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DRIVING LESSONS
The burnout, the rollback, and the doughnut ... all helpfully explained for the novice driver.
UPDATE. In other driving news, the UK Telegraph reports:
Gas-guzzling sports cars, 4x4s and people carriers could be priced off the road within five years after a crackdown on carbon emissions to be announced by the European Commission this month.
The average new car in 2012 will have to emit no more than 120 grams of carbon per kilometre under proposals to be announced by Stavros Dimas, the European Environment Commissioner. The rule change could add more than £3,300 to the cost of a vehicle.
So what form of car will Europeans be left with?
The Citroen C3 diesel emits exactly 120 grams of carbon per kilometre — the average that the European Commission will set as a legal requirement for every car manufacturer’s range in 2012. A supercharged Range Rover Sport V8 emits 376 grams and a five-door petrol Ford Focus 1.6 emits 184 —which indicates the degree of progress required to meet the new standard.
UPDATE II. The dullness threat spreads to Canada:
Canada’s largest private sector union said on Thursday that thousands of jobs in the auto industry could be at risk if a left-leaning opposition party succeeds in persuading the government to quickly introduce binding emissions standards on vehicles.
Diesels, eh? Have fun with the particulates, Eurobunnies.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 01 12 at 08:02 PM • permalinkAs I sit in traffic, choking on the fumes from the early-90s Mercedes turbo-diesel in front of me, I wonder in utter amazement that the car in front of me supposedly “pollutes” far less than my 1995 Acura V6, and that the environaughts think we’d be better off driving those.
Heh.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 01 12 at 08:25 PM • permalinkRecall Adam Spencer (Mathematician, JJJ, etc.) from a NSW committee advocating carbon-taxing cars by engine capacity, not weight.
Thus penalising a less-polluting Monaro CV8 [Pontiac GTO] e.g. over a Pajero V6 SUV (bet I can guess what he drives ...).
AFAIK rego already penalises on weight ... want more revenue? Bump that component up, f*tard.
When the Islamists inherit Europe they will get rid off these ridiculous laws and teach them how to drive….
Spiny, “pollutes” is indeed the critical term.
Look at all of those asinine Tele readers who wrote in, whining about “pollution”.
Fuckwits like that just stare at you with glassy eyes and an open mouth when you remind them that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, but in fact is an essential trace compound necesssary for the continuation of life on this planet.
Fucking idiots.
PS - I am touchy on this subject because I recently had to sell my beloved fuel-injected V6 Pajero and buy a *choke* Tarago as we needed a genuine 7-seater. So now effectively my wife has two cars (if you can call the damn thing a car), and I have none.
That’s my reward for breeding too much, I guess. Never mind. Revenge will be sweet in a couple of years.
Thought it was heat-haze induced double-vision, but on approaching from the other direction was a white Toyota Prius heavily tailgating a small white hatchback (moving at a reasonable speed, it seemed) up a slight hill on the NE Hwy.
Can’t speed-up (Green) progress enough for some, I guess; lead-foot in a Prius ... *shakes head*
Or the car maanufacturers could just sell their product in China and South America and tell the EUnuchs to take a walk, literally.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 01 12 at 09:20 PM • permalinkSounds to me like they’re more interested in keeping out imports than improving air quality. Much like the EU’s recent decision that all products must be labeled with metric units AND ONLY METRIC UNITS. They’d basically be requiring American products—or anything that might be sold in the US—to have two sets of labels.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2007 01 12 at 09:22 PM • permalinkSMH truthiness:
During the ethanol debate there was a lot of emotion based on what, as recalled by Mr Fletcher, were proven fabricated claims of ethanol-related engine damage not only in New South Wales but also in Victoria; none of those werefound to be substantiated. Indeed, in the case of the Sydney Morning Herald article that started this off on 18 December last year, that paper issued a retraction and an apology for that article acknowledging that it was a fabrication.
Sounds to me like they’re more interested in keeping out imports than improving air quality
Got it in one, Rob. Them Frenchies know they make the best little cars -with the emphasis on little.
Just compare the reputation of the enemy testosterone Germans. It’s a grab to control the EUnuchs.
Silly, but you’ve got to admire that panache.If all of this Eurotrash has to have everything in metric how come my Peugeot 206 only offers tyre pressure measurement in bars - who the hell (other than the French) uses bars??!!
—Nora
PS The 206 is (was) made in Britain.
PPS - I do really love my 206. It may have no off-the-mark grunt but she corners like a champ (faster the better) ::grin::
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2007 01 12 at 10:05 PM • permalink#5 Grimmy
Sure, but can the Citroen C3 outpace a gang of wilding yoots?
With a big enough head start…
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 01 12 at 10:27 PM • permalink#25 Bonmot
Probably not all that much more than the Range Rover Sport… for the gasoline-powered civilian models anyway. Diesels (like the military version) would probably be somewhat less.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 01 12 at 10:40 PM • permalink#22 Them Frenchies know they make the best little cars -with the emphasis on little.
As James May said on Top Gear: “For a nation composed essentially of peasants and Communists, the French do know how to make a good small car.”
Or words to that effect ...
Posted by Crispytoast on 2007 01 12 at 10:50 PM • permalink#27 Crispytoast
As James May said on Top Gear: “For a nation composed essentially of peasants and Communists, the French do know how to make a good small car.”
Or words to that effect ...
Well, perhaps, but they certainly did a piss-poor job of competing with the Japanese in North America.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 01 12 at 11:08 PM • permalinkFortunately, these are only average targets. Come 2012, while the proletarian masses may be required to pedal to work in their Flintstonemobiles, their government betters and media superiors will still be able to be chauffered to shoe boutiques and climate-change conventions in the serene 517hp comfort of a Mercedes CL, without affecting the mean carbon output.
Posted by Crispytoast on 2007 01 12 at 11:14 PM • permalinkThe spaghetti chompers are gold medal favourites in useless nation stakes, but the day an Italian agrees to these laws, is the day I face Mecca and take a goat as my dearly beloved.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 01 12 at 11:27 PM • permalinkAFAIK an EU global manufacturing Co. I worked for had to resort to using Cat diesels in their global industrial products in lieu of e.g. Benz as the (EU-spec) Mercs couldn’t handle the crud diesel in the biggest markets: China & India; the EU’s loss that the more ‘agricultural’ big US Cats could do the job better ...
China now becoming the global manufacturing base in which they’ll be ramming as many Cats in as they can ...
#32 And leftist shit-for-brains are in the same boat in Canada, MarkL:
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/170426Posted by andycanuck on 2007 01 13 at 12:21 AM • permalink#14 - oh, that hurts. I have thought fondly of Pajeros since toodling around Sarajevo in one in 1997 - all those Yugo seemed to cower away from the mighty Pajero.
#25 - uparmored HMMWV or non-uparmored? :)
Posted by Major John on 2007 01 13 at 12:25 AM • permalink#38 - Goats will eat just about anything. I think I’ll have a crack at fathering a few sprogs with a female human before offering a goat a chance with the family jewels!
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 01 13 at 12:32 AM • permalinkNow we have living proof that the EU and the leftwing nuts that control it are anti-car, anti-western civilisation, anti-progress, anti-human.
By setting such impossibly high emission targets we’ll all be driving econo-shitboxes thus completing one of the left’s cherished aims - to take the expensive toys off those who have worked for them. Make us all equal to the lowest common denominator. Goodbye expensive Beemers and Mercs. Toodle-oo Audi and Cadillac.
#34 _egg
I don’t know where you live but if you’re an Aussie, you’ll know Kerry Stokes. Most people think he makes his dough out of the 7 Network.
Wrong.
He makes his growing mountain of dosh from owning a Caterpillar refurbishment plant in China. The refurbishment plant in fact. The only one in the world licensed by Cat.Where all the tired and nearly dead Cats are taken and cannibalised or refurbed and then resold around the world - or as happens most often, are sold and used locally for their building boom.
Cheap labor, canibalised parts, giant market, western pricing. Recipe to print money.
As a descriptive term for the European car of the future, at least the name fits .
Bringing in that law could be a good thing - hitting the general population where it hurts, for once in truly obvious fashion, might stimulate it into questioning the Kyoto treaty a little more. It certainly sounds like a vote loser; perhaps some opposition parties will twig to that and exploit it.
Having said that, glad I’m on the other side of the planet.
#35 But if we all use pedal cars, won’t we also have to be tested for CO2 emissions as well?
Posted by andycanuck on 2007 01 13 at 01:11 AM • permalink#44
I’m sure that Cat stitched up a cosy deal with my ex Co. (mining & construction equipment manufacturer) at the expense of the lazy EUro’s; as u say, it’s literally a goldmine in China & India at the mo’ compared to sad ol’ EU.FYI: I’m an Aussie & would be proud if I could trace my ancestry back to the 1st fleet, as you have.
#47
the general population in Europe have been taking it where it hurts since the formation of the EU. Why do you think they have stopped having kids? One kid for every two adults. Its just too expensive, and too much hassle, to have more.I know a guy in England who is a top newsreader at ITV, with three kids, all at private schools. He likes his nice cars too, but only owns one, and a modest one at that. He earns the equivalent of 500K a year and after a family holiday to France or Spain has nothing left at the end of it. Nothing.
For those further down the scale there is no point in even dreaming. All they have left is their moral purity. So they’re going to drive shitboxes and pay their carbon credits and have their .7 of a kid, and feel good about themselves? They’re welcome to try.
The area where I live (northern NSW)is chock full of Poms who were on good incomes in the UK, or who had the chance to sell a house in London at some absurd price, then moved here to actually live a life. In Europe that’s rapidly becoming the preserve of the super-rich.
pommygranate? comments?
From Tim’s article:
The problem here is that many parents of today’s learner drivers didn’t exactly learn under strict conditions themselves.
How true. Everyone I know was taught by their Dad. So it follows, that if your great grandfather, who you never even met, was a shitty driver, then so are you.
#49 egg_
You’re amazing - you remembered my comments from yesterday re: Hilaly that I’m from convict stock.Howard was wrong to laugh off old Catmeat’s anti-Australian remarks but he got one thing right - we am proud of our less than honourable ancestry and wear it as a badge of honour. Unfortunately I don’t know a lot about by original ancestor except that at one stage he had been a soldier and carried two musket balls in his legs for much of his life. What a bloody interesting tale he could tell! Then transported to Australia where his kids raised other kids on the farm/orchard at Thornleigh - eventually my great grandfather owning the orchard, the pub/post office/general store at Thornleigh as well as having the contract to operate the level crossing on the northern line at Pennant Hills Road. One of his children was my grandfather who became a circus clown and a timber splitter up at Wauchope. Another interesting life. His brother, my great-uncle, arrived at Gallipoli on May 1st 1915 and was dead five days later.
So much is available online about the early settlers. It will take a while but perserverence will pay off. A cousin prepared to do a lot of the hard yards helps. Incidentally my original ancestor Arthur Duffy is buried in the cemetery adjoining Richie Benaud Park at Parramatta.
Just one quick thought when researching the family tree.
The maternal side can be just as interesting - most people are only interested in researching their own name - sometimes pure gold comes up from a great great grandmother or somesuch distant connection. Unfortunately, it also complicates the process enormously.#53
Thanks for the info.
A few decades back (pre-internet) we traced a side branch of the family (free settlers) back to Ireland; but it’s the main line we’re now tracing ... we’re arranging for a copy of one of the family bibles’ (maternal) family trees (in another state) to aid.
The other (paternal) bible is dated 1763 ... older than Oz!
Both bibles have family tree info and are quite old.
One is Catholic and the other Protestant, very fitting in view of Hilali’s divisiveness; the Catholics have now all converted to (High) Church of England, mostly through marriage, would you believe ... aren’t we (infidels) a tolerant bunch?The best source of info are still living.
Ask parents or grandparents about THEIR lives - even your own parents often led interesting lives before you came along.
Grandparents can tell you about their parents - now things get old and interesting. My maternal grandfather once had a joyflight with Kingsford-Smith - you’d hate that sort of treasure to die with you. Write it down.I don’t know about you descendants of crims, but my family tree appears to be free of taint so far. One of my ancestors came out as a guard - a member of one of the Regiments of Foot that accompanied the crims to the Swan River Colony. He even fought at the Battle of Pinjarra, which if you google, you’ll find that the black armband brigade has taken over and now view it as a genocidal attrocity etc etc etc.
Well, my good Sheik, that makes me a descendant of ruthless, unstoppable, genocidal maniacs who will stop at nothing until the entire country is theirs.
Do not annoy me. Blood will tell.
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 01 13 at 03:28 AM • permalink#54,55 you’ll appreciate a bumper sticker I once saw: “My hobby is genealogy, I raise dust bunnies” (Or something like it)
My family tree has been traced back to England on both sides.
The maternal has a First Fleet convict, but we’ve also got Cornish miners and English settlers. Two of the Cornish families came out on the same ship from the same village. Landed at Melbourne, went to Clunes then on to Port Pirie.
About 20 years ago my nana went to Pirie from Brisbane for a visit. She wanted to catch up with any leftover rellies, I guess, and when asked if she met any, replied, “Oh, yes, just a few.”
When asked how many, replied, “Only about 30 or 40.” LOL.
Considering she was one of 8, and in those days they had big families, that’s no surprise.
I’ve got at least 40 first cousins. And I’m on speaking terms with all of them.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 01 13 at 04:20 AM • permalinkThe greens have long campaigned against the automobile, particularly the big, the fast and powerful.
However one form of oil-fuelled travel they seem to indulge in more than your average suburbanite is air travel:
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2702/#53 Bonmot,
Just one quick thought when researching the family tree.
The maternal side can be just as interesting - most people are only interested in researching their own name - sometimes pure gold comes up from a great great grandmother or somesuch distant connection.Absolutely. My father’s ancestry disappears into mid-19th century Scotland and Friesland, but my mother’s family tree is much more complete: one of her ancestors was transported (that’s right, a convict) to Jamestown in 1629. After serving his term of indenture, he moved west. His decendents continued moving west until, by the end of the 18th Century, they were a prominent family in Kentucky and Ohio.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 01 13 at 05:10 AM • permalinkTim, Tim, Tim….
You forgot circle work. Donuts are fine on bitumen, but how about doing endless circles in a muddy paddock?
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 01 13 at 08:27 AM • permalink
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My wife was just complaining last night about the new TV series Dangerous (about ram-raiding youfs) - that with all the controversy around now about P-platers, it’s bad timing for such a series. Nice of the Tele to help out.