Have you yet to go wide open throttle on public roads? Have you ever gone wide open throttle in a car? That's impressive, the self control you have. I'd rip the black box out and throw it in a river. Observing what a car does when you stomp the gas to the floor is my most favorite thing. From the very first moment I drove a car I was eagerly awaiting an opportunity to take it to its limits. I have a job that allows me to do it almost constantly. It's kind of stupid how often I stomp gas pedals. Pretty much any time I have to accelerate, I'm going WOT. That's what happens when you put me in a fleet car. I'd say I drove 20-30 cars/trucks today, which were collectively subjected to hundreds of throttle stomps. I enjoy stomping brake pedals, too, but not nearly at the frequency of gas pedals. The only aspect of that I feel bad about is the excess emissions. Note that WOT =/ driving like a maniac. It's merely bringing the car up to speed quicker. You bet your ass I'm driving my own car nice and easy on the way home though.
My driving instructor taught me to use wide open throttle. Not everywhere of course, but if merging onto a dual carriageway or from a roundabout in a dual carriageway, floor it. Realistically, the 1.4l engine wasn't going to send anyone flying into the back of their seats.
The exhaust fell off my car today.. I figured out the blackbox now, my limits are: Minimal throttle in 1st gear, acceleration too hard Ease into the pedals, so progressively apply them. Don't ever speed ofc But yeah I went all the way to 5700rpm with my throttle on the floor in 2nd gear, it wasnt blowing your socks off 80hp and 4 people in the car but it was quite nippy really I was so dead focused on the sheer sound of my exhaust and the fact I was accelerating soo fast compared to what I was used to, that I forgot that I just sailed past the guy who moved over to the right to let me out did.. Oops only time I have undertook! It really really sounds good at high RPM, I'll have to find a video of it.. I wasn't recording it at the time I went to 5700rpm.. But god, that exhaust has knocked the car enthusiast back into me Road rules, mirrors observations, all blended into one amazing drive, I was having fun, it was not incredible fun it was responsible fun but it was damn impressive what I did.. Oh and also speaking of blackbox, my friend has one, with a different insurance company, they don't measure acceleration / braking.... I HAVE 11 MONTHS of agony whilst my friend roars round in his 60hp 1.2 polo in 1st gear doing whatever the hell he likes, braking very late when he wants to, simply because he can..! I will never let myself slip like I did before, if I carried on like I did, I would likely have gone and bought a prius Only problem was after that drive and when the exhaust first came off I was sweating buckets, coasting past cop cars, turning my airconditioning off at red traffic lights since with it on, the engine was loaded enough to make burbling noises, not that it even mattered given once the lights changed it would make a cacaphony anyway.. I wish this happened when I didn't have a blackbox, then I would have had a B Road bonanza making incredible noise (for those who don't know, B roads in the UK are windey country roads which are usually 60mph.. It is deadly to stay at 60mph.. So you really have to push to get there.. I would love to do that but my blackbox would say no)
The one whose thought experiments in individual liberty ended up spawning the United States in the first place, apparently. Draw your own conclusions but typing that didn't make me feel particularly hopeful about much of anything.
There is no requirement to have black box in your car. If you are a new driver, insurance companies charge less if you have one. If you have been driving for a few years, there is usually no advantage to having one installed as it is usually more expensive due to installation fees etc. Also worth noting that even for young drivers black boxes can sometimes make little financial sense. The biggest black box discounts are given to people who drive fewer miles. If you drive a lot of miles every year, its often not cheaper to have a black box.
The blackboxes we have are diffrent but in a worse way because it only saves money if you follow a few things: Dont drive at night Dont drive when theres heavy traffic (so at certain times its more expensive), Dont drive on motorways or in City´s; Dont drive to fast or to slow and dont drive faster than 130kph on the motorway. Basically drive anytime and you have to pay more.
I don't do many miles, I think I will just be a family taxi that's it.. My insurance policy doesn't cover commuting, only social domestic and pleasure (SDP).. All these limits and it still costs £2300/yr for a 1.3 80hp Jazz 0:00 nice acceleration 5:00 poor cyclist 2:10 pops and bangs 8:30 cop cars!!
That's extortionate even by UK standards. Most quotes for new drivers I have seen tend to be in the £1000-1500 range, add £200-400 if you don't want a black box.
I normally see around £1500/yr for a low insurance group car, and £3000/yr with no blackbox.. Jazz is group 14 insurance (not sure why.. Expensive parts?) so it's very expensive, despite it only being worth £800..! (or so we said )
Insurance groups are more or less meaningless. It is also often more expensive to insure a car that cheap. So if you said it was worth £1500 you might have got cheaper coverage and better coverage. It's also usually cheaper or the same price to get a fully comprehensive insurance package that includes commuting.
Damn, do you think it's worth swapping policy / shopping around now? I'm only one month into my 12month policy.. At the moment I am provisional, but soon will be full independent driving, (this is where it gets expensive).. Should I then consider changing? Only issue is admin fees and even longer wait for the no claims... I could just put up with it, and with 1yr ncb next year might give me more options
Find a comparison website that you like, see what the best offer you get back is. Then you can decide what you want to do from there. If you don't have a driving licence yet, you should have learner driver insurance. Unless you plan on taking a year before getting a driving licence, it may not be worth having that cover for a full year.
Very late but I made it out of the mountains and to my final destination. My silly little car has been completely problem free and shows no signs of stopping, and even passed some trucks like the big cars do. It obviously lacks all of the creature comforts one would want for long distance driving, like cruise control and cup holders, but I'm very happy with it. Today I'm driving 7 hours back the way I came to visit my dad for a while before heading home.
For a young person, driving in the UK sucks. Insurance is compulsory and stupidly expensive, and it's on the person who owns said vehicle, not the car itself. Not only that but the public transport is shit, most of the rail lines were closed down in the 60s and it's expensive as well.
I would disagree. There are some things which everyone wishes were done differently. But compared to essentially the rest of the world, we do pretty well. We have interesting roads, many of which with high speed limits (B roads for example). Second hand cars are cheap in the UK. The "scene" is pretty huge. There are loads of motoring events, meetups, and racing events. Its actually not though. In the USA car insurance typically only provides a limited level of insurance: https://www.carinsurance.com/average-rates-by-age.aspx In the UK, there is NO limit to your liability coverage. The following is a great example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heck_rail_crash Long story short: A Land Rover crashed onto a railway line due to driver negligence (sleep deprivation) A train hit the car, and was derailed, hitting an oncoming freight train at an estimated closing speed of 142 mph 10 people died and 82 people were seriously injured. The insurance company of that driver has paid out at least £22million to date, with the true cost expected to be much higher. For that level of coverage, you are actually getting a pretty good deal. With all that said, the average cost of car insurance in the UK and US is actually very comparable. To be clear, in this post I am not stating that US car insurance is bad, simply that insurance works differently throughout Europe. Its alright, obviously that depends on where you live and where you want to get to. For example, getting into London is typically very expensive. Its a total rip-off if you don't book in advance though. I have had many train journeys that would take about 2 hours by car for around £9 one way, with that fare being shared between 3 different trains, all with separate operators (East Midlands, LNER, Transpennine Express).
