Episode: 2744
Title: HPR2744: Yet Another Rambling Drive Into Work
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2744/hpr2744.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-19 16:15:43

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This is HPR episode 2,744 entitled yet another rambling drive-in to work.
It is hosted by MrX and is about 34 minutes long and carries an explicit flag.
The summary is yet another rambling attempt at making a show on the way into work.
This episode of HPR is brought to you by an honesthost.com.
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Hello and welcome Hacker Public Radio audience and welcome to this podcast.
My name is MrX and as per usual I'd like to start by thanking the people HPR for making
this podcast service available to us all.
It's been as a community podcast created by the community for the community and I'm going
to contribute.
So it's 25 past 6, I'm trying out my new microphone again, second time I think.
I'm in the car driving to work, it's 3 degrees centigrade, travelling currently to 35
miles per hour on the hidden baracity bypass.
It's been very busy this morning for some reason.
My first attempt where I talked about my previous car and this car which I would imagine
you could pick up very little from because the quality was so poor until I did more
suggested that I use the $2 microphone suggested by John Kelp, that's it, well done.
John, that's a great tip, pack of 5 microphones, $2, fantastic, huge improvement.
I hope you think so when you listen back to this.
Although I'm very happy with this car, I thought I'd start again.
I thought I'd talk about my thoughts and I was thinking it was supposed to be changing
my car you see and I am very happy with this car and in fact because I'm so happy with
it I think that was part of the reason why I haven't actually changed it because I was
getting very close to changing it and then decided not to bother.
But in the past I've had, I think when I was quite young, I've not passed my test, I've had
a few quite new cars, I'm not talking brand new, but failing new cars and I think I went
to garages and we said lots of money so yes that's an upset wasn't so wise.
Being a little older and being more of a kind of Scott now, I don't always try to do that
although it's getting more and more difficult to get second-hand cars these days because
everyone buys them on these schemes and nobody sells them privately anymore so everyone has
a pay-as-you-go car because I call it.
So this car, so previously I bought a few old bangers and it's amazed me how reliable
they've been and how long they've lasted probably that the previous focus I had was among
the best whereby it lasted almost five years, well it lasted five years and it was still
going and I didn't need to get rid of it but and 170,000 miles in the clock I think it was.
So yes, a cheap car can still be very reliable if you choose carefully, had a bad car so far.
Like some of my newer cars were less reliable.
I had a Renault, you know, Schemaas, how do you pronounce it and it wasn't too good liable
and much much newer than this car. I got a good number of years ago.
So anyway the car I was contemplating buying was slightly unusual
and I guess one of the reasons that any people buy this kind of car
could argue is to make them feel good about themselves and try something new
and saving the planet and all that sort of stuff and that's obviously that can come very political
and I'm going to talk about any of that.
So it was a contemplative getting a Nissan leaf and the electric pure electric car
and I went to one of the local garages and test drove a Nissan leaf
and it was a virtually brand new one and it was the, what was it?
Is it a 30 kilowatt, 30 kilowatt hour battery that is a slightly bigger one
because they do the start off for the 24 kilowatt hour battery
because this one was brand new with a 30 kilowatt hour.
And then the Nissan program was just kidding because I went to the garage
and I thought well, you know I'm going to have to fill in the form
so I'm not really sure how serious I am about buying a car.
I quite like to try one out so I went down there and a week, a week, a few minutes chart
and then straight in the car and that was it.
And then off you go then and you know take it out for a couple hours or whatever
and you're not going to have to take it longer if you want to sort of think about this.
See if that's incredible because I mean I have in the past one of the things I was looking
well maybe when I was looking for this car I did contemplate going to the garage
but luckily I didn't do that.
And they were saying oh yeah well you need to fill in the formers
and show you that you're serious about buying a car before we let you take the car out in question.
So I even had to pick my car and I thought well I wanted to make sure I'm comfortable
over the car you know that the seating position is correct, comfortable in the steamy
wheelers like height and all this and stuff because I've had the cars
when I bought them in the past and there's a student who can find them very uncomfortable
like actually get rid of a car brake because of that one.
So yeah I couldn't believe that I just walked into the garage
left my car, jumped into the car and off I went and it was such an amazing experience
that it's basically soapy and I thought well this is fantastic.
The 30 kilowatt hour leaf has a hundred mile range,
do a life hundred mile range.
There's a new leaf out now which I'm up, is that a 40 kilowatt hour battery?
I'm watching with the range that is and it's obviously way outside my budget.
So the one I was thinking of buying would be a three year old leaf and it was the 24 kilowatt hour battery.
I remember a real life range of real life of about 80 miles.
I mean you probably would get a hundred miles if you were very careful it was good conditions
and all that but it might even drop slightly below 80 miles and very bad conditions,
you know, very cold.
I assume we hit it a lot and whatnot but my typical commute is just over 30 miles.
So you know that's easily achievable even by the 24 kilowatt hour version.
So that really wasn't an issue and if it was mandated that we all had to go electric cars
then a lot of people could choose to do that because there's a vast majority people travel
about 30 to 40 miles a day.
There are others who don't obviously selling them in the UK don't know about the other countries
but there are people who do travel much longer than it's in that and they're in a room with a suitable car for them.
And then there's other reasons they may not have, maybe they might not be able to park that car
and plug it in at night because they may live in flats or something or whatever.
Also reasons why people couldn't choose something like that.
But the actual experience of driving the car was really quite impressive, super smooth, super quiet.
I drive automatic so it's quite smooth anyway, very quiet, very smooth.
I thought the car would be quite slow and sluggish and I was surprised it was really punchy.
Much more so than this car.
I think it's the low down torque is way way greater than this 1.6 Focus.
It just seems effortless when you're overtaking.
Now I think when I was on the city bypass on the car, I only took it about 60 odd, 65 miles an hour.
That's generally a bit of time to drive it on the bypass anyway.
I think I'll do, but 80 miles an hour if you really want to.
I'll choose your range dramatically, reducing it.
But I just couldn't believe how comfortable drive it was and how nice it was.
In the UK, there's a 2K government incentive to think it's a 2K.
Also, at that time I was doing a 1K trading scheme for any trading car that was over a certain age.
That's been 11 years old, easily.
I only had to have it over some months so I didn't just buy it just for the sake of it.
I've had it two years so that was fine as well.
It was probably the best time to change and go for an EV if I was going to do that EV electric vehicle.
But I didn't.
The thing came in at by the time I got all these deals and whatnot.
I think the price kind of was either 8000 or 9000 pounds, something like that.
That's way more than I've ever been on a car.
This cost me 2,700 pounds a couple of years ago.
It's the end of the way to get my 700 pounds for this car.
There's 11 years old so I wasn't going to cripple necessarily about that.
But the thing isn't this car is costing me roughly 1,500 pounds a year for fuel.
It's something like 250 pounds for road tax so that all adds up.
So you're thinking, well that's even more incentivised.
Didn't you jump in at Mr X? Are you mad?
Well maybe I'm mad.
But the thing about the Leafs currently is that the depreciation is quite horrendous on a Leafs.
That's the first thing.
And that in itself shouldn't be a problem because I would be planning on keeping it for a few years anyway.
Because I don't mind having old cars since it's 11 years old.
But the other thing is that as the car ages, the battery range decreases.
And there's a whole host of conversations and forums about what basically causes this or how to minimise it.
I should say rather than what causes it.
What's the main parameter that affects the battery?
How many times you charge it? Is it using a fast charger? Is it leaving it fully charged for too long?
Is it time or is it charges?
I think it seems like age is anything else, age and using fast chargers and using a number of charges.
So I mean the thing is, are you better to charge it every night?
Evenly don't use all the range or you're better to try and flatten the battery.
There's all these sort of questions.
And I worked out that I remember to keep it three, four years before it would pay off the difference.
What this car would cost, fuel cost everything and this new car.
Maybe not quite as much as Abit. Maybe three years anyway.
Now if it's three years old, by that point, that would mean it was six years old.
I bought it three years old and then in three years time it was six.
So by the time you do that, it's right, by the time it gets to that age, it may be down to a real life range in the worst of conditions.
Maybe with 30 miles, I'm not sure. I really don't know, I haven't got a complete answer for this yet.
But if the real life range was 30 miles, that would affect to make the car no use for me anymore.
Well, I guess I could stop off and get a top up in the way, but that would just be the case.
And my place of work doesn't have a charger, so I couldn't charge it up there.
But this is really all down to the fact that I'm too tight and too mean.
If you've got an old second-hand car and it's reliable, it has to be reliable.
Then it's a fantastic way to, a fantastically cheap way of motoring.
And possibly the older and cheaper the car is the better value you're getting.
Maybe that's where I'm coming from this.
As I see, the previous car was cost me 1,700 and I had it for four and a half years.
But I certainly think that, of course, other thing is that I exactly how secure my job is.
I guess we're all a lot of people in this situation.
Things are changing at work a little bit.
And there's always a possibility that things could happen.
You know, you're back in mind, well, what do you think?
Well, if I had to get a job elsewhere, then it would be a bit tricky.
We've got a second car, so if things stay the way they are,
just an electric car, it would be absolutely doable with no hassle whatsoever.
And then the longer Johnny's, we could take the second car.
But the main commuting car, back forward to work for me, could be the EV.
I reckon the electricity costs for a year would be about 300 pounds,
as opposed to 1,500, plus not spending between 40 pounds of road tax.
That's free as well.
There was an awful lot of going for it.
And I was very, very close to doing it.
Whether it's my meanness, or I'm just being scared of taking the plungers,
it's probably a bit of both, really.
Another thing in the back of my mind was, well, you know, this new leaf is coming out.
So the 30 kilowatt leaf, I think it came out in 2015.
So because it's 2017, that means it's two years old,
and people tend to cover them on a piece of goeski for three years.
So I've been likely to get a 30 kilowatt leaf.
And the 30 kilowatt leaf with a 100 mile range.
Cool. That's just what we do there.
The 30 kilowatt leaf with a 100 mile range, after three years,
would still easily do three, four years,
would still easily do the 30 miles.
But the 24 just, you know, just have to be a bit close to the,
maybe by the time the battery wears.
I was, really, we'd really like the 30 kilowatt, I work battery.
I think actually where I was coming from,
but it's two expensive sets out of my price range.
So I thought, if I wait a year or so, then 30 kilowatt's
will become available to me.
And also, because the unison leaf available,
and the 30 kilowatt will drop in price,
24 will be even cheaper, so because everyone will want the new one.
It seems about a great deal of excitement about the new leaf,
and it seems like they're flying off the shelves, basically.
I could be compared to what they expected, anyway.
I mean, these are still very much minority car.
I mean, but when you look at the forums, people that have got them,
they're just absolutely delighted with them.
You know, it's a really practical and super cheap to run,
super reliable and all the rest of it.
Just like having a regular car.
It's easier for me to say that, because I haven't got one.
But certainly seriously considering my next car to be an unison leaf.
And of course, after coming very, very close,
I'm really close to picking up the phone and asking
the garage to get one for me.
I achieved my mind of checking it out.
And at that time, I was finding my own car,
particularly comfortable to drive, particularly nice,
which made it even more difficult.
So I just thought, well, I haven't had this car a couple of years.
And I've not had my money's worth yet.
It's been a tight spot.
We're not all like that, you know.
It's just some of us.
And we don't all have, we don't all wear quilts.
We don't all put the bagpipes.
I don't put the bagpipes incidentally.
I can badly play the chord in a little bit.
It's a piece box, we call it.
Quite a little high, I guess.
There's a particular delicacy that the cooperative,
local cooperative do.
And where I'm going with this.
I'm really how it works.
I started to carry on.
There's a particular delicacy.
Dave, you must try it.
It's really good.
Every else in the UK, must give it a go.
It's Haggis Pizza.
And I don't have any shares in the company,
just in case you're wondering.
Haggis Pizza.
Absolutely fantastic.
Possibly unhealthy.
Almost definitely unhealthy.
And I don't have it.
A huge amount of things, but every now and again
there's a fact that I've got a few months and so far one.
Every now and again, quite a few months.
It's a nice treat, just saying Haggis Pizza.
So, there we go.
There's anything else I'm going to say about the EV.
You can control it from an app on your phone.
I haven't got a smartphone, so there you go.
I've got a tablet, I guess.
So you can set it to heat itself up in the morning,
so you jump into a lovely warm hot car.
It's all defrosted and all that.
And that saves the battery as well,
because it uses the main switch plugged into it to do all that.
Obviously, when you get that one,
I'm going to come believe work,
well I could actually, but I've gained a batch, I guess.
The heater and this current car
is actually surprisingly good.
After a minute or two,
I'm getting more and more out of the vent.
It's really quick.
I think the quickest car I've ever had was a siton,
and a siton to a siton to a siton to a siton to a siton.
A siton ZX, BX, ZX.
It's one of the hydraulic suspension.
And within seconds, you seem to get a hot air out there
out of the vent.
I don't know how near I've achieved that.
That was, that was very nice.
With, anyway.
Well, it's me just pulling in the gate.
That was just to be followed,
because I thought it might as well keep talking.
But yeah, it was quite a shock
to drive this leafing
and how silky smooth, how quiet,
and I wonder down here.
It was in my pass.
Roll the window up.
Make the green light.
Okay.
I don't know if we go.
I'm wearing a Kiki leather jumper.
Leather jumper.
No leather jacket.
I don't have leather under pants either.
So, just not today, anyway.
So, a Kiki leather jacket.
So, that was a bit too distracting.
So, yeah.
I think that they've kind of gone,
they've tried to make it as,
at least been going for a while.
And they've tried to make it as much like a normal car,
even to the dashboard,
you've got this dum-tum in the middle,
and there's two gauges.
It's like fuel and temperature,
except the temperature one is,
as if it's a temperature of the battery,
because it's not that engine, obviously.
And the other one is the charge state,
to even try and make it look like a conventional car.
Just trying to park up here.
I don't think I'm very straight here.
Try that.
There we go.
What a Kiki jacket.
Reversing beepers.
Where would one be without reversing beepers?
I don't know.
Yes.
Actually, my wife Carr's got a reversing camera on it,
and actually, I prefer the beepers to tie the tooth,
because it means you can look all around yourself,
around all the windows,
and mirrors while you're doing all your maneuvering,
and you don't be distracted by looking at a screen.
That's a bit lethal, really.
It's not a good idea.
It's very, very easy to take your eye off the reverse
and look at the screen.
And if someone is approaching from the side
or something, you might not see them.
So I think the beepers are better.
I guess the best of all worlds is having both, I guess.
But just to use the camera,
when you're just as you're about up against the car,
you're reversing against, really, of the object.
Anyway, what a leather.
Look at it into that.
Well, that's me at Work folks.
I hope you enjoy this podcast,
this rambling nonsense about my thoughts on a new car.
Which I'm not going to get now, not getting.
Okay, so I'll just interrupt here.
And this recording was made back in November 2017,
and it was sitting on my digital recorder,
on my victim phone thingy,
and I came across it instead to publish it.
But to HPR,
in the meantime, things have moved on.
Obviously, things have moved quickly in the EV market.
And my thoughts have changed somewhat.
I've put some of these thought changes
in the end of the show notes.
So the first thing was that I think it was possibly
4,500 pound grant that was given to EV cars.
And although it's just been announced,
I think it was today or yesterday.
This is the 13th of October, as I speak,
that the grant for new EVs in the UK has been reduced
by 1,000 pounds from 4,500 to 3,500.
The second point I was going to say was that,
I think when I was looking at my car,
the government and nothing together had a 2,000 pound contribution scheme
when you cheated in an older car,
even for a second hand leaf sort of thing.
I suspect this is no longer available.
Now that the leaf is more popular, at 0.2, 0.3,
fuel costs have gone up.
And it may have miscalculated,
I think the two annual fuel bill is nearer to about 2,000 pounds
and now not 1,500, 1,2.3.4,
is that road tax for the Nissan Leaf is 0.
I don't think I mentioned that,
here in the UK anyway, 0.5.
Because of supply and demand,
the depreciation situation has completely changed
for the Nissan Leaf.
Had I bought this leaf in November 2017,
it would now, as of October 2018,
be worth more today than it was then.
Only time will tell how it all pans out,
things are changing rapidly.
It's just 0.5, I'm not sure I've lost count.
After further investigation,
it looks like Banti degradation is less than I first thought,
and I would likely start being pretty good condition
at 6 years old,
particularly in a cooler country like here in the UK and Scotland.
Another point, there has been some controversy
about the new 40 kilowatt leaf,
which may also impact in the older leaf
making them perhaps more appealing,
rather than less appealing,
and that's contributing to the high demand
for the older 38 and 24 kilowatt leafs.
A couple of links about that.
Just do fast charging,
and the passive cooling when you're charging
is of course some other manufacturers.
With the increased popularity of the older 24 and 30 kilowatt leafs,
this may no longer be so keen to give a no-cubble test drive.
So I think with all these things,
I think it's looking increasingly like
I may have made the wrong decision.
Oops.
I should return you back to the podcast.
So I hope you enjoyed it,
and if you want to contact me,
I can be contacted at MrX
at hpr at googlemail.com
That's MRX ATHPR
The At symbol
googlemail.com
So until next time,
thank you, and goodbye.
That was a stop button.
Let's see you somewhere.
Listen.
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