28th February 2007, 01:51 PM
Correct, four wheel drive is technically less efficient than two, but the difference is dwarfed by the other factors.
I forgot to mention people carriers....
I hesitate on the "need" issue because, who decides? What about Transit vans - should we decide if the business they are going about is "worthy"? I agree that "needless" journeys are the big issue - school runs, trips of 1/4 mile to Tesco for a litre of milk etc. I suspect that these are a major contributor to all the ill effects you describe (engines are of course less efficient when cold). Consider Brighton council's decision to (partially) allocate school places by lottery.
I knew we'd get to common ground eventually
- I completely agree with your observation about engine size - a favourite rant of mine, in fact, as my intended will attest. I would go further, I'd say 1.5 litres at most. (Perfectly feasible, I used to have a 1.6 Passatt that was very nearly as comfortable as my (then) boss's 5 series BMW). This should apply to all new (or importe) vehicles, it would be counter-productive madness to scrap existing vehicles. This would convince me that government (small g) is serious rather than just spotting a way of hiking taxes without losing votes.
We owe the dead nothing but the truth.
I forgot to mention people carriers....
I hesitate on the "need" issue because, who decides? What about Transit vans - should we decide if the business they are going about is "worthy"? I agree that "needless" journeys are the big issue - school runs, trips of 1/4 mile to Tesco for a litre of milk etc. I suspect that these are a major contributor to all the ill effects you describe (engines are of course less efficient when cold). Consider Brighton council's decision to (partially) allocate school places by lottery.
I knew we'd get to common ground eventually
- I completely agree with your observation about engine size - a favourite rant of mine, in fact, as my intended will attest. I would go further, I'd say 1.5 litres at most. (Perfectly feasible, I used to have a 1.6 Passatt that was very nearly as comfortable as my (then) boss's 5 series BMW). This should apply to all new (or importe) vehicles, it would be counter-productive madness to scrap existing vehicles. This would convince me that government (small g) is serious rather than just spotting a way of hiking taxes without losing votes.We owe the dead nothing but the truth.