u/Mafeking-Parade

As someone who loves throwing money at old cars, EVs have been a revelation for me. They touched on two points in the most recent pod that really resonated.

1. They are stupid cheap to run. Really, properly stupid. 300 miles in my Tesla costs me about £6 (or less if it's a sunny day). I've done over 30k miles in it, and it's saved me a fortune (that I can spend on my other cars) in fuel.

2. They are perfect to run alongside fun cars. I have a few interesting cars (V8s, a Porsche, a track car), and the Tesla is the perfect companion. It's comfortable, reliable, practical and cheap to run. I can't think of a better place to spend the boring miles.

Shouldn't that be reserved for a group of much younger players, replacing those close to the end of their career?

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Or a player being subbed off in his last game for club/country?

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Should we maintain a high threshold for this cliche?

The recent post here about Chelsea and their "giant club" status took me back to a conversation I had with a Bulgarian cab driver in Liverpool a couple of years ago.

He was football mad, and had obviously lived over here long enough to 'get' English football.

I asked the usual "are you red or blue, driver?", only to find out he was actually a Southampton fan. This would have been the season of their most recent relegation, so only a couple of years back.

I can't remember what the connection was, but we spent much of the journey with him explaining to me how Southampton were a "big club" (his words), despite their relegation battle, because they were there at the start of the Premier League.

I didn't question him, but it did make me wonder what constitutes a "big club".

Answers on a postcard, I guess?

I've had my 2022 M3 DM for 3 years now, bought on a 4yr finance agreement at 1yr old. My intention is to return is at the end of the agreement, if I can find something suitable to replace it with.

This was my first EV. Despite having owned a PHEV, I thought this would be a very different experience. So I did research. Lots of it.

Everything I read about the battery seemed to point to the 20-80% rule, to guarantee longevity. Well, as selfish as it may be, this car goes back in 4 years. I don't really care about "longevity". How bad can it be?

Well, for the last 3 years and ~40K miles, I've treated my M3 like a petrol car. Almost all of my charging is done at home, and I always charge to 100%. I regularly use the car for a 250+ mile round trip, and return home with <5% charge (an artform in itself).

As the end of the warranty is up before it goes back to the finance company, I thought I'd get Cleevely out to give it a quick once-over. They were really helpful, and spotted a few snags that I got Tesla to sort.

The thing that surprised me most was their assessment of the battery health. They performed the Service Mode health check, and concluded than the battery is still at 94% of original health at 45K miles.

This made me question how much benefit I'd have gained by following the 20-80% guidance.

Context: TalkSport were chatting about the Champions League Final this morning, and Simon Jordan made the point about PSG that "any team are beatable on their day".

Surely "on their day" is reserved for teams playing well?

Surely it being "their day" wouldn't mean they'd end up losing, would they?

Thoughts? Feelings? Emotions?

Recently fitted a set of these to my 987.2 Boxster for a Nurburgring trackday, largely on the strength of Jon's reviews.

I got a great deal through Halfords/National Tyres, who ended up being ~20% cheaper than Blackcircles with a discount code.

Initial impressions were that the tyres were a little noisier on the road than other UUHP tyres I've run in the past (SC7 and PS4S), but no less comfortable. I haven't run them in proper rain yet, so nothing to review there.

On track, I ran a couple of early laps at modest pace (20min or so), and came in to adjust pressures. The rears had gained 12psi(!), and the fronts 8-9psi. Obviously they felt terrible towards the end of that stint. The weather was dry, sunny and around 18C.

After tweaking the pressures down to 30/32 hot, I did another 16 hard laps in sessions of 2-3 laps (17-25min). My observations were:

- Ultimate grip was very similar to the PS4S, but noticeably lower than something like a Cup2

- They seem to resist fade very well in these shorter sessions

- Steering feedback was excellent

- Loss of traction was predictable, when it came

- Rubber pickup seemed higher than normal, but perhaps just my impression

- Shoulder wear after the day seemed much lower than the SC7s, suggesting stiffer sidewalls

- Pressures seemed to stay pretty stable

Overall, a strong recommendation from me. At the price I paid, they did everything I could have wanted.

I'll drop some photos in the comments when I get a moment.

I've got one of these, as a way of dipping my toe into lower and slower cooks at a slightly cheaper end of the spectrum, and it's bloody brilliant.