The Car thread

[moore_94]

Had my insurance renewal offer through from Darwin for my current car and was quite surprised to see it has actually gone down from £418 to £391

 

Others I have spoken have said theirs has gone up (sometimes by quite a lot as well)

Edited 14 June 2024 by moore_94

[fox_favourite]

16 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Had my insurance renewal offer through from Darwin for my current car and was quite surprised to see it has actually gone down from £418 to £391

 

Others I have spoken have said theirs has gone up (sometimes by quite a lot as well)

That's very lucky! I'd snap their hand off . But never heard of Darwin

 

Mine went from £289 to £514 with no changes. 

[The Bear]

1 hour ago, moore_94 said:

Had my insurance renewal offer through from Darwin for my current car and was quite surprised to see it has actually gone down from £418 to £391

 

Others I have spoken have said theirs has gone up (sometimes by quite a lot as well)

Mine went down a decent amount as well. Very surprised. 

[Jattdogg]

@Izzy do you use a foam cannon to wash your cars? If so, what ration of dilution do you use for water to snow foaming soap?

 

i know it may differ from brand of soap but generically speaking, thoughts?

 

I will watch additional youtube videos but seeing some say 1 part soap to 5 part water. Or 1 to 15 or 1 to 20. It's all over the map lol.

 

Got my foam cannon today so hooked it up to the cannon and pressure washer trying to understand how it all works. Struggled with getting it to foam properly but equally got it. Think I need some practice lol.

Edited 15 June 2024 by Jattdogg

[Milo]

11 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Had my insurance renewal offer through from Darwin for my current car and was quite surprised to see it has actually gone down from £418 to £391

 

Others I have spoken have said theirs has gone up (sometimes by quite a lot as well)

I’d never heard of Darwin’s, so I thought I’d give them a try and see if they could beat what I’m currently paying with the AA. 
 

Turns out I would be £900 MORE a year with them! 😲

 

I swear they all just make it up as they go along. 

[Izzy]

4 hours ago, Jattdogg said:

@Izzy do you use a foam cannon to wash your cars? If so, what ration of dilution do you use for water to snow foaming soap?

 

i know it may differ from brand of soap but generically speaking, thoughts?

 

I will watch additional youtube videos but seeing some say 1 part soap to 5 part water. Or 1 to 15 or 1 to 20. It's all over the map lol.

 

Got my foam cannon today so hooked it up to the cannon and pressure washer trying to understand how it all works. Struggled with getting it to foam properly but equally got it. Think I need some practice lol.

It depends on a few factors (brand of snow foam as you say, but also the power of the pressure washer and quality of cannon/setting you use)

 

I use Bilt Hamber Auto Foam which is typically 'runny' compared to most other brands. I use it a 50/50 ratio so quite a lot of product tbh but my pressure washer is shite and needs upgrading.

 

If it ends up being too foamy it might look good but doesn't necessarily pull the dirt off. Give it plenty of dwell time if the sun isn't beating down.

 

All good fun figuring it out 

 

[fox_favourite]

@Izzy - can you bring all your equipment to mine to clean. I'll make you a cuppa?

[jgtuk]

Anyone got an i-pace? @FoyleFox 
Ridiculously cheap for a used high end EV, around £22k for a 21 plate low mileage fully loaded car. Originally sold for in excess of £60k… 

Previously owned an XF Sportbrake 3.0s which was mapped and put out around 320bhp but the i-pace has around 400bhp… 

I’d like to see real world figures regarding range, reliability etc. 

Rear view doesn’t look great but I noticed some had a camera instead of using a mirror. 

They even have 11kw home charging capability. 
I’ve looked at installing a home charger and they’re also relatively cheap to buy and install, even a 22kw version. 
 

[Robo61]

21 minutes ago, jgtuk said:

Anyone got an i-pace? @FoyleFox 
Ridiculously cheap for a used high end EV, around £22k for a 21 plate low mileage fully loaded car. Originally sold for in excess of £60k… 

Previously owned an XF Sportbrake 3.0s which was mapped and put out around 320bhp but the i-pace has around 400bhp… 

I’d like to see real world figures regarding range, reliability etc. 

Rear view doesn’t look great but I noticed some had a camera instead of using a mirror. 

They even have 11kw home charging capability. 
I’ve looked at installing a home charger and they’re also relatively cheap to buy and install, even a 22kw version. 
 

You would need a three phase supply for anything above a 7 kw charger,  which would not be cheap to install.  In any case it would only be any use in any case if you has multiple vehicles to charge and/or your a very high mileage user.

[Raj]

49 minutes ago, fox_favourite said:

@Izzy - can you bring all your equipment to mine to clean. I'll make you a cuppa?

I've mentioned to @Izzy he should set up a side hustle.

He loves detailing and would make him a few bob.

[jgtuk]

15 minutes ago, Robo61 said:

You would need a three phase supply for anything above a 7 kw charger,  which would not be cheap to install.  In any case it would only be any use in any case if you has multiple vehicles to charge and/or your a very high mileage user.

Already have 3 phase 👍
Not high mileage user though but may get another EV in the near future. 
I just like to future proof as the cost of a 7kw vs 22kw charger is not massive 

Edited 15 June 2024 by jgtuk

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, Raj said:

I've mentioned to @Izzy he should set up a side hustle.

He loves detailing and would make him a few bob.

It's on my radar for when I retire mate.

Another 5-6 years 'working' then I'll spend the rest of my days golfing and detailing I think. 

If I can make a few quid detailing locally to support my pension then happy days.

Health permitting 

[fox_favourite]

@Izzy - sounds like a good plan!

 

if you do, you'll have customers lined up on here. Me 1st though (Foxestalk discount )

Edited 15 June 2024 by fox_favourite

[Jattdogg]

3 hours ago, Izzy said:

It depends on a few factors (brand of snow foam as you say, but also the power of the pressure washer and quality of cannon/setting you use)

 

I use Bilt Hamber Auto Foam which is typically 'runny' compared to most other brands. I use it a 50/50 ratio so quite a lot of product tbh but my pressure washer is shite and needs upgrading.

 

If it ends up being too foamy it might look good but doesn't necessarily pull the dirt off. Give it plenty of dwell time if the sun isn't beating down.

 

All good fun figuring it out 

 

Cheers.  I bought an mjjc cannon pro version 2 which is a decent one from what I've read. I have heard of Bilt so will keep that as a potential  future purchase option.

 

For now I bought the standard stuff from my local auto/home store but you can get it on amazon too.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Chemical-Guys-CWS_110-Honeydew-Cleanser/dp/B009OTW646

 

I bought a small bottle as I didn't want to get stuck with a lot of product (if it sucks).

 

Looks like I just got to play around with the ratios. My pressure washer is 1450PSI with about 1.24 GPM flow rate. Decent enough for the job but I would love to upgrade as the hose is a bit shorter and over time it has had some issues.  I probably need to do a maintenance check on it.

 

 

 

 

[Izzy]

6 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

Cheers.  I bought an mjjc cannon pro version 2 which is a decent one from what I've read. I have heard of Bilt so will keep that as a potential  future purchase option.

 

For now I bought the standard stuff from my local auto/home store but you can get it on amazon too.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Chemical-Guys-CWS_110-Honeydew-Cleanser/dp/B009OTW646

 

I bought a small bottle as I didn't want to get stuck with a lot of product (if it sucks).

 

Looks like I just got to play around with the ratios. My pressure washer is 1450PSI with about 1.24 GPM flow rate. Decent enough for the job but I would love to upgrade as the hose is a bit shorter and over time it has had some issues.  I probably need to do a maintenance check on it.

 

You've got an excellent cannon there Jatt - highly recommended.

 

Bilt Hamber is a UK brand so not sure if it's widely available in Canada yet. You can't go wrong with any Chemical Guys stuff though so the snow foam you've got is more than good enough IMO.

 

If you want to calculate the exact 4% PIR (Panel Impact Ratio) then watch this quick video.

 

 

Far too complicated for me 

[Jattdogg]

23 minutes ago, Izzy said:

You've got an excellent cannon there Jatt - highly recommended.

 

Bilt Hamber is a UK brand so not sure if it's widely available in Canada yet. You can't go wrong with any Chemical Guys stuff though so the snow foam you've got is more than good enough IMO.

 

If you want to calculate the exact 4% PIR (Panel Impact Ratio) then watch this quick video.

 

 

Far too complicated for me 

Thanks for that. Funny enough, I saw this guy's video when I was trying to figure it out lol.  I am a math guy so it made sense but at the same time, I prefer to not over complicate and use simple instructions.  

 

Interestingly the box the foam cannon came in literally says to use 100ml soap and 900ml water!  Seems a bit too runny for me so going to try to stick to the 1 to 5 ratio and see how that goes. Work on my "motion in the ocean" lol.

[Tuna]

23 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Ended up going for a wander around Available Car on Monday just for a look and decided to go for a Renault Kadjar

Reserved one (not at Available Car) and now just waiting for it to be available to see and test drive (looked at one exactly the same with less miles and slightly out of my price range but at least I already know I like how it looks and the interior etc)

Are the cars all still unlocked? Assuming you went to Castle Donington

[FoyleFox]

3 hours ago, jgtuk said:

Anyone got an i-pace? @FoyleFox 
Ridiculously cheap for a used high end EV, around £22k for a 21 plate low mileage fully loaded car. Originally sold for in excess of £60k… 

Previously owned an XF Sportbrake 3.0s which was mapped and put out around 320bhp but the i-pace has around 400bhp… 

I’d like to see real world figures regarding range, reliability etc. 

Rear view doesn’t look great but I noticed some had a camera instead of using a mirror. 

They even have 11kw home charging capability. 
I’ve looked at installing a home charger and they’re also relatively cheap to buy and install, even a 22kw version. 
 

Yes. That's what I've got. Love it. 

Range obviously depends on the type of driving you're doing and to a certain extent the weather. It doesn't drop as much as the sceptics say during winter. 

I've just charged fully and it's at 260 miles. That might be 245 miles in winter. My kw/m varies depending on journey, driving style and traffic but it's between 3 and 6 usually. Speedy driving and hard acceleration decrease you mi/kwh but the car is rapid and fun to drive so,  it's hard not to do that. I never cared about my mpg due to only doing low mileage so, I'm not starting now. 

I don't have an issue with rear visibility but I had an XE and a TT prior, so no significant reduction for me there. And, yes my version (HSE) has about 95 cameras so you can see absolutely everywhere on screen. 

I couldn't recommend enough. Definitely look for one with heads up display and a pan roof. Oh, the cooling seats were a new feature to me, they're great too.... if we ever get a summer, obviously!!

[jgtuk]

18 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

Yes. That's what I've got. Love it. 

Range obviously depends on the type of driving you're doing and to a certain extent the weather. It doesn't drop as much as the sceptics say during winter. 

I've just charged fully and it's at 260 miles. That might be 245 miles in winter. My kw/m varies depending on journey, driving style and traffic but it's between 3 and 6 usually. Speedy driving and hard acceleration decrease you mi/kwh but the car is rapid and fun to drive so,  it's hard not to do that. I never cared about my mpg due to only doing low mileage so, I'm not starting now. 

I don't have an issue with rear visibility but I had an XE and a TT prior, so no significant reduction for me there. And, yes my version (HSE) has about 95 cameras so you can see absolutely everywhere on screen. 

I couldn't recommend enough. Definitely look for one with heads up display and a pan roof. Oh, the cooling seats were a new feature to me, they're great too.... if we ever get a summer, obviously!!

I’ve looked at a couple, both HSE variants with pan roof, HUD, heated/cooling seats, adaptive cruise etc. 

Going to test drive next week. 
The standard warranties offered by the garages aren’t brilliant and expensive so will try to find something independently, perhaps @tom27111 might have some insight?

[tom27111]

1 hour ago, jgtuk said:

I’ve looked at a couple, both HSE variants with pan roof, HUD, heated/cooling seats, adaptive cruise etc. 

Going to test drive next week. 
The standard warranties offered by the garages aren’t brilliant and expensive so will try to find something independently, perhaps @tom27111 might have some insight?

 

You should have an 8 year warranty on your EV battery or 100k miles, that seems pretty standard. There are stipulations to it, probably something like 80% degradation before they'll replace cells or the entire battery.

 

With regards to extended warranties from garages, you'll pay an absolute fortune from a car supermarket, it's utterly ridiculous and certainly not recommended. Its how they make their money. Some supermarkets will lose money on the car, but make thousands in finance and warranty commission. 

 

A main dealer is a different story, for example, at Nissan, we give a 12 month warranty with every used car, then a 2 further years is £599. That includes top level RAC cover during that time period too.

 

I definitely wouldn't be paying more than £350/£400 a year for a warranty. 

 

 

[moore_94]

4 hours ago, Tuna said:

Are the cars all still unlocked? Assuming you went to Castle Donington

Yeah all the cars in the main area are unlocked, there is an area at the bottom for what I assume are vehicles they have brought in recently where only some are unlocked

[tom27111]

Anyone in the market for a new Nissan?

 

End of the quarter and we're not far off target, practically giving them away if they're registered this month!

[Guest Lcfc82]

Anyone know anything about charging of Plug in hybrid’s ?

 

Looking and getting one and trying to work out if I would need a charger installing. Been looking online and looks like they can be just plugged into a regular 230v socket, is that correct ?

 

If so, do the cars come with charging leads for a 230v socket or would I have to get them separately 

[The Bear]

2 hours ago, Lcfc82 said:

Anyone know anything about charging of Plug in hybrid’s ?

 

Looking and getting one and trying to work out if I would need a charger installing. Been looking online and looks like they can be just plugged into a regular 230v socket, is that correct ?

 

If so, do the cars come with charging leads for a 230v socket or would I have to get them separately 

You should be fine using the 3 pin plug method as it shouldn't be a very big battery (you can even charge a Tesla this way). It'll depend on the manufacturer if it comes with a charging cable with that adapter on the end, you'd need to check with the manufacturer website or whoever you buy it off. And it might not be long enough even if it does come with one. There are plenty of options online for buying extended cables at reasonable prices though. 

Edited 22 June 2024 by The Bear

[Robo61]

8 hours ago, Lcfc82 said:

Anyone know anything about charging of Plug in hybrid’s ?

 

Looking and getting one and trying to work out if I would need a charger installing. Been looking online and looks like they can be just plugged into a regular 230v socket, is that correct ?

 

If so, do the cars come with charging leads for a 230v socket or would I have to get them separately 

You certainly can plug it into a normal 13 amp socket just as you can with a full EV. THough I would get an electrician to carry out a safety check on the one you intend to use, as prolonged use at 10 amps will likely take advantage (fire) of any weekness there.