I cannot get to my work locations without a car. It is a requirement.
Regardless of it being a necessity I no longer enjoy them. I still enjoy riding my bicycle however and that is a large part of my reasoning behind having a nice roadie with di2, disc brakes, tubeless tyres, CF wheels and frame. I enjoy spending time on it. I’d rather spend a bit more on something I enjoy and less on something that is a utilitarian requirement.
What part of owning a car is the requirement?
I work on what is considered a remote site with no public transport. But I still don’t need a car as I can get there with a motorcycle.
When I’m on call-out they now require me to leave my MC at work and take the work vehicle home. They say I’m not allowed to ride it for business use as no 2 wheeled vehicles allowed. Call-out is deemed business use. I also can’t use a car unless it is under 10 years old with a 5 star safety rating.
The restrictions are inconvenient at best. 
Mate, I am travelling over 100km at times on rural roads in the early morning and after sunset. I have upgraded headlights and lightbar. The risk of roo-strike is very real, inded I have hit roos twice. No damage on the Patrol but the Swift would now be written off if it happened again. I can tell you I see no motorcycles doing similar after dark on my journeys, however, you do you, I will do me. 
My assessment based on the conditions, I am driving in, is that from a safety perspective, a car is required. Morever it is cold and wet to go with the dark not infrequently. I have no desire to risk roo strike whilst also arriving cold and wet.
Indeed, Bendigo would be rife with Roos possible more so than here in Albury, I’ve even seen them on my front lawn, big buggers too!! At the end of our street are paddocks with a huge Kangaroo population.
I have a motorcycle as well and apart from maybe using it a couple of time in town at night, it only comes out in the daylight hours.
Fair enough. I didn’t know the circumstances or regulations, that’s why I asked. I’ve hit a wallaby’s tail at night on the MC. It’s only a 50 zone and we only have wallabys on the northern beaches suburbs that I’ve seen anyway. If I was doing 100 at night on rural roads everywhere, I’d probably be driving an old large car. Horses for courses as they say. 
A big car would be better true. I may end up with my wifes Tucson at some stage. The Patrol is too thirsty. The Swift is not built for the highway, noisy and firm ride/short travel suspension.
I have put Stedi LED globes in the headlights and fog lights plus the light bar and know which roads to avoid for foilage close to the road. It is passable for now.
We don’t have a dedicated EV vehicle thread that I know of, so I’ll post this here.
I should probably carry over some of my car related adventures onto here - I’m sure a few of the Bicycle Network guys are wondering what happened to them.
Anyway the garage is still as previous - 1988 MR2, 1973 Mini Panelvan, 1979 Valiant, and IONIQ5N.
Those of you who remember the ‘seemingly minor damage to the IONIQ caused by someone doing a u-turn into it’ can be updated with the fact that it took my insurance company some 10 weeks to work out that it was apparently going to cost $150k to repair. And 3 and half months to deliver me a new one under the ‘new for old’ policy. So my orange IONIQ5N is now a blue IONIQ5N and I have a new insurer.
The Valiant remains ‘almost finished’ and would have been this week except we found some of the front suspension was installed wrongly at the wheel alignment. I’m hoping for roadworthy next week which is about a month short of 12 years off the road.
The interior came up alright at least!
Thanks for posting car stuff again MrP.
I’ve heard that EV insurance is becoming expensive, if not already. It appears obvious now as to why.
I thought the below video is quite telling, and wouldn’t expect Toyota’s repositioning response to help their situation. Honda did similar some years ago and it didn’t appear to help them in AU at least.
I had a bunch of minis back when I was young and stupid(er): 850x2, Deluxe with a worked 1100, MK2 S that I never managed to get on the road. My brother has just bought a Jap import '99 Cooper, it’s pretty sweet.
They’re silly little things, Minis. But every time I drive it, it makes me laugh.
It’s got a 1275 with a very aggressive cam and head, and makes about 100hp with a 45 DCOE Weber. Carbon fibre bumpers, dash and a few other dumb things.
Still slow, but it feels like you’re going fast.
Very good. I often toy with the idea of buying another one but commonsense has prevailed thus far. Bikes are much cheaper and a lot less likely to get me into trouble…
I reckon Toyota and Honda are among the brands you move to after your entry level Kia, Hyundai, MG, etc. taps out and you realise what a false economy and how basic some of them are. EV or not.
Our genesis is in for warranty fix. They have left us with the 3.5 v6 twin turbo. Holy crap. It’s fast
No arguement with that. I have a Corolla, and a Honda CB500F motorcycle. Toyota’s and Honda’s strength was offering durability and reasonable quality at a reasonable price. Toyota has Lexus for those who want extra. When Toyota starts to move their market position closer to Lexus, they’re going to weaken their strength. Right at the time they are being significantly undercut from Chinese brands. If the better Chinese brands for quality can show durability and value over the following years, they will eventually supplant Toyota and Honda.
Agree that many mechanics will steer people away from Hyundai and Kia as not really good value for money over the long term. However many don’t appear to care what happens after the first decade as they’ll probably move on before that. Those people are also more likely to be open to Chinese brands.
But nothing wrong with basic for me if it keeps going without trouble. I only want reliable transport. Nothing complex with more to go wrong.
Disagree as you know. That attitude Korean cars face bears many similarities to what Japanese cars faced until people worked out that nope, they are reliable and good value.
It’s vastly improved. Have had a couple of Japanese cars and now kids in Korean cars. Korean quality is streets ahead of 10 years ago. But the log-term reliability of Korean cars maybe has some catching up left. They certainly compete (and mostly win) on the bells and whistles front. I don’t think I’ve driven a car as bland as a 2016 Corolla. But they will go until Doomsday. 
I have seen some videos of mechanics being asked what cars they recommend the least. In one shop, I believe it was about 7 mechanics. 5 said Hyundai, 1 said Kia, and 1 said something I can’t remember. I remember Scotty Kilmer saying the Korean brands are OK as long as you don’t got over 100,000 miles (161K km).
I probably do less than 5K km a year in my car, so my 210K km Corolla will probably see me out at the current rate. But if I had a Korean at the same kms, I’d be looking to change.
Fortunately for me, driving is more a chore than a pleasure these days. So I can be more pragmatic with my choice of transport tool. No car I can afford is as entertaining to drive as my motorcycle is to ride, which adds to my conviction of car choice.
My wife has a 2017 Tucson. Bought at the auctions during Covid. Around 110k on it now. Been great. Yep it’s bland, but then so am I.
I expect I will end up in it when we get her an electric Chinese car. The Swift will go.
