Apparently the next VW Golf will have to be auto-only if the Euro 7 regs go through as currently drafted. I’m not sure quite why this is, although it might be to ensure the engine stays within pollutant limits under all driving conditions. I think we are seeing the beginning of the end for manual cars now, which is a shame. They are so much more predictable in corners, and can be driven more smoothly than an auto, assuming you’re even half competent.
Just been day dreaming looking at a European Spec 23MY Dodge Challenger brochure and see they are now only available with 8 speed torqueflite transmission, if I was not approaching retirement I would be worried, good though some automatics undoubtably are.
The private car is being nationalised by stealth. Better off buying an e-scooter and a balaclava.
Discuss (20 marks)
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Homogenised perhaps but nationalised ?? Will we see the return of Red Robbo and the Marina ?
I can’t get excited about the transmission on daily drivers - my Hyundai daily driver has a 7 speed DSG which is hardly pulse racing but for routine driving it is fine . I don’t tend to start trail braking or dreaming of heel and toeing , or nailing an apex in my fit for purpose but dull as ditch water SUV .
That said, much as I like the lovely Alpine , if I were in that market it’d have to be six on the floor and not six (or seven ? ) on the paddle thanks. Who doesn’t love a theatrical heel and toe into a sharp corner ? Even in my MX 5 it provokes a grin and in my very vocal Seven it was LOL stuff.
I’m talking about centralised control. Tracking, speed limiters, braking software, road pricing. Once that is taken over by central government it never stops because there is no limiting control. It was said during Lockdown. Once central government take personal freedom to make decisions away they hardly ever give it back.
Driverless cars are almost inevitable. It will be interesting to see how they deal with a three-deep group of chatting cyclists on a Sunday afternoon and the 1.5 m “rule”.
I heard there won’t BE a next Golf. They are going to facelift this one at the end of the year and that’s that apparently. It’s not the right platform for mass production hybrid / electric and it’s time has come. Like when the Beetle ended, it was because things had moved on. Am sure someone will confirm or refute this properly, am just going on what I’ve read here and there and what my father in law said the VW dealer told him when he ordered his Tiguan recently (also about to be discontinued in favour of something electric).
Cyclists are all part of the conspiracy against personal, decentralised, transport? Or have you been reading the Daily Mail?
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I blame 5G , the Great Reset and all the other bonkers guff in that appalling ‘newspaper’ which someone shoved through my letterbox - The Light. Time to stock up on the Bacofoil
That was also my understanding, however it’s not entirely clear if there will be another Golf in due course
LIkewise, Ford have binned the Fiesta and Focus, both seemingly slated to be replaced by mini-SUV or SUV style electrics
Ford once binned the Anglia and had to explain to the public why they shouldn’t be afraid of the new Ford Escort.
In the ad, they made a good point about the Model T.
They did the same again; obviously the Escort-Focus and Cortina-Sierra-Mondeo, and all worked out fine.
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More of us will have a dementia of some sort in the future. Paradoxically, those driverless cars you are so afraid of will enable those with dementia to experience an independant life for far longer, likely leading to an alleviation of symptoms, and reduced social care costs. Once those with dementia are institutionalised in their own homes, by concerned relatives, or in a care home, their health rapidly declines. Their care costs increase. Most pace makers are fitted to people with dementia, with obvious dire consequences considering the view society takes of people with dementia.
The government (“central government”) has always had the absolute control, on whether you could drive, or not, since 1934. Its called the driving licence. They can revoke your driving licence on the basis that you do not conform to laws, and sometimes those laws are nothing to do with motoring. They can revoke your licence due to rather arbitrary medical requirements. The DVLA can revoke your licence on the orders of the Home Office, if retaining your licence is not conducive to the public good. In the case of a medical revocation, the medical board doesn’t have to prove you are not fit to drive, just make that determination. The motorist has to appeal if they think the board is mistaken.
You consent to being controlled by having a car with licence plates fitted. Forget ANPR, since day zip of the original Road Traffic Act has made it possible for a Bobby (or a boy by the name of Bobby Miles) with a notepad and pencil to note a numberplate down and effectively track you.
Driving a car is not a right. Driving a car is not exercising a freedom, but exercising a privalege. Now there are some lawyerly types, with a southern drawl, on the other side of the Atlantic, who would argue driving is a right.
There is this “common law right to travel”. Common law was the attempt to enshrine in law practices that occured before we had any codification (effectively before Roman law), and the Commons basically referred to grazing land.
One of the (small) reasons we have to pay tax is to support the salary of the poor civil servent who has to respond to idiots like this:
Sovereign citizen-lunatic types. he probably doesn’t have a car.
The way I read it, the next (final?) facelift will be DSG-only. I still don’t get the Euro 7 link, though.
Oh the old common law argument - much loved by some folk , Freemen I think ? , who come up with some daft guff about all statute law being ineffective etc .
The driving is a privilege theme is a common one but ill grounded. In the UK , if you have a valid licence and a legal car , the right to drive is just that - it is not a privilege given or withdrawn on a whim by the state .All the nonsense quoted about whether X Y or Z is ‘LAWFUL’ is an attempt to question the enforceability of statute law . Well ,some try to argue it isn’t , but some believe the earth is flat too . When I was doing my law degree we opted to focus on the law as it is , rather than as some want it to be - which probably makes me part of the problem . It’s a cross I’ll just have to bear
The Home Office has ordered the DVLA to rescind the driving licence of anyone stripped of UK citiizenship. Interestingly, if you do not have the right to work in the UK, you lose your GB licence. Parliament decided in 2014 that the ability to drive in the UK should be determined by citizenship and/or visa status, neither of which have any bearing on the whether an individual is capable of driving. UK Residency it seems is not enough.
Prior to 2014, this was not the case; you could be in the UK without a work permit (which covered a lot of people entitled to be in the UK), but could have a driving licence. The State, through the Will of Parlament, moved the goal posts. Someone with a valid driving licence in 2013 would find in 2014 it was suddenly invalid through no fault of their own.
The government can also cancel your licence if they judge you to be “not a fit and proper person”, which is a bit vague. There are definitions of fit and proper person in relation to business or the issuance of Hackney Carriage Licences, but I don’t see one in relation to a driving licence.
The “State” does have the power to cancel your driving licence on a whim, whim meaning a change of mind. And its a privilege only available to British Citizens or aliens with a work permit.
Between 2010 and 2022, over 1000 people were deprived of UK citizenship. Many cases are not due to criminality.
As I said , if certain preconditions are met , you have a right to a licence . I don’t term an Act of Parliament or SI a whim .
I’d never driven a golf till a couple of weeks ago - have one as a temporary replacement for my company car that’s having some work done on it - bust heat shield, break in exha=uast at manifold - and I’m really enjoying the golf.
They gave me a 2 year old Golf GTD and it’s an automatic but also has flappy paddles on the steering wheel.
It’s fast great exeleration, really good handling, though a little heavy on fuel, though I have it in sports mode 95% of the time - only thing that’s missing is a roof that goes down.
Was thinking yeah this is fast then, what the hell’s the GTI like, then the R then the R32 - the GTD is fast enough, but I wouldn’t say no to any of the others
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Because of the much tighter limits imposed by Euro 7 - and the fact that the cars will have to show real world figures when being driven rather than tested on a rolling road - it is almost impossible for a manual gearbox car to achieve the results required.
A programmed auto box will be able to keep the engine in the “clean zone” for much more of it’s life.
The very basics of Euro 7 are :
Tougher testing procedures when assessing vehicles: pollutant levels will be measured for short trips, and in ambient temperatures up to 45 degrees celsius.
Emission limits for tyres and brakes: tyres and brakes shed particulate matter (microscopic pieces of material) as they wear. Euro 7 will set limits for how much brake dust and tyre particles can be produced by new cars. This is an entirely new requirement.
Cars must stay cleaner for longer: Euro regulations are predominantly based on assessing new cars, but they also involve checking the emissions vehicles as they age, and engines become less efficient (and therefore less clean-burning). Euro 7 doubles the period over which compliance is checked, from five years and 100,000km (62k miles) to 10 years and 200,000km (124k miles). Car makers must also fit electronic sensors to individual cars that allow them to automatically detect engine faults that lead to higher emissions.
Longevity assessments for electric car batteries: EVs and plug-in hybrids will have the longevity of their batteries assessed under Euro 7, checking how much capacity they hold as time and mileage increases. This is being done to improve confidence in second-hand electric cars, and is an entirely new requirement.
I can see that all demand for “manual transmission” will disappear in less than a generation. I have no desire to reproduce the feel of a gearbox without synchromesh nor non-servo assisted drum brakes.
easy, self driving bicycles
I am in the driver training industry. I gave up teaching learners owing to the DVSA being a shower of poo with the way they working during and post covid, and that youngsters now are getting really hard to teach/coach owing to on the whole being completely unable to make a decision, realise danger/hazards, and taking responsibility for them themselves.
So I became fully “fleet” orientated in earning my living with full licence holders. One of my jobs is testing/assessing the suitability of full licence holders wanting to become a taxi driver. For me VW introducing automatics across their range would be safer for all of us. (after all, when we are eventually fully electric there will be no new manual cars made).
The amount of full licence holders who have no idea about how gears work, and love “neutral” coasting, or ramming the clutch in every time they go down hill or corner would make any decent driver weep. Bring it on I say.
For those of us with further driver training, such as IAM/ROSPA will still be able to enjoy our cars for many years yet. I do however have an auto for our family car, and it is lovely wafting along without having to constantly change gear in stop/start traffic, but like the OP’s post, having a gear box for “making progress” is rather fun.
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