To service or not to service, that is the question ...

[Yorkie]

David
In addition to the spare wheel, which I also specced on my present car as an option, you should have ticked the Tyre Pressure Monitor (TPM) option. This monitors the rotation of the wheels using the ABS sensors and if it detects a difference in the long term rotation turns on a light on the dashboard to indicate a possible fault with one of the tyres. I believe now it's a legal requirement on new cars.

Keith

That's interesting - I'd wondered how those 'TPMs' worked. 

I usually change my car every three years, which will be due Sept 2016, so some time mid-year I'll start looking. Been highly chuffed with my Skoda Fabia and I looked at this year's model, given that it was 'car of the year' in its class. Prior to the budget (and of course prior to the recent emissions scandal broke), the (alleged) emmisions were so low that it would have been free of road tax, but that's history now.

It seems that the jury is out on whether diesels are cleaner than petrol engines, and hopefully things will settle down over the next year so we can make informed decisions, but meanwhile, several large cities are talking of imposing a 'pollution charge' on diesels coming into the cities.

I await to see if my 2013 1.6L Fabia Diesel is one that will be subject to a recall to furtle about with the software. It won't keep me away at night - 240 miles down from Hull to Puney last Saturday it did 58MPG, and that includes 1.5 Hrs to do the last 15 miles round the north/south circular in this hell-hole called London, where everyone drives as though they're sat on a pineapple. They don't seem to understand that they're not 'stuck in traffic' - they are 'traffic'. Theyre all going nuts together - barking, the lot of 'em.

To my mind, the biggest con is the claim that electric engines are cleaner. True, they don't cause pollution at the point at which they're driven, but they're powered by electricity which comes from power stations, which are mostly powered by non-renewable hydrocarbon fuels - coal, gas, oil so the pollution just occurs in someone else's back yard.

Furthermore, when the 'environmental footprint' of producing elctric cars is taken into account - mining and refining ore to make the batteries, which have maybe a five year life span then have to be re-cycled, then there's the low residual value of the car (who'd buy a five-year old electric car?), so the overall life of the car is shorter etc, etc. 

Hybrids and hydrogen?

Don't think so. More extravagant claims that don't stand close examination.