTOH 35MPG...

Andy

[ARW]

:-) But is nice to know that at 70 MPH on a motorway in 5th (2700RPM) that the turbo is only 1000 revs away should I need to speed up.

Typical VH gear box, quite good though the low revs, crap at mid revs and semi OK at high revs.

I miss the old Honda Civic - that car only became came alive at 6000 RPM.

[Man at B&Q]

When I told Admiral they were adrift by over =A3100 they offered =A38 "customer loyalty" bonus. I am so disloyal.

MBQ

[Ferretygubbins]

However Jobcentre employees (as in the Civil Servants) are required to have business use cover on their car insurance if they wish to claim mileage expenses whilst driving their own cars. This is policed by the staff members having to show their authorising managers a copy of their insurance documents prior to the first claim for expenses and annually after that.

Not particularly relevant I know but there you go.

Cheers

[damduck-egg]

The missus has got a Mini Clubman SD . Has a 2L diesel Can't run it in top gear at 30 ,darn thing has got so much torque that idle takes it along about 35 to 40. Took a bit of getting used to at first almost like a stuck cruise control. I'll forgive it's quirks when it only costs £30 a year VED though. Real life MPG is about 52 to 55 if I'm using it,49 to 51 if she is. I think that is because I look way ahead and lift off, she doesn't anticipate so well and has to brake.

G.Harman

[Man at B&Q]

.org...

My employer also had us all take an on-line driving asessment.

MBQ

[Steve Firth]

Err no, the gear ratios have been chosen such that top gear is not suitable for bimbling around in town.

[damduck-egg]

Oh I realise that and to attempt to do so would daft . Somewhere up thread somebody suggested that a vehicle that couldn't be driven in top at 30 had to be seriously underpowered.That might have been true in the days past but not now with most gearboxes having 5 or 6 ratios. where the higher gears on a reasonably powered car will take it along above a 30 mph limit. hence the advice from some places to adopt a lower gear which somebody found bizarre but has become a necessity in some cars . . The Missus car just idles along in top gear above the 30 limit so you have to change down to stay legal even if you wanted to be a mechanically unsympathetic driver.and drive with brakes against the engine . She had the Petrol S version before and that behaved differently slowing when you expected it too when you lifted your foot off completely prior to changing down,this one keeps lugging and you have to drop down a cog to get slower a fraction of a second earlier.

G.Harman

[tony sayer]

In article , damduck- [e-mail] scribeth thus

Thats was me .. and furthermore that I don't recall any vehicle I've driven since 1971 to be that under powered or too high revving etc either...

Really?. Wife's 2 litre and mine albeit older are fine at 30 in forth even fifth in my olde bus..

Is that "top" 4th 5th or Sixth?..

Eh?, not over revving is it?..

[damduck-egg]

sixth ,road has to be level though.

Not according to the rev counter.

I wonder if it is a quirk of the engine management or maybe it needs adjusting. Its difficult to describe the effect. Its not so much a problem when you are in a limit because by then we will be a in a lower gear anyway. But when approaching somewhere where you wish to be going slower such as approaching a limit you take your foot of the pedal and let the vehicle start to slow. I'm thinking at that point no fuel is going to the engine,but when the revs reach idle speed possibly it must be getting some fuel again and that seems to happen at the point just before going through the motions of changing down. The engine is torque is good enough that it even without pressing on the pedal it stops the deceleration . It feels just like the power coming back when you have cruise control engaged but have been going down a gradient for a while and start to up again. In the previous petrol model the deceleration continued and if you didn't change down the engine objected. This diesel version just pulls so you have to change down or the vehicle won't slow down further. Got used to it now but when it eventually needs a service I'll ask the dealer to check it .

To be honest I threw it into the discussion response to the contributor who asked if the torque of diesels was a legend. This one has plenty. Any way gone even more OT than the original OT and wallpaper hangers will be getting bored.

G.Harman