Luton Airport car park fire

[SmartAmg]

So I bought a Cirrus Vision Jet and I’ve never looked back - being much smaller it‘s dramatically reduced my carbon footprint. I mostly only fly as far as I can without refuelling now, so Geneva, St Moritz and Monaco are all in easy reach for the for the weekend - I drive if I’m staying longer - but I only fly to LA, New York, Hong Kong or Tokyo if I really have to now, never just for fun.

Is this for real, BD ?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Is this for real, BD ?

I may have said too much. To be fair I have a lot of time on my hands today so my mind and fingers would be otherwise idle.

 

[markjay]

Is this for real, BD ?

Not serious stuff, you get change from $2m.....

 

[SmartAmg]

Not serious stuff, you get change from $2m.....

Is that right? I'm ordering Two then.

 

[rf065]

I completely changed my attitudes towards flying when I read that even though it produces significantly less CO2 than a Boeing 747, the Airbus A380 still produces a huge amount of CO2 when flying from London to Los Angeles. I was aghast, I can’t remember how much but they were horrifying figures and really put me off taking long haul flights.

So I bought a Cirrus Vision Jet and I’ve never looked back - being much smaller it‘s dramatically reduced my carbon footprint. I mostly only fly as far as I can without refuelling now, so Geneva, St Moritz and Monaco are all in easy reach for the for the weekend - I drive if I’m staying longer - but I only fly to LA, New York, Hong Kong or Tokyo if I really have to now, never just for fun.

Like an EV it requires an upfront investment, depreciation is heavy, and building one has its own environmental impact to consider. It would be irresponsible to buy one and for it to be sat unused for most the week, so I share with three others - my wife and two kids use it too.

The games up, you're Prince Harry and your cover is blown!

 

[SpikyMikey]

I may have said too much. To be fair I have a lot of time on my hands today so my mind and fingers would be otherwise idle.

I'm just surprised given your obvious discerning nature that you went for the Cirrus and didn't just jump in with both feet on a Pilatus PC-12 NGX ( interior by BMW)
Range enough to get you down to Italy, Spain or Greece......

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

The games up, you're Prince Harry and your cover is blown!

Busted!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I'm just surprised given your obvious discerning nature that you went for the Cirrus and didn't just jump in with both feet on a Pilatus PC-12 NGX ( interior by BMW)
Range enough to get you down to Italy, Spain or Greece......

What can I say, I’m tight

 

[Fastcar155]

Is this for real, BD ?

Hi , I thought you had a Concorde stored at East Midlands

 

[SpikyMikey]

What can I say, I’m tight

Gotta say, I'm surprised and a tad disappointed.
Looks like I'll have to book on a commercial airline for next year's jaunt to the Med.
Thanks a bloomin' lot "mate".

 

[Dryce]

Modern planes are very efficient.....and therefore pretty good with carbon. Compare it with an individual in a car and a fully loaded Airbus will return the equivalent of 78 mpg per person. So as long is the plane is at least half full (so about 40mpg) its going to cause less pollution per person that they would if they drove to the destination in all but the most economical ICE powered cars......and a few hundred cars off the worlds roads....its a win, win. Im flying to work from now on!

The issue with long haul travel is the distance rather than the means of transport .... as long as the aircraft is flying with a full load.

Flying in more than one hop may be more efficient as well - as the aircraft isn't carrying so much fuel just to haul fuel.

Buses and trains are not as efficient as the headlines quote - again unless loads are sufficient.

And with cars the CO2 per passenger km obviously works out a lot better with passengers in addition to the driver.

 

[clk320x]

Worth knowing, thank you.

It’s an interesting discussion.

Pre-facelift has more reliable headlights (common DRL failure on facelift models) and pre-facelift also has a more reliable PTC heater…

A lot of Pre-Facelifts also came with 22kW AC charging which is great if you have 3-Phase at home or the office.

 

[clk320x]

I'm assuming you too are in this discussion with a fixed motive.

I mean not really, I’m not telling anyone they should get an EV - just debunking a lot of the bs reasons given by people for not buying one. Some are valid but some are just nonsense. It’s perfectly fine to just say ‘I don’t want one’ rather than speculating about circumstances where you need to do 1000 miles non-stop whilst towing at 80mph.

 

[markjay]

I mean not really, I’m not telling anyone they should get an EV - just debunking a lot of the bs reasons given by people for not buying one. Some are valid but some are just nonsense. It’s perfectly fine to just say ‘I don’t want one’ rather than speculating about circumstances where you need to do 1000 miles non-stop whilst towing at 80mph.

...in the snow.

 

[Will]

...in the snow.

In a country with no electricity supply

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I mean not really, I’m not telling anyone they should get an EV - just debunking a lot of the bs reasons given by people for not buying one. Some are valid but some are just nonsense. It’s perfectly fine to just say ‘I don’t want one’ rather than speculating about circumstances where you need to do 1000 miles non-stop whilst towing at 80mph.

It's astonishing the hokum that's thrown around on both sides.

There ought to be some way of throwing more light onto the real differences

It's comparable to the drivel still thrown around about the pros and cons of Brexit. I was casually told last night that travel across Europe is now "really difficult" for Brits by a woman who spends just one week a year in the EU. After I'd just told her that next year I'm spending two months in France, a month in Scandinavia, a month in Ireland, and a couple of separate weeks in Portugal

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I was casually told last night that travel across Europe is now "really difficult" for Brits by a woman who spends just one week a year in the EU. After I'd just told her that next year I'm spending two months in France, a month in Scandinavia, a month in Ireland, and a couple of separate weeks in Portugal

It’s a right faff to get through security at Schiphol as UK citizens can’t go through the EU lane nor the automated security on their way. They have no problem with UK citizens using the automated security outbound though!

On the upside on one particular trip it meant that I got to know Rylan of singing competition, television and radio fame quite well as we queued next to each other for more than an hour! Unfortunately I’ve not bumped into him queueing since.

 

[pioneercollector]

I am just planning another road trip through Germany and beyond .... In the aged SL500, i expect more issues from the roads beyond Germany, than entering the different country boundaries. Even when we were in 'the club' ( EU) i still needed to pay various 'duties' to enter some countries such as Hungary and Transylvania / Romania .... it wasn't a lot, i think around £12 .... drive to gate, handover cash, place sticker in the window and proceed !

 

[Dryce]

It's astonishing the hokum that's thrown around on both sides.

The fundamental that is missed with cars is that people typically don't by a minimal cheap car 'to get from A to B'.

There can often be a a large amount of discretionary decisions in the purchase.

A lot of the advocacy (from any side / perspective) about car purchasing and ownership is incredibly subjective. Just because range isn't important to some buyers doesn't mean that it's a major actor for others. Some people will happily stop off for an hour on a journey - others do not. Some people are not affected by vehicle price, others are sensitive, others get company vehicles. Not all of us buy new.

Back in the 2000s it was very difficult to persuade friends and neighbours that they didn't really need a diesel not to buy one. They'd buy one anyway because 'they were cheaper to run'. Diesels made sense for some purchasers - but not for others. And the final purchase decisions didn't necessarily follow logic.

I rather view EVs at the moment in the same situation - with the added complication of a market that hasn't really found its feet with regard to product and pricing.

 

[markjay]

...Back in the 2000s it was very difficult to persuade friends and neighbours that they didn't really need a diesel not to buy one. They'd buy one anyway because 'they were cheaper to run'. Diesels made sense for some purchasers - but not for others. And the final purchase decisions didn't necessarily follow logic....

True. People are still buying 'cheaper to run' Diesel cars, in spite of the fact that Diesel fuel costs around 5%-10% more than petrol, and repairs can be very expensive.