Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Hell Razor5543]

In case you are not aware, Zel, some of Oxford is now a Congestion Charge zone. I do not know if the JR is within this zone. Only cars are affected (which does not concern me, as when I have to go into Oxford it is work related, so I am driving my company van).

[Zelandeth]

In case you are not aware, Zel, some of Oxford is now a Congestion Charge zone. I do not know if the JR is within this zone. Only cars are affected (which does not concern me, as when I have to go into Oxford it is work related, so I am driving my company van).

It is indeed, JR itself isn't, but a couple of the possible routes to/from it are. Thankfully it's pretty clearly signposted.

Annoyingly I couldn't see any way to set up an auto-pay account like TfL have for London when I looked - though admittedly I was in a rush so only spent about 30 seconds on it.

[RichardW]

Doesn't seem to be an 'autopay' option per se - just a facility to pre-pay (gits....!) - which is OK if you are going to be there x days a week, but not so good for occasional transgressions.

But - Looks like you can apply for a free permit if you are a regular hospital patient: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/transpor ... al-patient

I would go with a E5 petrol without all the bells, whistles, bongs and nannying over an EV or later ICE car....! TBH as long as you are doing decent mileage a carefully chosen E6 diesel is OK - The PSA 1.6 is OK (AdBlue issues aside of course, but they seem to be not too bad if you use decent AdBlue and drive it on decent runs - just had the first trouble with ours at 90k / 9 years and fitted a new NOX sensor) but the 1.5 is best avoided. The Renault 1.5 DCi gets decent press.

The Glasgow ULEZ is really pernicious - no ability to pay an access charge, and repeat transgression are on a ratchet, so you can end up paying £960 PER VISIT if you go more than a few times in 90 days. Nearly ended up in there in my (E5) 3008 a few months back - the slip road I was thinking I was going to take to get back on the M8 was closed; had to take the next one (in the wrong direction!) to avoid it.

[Zelandeth]

Had a very quick nosey at a Renault 4 today when I was passing by the dealer for something totally unrelated. Definitely on the possible list, and I'll need to arrange a test drive I think - for the sake of my curiosity if nothing else.

Boot is actually a reasonable size, especially for the size of the car - it looks about twice the size of the one in that hateful Qashquai I had as a rental back in February. No the dogs wouldn't be as comfortable as in the Volvo where they can actually sprawl out if they so chose, but absolutely viable for them to travel in there together especially for shorter trips.



Lots of really nice detail touches - I'm sure I'd be finding more for months.







Just feels like they're actually taking some pride in the design and have tried to make it a bit more fun than your typical appliance. Sadly it doesn't look like the yellow door cards seen in a bunch of the thumbnails and such are a UK option.

I guess my only immediate criticisms were that the driving position has the wheel and instrument panel *very* noticeably offset to the left, the start button position seems really awkward tucked away behind the steering wheel, and that it's really easy to whack your head getting into the back seats.



I do definitely appreciate there being physical controls for the heater as well - even if they're clearly laid out for the original LHD application so the temperature control is way over on the left...that just feels kind of inevitable though given that the RHD market is so comparatively small it's really not worth tooling up unique parts down to that level if they can avoid it.

Overall though I definitely didn't immediately dislike it, and it definitely offers a lot more room than I expected. Definitely will want a test drive in one.

Scotland is the main reason I'm not considering E5 petrols - I absolutely don't trust that they won't move the goalposts and insist that everything for their ULEZ areas must be E6 or even EV only in the relatively near future - and if this is a car I'm hoping to keep forgetting the next ~10 years I'd really not want to find myself hamstrung by that only a few years into ownership. Worth noting that our longer term family plan has always been to move back to Scotland as well, so the more strict nature of their ULEZ arrangements is something that definitely is on my radar.

[mickthemaverick]

I guess it's the camera angle with your picture of the dash Zel, but the aircon controls look decidedly askew to me. I'm also not a fan of square steering wheels, too many reminders of the allegros!!

[Zelandeth]

I guess it's the camera angle with your picture of the dash Zel, but the aircon controls look decidedly askew to me. I'm also not a fan of square steering wheels, too many reminders of the allegros!!

Sadly everything made this side of 2020 seems to have oddly shaped steering wheels. I blame VW as they were the main one that seemed to shove the idea down everyone's throats around 2010 and refused to back down. It's bugged me on every car I've driven with one...but it's a hill I'm not willing to die on.

The centre section of the dash is more steeply sloped towards the driver - there is a lot of barrel distortion from the camera involved as well though as I was using the wide angle mode.

[myglaren]

What is this?

[Zelandeth]

What is this?

Gear selector. The clear button on the end is pushed to unlock it.

[myglaren]

Ta; would never have guessed.

[Zelandeth]

Ta; would never have guessed.

It's hard to tell in the photo because of the angle. It's set up pretty much as you'd expect for a conventional column shift automatic - just out of frame to the left is the D-N-R labelling. Though obviously it's just a switch on this case.

Edit: It's the end of this thing.



Tomorrow hoping to make a run by the Kia dealership to take a nosey at the only other thing on my wishlist at the moment.

[CitroJim]

The original R4 always had a big boot Zel... I once got two Hoover 'Keymatic' washing machines in the back of mine...

Good to hear all the positives about the new R4. I hope that applies to the R5 too... The car I aspire to one day...

[Zelandeth]

The original R4 always had a big boot Zel... I once got two Hoover 'Keymatic' washing machines in the back of mine...

Good to hear all the positives about the new R4. I hope that applies to the R5 too... The car I aspire to one day...

As I understand it, aside from the shape body that's plonked on top of it the 4/5 are built on pretty much an identical platform. The interiors look to be all but identical save for a few graphics being different and the boot being far bigger on the 4. Think the 5 may have slightly more options for trim colours as well.

[mickthemaverick]

The original R4 always had a big boot Zel... I once got two Hoover 'Keymatic' washing machines in the back of mine...

When I were a lad the Police rode Velocette motorcycles which were nicknamed sewing machines. When my brother in law to be got a Renault 4 we called it his washing machine!! The thought of two further washing machines in the back of his washing machine amused me!!