S8
 

Just been and ordered a new A3 S Line Cab for my wife this weekend, something she has promised herself for years having always had the family truck, now the kids are grown and we don't have to carry hay for horses etc etc anymore.
We managed to get an extremely good deal and the car is due for a March delivery Daytona Grey and a few extras which should maintain a large smile on her face throughout the summer.
We used a site called Carwow to start with and narrowed it down from there without running around various dealers and putting up with the "let me introduce you to the finance manager routine" :ROFL:

But I have been tempted by the deals on the outgoing S8's, it's an itch I need to scratch and there are some tremendous deals around if you get the timing right with dealers who are trying to hit the quarterly bonuses etc.
Very very tempting sub 60K for a brand new one on their finance!
I have always purchased my cars outright but I am willing to give this a punt to scratch this damn itch!!
No wonder the residuals get hammered on these!
Are there any self help groups I can join to stop this itch :D
Cheers Glyn

To refine fossil fuels so they can be used in internal combustion vehicles takes energy, to transport those fossil fuels to pumps using fossil fuel vehicles are all losses of efficiency.
And then burning those fossil fuels in the vehicle to create motion is only 40% efficient max (diesel).
So the efficiency of creating motion using fossil fuels is very low.
Even if you had to use fossil fuel power plants, it would be much more efficient to send that energy in the form of electricity down cables, then create motion using highly efficient electric motors.
Plus it would be locally cleaner because all the pollution from the burning process would be near the power plants not in the cities and towns.

:oActually very similar to typical fossil fuel power plants in terms of efficiency. They're all pretty much in the same overall ball park.

And electricity has transmission losses too; as do batteries in the charge/discharge cycle though I don't think either is very large.

Overall not currently an efficiency argument either way methinks.

Edit: Are we in the wrong thread? :o

I suspect you are, unwell you're trying to dissuade Glyn from splashing out on a nice new 4.0 V8 S8 :tuttut:

It cracks me up when people think that electric cars are the way to go, when lithium that stores electricity in battery packs are made of materials that are in relatively short supply and are classified as rare earth minerals.

If you are on both sides of the fence, take a look at a Fisker Karma

Back on topic though, if you want the D4 S8, do it, life is too short

Hmm...and oil will last forever :ROFL::
Definition of "rare earth" (Google - emphasis added) is "any of a group of chemically similar metallic elements comprising the lanthanide series and (usually) scandium and yttrium. They are not especially rare, but they tend to occur together in nature and are difficult to separate from one another"

The Fisker Karma is a joke - it caught fire nearly as often as a petrol vehicle ;).

And (back on thread), though the D4 S8 is an ok car, I'd just say one word: depreciation.

Not saying oil will last forever, I know someone who has a Fisker and hasn't had any problems with it, he also has a tesla (the little Elise rip-off one).

I remember seeing Honda's Hydrogen Accord, now that to me seemed like a better solution for the future but its fraught with problems as well. The whole sector has problems.

I was sat in a D4 S8 at Audi today, nice enough car, doesnt really do it for me, but my D3 S8 didn't do it for my friends either, so its down to taste. I'm going to have to scratch my Porsche itch at some point, and I will because life is too short.

Sorry! that was my fault :D
I really need to pay more attention to which thread I am replying.

You post it where it should be and delete this one then I'll do the same. ;)

I thought you were both just checking we were paying attention on a Monday ;)