Lifetime of current vehicle & classics

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guzzi lemans

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Hi all, is anyone concerned regarding the push to removing combustion engined cars from the roads? I have a Japanese reimport disco 1 v8 with a 3.9 which has a lpg conversion which is fine, but the number of filling stations have steadily reduced recently, especially with shell pudding their greenwashing policy. Presumably this will happen to petrol and diesel in the near future so presumably this will devalue the vehicle to zero - regardless of supposed classic status.
This to me will prevent me from carrying out any further improvements except those necessary for safe use.
I'm not sure if I will be keeping it for much longer, and although it is in good condition with no rust or corrosion it will soon end up in the scrap heap as it has no value to anyone which is a pity. I've had the vehicle since 2012 and have kept it in good state of repair including replacing the exhaust for a stainless steel system with cats a couple of weeks ago but now feel as I have wasted my money.
Do others feel the same way?
 
I’ve an NZ bias but it will be a long time before petrol and diesel is phased out to the point it’s difficult or expensive to buy it. My guess is diesel will be around longer for trucks and agricultural machinery etc.

An alternative view is that as electric cars become more common there will be a diminishing number of (older) gas powered cars around to buy, so the survivors become more valuable, obviously that changes if you can’t get fuel for them at a reasonable price, also if the cost of electric cars drops a lot from where it is now.

As an example, in NZ years ago when the govt introduced rules that stopped (older) high emission diesel cars being imported the used price of the older cars (like my 300tdi) went up, as the cost of the used imports went up.

The NZ govt has just imposed a “ute tax” on 4wd imports, so again I expect the price of a used 4wd will go up.

Think about all the vintage cars, billions invested, difficult to imagine they all get scrapped.
 
Even if every car sold was electric it would take approx 15 years for all the vehicles using IC engines to be eliminated, since at the moment less than 10% of sales are electric vehicles you can see it will be a long, long time before IC could be eliminated from the roads. in fact never unless sales pick up dramatically and prices drop.
Think about the fact that cars from the early years of motoring are still around, there is always a way.
 
I'm expecting my landy to out last me in use, that's another thirty years.
Note, there are not yet any real plans to get rid of diesel lorry's . That's pie in the sky as far as battery technology at the moment. Ideas for powered roads either overhead or under road are just ridiculous , the cost and disruption is just too big.
Our next car is likely to be a diesel, bought in a couple of years. Battery tech still doesn't do what we need.
People are likely to cling onto their last ICE car once new ones are not available, with electrics being vastly more expensive than petrol, the numbers who can afford a new car will reduce.
 
Pragmatically when enough vehicles are electric with their (supposedly) zero emissions the offset will be large enough that the slowly reducing number of diesel / petrol vehicles still running become an irrelevance in the overall scheme of things.
This seems to be a thing at the moment, there is no pragmatism just 'all or nothing' applied everywhere
 
I would not read too much in to it and just carry on as normal. A lot of this stuff is scare mongering tactics only. We will at least another minimum 30 years of all types of fuels in the uk so just carry on i say or if it really bothers you give them all up now and save a fortune and buy a push bike. LOL.

I recently gave up all my 6 classics in my collection after a 40 plus year hobby. My reasons were health and i just needed a break from them. I bought a newer L405 Rangie for now to use and my missus has her new car too and i have my little Vespa scooter to rip around on. I ain't worried for the time being and neither should you be buddy. Just go with it and enjoy it while you can. Its only money and you can't take it with you and we could all be Nuked tomorow in which case it will be over for us all.
 
guzzi lemans said:
Hi all, is anyone concerned regarding the push to removing combustion engined cars from the roads? I have a Japanese reimport disco 1 v8 with a 3.9 which has a lpg conversion which is fine, but the number of filling stations have steadily reduced recently, especially with shell pudding their greenwashing policy. Presumably this will happen to petrol and diesel in the near future so presumably this will devalue the vehicle to zero - regardless of supposed classic status.
This to me will prevent me from carrying out any further improvements except those necessary for safe use.
I'm not sure if I will be keeping it for much longer, and although it is in good condition with no rust or corrosion it will soon end up in the scrap heap as it has no value to anyone which is a pity. I've had the vehicle since 2012 and have kept it in good state of repair including replacing the exhaust for a stainless steel system with cats a couple of weeks ago but now feel as I have wasted my money.
Do others feel the same way?
Click to expand...
Its funny they asked Jay Leno the same thing, and he loves electric cars. Having electric/hybrid allows us to have collectables and they will be around forever. Worst case they will cap mileage per annum or charge you through the nose to go over.

Having older vehicles as your daily drivers will be the first to be hit mind but I cant see that happening for a long time.
 
I think at this rate, the only means of transport that the common man would be able to afford is a pedal bike :)
 
I'm not going to worry about the scarcity of dino juice juice yet. It'll be decades until its unavailable, the issue is will it be affordable to us mere mortals.:eek:

Currently second hand LR vehicles are increasing in price at quite a rate, so it's worth keeping good ones, and selling on tat, while the going is good. ;)
 
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It would be nice to know how much of an issue changing my 300tdi to veg would be for the future.

My truck would will likely need a chassis change in the future and I wondered if future government legislation would make having a diesel cost prohibitive, but then I thought that veggie oil may provide a solution. I saw Britannica Mike made a video showing a fuel injection pump that was all gunged up, which he suspected was veggie oil. But imagine if someone developed a pump to suit this fuel type.
 
HI, the main issue for me is the reducing amount of lpg filling points, in north Wales there are very few now, and that made the vehicle useable. I even thought about the heresy of putting a tdi in it, thinking about reconditioning a unit with the md 2.8 kit, but then you have to consider the gearbox as well, the auto will have to change etc etc.....
It does draw attention, due to the colour and the v8 (going through devils bridge last week I was told the engine sound was beautiful) but it is 25 years old, not quite a clunker but also not a classic and by the 15 yrs it takes to become 'historic' that category will probably disappear, as will I. Maybe it is better off with someone else who has the years left to see it get to 40 or so. I must admit it is confusing that the discovery is seen as the vehicle that kept landrover in business, yet is totally dismissed in favour of the 90/110. I spent my late teens/twenties plodding round in a military lightweight and various other series 3 and early 90's which either cooked me or froze me depending on the weather, and deafened me especially with the anti-fod tyres!
My owner (the trouser wearer, other wise swmbo) complains at the accumulation of receipts, but then now thinks 'm daft for thinking about selling it 'you've spent a fortune on it', but I suppose that is nothing new. When I mentioned I was thinking of selling my lemans as well she was aghast, I've had it for nearly 40 years, but again, it hardly gets used, same with my classic Honda's, there is just little enjoyment in riding them. My Marin mount vision, however, gets thrashed!

Cheers
am
 

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The V8 disco’s were fetching bottom money a few years ago, even rust free low km examples going for a $1000, but now they are almost matching the diesel prices. There is an opinion here that the disco 1 is becoming “collectible” and is generally no longer used as a daily driver, so the fuel cost issue is not so important as it once was, so the V8 is becoming the one to get.
Our TDI disco is still in regular use for towing a trailer, or picking up bulky/messy items etc. I also use it on the monthly vintage car runs (the one’s that involve gravel roads), rather than risk our 1952 classic car. It’s not the required 30 years old that qualifies it for the VCC, but no one minds....
 
Well here's a thing. The disco struggled to tow a fairly light trailer up the big hill on the A470 between Machyntlleth and Dolgellau, it's a trunk road so was surprised to see the sign at the bottom indicate it was a 20% (1 in 5) so quite steep and quite long too. Talking to the chap that services the log he advised me previously to put it into petrol because that is around 15 to 20% more power. Well it still struggled upon it, and didn't kick down into first until it was under 2000 rpm, then it shot up to around 4500 rpm, accelerating quite well. Bit disappointed in that, and as I've been considering Megasquirt I spoke to one of the guru's for that system, recounted the tale and as I had the latest emission figures was able to tell him what the CO, HC & Lambda results were, apparently the lambda indicates the engine is running really lean and if I do that again I'll melt the pistons. Oops.
Today I bought a nice 3 door TDI, 1996 R reg, so will see how that goes on our next trip to the lakes. At least I won't be harried by searching for log.
The v8 needs a connection to test book or whatever to determine which sensor has gone wrong.
So I now have a brace of blue disco's, or will have on Sunday.

By the way, my sister lives in Nelson, works in the visitor centre in the national park. Hope fully I'll be allowed a visit before I pop me clogs!

Cheers

am
 
My tdi is a 96, 5 door (mechanical fuel pump), and is hopeless up hills! I have to get into relaxed mode to drive it on what passes for fast roads in NZ.....(100k speed limit).

I have never dared test the compression, I just assume it’s pretty knackered....it’s done over 350k km now, on original pistons as far as I know.

Nelson is statistically the sunniest place in NZ, and a great base to explore the Able Tasman park from. The drive down the West coast of the Sth island is truly epic (even more so on a motorbike).
 
The classic vehicle industry is worth hundreds of millions of pounds and they are always coming up with ways to keep older vehicles running.
The latest glitch is E10 petrol which is causing a few issues, but new parts are being manufactured to replace unsuitable materials which are affected by it.
Once it gets out how dirty electric cars are, what with the short battery life and what to do with the spent batteries, maybe the electric loving elite will look elsewhere.
My TDI has 49k on it and I notice it drops off up hills and inclines on the motorway, when towing.
I'm used to my old 3.0 Terrano pulling like a train, so will have to get used to the Disco.
It probably doesn't help being an auto.
 
Firebobby1 said:
Once it gets out how dirty electric cars are, what with the short battery life and what to do with the spent batteries, maybe the electric loving elite will look elsewhere.
Click to expand...

And this information has come from where.:confused:

Testing has proved that the average EV battery has a minimum of a 10 year life, but will still give decent range at 20 years, so you're information is completely incorrect.
 
Google of course, although a friend has had 3 batteries replaced in his Tesla, he's had the car from new, luckily they were replaced on warranty.

Google how they are disposing of spent batteries. They can't be recycled at the moment.
The amount of pollution caused by extracting the battery materials is so much more than it is to build a petrol/diesel car.
10 to 20 years, get real!
Where did you get that information.
 
I imagine given time the cost of manufacture and recycling of an EV will reduce and the chemicals required to reprocess batteries etc will be more 'eco', but at the moment the whole industry is being propped up by carbon credits and government grants. The true cost both environmentally and financially of an EV is a lot more than you visibly see.
In terms of longevity the Prius is probably the best gauge as it's been out quite a while, they get similar life to a petrol car 100-150k miles between battery packs
 
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