Eco camping

[Kental]

Hybrid car, low profile trailer (51 mpg towing) and solar panel & power Battery storage. Far more eco friendly than flying to the Caribbean.

[Marxon88]

I miss higher towing capacity with my 2.0 hybrid.

[Kental]

Fair point. 750kg is a bit restrictive 

[Roy124]

Prefer the Caribbean 😁

[TonyHSD]

Looks fun and the car is nicer in white 👍👌

[Cyker]

Wow, 51mpg while towing is really good!

[Kental]

2 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Prefer the Caribbean 😁

At least I get to my destination at the same time as my luggage!!!

[Kental]

1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

Looks fun and the car is nicer in white 👍👌

Only because I am a cheapskate who ordered flat white.

[Kental]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

Wow, 51mpg while towing is really good!

That was doing the legal limit too.

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Kental said:

Only because I am a cheapskate who ordered flat white.

White cars are actually the best for current climate, they tend to remain cooler by few degrees than any other dark colours and consume less energy.  You hit the jackpot with your colour choice 👌

[Trewithy]

56 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

White cars are actually the best for current climate, they tend to remain cooler by few degrees than any other dark colours and consume less energy.  You hit the jackpot with your colour choice 👌

In the UK cars of any colour with a contrasting black roof are popular.  I have watched some Australian car reviews on Youtube and they seem to favour a contrasting white roof. Hardly surprising as their average  temperatures are higher than ours.  However with climate change we could be catching them up. 

[Dylanfan]

Dark colours get much hotter than white, silver.. You can rest your hand on a white car while a red, blue or black car next to it would burn your hand.

[Kental]

21 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

White cars are actually the best for current climate, they tend to remain cooler by few degrees than any other dark colours and consume less energy.  You hit the jackpot with your colour choice 👌

With the privacy glass too, it generally hasn't been too unbearable to get into on a hot day either. The only issue round here in Kent everyone thinks it's a taxi!!!!

[Cyker]

Hmm, maybe Steve should sell some TOC stickers with the TOC logo/branding and THIS IS NOT A TAXI on it  

 

[TonyHSD]

7 hours ago, Kental said:

With the privacy glass too, it generally hasn't been too unbearable to get into on a hot day either. The only issue round here in Kent everyone thinks it's a taxi!!!!

Lol. Same with mine, especially with my high mileage stickers on the windows,  it does look like Uber car and I had few times people opening doors and want to get in😂👌

[Rhymes with Paris]

Don't Uber cars have any stickers or anything then ?

Serious question, as I have never used one,if indeed there are any round here (Lincolnshire).

We do have a black cab rank and private hire cars.

When I came back oop 'ere after working and living down south I noticed that the black cabs wouldn't stop for a flag down.

So intrigued I hiked to the rank,got my cab, and asked the driver why.

He told me its because 10 out of 10 flag downs are a waste of time,as most don't know where they are going , and those that do are not willing to pay meter rates which are higher than private hire.

Is it still the same in London area, in that you can still flag down black cabs?

Not been down there for a good while now.

 

 

[Cyker]

Most proper 'private-hire' mini cabs, do have some sort of branding on them, but most Ubers, don't have any identifying marks on them aside from their TfL licence sticker thing that all cabs have, but that is usually nigh-impossible to see because of tinted rear windows.

 

I don't know how it is in other cities, but in London, black cabs are the only cabs that can legally be flagged down from the street in London; Non-black cabs have to be pre-booked and aren't allowed to just pick up someone randomly on the street.

The London cabbies have a lot of pride because of The Knowledge, although I suspect they are quite grumpy if they have to drive around the inner parts of London all day (You couldn't pay me enough to drive on those hell-roads!)

There's a YouTuber called Tom the Taxi driver who gives a lot of insight into the London black cab world.

They're far too expensive for me to use (To be fair there ain't many forms of powered transport that'll be cheaper than my Mk4!!  ), although if I had 4-5 people then it would work out cheaper than busses and tubes and be less of a PITA to use as they don't charge per-person...

[Rhymes with Paris]

Aye, same here and in most cities I suppose, private hire pre book only, and black cabs can be flag down or on rank.

Do you think the black cabs are surviving because some people prefer the driver to be properly licenced and identifiable?

I'm also guessing that Uber drivers rely on sat nav unless local runs, and some would prefer the driver to know where they are going 😁, I don't know this, just speculation.

I was given a Volvo and a big yellow AA map book IIRC to find my way around from next to the airport to everywhere else.

I only got used to the major routes, and probably wouldn't even remember those now.

What I do remember though,is a pub down the road from West Drayton, that had a billboard outside saying "best pub in London"

Well who was I to disagree, they had a wonderful food set up with a large joint of rare tender beef being carved that covered the sandwich as well as fill it,at a reasonable price.

Also a stripper on Friday lunchtimes, they seemed to get pretty busy on Fridays, I put it down to the good food and atmosphere.

 

 

 

[Cyker]

I think partly prestige (Apparently our black cabs are world famous!), but they can also be cheaper then Uber as their pricing system is fixed, whereas Uber have their surge pricing. The cabbies also seem to have a better knack of knowing what shortcuts to take as the satnav can't keep up with the revolving roadworks, sudden restriction changes etc. that makes driving in and around central London so hellish.

 

Soo... about this Pub...?    

[Rhymes with Paris]

The pub may be demolished by now 😭, but maybe not, this was around 1985/86.

I worked out of an office in Harmondsworth village, down to the roundabout adjacent to a large chain hotel, turned left, I think North, and up the road a couple of miles or so, then pub on left.

I would avoid Fridays though, just in case.

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Btw, apologies to Kental for wandering so far from your subject, I get carried away a bit when reminiscing.

Your camping set up looks great.

[Cyker]

Hmm, I haven't tried sleeping in the Mk4 yet...

(Did in the Mk1 a few times due to repeated poor planning (Another reason current EVs are not for me!), but I think I'm too old to do that without waking up crippled in the morning now  . Was kinda fun being woken up by the sunset... and also screaming seagulls tho'  )

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

I can recommend an Austin Maxi for sleeping in as the seats fold down to make a very comfortable double bed, although sadly no bathroom.

I doubt any modern cars do this, I'm not looking for one that does,too old for that game now.

 

[Dylanfan]

17 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

I can recommend an Austin Maxi for sleeping in as the seats fold down to make a very comfortable double bed, although sadly no bathroom.

I doubt any modern cars do this, I'm not looking for one that does,too old for that game now.

 

Renault 16, same thing. The seats made a fully reclining bed, this was the first true hatchback. Not many about now😢

[Kental]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:46 PM, Rhymes with Paris said:

I can recommend an Austin Maxi for sleeping in as the seats fold down to make a very comfortable double bed, although sadly no bathroom.

I doubt any modern cars do this, I'm not looking for one that does,too old for that game now.

 

My Grandad had 2 Maxis, a '71 1750 and a '78 1500, the 2nd one that I had the 'pleasure' of doing some of my pre test practice in 1987/8.  The rear seat could fold forwards or backwards to allow the bed position.  You would need a Roof Rack though as with the car in bed mode, there was no bootspace to talk about.