https://www.motor1.com/news/379538/psa-fca-merger-plan-announced/ It's now official - PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel/Vauxhall) and Fiat-Chrysler are merging.
In terms of the climate... For fucks sake you guys, electric cars aren’t the immediate end all be all savior of the Amazonian Tree Owl. Industry and shipping FIRST. A little 1.6 diesel isn’t anywhere near as toxic as a Chinese factory dumping waste into the ocean is. I can’t believe you “environmentalists” can’t see that. You focus on the car. Is the car A problem? Yes. Is it THE problem? Far from it. It’s a war on the car, not a war on pollution. A real war on pollution would actively seek to end the destruction of rain forests and dumping trash into the sea. You’re a fraud. Just because you don’t like the car doesn’t mean it’s the immediate cause of the world’s problems. How about you go and end the terrorism in the Middle East? Go end corruption in Russia. Solve the poverty in Africa. We can’t solve anything because we can’t even take care of ourselves yet. Scientists are so busy creating oversized food blenders to power your soulless box on wheels that they can’t solve world power. They can’t solve GMO because little suburban mommies think it’ll turn their demented little gargoyle offspring stupid. We can’t solve vaccinations because of anti-vaxx millennials refusing to vaccinate both themselves and their gremlin children. You people are idiots.
As much as there's truth in that, reducing your own household and transport emissions is something that is possible for you to do. Fixing the way China throws something in the ocean isn't something you as an individual have the ability to solve.
A car's pollution does not stop at manufacturing and CO2. It is made once, but keeps polluting various shit for years and years. Also, nice "appeal to other problems" fallacy.
The manufacture of batteries for electric cars is very dirty, so to speak. Hydrogen fuel cells offer a completely carbon zero fuel source, although development of the manufacture of it isn't quite there yet. As far as dealing with China's mistreatment of the world, we as people also inhabiting the planet, should be calling them out a lot more than we are.
I can't do anything but agree to that. I personally already combine trips and recycle. Yeah, it's small, but even the smallest effort makes a difference. But that applies to larger problems. Yes, a single individual can't solve something like ocean pollution, but I've yet to see a picket line outside of eating vegetables and driving a Prius. There's a lot of talk, but very little action. Go on then, do something about it. You're fighting the wrong war.
Yes the car is a problem we can try to make better for emissions but its not the only problem we face. We need to try and make everything cleaner the car is a starting point but not the onlything that needs to be changed.
I think we're having a little bit of a manual transmission resurgence this year, at least in Canada. I've just been browsing the car configurator tools on a few different brands' websites and it seems a lot easier to get one on 2020 models than it was a year or two ago. It's too bad I'm nowhere near being able to afford a new car since I really like the current Golf GTI. Plaid seats ftw
Car pollution is very small compared to factories and other industrials. Reducing an individual's(such as yourself) emission does negligible effect to the environment. Therefore you should adjust your house and transport according to the lifestyle you enjoy, not the so-called "environmentalist" 's recommendation. If you like EV then drive an EV, if you like an ICEV then drive an ICEV.
I would equate that statement to murder being less significant than mass murderer so we should all just limit ourselves to killing only one person. It is rather backwards, and also factually incorrect with industry accounting for 22% versus transport at 29%. Energy production was also a big one at 28%. Now, these were US figures that also excluded shipping, but did count aviation so that will itself be a huge hit, 9/11 flight groundings actually demonstrated that one, along with a secondary global phenomenon that a lot of people forget about: global dimming. But most ground level noxious fumes in towns and cities, the shit that impacts your health? Specifically from automobiles, not even just talking greenhouse gases but nitrogen oxides too.
I don't know if you've heard of or watched this TV show. These 2 guys (or better to say, idiots) are buying cars from the bottom of the market and trying to flip them in order to double invested money. For only 5 days. I've recently found out this show, and pretty liked it, because I'm pretty bored at watching series, which are only dealing with expensive classics or some cars that are virtually non-existent where I live. So, I watched several episodes, until I stumbled upon an episode where they tried to restore a 1997 Alfa Romeo 155 1.8 T-Spark (the car on the photo below). I was over the moon, because I expected to see one future classic saved and fixed. The car, which they bought, was banger in every possible sense of that word. Rusted sills, inner wings, etc. But it had working engine, and other pluses. They've bought it for 400 pounds, without checking for the rust damage, etc. When they arrived at the workshop they started fixing it, primarily the rust, which was the major problem. They've also done some other repairs like repainting the wheels, changing brake cylinder and camshaft belt. And after 5 days of battling rust, they decided to scrap the rarer and rarer 155, and by that lose around 800 pounds, even though one man offered them to buy and save this car for 300 pounds. In that case they would lose money, but less than they did. Scene where crushing of the Alfa was shown really affected and irritated me, as an Alfa Romeo and oldtimers and youngtimers fan. These 2 persons are calling theirself ''car guys'' and ''classic car lovers'', but I think that none of the such would scrap a still fixable car. Was the scrapping of the Alfa their idea or producer's (same as original Wheeler Dealers) I don't know, but whoever it was, it was certainly wrong. Firstly, before buying it they should've insprected the car in detail, and then decide whether they will buy it or not. Second, 5 days which they think it's enough to fix every car, here simply wasn't, as different cars need different fixes. Third, it's totally unclear why they didn't accept the offer of the man that wanted to buy this 155. To conclude: this episode was IMO definitely the worst episode of some automotive series. While in other series, like Wheeler Dealers or Car SOS, they want to restore cars like they were new, and extend their lifespan, here, or precisely in this episode, they sent totally different message. If the cars drive you up to the breaking point, you should scrap it, burn it, whatever, even though there are people which want to do the right thing. I know that this show has many times lower budget than 2 above mentioned ones, but, honestly, if someone wants to sort out the car, why that shouldn't have been accepted? The act of scrapping the beautiful 1997 Alfa 155 was certainly the heresy, mostly amongst Alfa and youngtimer fans, but I see that as same as burning an old book or destroying some old machine...
My mom has been car shopping for like 3 years now... My aunt was at the Nissan dealership for maintenance on her car, so we were doing the usual dealership fun stuff. The salesman was hating on Infinity... So that was funny.
To be honest, just looking at the sheer number of "bargain" old Alfas at junkyards should tell enough about the economics of restoring one - they just aren't there. Also, Wheeler Dealers - the series that tells you that restoring cars is a cheap thing, as long as you have a master mechanic and a well-connected car salesman working for free. But when it comes to "some cars that are virtually non-existent where I live.", this is what I loved Top Gear, Wheeler Dealers or even Pimp My Ride for when I was a kid. They showed a world where the cheap beaters weren't old communist cars, or early-to-mid-80s (or 1970s, like some W123s or Audi 80s) German/French family cars, but Range Rovers, big Cadillacs, 80s BMWs, V12 Jags, S-Class Mercs, LS400s... So what that you would occasionally see a W123, or even a C123 or W116 beater? It had nothing on James May in a V12 XJS (https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_33750-Jaguar-XJ-S-XJ27-1983.html), Mike Brewer in an LS400 (https://www.imcdb.org/v086659.html) or Xzibit in a classic muscle car (https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_83964-Mercury-Cougar-1968.html)
That's up to the taste. I'm not fan of most British cars and bigger models, mostly cars like Triumph Stags, Spitfires, Frogeye Sprites, etc. I enjoyed that episodes of course, but not as much as episodes with Italian, French or Japanese cars. Wheeler Dealers are IMO a show with a main goal of showing how you can fix a car on your own, and how much all it costs. There were episodes with cheap models, like Fiat Panda 4x4, but also an expensive ones like Corvette C2 or Lamborghini Urraco. Also, Alfas are notorious as pretty unreliable, and I agree with that, but is it logical to scrap a car that is saveable, with running engine and if someone offers you to take it and repair it? Scraping option is idiotic to me then.
Well, for me British and American luxury was more exotic and endearing, mainly because I would see very little of it in real life. French and Japanese stuff was much closer to me, with my father thinking about buying a 205 GTI and there being all the tuner Japanese cars in magazines and TV back then. And some of the Wheeler Dealers stuff is pretty far from the goal of amateur mechanics' encouragement - swapping a Morgan frame in your garage? Rebuilding a Polish import Lambo Urraco there?
It just occurred to me that I genuinely have not seen one of these Corolla sedans in possibly years.. where did they all go.. I still see plenty of liftbacks tho
