Double Cab U-Turn

No, not taxi cabs - although the rules say that in London at least, they have to be able to do a U-Turn within a 25 foot turning circle.

This story, though, is about double-cab pickup trucks like this one...

...and the rules concerning the tax on them.

I saw this story at lunchtime on the Auto Express website but that appears to be broken right now so here's a link to the local newspaper of the small Hampshire town of Fleet - Fleet News.

On Monday last week, the HMRC announced that vehicles like that yellow one above would be treated as cars rather than commercial vehicles and would therefore no longer be getting the tax breaks afforded to commercial vehicles.

This upset quite a few people - business people and farmers and people who sell double-cab pick-up trucks.

On Thursday, the Government got thrashed in a by-election.  Not really relevant  to this but it pleased me and it's further proof that The Conservatives don't want to be upsetting people - especially business people and farmers and people who sell double-cab pick-up trucks. 

So yesterday the Government did a U-Turn. Nigel Huddleston, financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “We will change the law at the next available Finance Bill in order to avoid tax outcomes that could inadvertently harm farmers, van drivers and the UK’s economy.”

Then maybe they shouldn't have made a law that produced tax outcomes that could inadvertently harm farmers, van drivers and the UK’s economy.

But, let's be honest - they do have form.

International Post Stories About Volkswagen Day

I probably need to visit autoguide.com more often.

If I'd visited it on April 21st I'd have read this story and learned that April 22nd was Earth Day.

And on Earth Day, but just for that day, VW in Canada made their website more eco-friendly.  Apparently, websites can use up energy (and therefore resources) too so they made it more efficient by using plain text and simple pictures. They reckon that the simpler version "generates an estimated 93% less Carbon Dioxide" than their usual landing page - which they've now gone back to.

I'm not sure how much that day will have compensated for the nitrous oxide emitted as a result of the fiddling by their German colleagues but I'm sure it's a start.

If you want to see the VW Canada page from that day, a neat little website tool called The Wayback Machine  can help - take a look here.

Meanwhile, another "World" Day missed by me but not by Volkswagen was this Wednesday which was "World Design Day". Car+Driver are reporting on a world design whereby VW have chopped the back off a Buzz to make a pick-up.

Here's a copy of what was put onto chief designer Klaus Zyciora’s Instagram profile:

I get what they are going for...

But it doesn't really work for me.

Anyway, I'm going to finish this article here because I need to prepare for National Chocolate Parfait Day tomorrow.

Flipping Chevrolets!

Earlier this week, Fox News asked the question, "Should you stay in your car during a tornado?"

The answer was "Probably not"

Just to sort of make their point...

The sixteen year old lad driving this Chevrolet Pick-Up had a scary experience.

It was turned onto the driver's side, spun around, then righted again by a tornado.

The local Chevy dealers though have offered him a brand new truck to replace it.  The story is here.

Meanwhile, on a lighter note, and also from Fox News this week, here's a funny story involving KFC, Mercedes F1 and Twitter:

Nuts Story From Fargo

 I like Fargo:

I also like squirrels:

I'm quite indifferent to Chevrolet Avalanches (mainly as I'd never heard of the vehicle before) but I did enjoy this Fox Story which combines all three.

I also like Foxes but no fox appears in the story - it is Fox News unfortunately.

Basically, as illustrated by one of their photos...

...A squirrel spent four days hiding 175lb of black walnuts (which I also hadn't heard of but they evidently are not black) in the pick-up truck.

And, unlike most Fargo stories, nobody got hurt.

The Long and Short of It.

I saw this in an Autocar Story today:

It looks like a cobbled-together in a shed, kit version of a Lamborghini LM002:

But it is actually a hell of a lot more than that.

It is an electric vehicle with a range-extender engine "built for expeditions as extreme and diverse as crossing the Antarctic or penetrating uncharted Amazon rainforests."

It's about the size of a Transit but very light weight with a high ground-clearance - it is called The Fering Pioneer.

This is the story.

It also has a bit of a Jeep Gladiator look about it...

...which I wouldn't have spotted if I hadn't read this Fox News story which talks about the best and worst cars for tall and short people.  Although Consumer Reports should get the credit for it.

You would think that convertibles would be best for tall drivers since there is infinite headroom.

Think again:

Shame about the number plate but I'm sure the Fox News viewers would appreciate it.

Apparently the second-best car for short drivers is the BMW 7-Series and the first-best car for tall drivers is the BMW 7-Series.

I think it just means it has very adjustable seats.

Woof Rack

Some good car news and some bad car news out of The States over the last week or so.

I was in two minds about commenting on both until the above Post Title came in to my head for the second story and I just couldn't waste it.

But first, from Fox News of all places, some good news - unless you are a racist motorsports fan.

NASCAR's flag ban opens sport to diverse new crowd.  It seems that having less symbols of oppression at a sports event means that you get more people turning up.  The Confederate Flag has been banned from the circuits - the theory being that "for every fan who complained about lost heritage, someone new would discover a sport far more inclusive than initially perceived."

Turns out the theory was borne out - probably much to the annoyance of your typical Fox News viewer.  Good.

The second story, from Car+Driver, is bad news - but only if you like to let your dog ride loose in the back of your pick-up in Utah or six other US States.

In Utah, Letting Dogs Ride in Pickup Truck Bed May Be Illegal Soon.  A proposed bill, from a Democrat, "would make it illegal for people to drive faster than 40 mph with unrestrained dogs in the back of their truck. There are exceptions for working farm dogs and hunting dogs or if the sides of the bed are at least 46 inches tall."  Apparently, there have been some horrific cases of dogs falling from vehicles killing themselves and injuring other road users.

I envisage Fox News reporting on this the same way that they reported that "Barack Obama wanted to ban all guns" - when he actually was trying to make their usage safer - for example by preventing terrorists from buying them.

There is another solution:

Dead Badgers Society

I spotted an interesting article in Car+Driver during my lunchbreak about digital licence plates.  They look like this...

...and are only legal in two of the United States of America.

I'm having problems understanding the benefits of these things.  Apparently, they can be changed to give out alerts or to indicate that the vehicle has been stolen.  They can also be linked in to the State licensing to update when the fees have been paid.

Well whoopdie-doo.

I say that because they cost $499 and then either $55 a year or $4.99 a month. It is also available for $17.95 a month for 36 months.

Yes, you have to subscribe to your own number plate.  And think of all the prisoners it's going to put out of work.

And what happens when they get hacked?

The battery lasts five years though.

So, this evening, I returned to Car+Driver to create this post and spotted another intriguing headline - one concerning a dead badger.  I posted about dead badgers many years ago when I was in a different employment to the one my lunchbreak interrupted today.

However, the new dead badger story is actually a dead Badger story - with a capital B - the Nikola Badger has been culled by GM pulling out of a deal to build the things.  

Full story here.

It looks like this is the result of skullduggery - either on the part of Nikola or on the part of an investor trying to cash in on a crashing share-price. Nobody knows who yet - that story is here.

Shame, because if you put electric licence plates on it, it wouldn't need separate batteries.

What The Truck!?

Two days ago, I posted about the new Tesla Cybertruck:

I also mentioned how Elon got a bit embarrassed at the launch when its supposedly shatter-proof windows shattered.

 

Well, according to the BBC, that hasn't put off nearly 150000 people from ordering one.

 

Earliest speculation for the first deliveries are pointing at the end of 2021.  Ha "pointing" - see what I did there?

 

And am I alone in thinking it won't look anything like what has been shown so far?

 

The A-Pillars mean you won't be able to see around corners at junctions.

 

And the pointy bits are a pedestrian health-and-safety nightmare.

 

And what's with the name "Cybertruck" - is it because of the success of the Jeep Cyberman? 

Little Doctor Who reference for you there.

 

Meanwhile, the Cybertruck is claimed to have “ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel” said to be bulletproof for up to 9mm rounds.  Well it is going on sale in America.

 

The Cybertruck comes in three motor configurations, rear-wheel drive, 4-wheel drive and top of the range, triple-motored "Plaid".  Don't know what the third motor does or how they are pronouncing "plaid".  Is it plad as in what we would call tartan and what is usually a euphemism for boring?

 

Or is it plied as in the Welsh world for party (political not fancy-dress).

 

Talking of 4x4s and politics:

Pick Up Lines

I've said it before.

On more than one occasion.

I DON'T GET THE POINT OF SPY-SHOTS!

Today we have this one:

It's from this Autocar story about the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado.  You can't tell anything about the car/pick-up thingy from that picture - least of all the big news that IT IS A DIESEL!

 

Actually that is quite big news for America because, apart from Sin City Motors' Steve Darnell, nobody in America likes Diesels.

 

And what's with the 2019 model year? - it's still 2017 for goodness sake!

 

And how are you supposed to tell from that picture that it's a Diesel anyway?

Ah - apparently this bloke with the Michigan State T-shirt and the blurry face is using a Diesel pump.

 

Anyway, I have a scoop here!  This is an exclusive picture of the 2020 Ford Fiesta under testing at the Nürburgring: 

Car+Driver Feature Something I Own One Of.

Is it a Renault Alaskan?

No. While a tough Renault pick-up is slightly intriguing, it wouldn't inspire me to buy one.  I don't think they are on sale yet anyway.

So, is it the Mercedes GLC43?

Nope, I can honestly say I have no interest in that whatsoever.

No, what it is that I own one of, is a Commodore 64 - like this one:

 

Only less grubby.  But I have the cassette player rather than the more sophisticated Disk Drive that this one boasts.  Car+Driver feature it in this story about a Polish car workshop where they claim it is still being used to assist in balancing driveshafts.

I would like to believe that it is a true story and that it is a recent photo - the mobile phone in the picture looks quite old but if they are still using a Commodore 64, why would they bother with a 21st Century phone?

Plus the glasses look like an old-person's spectacles.

I enlarged the picture and put some of the screen text into Google Translate - it came up with the following phrases:

• keep the number of influential blanking vibrations
• measurements of the masses without trial
• The test mass plane

So I reckon it is legit.

Not that I even know the basics about aligning Polish driveshafts.

But I could help them with the BASIC.

Grammar Knows Best

I admit that I am a bit of a Grammar-Nazi. I like my apostrophes to be in the right place.

So I was particularly pleased to read this story out of Associated Press this week.

Basically, an Ohio woman parked her pick-up in a place where a sign stated that certain types of vehicles cannot be parked longer than 24 hours, including "any motor vehicle camper, trailer, farm implement and/or non-motorized vehicle."

She overstayed her 24 hours.

She got a parking ticket.

Note that the sign says "motor vehicle camper" rather than "motor vehicle, camper"

Now, since her vehicle wasn't a "motor vehicle camper", her ticket was overthrown.

Good.

It also gives me an excuse to post this picture of a vehicle that was ten-a-penny when I was little but you don't see any more.

 

It's a Commer Campervan.

I'm Not a Fan of "The Apprentice"

Either the British version with Sir Lord Prince Alan Sugar:

 

Or the American version with Donald Trump:

I'm not particularly a fan of Mr.Sugar - but at least he likes cars and football.

 

And he isn't obsessed with the insane idea that Barack Obama wasn't born on US soil.

 

And his surname doesn't mean "fart".

 

Although the UK version of the show has produced its own vile creature.  She is either unbelievably ignorant or completely desperate for publicity.  So I'm not going to mention her name.  In either case she should be starved of the oxygen of said publicity.  In fact, I'd be quite happy for her just to be starved of oxygen full stop.

 

Anyway, I don't watch The Apprentice for the same reason I don't watch Big Brother - I discovered quite early on that I don't actually like any of the people taking part.

 

Good job apprentices in Germany have the right idea.

 

This Autoguide story from yesterday covers a couple of very fine concepts created by Volkswagen apprentices for the forthcoming Wörthersee festival where Audi/VW tuners congregate to show off their work.  this GTi based car is called the Dark Shine.  Ok, it probably loses something in translation but it still looks very desirable.

Meanwhile here's a story from last year about what Mini Apprentices got up to - a fun Mini Countryman Pick-Up:

I bet none of them wrote a mission statement first.

 

Now, all we need is a new show that shows genuinely talented apprentices like these at work.

 

While Al and Donny could be fired.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...and The Beautiful and the Blobby

All, and when I say "All", I Mean "ALL" of the car press today are going on about the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.  The show opens on Thursday in, of all places, Geneva.

But they've let the press in already.

Very much as I'd love to be there with them, I cannot be for various reasons including work commitments, family commitments, finances, logistics and the fact that I'm not a real journalist.

So I have to pick apart what they are all reporting.

Let's start with the good. That would be The Mitsubishi CE-MiEV.

This is the much-better follow-up to the i-MiEV.  Autocar cover it here.  It is an electric car with better range and recharging times than the i-MiEV but still not as good as the Silex Power Chreos.

 

Most importantly, though, it doesn't look stupid like the i-MiEV - actually, I think it looks a lot like a Prius.  But not as good looking as Mitsubishi's other offering at the show, the GR-HEV:

A futuristic- looking  hybrid pick-up with a one-tonne payload.

 

OK, so that's the "good", evironmentally friendly and all that, now for the "bad".  I don't mean "bad" as in "not good", I mean "bad" in the Michael Jackson way.

 

Now, I don't mean "Michael Jackson way" as in the dodgy allegations that saw him in Court, I mean the "Michael Jackson way" as in the 1987 album he called "Bad".

 

Now that's clarified, I expected the "baddest" car at Geneva to be the McLaren P1 but it seems to have had the headlines taken off it by the Rolls-Royce Wraith. 

Here's one of Autoguide's stories on it. It is described as the most powerful Rolls ever. I'd say it would be a bit of a Bentley-worrier. They claim it's in a different price-bracket but I think it's a lot more attractive and should appeal to the Cheshire set - it's only the suicide-doors that I don't like. It also has a neat headlining inside which looks like a starry sky at night. It has been done before but will give that "out in a cabriolet on a warm Summer's evening" feeling that everyone loves so much.

 

Don't they?

 

Oh well, even so, it does look appealing.

 

Which brings me neatly round to...

 

...THE UGLY!

Not sure what the man in the photo is doing.  That thing is a Toyota i-Road.  It's an electric three-wheeler, two-seater much in the vein of the Renault Twizy.  And the glass doors means it shares a problem with the Twizy in that people will be able to see you driving it.  I've read a few reviews of the Twizy being tested in the UK and each time the reviewer has commented about derogatory remarks being shouted at him.  Now I can't possibly condone such action. 

 

But I can well understand it.

 

Now to "the beautiful".  When I read this article in caradvice.com.au about the ItalDesign Giugiaro Parcour concept, I immediately thought of  the Silex Power Chreos in as much as it is a pretty, computer-generated car:

However, if this is vapour-ware, it is very solid because here are some people having a good, close look at it...

I think it is gorgeous and very reminiscent of the supercars of my childhood in the '70s.

 

That was a time when ItalDesign were doing their only other work that I am aware of - ie, the squaring off of the Morris Marina to produce the Morris Ital:

Also, the peak time for Ford to be producing the Escort.  I keep thinking they've started again because I keep seeing stories about this car at Geneva:

It's the Ford EcoSport - which looks like "Escort" when you're flicking through car stories.  This car looks nothing like an Escort, though. It looks like a tall Ford Kuga - the Ford Kuga it will be replacing as opposed to the bigger "World Car" Ford Kuga that seems to have replaced the outgoing Ford Kuga here in The UK.  Confusing eh?

 

So, in summary, that's the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.  You don't need to go now.

Tailgating - Good or Bad?

It depends upon if you are British or American.

If you are British, then this is tailgating:although, really you need to replace the car in the mirror with an Audi.

Anyway, it's not a good thing - in fact, it's a downright dangerous thing. If you are American, then tailgating seems to involve a barbecue:
Here's a better picture -it actually involves a pretty girl tailgate:

Here in Britain, we have things called "car boot sales" which do not involve the purchase of cheap car boots (or "trunks" if you are American - trunks to us are what elephants have or what men wear to swim in)

In America, they have tailgate thefts which I would have assumed to be thefts from the cargo bays of Pick-Up Trucks but actually is the theft of the vehicle tailgate itself. Fox News reported on it yesterday together with some statistics on cities, States and makes of vehicle most likely to be targetted and tips on how not to let it happen to you.

Meanwhile, North of the border (in Canada not Scotland) they have a different crime again called "curbsiding" which has nothing to do with Kerb-crawling. The Canadian car-site I sometimes delve into had this story last month. Apparently, this particular crime is trading in used (often repaired after damage) cars while pretending to be a private seller and not disclosing the history of the car. Although, if anyone repaired and then sold on the car they used to illustrate the story, then good luck to them:

Whatever motoring crime you decide to take part in, if caught, you may well end up before a judge.

And that judge may well be an expert on motoring crime.

Like this chap.