Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Electric Cars on Ice.

I had a very nasty moment down a Devon lane some years ago when the passing place was covered in mud.
I wasn't going particularly fast - it was a single track road, but as I pulled in to the left to let the oncoming car through, the brakes didn't respond at all.
My choice was through the hedge or through the gap. I made it through the gap, having clipped door mirrors, but he must have thought I was a loony.

ABS is not all it's cracked up to be, When it doesn't respond you need quick reactions, and most drivers will freeze (me included).

I agree that most drivers will freeze in extremis (me too!), and I agree that ABS doesn't give the perfect solution in some circumstances, but on balance, if one is in a crisis situation and is standing on the brakes, is it better to have a braking system that still permits steering inputs, or one in which the wheels are locked and one is merely a passenger?

I Hate ABS it takes away a lot of control, so glad the +4 hasn't got it.

We have ABS on our tin tops, and to be honest I've only ever noticed it come on when pulling into our field entrance. As the nearside tyre hits the mud of the verge and the offside tyre is still on the tarmac, I occasionally feel the tick-tick under my foot as the car comes to a halt.

I've never had it come on in normal road driving, so I'm not really aware of what control I'm losing. I'm quite happy not to have it on my 4/4 but that's more of a complexity rather than functionality issue.

I've had exactly the same experience Dave. Abs does not take into account that, for instance, on some surfaces,e.g.gravel, the build up in front of a locked wheel does help slow you down.
I feel really out of control when the abs kicks in and I don't seem to be slowing at all.
Nick

& that neatly leads to another issue with ‘ state of art electronics’ I have an A4 estate, esp, abs, auto coast, all very nice & dandy till you drive in snow, if you are doing less than 5mph & lock up the wheels it thinks you are stationary & deploys the parking brake, wait another second & the engine dies, the following milliseconds feel like minutes as you try to work out how to get moving again. Auto off in my opinion is dangerous under certain circumstances. You are waiting to join traffic at a roundabout, see a gap & at that precise moment the engine dies & then starts again, the resulting .5 second lull now puts you in a position go/don’t go, the poor sod behind you may not realise what a clever car you are diving & either rear end you or get frustrated at your poor driving style.........deep breath ok rant over, just need to get that one off my chest.

My son has auto stop on his car and he only passed his test in January, I’ll warn him to disable the function in snow. Thanks for the heads up.

Auto off- why? If you haven't got the gumption to know when you have parked & you need the park brake on & the engine off you should not be in control of a vehicle. All those in the habit of sitting outside shops with the engine idling will have it disabled anyhow.
Too many of these "driver aids" nobody asked for & then the excuse to charge you more for it.

The motor industry has got a massive problem on their hands. They build cars that are perfectly capable of being driven for 20 years / 250k miles or more, and yet they couldn't survive if everyone did that. They can subtly encourage people to crash them frequently by giving them performance envelopes far beyond most people's ability to control them, but that's about it - apart from peddling a couple of very powerful myths:

1 - You've got to have the latest model otherwise people will think you're a failure

and

2 - You've got to get rid of a car after a couple of years otherwise the running costs will be greater than the car is worth

..and of course their last-ditch attempt to get people to drive cars they can't afford and don't need, by persuading them to rent them instead.

What a simply splendid way to gobble up resources for no benefit.

The Audi A4 we rented last year was a nightmare with it's constant interference and chiming bells.

I don't like electric handbrakes.
I don't like stop start.
I don't like autos.
I'm not that keen on keyless start either.