Are cars getting too fast?

dave28 said:
I remember when 0-60 in 8.5 seconds was considered a decent GTI ( Golf MK 2 1.8 16v )

People wont have the skill to match these supercar fast EV`s and plenty will die in them losing control.
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on the flip side .modern cars are way more stable with auto emergency brakes etc.

not saying cars don't need to slow down a bit - at least the bog standard ones

just that they are inherantly safer now as well. my parents 1.8l sierra sapphire was an absolute deathtrap in icy conditions , I would (and did) be way more likely to lose control and stack it more than any modern. car.

also if I had to be in a. accident, I would rather it be in a modern car.

I would be interested to know actually if the number of serious injuries either in or because of modern higher performance cars has gone up due to their performance or gone down due to improved driver aids and over all safety.
 
Going from owning only slow ICE cars to a Kona EV and the faster acceleration does makes me smile! It's a novelty at first but I have since reined in it a bit and drive normal again. It's useful to pull away quick at a roundabout/junction and overtaking cyclists etc. Honesty though now I'm used to the speed I don't really wanna downgrade either, or would like it about the same in my next car.

I'm no fast driver, but when the fast drivers get an EV that's probably when the issues will arise. Maybe not fast, but the aggressive drivers etc. Or maybe they can just overtake everyone and everything will be fine :)

The average person doesn't really need a car that can do 0-60 in sub 5 secs.

I did actually lol the other day, a Polestar driver getting home for the 5pm England game, he was ahead of me at a roundabout and was gone (better acceleration), that might be the first time in 6 months anyone accelerated faster than me ;), that's the future of our commutes... like our lives depend on it :)
 
AWPC said:
EV's need to all be limited to the new EU directive of 112mph max speed! They are way too quick & heavy which for the average driver is a disaster waiting to happen :(
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Mandatory sign reading and speed limiters are here as well. You can temporarily turn them off right now, but won't be able to in future. That will be chaos considering they constantly pick up signs for side roads.
 
adam cool dude said:
It's not the power or acceleration. It's the trying to scrub off the speed that is the issue. Especially when you are driving a 2+ Tonne EV when compared to your 1 tonne hatchback. The stopping distances are different by quite some margin.
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Quite

EVs can in theory have better/more efficient braking by blending friction & regen, but if the tyres aren't up to it then it doesn't matter how effective the brakes are!
 
Maundie said:
The EVs are the ones that need reigning in as these are going to be available\pushed to the majority, not many people are going to be buying the Taycan
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this sounds like yet another EV FUD comment to me. why mention EVs specifically?

another poster suggested EVs should should be limited to 112mph, perhaps they should but why the focussing on EVs
if they do it they should do it for all.
my nissan 350z was £7k when I sold it. probably barely worth more than 5k now and that had a 0-60 around 5.5 seconds (not amazing for an EV but quicker than some). and topped out at 150mph.

my fiat coupe could likely be picked up for a couple of grand now...... 0-60 again around 6s after a bit of fettling and would also just about get to 150mph (albeit not as easily as the zed).

but now it's an EV problem?

I know if I had to be in a high speed accident I would rather have one in my ipace than in my fiat coupe.

generally EVs already have a way lower top speed than ICE cars anyway.
my ipace is the slowest performance car I have ever owned in terms of top speed, and I dare say at the top end my old 1.5l diesel nissan QQ would beat our BMWi3 (and it would not even be a competition for my wifes 1.6l diesel pug 308


so TLDR. I don't have an issue with limiting cars.performance on the road (possibly allowing a track mode which would be illegal to use in public). BUT only if done to all cars. if it were just EVs which were gimped it would just be another attempt to falsely devalue EVs over ICE cars.
 
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My quoting of EVs was a direct comment about the EVs listed, why so defensive of EVs, are you denying that the power available from 0-60 on an EV is akin to supercar levels?

Reason I think EVs should be throttled on take off is because the power is delivered instantaneously rather than built up as in a ICE engined car, not many older generations will purchase a high powered ICE car but to get that 0-60 performance they only have to get any EV to have sub 7 seconds to 60

bigmike20vt said:
Load of defensive EV spiel
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tom_e said:
Maybe we should bring in tiered car licenses like they do with bikes...
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I have been saying this for years now, think it’s a very sensible idea, you need X experience with a before you step up into a next power band.
I also think that once you reach a certain age you need to sit another test, mostly for checking your reactions and awareness. As we all get slower with age.
 
Maundie said:
My quoting of EVs was a direct comment about the EVs listed, why so defensive of EVs, are you denying that the power available from 0-60 on an EV is akin to supercar levels?

Reason I think EVs should be throttled on take off is because the power is delivered instantaneously rather than built up as in a ICE engined car, not many older generations will purchase a high powered ICE car but to get that 0-60 performance they only have to get any EV to have sub 7 seconds to 60
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some EVs have over 7 seconds 0-60.
my only point is parity. if EVs need to be throttled then ice cars must be too and the reason why that should be the case I already stated. if EVs are gutted but ice cars not it will be an unnecessary reason not to buy an EV,
 
I dunno why everyone is blaming the cars... my parents had a head fit the first time I bought a car with a powerful engine... it was like have you ever seen me drive? it isn't like it is going to suddenly fundamentally alter my driving.

Nasher said:
Mandatory sign reading and speed limiters are here as well. You can temporarily turn them off right now, but won't be able to in future. That will be chaos considering they constantly pick up signs for side roads.
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Personally I think all cars should have mandatory alerts as to the speed limit and a manual one button press limiter which will dynamically limit to the current detected limit, but absolutely should not be mandatory limiters or any device which interferes with the operation of the car without real world context awareness...
 
bigmike20vt said:
some EVs have over 7 seconds 0-60.
my only point is parity. if EVs need to be throttled then ice cars must be too and the reason why that should be the case I already stated. if EVs are gutted but ice cars not it will be an unnecessary reason not to buy an EV,
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I agree I wasn't just being an EV naysayer, I used to have a XR4i and it was regarded as rapid yet from it's 2.8 V6 it only produce around 185 bhp, a 'normal' BMW 320 produces slightly more than that now.
Nasher said:
Mandatory sign reading and speed limiters are here as well. You can temporarily turn them off right now, but won't be able to in future. That will be chaos considering they constantly pick up signs for side roads.
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Exactly, was coming back from Hallamshire Hospital and at somepoint the car decided that road (it was a 30 just on the edge of Sheffield City Centre) was 100mph speed limit, showed the missus as we couldn't believe it, it's picked it up from somewhere but definitely not a road sign :eek:
 
Maundie said:
I agree I wasn't just being an EV naysayer, I used to have a XR4i and it was regarded as rapid yet from it's 2.8 V6 it only produce around 185 bhp, a 'normal' BMW 320 produces slightly more than that now.


Exactly, was coming back from Hallamshire Hospital and at somepoint the car decided that road (it was a 30 just on the edge of Sheffield City Centre) was 100mph speed limit, showed the missus as we couldn't believe it, it's picked it up from somewhere but definitely not a road sign :eek:
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My car has the speed sign recognition from the front camera with GPS assist just in case the camera isn't sure. Either way it still managed to tell me the speed limit was 5mph for most of the 40 mile drive home from work the other day, that would have been great fun if it was actually controlling anything in the car :cry:
 
Maundie said:
Exactly, was coming back from Hallamshire Hospital and at somepoint the car decided that road (it was a 30 just on the edge of Sheffield City Centre) was 100mph speed limit, showed the missus as we couldn't believe it, it's picked it up from somewhere but definitely not a road sign :eek:
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there is a section where i live, it is just after coming off a roundabout after a duel carriageway heading into a villiage, and for a couple of hundred metres my car thinks it is a 70mph, even tho its a single carriageway road.

this is fine when its just a guide, but will have to be far more robust if cars ever go autonomous. i guess for speed limiting a manually driven car it is not so bad (albeit not ideal) because it is still the meat suit in control and you dont HAVE to do the speed suggested. what would be more annoying would be the otherway around if the car decided it was a 30mph speed when in actual fact it was much faster and it limited the car.
tech is great, it makes our cars so much safer, but as long as it is use who are driving and ultimately responsible, there has to be a way to over ride these things... after all, if the assumption is they are fail safe (which clearly they are not, but IF we cant over rule them then they need to be) then really we should not be driving the car at all at that point, it should do it for us!.

That said.......... the car thinking its 100mph is a proper balls up given no where in the uk allows that speed on a public road. that is something which should not be possible via core software in the car imo.
 
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tom_e said:
My car has the speed sign recognition from the front camera with GPS assist just in case the camera isn't sure. Either way it still managed to tell me the speed limit was 5mph for most of the 40 mile drive home from work the other day, that would have been great fun if it was actually controlling anything in the car :cry:
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bigmike20vt said:
there is a section where i live, it is just after coming off a roundabout after a duel carriageway heading into a villiage, and for a couple of hundred metres my car thinks it is a 70mph, even tho its a single carriageway road.

this is fine when its just a guide, but will have to be far more robust if cars ever go autonomous. i guess for speed limiting a manually driven car it is not so bad (albeit not ideal) because it is still the meat suit in control and you dont HAVE to do the speed suggested. what would be more annoying would be the otherway around if the car decided it was a 30mph speed when in actual fact it was much faster and it limited the car.
tech is great, it makes our cars so much safer, but as long as it is use who are driving and ultimately responsible, there has to be a way to over ride these things... after all, if the assumption is they are fail safe (which clearly they are not, but IF we cant over rule them then they need to be) then really we should not be driving the car at all at that point, it should do it for us!.

That said.......... the car thinking its 100mph is a proper balls up given no where in the uk allows that speed on a public road. that is something which should not be possible via core software in the car imo.
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Yeah we drive under a bypass on a pedestrian road and all 3 cars we've had with the speed recognition (M135, X1 and Focus) all think we're on a 70mph road which as you both say if the car decides to accelerate is an issue because there's about 100 yards to a set of 4 way traffic lights.

Automation is fine as long as everything is automated, it's when you throw automation and human error together it's a scary mix because I don't believe auto driven cars will have the anticipation that the human driven car won't drive like a pillock
 
Hagar said:
I had a (second hand) 250cc Suzuki super six at eighteen on L plates. Went like **** off a shovel. Rather quick.
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The weapon of choice amongst my biking mates at the time was the Yamaha RD250LC. Went like greased weasel dung off a chromed shovel. Whilst a great bike, it encouraged a certain riding style which frequently led to disaster.
 
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