Changing times, changing priorities. The future of the automobile.

[Vindekarr]

It's the most prolific consumer product in the world today, the car. We've all been in one, and there are so many brands, kinds, eras, and legands that it's literaly impossible to know them all.

 

For many they have become more than a form of transport. Just as people became increasingly connected to horses and working animals, so has motorsport given us unique traditions, histories, heroes and legends entirely built around cars and the love of them.

 

But times are changing fast. With fossil fuels running out and the damage done to the environment by fossil fuel combustion proved beyond any doubt, we have to, once again, redefine the car.

 

I'd like this topic to a broad one-post anything you want to to do with this overall train of thought, from old car history to thoughts about the future. Likewise feel no need to keep things proliarian, a $ 2,200,000 Koenigsegg Agera is a car too.

[marharth]

The car that makes the most money is the car that's going to stay.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

After spending a month in London, it was so nice not having a car and just taking the tube and walking everywhere. I could definitely live like that, in fact if I could, though I love my Mazda 6, I wouldn't drive at all and would just take the train or bus.

 

Unfortunately I live in Michigan. The auto industry bought out all the train and mass transit companies a long time ago and shut them down. There simply is NO way to live and operate effectively in Michigan without an automobile and I don't see them going away for at least 100 years, by which something drastic maybe could happen to the regions infrastructure. In the foreseeable future, automobiles dominate the place I live and my way of life.

[Vagrant0]

There simply is NO way to live and operate effectively in Michigan without an automobile and I don't see them going away for at least 100 years, by which something drastic maybe could happen to the regions infrastructure. In the foreseeable future, automobiles dominate the place I live and my way of life.

This...

 

In most countries having a personal vehicle larger than a motorbike or mini is a luxury, in the US, it's a necessity. Even in the larger cities the public transportation infrastructure tends to be greatly lacking, and can be especially lacking if you have cause to ever leave that city for anything. And, since most working in a city can't afford to live there, and most who live there can't get jobs there, having to travel in and out every day is a requirement for life.

[JimboUK]

After spending a month in London, it was so nice not having a car and just taking the tube and walking everywhere. I could definitely live like that, in fact if I could, though I love my Mazda 6, I wouldn't drive at all and would just take the train or bus.

 

Unfortunately I live in Michigan. The auto industry bought out all the train and mass transit companies a long time ago and shut them down. There simply is NO way to live and operate effectively in Michigan without an automobile and I don't see them going away for at least 100 years, by which something drastic maybe could happen to the regions infrastructure. In the foreseeable future, automobiles dominate the place I live and my way of life.

 

Try outside London, it's a different story. There are many out of town shopping centres and over-priced unreliable public transport, a car really is a must.

[ginnyfizz]

You pipped me to that, jim_uk. In many rural and semi-rural areas of the UK the public transport is far too infrequent to rely on in order to get to work or school on time. A car is a necessity.

[Aurielius]

You pipped me to that, jim_uk. In many rural and semi-rural areas of the UK the public transport is far too infrequent to rely on in order to get to work or school on time. A car is a necessity.

Oh, Ginny, you mean you don't like waiting in the rain for that red bus to meet it's schedule? Being that I live in the northeast corridor we do have an efficient rail and commuter rail system but I must admit...I love my car, it's always the first choice except when visiting NYC where there is no known parking within reason.

[Vindekarr]

Where I live there arent buses, period.

 

A car is the only way to get around, since buses only cover the CBDs of Australian cities, and the taxis are deathtraps.

 

I think the car will stay in the place it is in now-I just think it's going to change..

 

The reason for this is electric power. Electric cars arent the soulless abominations they used to be. Modern electrics all share a unique advantage over petrol cars: in a petrol vehicle most of your torque-your pulling power-is only available near the redline, well in an electric, not only do electrics produce about 25% more power than petrols, but their torque is available right from the moment you hit the accelerator.

 

From an engineering perspective I find the idea of electric cars an exciting one. They are, technologicaly, a performance goldmine, sine electric engines are smaller and lighter, but offer significantly more power. The only issue we need to work out is batteries and recharging, and with the likes of Audi and GM on the case, that wont take too long.

 

My only regret is that it's also the end of an era. in the hundred and twenty some years since people have been using them, cars have gone from mere modes of transport to something more. Some of them really have soul-if you've ever driven an Alfa Romeo, you'll know exactly what I mean. Good cars are a joy to drive, and while they arent going anywhere, the cars you and I grew up with, will soon be relegated to the pages of history.

 

It's often been questioned why supercar manufacturors have suddenly stepped up production in the last decade-I understand fully. The supercars they produce could well be the last generation of high performance petrol road cars, i think it's fitting that we give that genre of vehicle a glorious sendoff.

 

The Koenigsegg Agera(the silver one) and the Pagani Zonda(the black one), the petrol automobile saved it's best for last.

 

http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/Vindekarr/800px-Pagani_Zonda_1.jpg http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/Vindekarr/800px-Koenigsegg_agera.jpg

[Marthos]

I live in the North East UK and where I used to work (now retired) was 18 miles away from my home, on the morning that my car wouldn't start I left the keys with one of my housemates and headed for the bus stop.

 

2 buses, 1 train, 1 taxi and 3 hours later I arrived at work, cost me £14

 

So if I hadn't had a car and had to rely on public transport that would be, 3 hours travel times 2 and a 12 hour shift makes an 18 hour day, £14 each way a day would mean £140 a week costs every week and our beloved government keep saying things like "get people out of their cars and onto public transport" :wallbash:

 

The car is king and I still couldn't manage without one.

 

Would I have an electric one ?

 

If they manage to improve the range and get the price down then yes, although the thought of a flat battery on an electric car means your goosed, you aint gonna jump start that baby.

 

 

Edited for getting my maths wrong :whistling:

[Vindekarr]

That's really the only two problems now, range and price.

 

The motors themselves are fabulous-extremely powerful, A car can easily be powered by an electric motor the size of a lawnmower engine, as opposed to a petrol engine which is about the size of a large computer case, not including it's myriad manifolds, radiators, sumps and or intercoolers/oil coolers.

 

The shear power of electrics is absolutely mind blowing when you get in one, the acceleration of even of slow, loggy hybrid is fabulous compared to other cars of the size bracket, and the thought of electric engines becoming standard issue gets me, a hyper dedicated motorsport fan and historian, all twitchy with excitment, as even tiny electric engines are vastly powerful. An electric motor the size of your toaster can easily put out a good 300 horsepower, since they're light enough that you can put one on each wheel, that comes to 1200 horsepower all told, but the only problem is giving them enough juice to produce that.

 

A British milkfloat can pummel out 650 horsepower from it's single motor, but it's simplistic batteries would drain in 15 seconds. If you can make a big enough battery, the engine power of an electric is theorreticaly infinite, cars like the Bugatti Veyron and Koenigsegg Agera, with their 1000+ horsepower engines required incredible finesse of design to reach that staggering output, a humble, simply electric can do double that pretty easily if you can somehow shove a bolt of lightning into it's batteries.

 

Fix the battery problem and we'll probably see a new golden age of cars-the potential electric engines hold for new paradigms of performance and reliability is enormous.

Edited February 22, 2011 by Vindekarr