A thread in praise of the private car!

[mauvais]

So here's a question. I get a lot of stick from some fucking hippy at work who says I'm damaging the planet more with my 25 year old, immaculately-maintained car than if I bought a new, more 'environmentally friendly' one every 5 years. I say he's talking bollocks, because of the impact of manufacture and disposal - is he?

Manufacture's a huge part of it. Depends on your annual mileage as to how long you'd take to eclipse that with efficiency savings, but either way, probably ages. That might be even harder than you think as your car's probably lighter than its contemporary equivalent. If your current car is petrol and you'd be buying a diesel then fuck that, particulates are a tangible health risk now, unlike CO2 which may or may not help kill a polar bear one day.

 

[DotCommunist]

We'll go with it on a trial basis, purely because I'm not fully convinced of Dotski's green credentials, so it might not work properly.

Go with it for a couple of months but keep an eye on him. We'll find you someone else if he doesn't pull his weight.

last time I did an online carbon footprint test it turns out I'm using less than bods in rural jamaica. My word is oak. I'm not pairing up though, as a wise man once said 'you got to look to your own honour, dog'

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

last time I did an online carbon footprint test it turns out I'm using less than bods in rural jamaica. My word is oak. I'm not pairing up though, as a wise man once said 'you got to look to your own honour, dog'

Yeah but the food you shove down yer gut we need to take your carbon-arse-print in to consideration here too.

 

[existentialist]

Manufacture's a huge part of it. Depends on your annual mileage as to how long you'd take to eclipse that with efficiency savings, but either way, probably ages. That might be even harder than you think as your car's probably lighter than its contemporary equivalent. If your current car is petrol and you'd be buying a diesel then fuck that, particulates are a tangible health risk now, unlike CO2 which may or may not help kill a polar bear one day.

If there's one good thing that's come out of this VW debâcle, it's that the appalling shitness of diesel engines in terms of their emissions is finally on the table. Presumably that will mean a gentle move back to petrol, but perhaps car manufacturers will start upping the ante as far as non-oil-based fuels are concerned. Hydrogen, anyone?

 

[Spymaster]

I'm not pairing up though, as a wise man once said 'you got to look to your own honour, dog'

I'm afraid you don't get a choice, geezer. This is about keeping as many high-powered cars on the roads as possible whilst making sure that the owners have someone "doing their bit" for the environment.

Responsible petrolheadism, if you will.

twentythreedom, he's yours.

 

[DotCommunist]

how much of the black gold goes into that boat of his as well? I think he'll need more than one petroleum refusnik to cover an audi TT and a fuck off boat.

 

[moose]

Manufacture's a huge part of it. Depends on your annual mileage as to how long you'd take to eclipse that with efficiency savings, but either way, probably ages. That might be even harder than you think as your car's probably lighter than its contemporary equivalent. If your current car is petrol and you'd be buying a diesel then fuck that, particulates are a tangible health risk now, unlike CO2 which may or may not help kill a polar bear one day.

Around 5,000 per annum for the last few years, and it's petrol, so I'm going to claim victory over the hippy naysayer.

 

[Leafster]

I think I'm going to need an Urban Eco partner to balance out my enthusiastic use of my BMW 328i.
However, I don't do many miles in a year so a part time partner maybe all I need.

 

[snadge]

I need an Eco partner or 2, checking out a 480WHP RS2 tomorrow.

 

[Spymaster]

I think I'm going to need an Urban Eco partner to balance out my enthusiastic use of my BMW 328i.
However, I don't do many miles in a year so a part time partner maybe all I need.

Have Crispy.

 

[Spymaster]

I need an Eco partner or 2, checking out a 480WHP RS2 tomorrow.

We're running out of wallies.

You might have to share 2hats with existentialist and Bahnhof Strasse.

2hats, you're going to have to live like fucking Ghandi.

 

[mauvais]

I'm more worried that I'm not going to make a big enough dent in the planet tbh. I rode a bike for a decade, FFS, and now I only do about 5k miles a year in the car. I think I'll have to burn down a forest or toss lit dynamite into the penguin enclosure at Marwell.

 

[DotCommunist]

now I just want to see Ben Kingsley doing donuts in a subaru impreza while robed as ghandi

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

how much of the black gold goes into that boat of his as well? I think he'll need more than one petroleum refusnik to cover an audi TT and a fuck off boat.

It's a sailing boat you dinlo, a thimble of diesel in and out of the harbour and a bit more when travelling straight in to the wind...

 

[mauvais]

now I just want to see Ben Kingsley doing donuts in a subaru impreza while robed as ghandi

Rural Jamaicans don't aspire to this shit do they, you hypocritical eco-scourge

 

[moose]

I'm more worried that I'm not going to make a big enough dent in the planet tbh. I rode a bike for a decade, FFS, and now I only do about 5k miles a year in the car. I think I'll have to burn down a forest or toss lit dynamite into the penguin enclosure at Marwell.

Do you have kids or eat meat? That should even it up a bit.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Do you have kids or eat meat? That should even it up a bit.

I eat meat and have kids, plus spend my day flogging airline tickets, but I spent the first seventeen years of my life crawling, walking or cycling everywhere so there's a fair bit of leeway.

 

[IC3D]

I learned to drive at 35 and I love my Alfa so much I drove it to Hungary, I still ride my bike all the time but fuck I enjoyed hammering down the autobahns.

 

[NoXion]

I don't drive a car, and while I take the bus to work on weekdays I walk there on weekends because there's no service on those days. When travelling generally I almost always use public transport if I can't walk there. How do I fit into the scheme of things?

 

[DotCommunist]

no i don't think you can have being too young to drive as an excuse for your flagrant abuse of Gaia. Only once you are a man (or woman) and have put away childish things. Then, and only then, does your rejection of the infernal combustion engine have weight.

I'm reminded often during these conversations of Henry Ford whose mass production techniques brought cars to millions but impovrished the very people building them, as Ford was a cheap bastard. He also financed the printing and distribution throughout the usa of the Protocols of The Elders of Zion. A notorious user of Pinkerton union busters and a man with a deep hatred of people he called 'the negro'. So we can see that car culture- Fordism, is based in the most despicable anti working class racism

 

[mauvais]

Do you have kids or eat meat? That should even it up a bit.

Meat aplenty but no children. God good, the latter alone has set me back years hasn't it. Fortunately it should one day leave me rich enough to buy a Maserati.

 

[Spymaster]

I don't drive a car, and while I take the bus to work on weekdays I walk there on weekends because there's no service on those days. When travelling generally I almost always use public transport if I can't walk there. How do I fit into the scheme of things?

Sounds like you'd be a reasonable candidate. Are you a vegan? It would help.

 

[mauvais]

I'm reminded often during these conversations of Henry Ford whose mass production techniques brought cars to millions but impovrished the very people building them, as Ford was a cheap bastard.

He did eventually pay them enough to buy their own product, tbf, as that was essential to business in the end, although I don't know anything more than that.

Edit: I see it's lately argued that this was all balls, so who knows

 

[NoXion]

Having said that, I don't travel the way I do out of some ecological imperative. It's just I'd rather spend my money on computers and vidya gaemz instead of paying out the arse for more driving lessons, the car itself, insurance and other running costs.

Sounds like you'd be a reasonable candidate. Are you a vegan? It would help.

Nope. I eat meat with every meal if I can. No kids though. Too much responsibility for me.

 

[weltweit]

I rode the same Suzuki from the age of 21 to 40 which I might add I had rescued and recycled from a crash wreck at a scrap yard. I think that means I can fund my own greenie points now I am a car driver.

 

[Spymaster]

Nope. I eat meat with every meal if I can. No kids though. Too much responsibility for me.

I think we'll keep you in reserve as a potential top-up for when DownwardDog buys the M5.

 

[moose]

So we can see that car culture- Fordism, is based in the most despicable anti working class racism

Ford was an amateur. Most of the cars I have owned were the spawn of Hitler himself.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I drive a 12 year old French desiel at the moment. A winning combination of bad for the planet AND no fun to drive.

 

[DotCommunist]

He did eventually pay them enough to buy their own product, tbf, as that was essential to business in the end, although I don't know anything more than that.

Edit: I see it's lately argued that this was all balls, so who knows

it was all balls. The man gouged the worker so hard they could barely afford a loaf. Where do you think the phrase 'stool pigeon' comes from? Fords little shop floor spies eavesdroppig on union mens union conversations.

Its that culture that has driven the car and still does. Look at the emmissions shennanigans- its straight up fuck you jack I make my money. Sooner or later anyone who holds socialism dear will have to admit the individuality of the car-culture that has been so demonstrably damaging to the world must end. Its as american as the drive in movie or the thirty quid shotgun. Not good ideas

 

[twentythreedom]

how much of the black gold goes into that boat of his

It's a sailing boat - a little diesel to get in and out of harbour then it's just wind power

The particulate-spewing Audi makes up for that though

Eta - as Bahnhof said