Introducing the new People Carrier

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Hello everyone.

What would your dream people carrier be like? What features would you like?  Here are some of my ideas:

Big and spacious
Good fuel economy
Torquey engine
Turbo which doesnââ,¬â,,¢t clog up if you do short journeys
Silver colour (reflects heat)
Sunroof
12v socket in boot
Heated front window
No fast-talking ââ,¬Å"terms and conditions applyââ,¬Â voice on any radio adverts
Available at a good price in the second hand market
Folding wing mirrors
Lots of compartments for storage
Comfortable, highly adjustable seat
DAB radio with Bluetooth and internal mic and plenty of bass
Nice step so you can access roof box easily
Safety features to help avoid skids on corners
Good thick all-season tyres
Sliding doors
Roof high enough at the back so that even a tall man can sit comfortably in the rear seats
Electric windows including at the back
Good powerful headlights
Reliable engine
Easy to work on
Oil filter at top of engine so DIY person can do oil change themselves easily
Arm rests on seats
Heated side mirrors
Tow bar
Parking sensors (front and rear)
Automatic gearbox
Low running costs
Mud flaps
Lots of internal lights
Lots of handles to help you get in and out the car if you are feeling unwell
Quiet on motorway
Self dimming overtaking mirror
Good visibility
Good rust proofing including around the wheel arches
Compartments for tyre inflator and first aid kit
Nice drink holders
Little clip on the windscreen for parking tickets
Good range on the remote control keyfob
Easy to move seats around


What else would you have in your dream people carrier.

[mike wilson]

Hydrogen fuel cell powered electric AWD.
Stainless body, especially all the underneath bits.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Yes, wouldnââ,¬â,,¢t it be good if it was made from stainless steel so it didnââ,¬â,,¢t rust!! What a good idea.

Also no cheap brittle plastic, quality clips and fasteners only so things like the door panels and interior trim donââ,¬â,,¢t break off when you change speakers or the radio etc.

[badders1954]

Four wheel drive
V8 with at least 500hp
supercharger NOT turbo
rear seats that fold out of way
high power mp3 sound system
heated seats all round

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Four wheel drive sounds very handy for grip in the snow and wet!

Also more power always good!

I do love my heated front seats, wouldnââ,¬â,,¢t it be good if every seat was heated. So comfy.

[mike wilson]

Plastic = light weight = less fuel used.  It's always a balancing act.  Agree about the design of clips and fasteners.

[brianh]

Theres a fair few manufacturers using plastic for parts like wings and similar panels, Advantage there is they don't rot like metal does. Though more difficult to repair if you manage to damage it.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

I hear the old reliant robins were made from plastic... certainly no problem with rust!

[mike wilson]

Bodies were made of GRP.  Chassis' were steel - and rusted like they had been dipped in seawater weekly.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

I think it would be good if the nuts and bolts were made from stainless steel so that they donââ,¬â,,¢t rust, but do you know if that would add a lot on to the cost please?

[Mirez]

I doubt anyone can give you that figure as it would depend on the bulk buy costs but, lets say a stainless bolt would be around 4 times more expensive then a steel one. Perhaps the total cost of the car goes up by Ã,£300 as result, not a lot really BUT the number of people who would know, care or benefit from it are so small its not worth eating into the profits.

[bigjeeze]

I think, to be honest, that the day of long term  ownership of a vehicle is fast moving to a close. We have around 20 years before we won't be seeing any new petrol or diesel cars. I wonder at what point we will start to physically dispose of the 30 odd million vehicles currently existing in the UK. What would make the most sense to me in this world of diminishing resources is for someone to come up with an electric or Hydrogen powered engine or series of engines to retro fit to existing vehicles - at one stroke removing the bulk of polluting gases and retaining the resources already contained within the cars we have.

Apart from that I'd like the money to buy whatever takes my fancy in whatever format whenever I wanted one. Dream on!.

[brianh]

Hydrogen as a power source (either by combustion engine or a fuel cell) is already well developed, what they can't/Haven't yet solved is producing the hydrogen without using massive amounts of energy to do so. Its not particularly difficult to change a fuel source of a spark ignition engine to use an alternative type of fuel within reason, and hydrogen wouldn't be too hard to make work.

But none of that would be in the interests of the automotive sector (who want to sell as many cars as possible) or the banking sector (who want to make as much as possible by financing new vehicles to people, preferably on a lease or pcp arrangement so you've paid for the car without actually having anything to show at the end of it as you've only really been borrowing it for a few years)

On the stainless point, the problem is stainless steel isn't as hard or robust as regular steel bolts - at least I've known them to either round off or snap rather more easily than I'd like.

[KingyMAK]

Hyundai, I think it was, have just released their hydrogen fuel-cell powered engine.
They say itââ,¬â,,¢s going to change everything, as itââ,¬â,,¢s a full scale production, not a small scale like a lot of current manufacturers like Vauxhall did, both Toyota & Honda are currently doing the same to make it a solid model.

Itââ,¬â,,¢s the Hyundai Nexo, & it looks pretty smart to be honest.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Wouldnââ,¬â,,¢t it be good if we could somehow make a car that runs off water. I wonder if one day we will ever have such a technology.

My worry with electric cars is that the government will tax electric more, once we all have them. It may get to the stage where we have to burn trash in the garden to power generators to power our cars in order to avoid big electric costs! It is already quite pricey to be honest.

[Mirez]

@KingyMAK, that Nexo looks awesome right down until you get to the fuel stations map. I know its early days but my nearest station is 100 miles away!

[brianh]

Is that somewhere other than Cobham Services on the m25? Thats the only one I know of?

[Mirez]

Yeah there appears to be one on the M4 near Reading now, stlll 50 miles each way cuts the range somewhat!

[KingyMAK]

Iââ,¬â,,¢m about 140 miles from my nearest which is apparently St Helens!
Newcastle to St Helens for a refill? Better be worth it!

From what I read with Hyundai though, theyââ,¬â,,¢re going to be fitting refuelling stations to the ââ,¬Ëœstores/branchesââ,¬â,,¢ they have that have ââ,¬Ëœrepair shopsââ,¬â,,¢ (Iââ,¬â,,¢m assuming for space reasons?), but either way, they were planning on funding releases at petrol stations, too.

Would be a much better model, too, as itââ,¬â,,¢s hydrogen cell, rather than hydrogen combustion!

[brianh]

The main thing is, it means your refuelling time would be somewhat close to what it takes filling a petrol or diesel vehicle, a few minutes rather than potentially hours. Might not make much difference to some people who don't go far and hence car is sat around where it can be charged for hours on end, but thats not suitable for everyone.

Still they have to start somewhere - I'm fairly sure Honda have some sort of car available as well, but seem to remember the price is rather eye-watering at present as well as the sparse availability of refuelling points.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

I wonder if you could have some canisters of it delivered to home like people do with heating oil or if that would be a health and safety issue etc

[brianh]

One of the models of fuel cell is somewhat like that - more like the size and shape of a coolbox. You wouldn't really want to decant it manually (I would suspect that Hydrogen is like LPG - held under pressure either as a gas or liquid so you'd have to pump it to move it, not just pour it like you can normal liquid fuels)

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Wouldnââ,¬â,,¢t mind having my car run in cheaper LPG, does it cost much to get it converted and do garages know how to fix it etc please

[mike wilson]

Think back (not so long) to when unleaded was released.  How far away was your nearest pump then and how soon did that become universal coverage once it was necessary?  Hydrogen will be the same.

LPG "conversions" can be made to diesels but they use it in addition to diesel rather than replacement.  Improves fuel mileage of the diesel part but not really a viable option, as it is for large petrol engines.

[brianh]

Wouldnââ,¬â,,¢t mind having my car run in cheaper LPG, does it cost much to get it converted and do garages know how to fix it etc please

The biggest downfall of it on petrol is a lot of garages don't want anything to do with a car that has it installed - Mainly because they don't understand it.

As Mike says, its really for petrol engines as you use gas as the primary fuel there, rather than the diesel setup (called fumigation) to improve economy/emissions. Though doesn't have to be big engines, smaller ones can convert the only real problem then becomes somewhere to put the tank (and longer payback time as the kit and install costs roughly the same but your using less fuel in the first place so the saving is less).

Cost wise - depends on the vehicle, can be had for around Ã,£800-Ã,£1200 depending what you want on a Galaxy 4 cylinder, less if your able to do the work yourself and get it signed off. A badly done conversion however, will be something you will regret quickly as it can be the source of all manner of issues.