A Place For Your WTF Moments

Don the Don

Don the Don

Legendary Knight
DD67 said:
What I find crazy about stop/start is it's easily turned off via button inside the vehicle.
The first time I experienced it was in a mates 2012 2.0 diesel Vauxhall.
He was in the middle of telling me that the road tax was peanuts (£30 a year I think?)
I asked how come & he said the car has start/stop but he finds it annoying. So he turns it off.

What a brilliant polar bear saving gadget that is! 🤣
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It must be hard on starter motors?
 
DD67

DD67

The Peace Keeper
Staff member
Don the Don said:
It must be hard on starter motors?
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Those were the first words out of my mouth as well Don.
Like myself, you are also a logical thinker with a degree if mechanical savvy.

Not only the starter motors. But the batteries on stop/start vehicles can cost £300+ instead of £100 ish.
Mrs DD's Merc had only done a handful of miles in the year prior to my purchase. So part of the negotiations included the dealership fitting a new battery.
From memory it was over £400 🥴
It's just a very high capacity Varta but it wears a Merc badge. Hence the even more crazy price.
 
Sarky B’stard

Sarky B’stard

Legendary Knight
DD67 said:
Those were the first words out of my mouth as well Don.
Like myself, you are also a logical thinker with a degree if mechanical savvy.

Not only the starter motors. But the batteries on stop/start vehicles can cost £300+ instead of £100 ish.
Mrs DD's Merc had only done a handful of miles in the year prior to my purchase. So part of the negotiations included the dealership fitting a new battery.
From memory it was over £400 🥴
It's just a very high capacity Varta but it wears a Merc badge. Hence the even more crazy price.
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My baby Ford is stop start and it works fine. No expensive battery and the original is sound nearly 3.5 yrs in. Starter motor uncomplaining but I do wonder about my ring gear 😵‍💫
 
DD67

DD67

The Peace Keeper
Staff member
Sarky B’stard said:
My baby Ford is stop start and it works fine. No expensive battery and the original is sound nearly 3.5 yrs in. Starter motor uncomplaining but I do wonder about my ring gear 😵‍💫
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Every stop/start equipped vehicle I've been in "works fine" Sarky.
But logically, your starter motor, ring gear & battery will wear out prematurely.
As for the battery not costing any more than non stop/start versions of your wifes car. Is there a non stop start version of the Eco Sport to compare it with? Or are they all equipped with it?
 
MartytheMartian

MartytheMartian

Legendary Knight
Well the thing about the stop/start idea, and this is part of the craziness, is that, while it supposedly saves fuel and pollution, it will wear out the starter motor and battery faster but, because people are now encourage to not keep their new car for more than three years before selling on to some poorer oik or because it has become uneconomical to repair and needs to be 're-cycled' thus negating any savings on emissions.

I read the article and I can sort of see how avoiding turning right in the UK, as opposed to Left in the USA will possibly be more economical and at the same time be safer as you aren't trying to cross a stream of traffic, as allegedly proved in the Mythbusters as ther article quotes that assumes that you are in a built-up area on a grid pattern as towns and cities in the USA are typically laid out and, with our much older, less regular, city and town layouts not to mention one-way systems you could be going many extra miles to get to where you are going if you avoid taking Right turns and, in the country you could see yourself going in sixty mile loops to avoid having to take a right turn!

Basically it 'sounds' like an idea that might be plausible in an ideal world but not in the UK or the rest of Europe.
 
MICK60

MICK60

Legendary Knight
DD67 said:
Crazy driving & the consequences...

BBC News - Devon and Cornwall near misses caught on camera
www.bbc.co.uk

'Unbelievably dangerous' driving caught on camera

In February the public sent 279 submissions of poor driving evidence to the police.
www.bbc.co.uk
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I must get filmed pretty much every day, by wankers that cant bare being overtaken. I don't sit behind anyone, that isn't doing at least 20mph over the speed limit.
 
Doc Strange

Doc Strange

Legendary Knight
MICK60 said:
I must get filmed pretty much every day, by wankers that cant bare being overtaken. I don't sit behind anyone, that isn't doing at least 20mph over the speed limit.
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Getting flashed by oncoming traffic when I'm on the bike always gets me - I'm not a hooligan, well at least not in that sort of way, so usually pull in while they are still 50 yards ahead ffs!

DS
 
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