I hit the pinnacle of my car driving career yesterday.
Discussion
I have driven and owned lots of cars in my years, both very nice and very bad. But yesterday took the biscuit-the high from driving it was incredible.
Or was that just the adrenaline from thinking I would die at any minute??
I live in France and we know an old english guy 10 miles away who is struggling to look after himself. As a consequence, my wife does some cleaning for him and a bit of cooking and I look after his garden and now it seems his car too.
He asked me to service it and wash it. How hard can that be I thought? Terrifyingly hard, I can tell you and that just driving it.
It an Aixam "sans permit" car. Now that means no licence is required. And the reason he has that car is because he cant get a licence because he is half blind. Usually the are driven by kids who need to get about before legal driving age (you can drive these at 14) or people who have lost thier licence via drink driving. Not sure if that is really allowed but thats what they do.
Maximum speed is 47kmh (yes, KMH). from a Kholer 2 cylinder diesel engine
It is not strong. I am not slim but also not massive, but when you get in and lean back on the seat to get comfy, the floor moves up and down and the roof flexes. Shutting the door bends the door. Starting the car the whole thing vibrates and gets worse when you actually get moving.
Now when I said max speed is 47, I mean thats the max. Downhill. Uphill it went 35 kmh.
And all this time you are mixing with articulated lorries and cars.
Let me tell you, it was terrifying, really terrifying.
Not as cheap as you would think either. This thing cost him 13k eur, second hand.
Pic below.
Or was that just the adrenaline from thinking I would die at any minute??
I live in France and we know an old english guy 10 miles away who is struggling to look after himself. As a consequence, my wife does some cleaning for him and a bit of cooking and I look after his garden and now it seems his car too.
He asked me to service it and wash it. How hard can that be I thought? Terrifyingly hard, I can tell you and that just driving it.
It an Aixam "sans permit" car. Now that means no licence is required. And the reason he has that car is because he cant get a licence because he is half blind. Usually the are driven by kids who need to get about before legal driving age (you can drive these at 14) or people who have lost thier licence via drink driving. Not sure if that is really allowed but thats what they do.
Maximum speed is 47kmh (yes, KMH). from a Kholer 2 cylinder diesel engine
It is not strong. I am not slim but also not massive, but when you get in and lean back on the seat to get comfy, the floor moves up and down and the roof flexes. Shutting the door bends the door. Starting the car the whole thing vibrates and gets worse when you actually get moving.
Now when I said max speed is 47, I mean thats the max. Downhill. Uphill it went 35 kmh.
And all this time you are mixing with articulated lorries and cars.
Let me tell you, it was terrifying, really terrifying.
Not as cheap as you would think either. This thing cost him 13k eur, second hand.
Pic below.
Nice!
My folks live in France and when I went over to see them earlier this year, I saw 3 of these parked outside the local bar on a Friday night.
I noted that they are popular for rural France, the Old Dear said "they are all owned by people that are currently banned for drink driving"
We gave them a headstart at the end of the night when the bar closed.....
My folks live in France and when I went over to see them earlier this year, I saw 3 of these parked outside the local bar on a Friday night.
I noted that they are popular for rural France, the Old Dear said "they are all owned by people that are currently banned for drink driving"
We gave them a headstart at the end of the night when the bar closed.....
They are a funny lot. I was talking to my French neighbour at the weekend about no cutting hedges at this time of the year becuase of the birds nests.
He replied that it may well be forbidden, but he didnt care for that law, so will take no notice of it. Its a very very common attitude here (certainly in rural France)
He replied that it may well be forbidden, but he didnt care for that law, so will take no notice of it. Its a very very common attitude here (certainly in rural France)
Fastpedeller said:
Good heavens - even one of those 'cars' could do a lot of damage. What sort of laws do they enforce? No wonder the French Police can't stop folk leaving their shores on rubber boats!
The dont seem to enforce much of anything to be honest. Its quite refeshing.I wouldnt worry about hurting a pedestrian with one of those, I reckon it would be like a cartoon where the car collapses around the unharmed person!
georgeyboy12345 said:
Hence why things like the Citroen Ami and Renault Twizy exist (and are superior to this)
The Ami is a sans permis quadricycle just like this rolling violation; there's only one thing to bear in mind when using them, do not under any circumstances crash as you will die due to them having all the crash resistance of a crawfords biscuit tin. They do petrol ones as well which are slightly less deafening to use.LightweightLouisDanvers said:
Sounds hilarious, where can I get one?
Sans Permis pop up on Facebook marketplace and Ebay fairly regularly, just set up an alert for Ligier Microcar and Aixam, these two are by far the most common makes to be found in the UK. The build quality is shambolically bad, buy entirely on condition as they can be destroyed in ten thousand miles by an unsympathetic driver.unsprung said:
Good Idea
Let's create a new class of community-minded transport that is defined by low mass and low speed.
Bad Idea
Let's put these same vehicles on streets dominated by traffic in objects of high mass and high speed.
I think you're defining this by UK standards. Rural France (where these are most prevalent) has a lack of traffic which we can only dream about here.They have a broadly similar population, but more than 5 times the land area.Let's create a new class of community-minded transport that is defined by low mass and low speed.
Bad Idea
Let's put these same vehicles on streets dominated by traffic in objects of high mass and high speed.
You can (and we have) drive through vast areas of rural France and genuinely not see another vehicle on the road for 20-30-more miles - except an Aixam driven by a farmer going from his fields to home for lunch (and a bottle of red...). I've only seen them in populated areas on market days where they form a convoy at chucking-out time!
This reminds me of when I worked for a car manufacturer. There was a 'joint project' with a manufacturer of electric vehicles. A work colleague and I had to go to another work location a few miles away and took the electric car. We soon realised it had limited performance on the A-road, and overtaking anything involved planning. Planning not only the overtaking, but also to prevent being still in the overtaking lane when the vehicle, which was a mile behind when starting the manoeuvre, was about to run into us. It certainly tainted my view of electric cars 
unsprung said:
Good Idea
Let's create a new class of community-minded transport that is defined by low mass and low speed.
Bad Idea
Let's put these same vehicles on streets dominated by traffic in objects of high mass and high speed.
Your definition of low mass, low speed city transport on separate infrastructure differs wildly to mine... The idea that someone classed as blind, or a alcoholic, is driving what to a pedestrian is a car, is simply terrifying imo. Let's create a new class of community-minded transport that is defined by low mass and low speed.
Bad Idea
Let's put these same vehicles on streets dominated by traffic in objects of high mass and high speed.
So many terrified people 
There is quite a few round here, never a problem to get round and plenty of room on our country roads and a mirad of different road options to the main country roads.
Of course they’re ‘less’ safe than your euro box but remember (if you can) what cars we used to think in the 70s/80s were safe on the roads at 80+, far more scary, mopeds? No protection at all and 30 mph
All about cocoon perspective vs whats perfectly acceptable if you want to get on with your lives, these people dont live in bubbles of fear like many on here, they’re the ones who are free by comparison, living how they want to and how they believe they should be able to.
Funnily, i lost my license here due to speed, my choice was a twist grip throttle electric bike delimited to 60kmh, it had pedals but you werent using them, often i went past these guys in their cars
Mind you, theyre hardly full of smiles
There is quite a few round here, never a problem to get round and plenty of room on our country roads and a mirad of different road options to the main country roads.
Of course they’re ‘less’ safe than your euro box but remember (if you can) what cars we used to think in the 70s/80s were safe on the roads at 80+, far more scary, mopeds? No protection at all and 30 mph
All about cocoon perspective vs whats perfectly acceptable if you want to get on with your lives, these people dont live in bubbles of fear like many on here, they’re the ones who are free by comparison, living how they want to and how they believe they should be able to.
Funnily, i lost my license here due to speed, my choice was a twist grip throttle electric bike delimited to 60kmh, it had pedals but you werent using them, often i went past these guys in their cars
Mind you, theyre hardly full of smiles
Lifesbloodygood said:
So many terrified people
There is quite a few round here, never a problem to get round and plenty of room on our country roads and a mirad of different road options to the main country roads.
Of course they’re ‘less’ safe than your euro box but remember (if you can) what cars we used to think in the 70s/80s were safe on the roads at 80+, far more scary, mopeds? No protection at all and 30 mph
All about cocoon perspective vs whats perfectly acceptable if you want to get on with your lives, these people dont live in bubbles of fear like many on here, they’re the ones who are free by comparison, living how they want to and how they believe they should be able to.
Funnily, i lost my license here due to speed, my choice was a twist grip throttle electric bike delimited to 60kmh, it had pedals but you werent using them, often i went past these guys in their cars
Mind you, theyre hardly full of smiles
All very true. I would certainly prefer my children to have one of these than a moped.There is quite a few round here, never a problem to get round and plenty of room on our country roads and a mirad of different road options to the main country roads.
Of course they’re ‘less’ safe than your euro box but remember (if you can) what cars we used to think in the 70s/80s were safe on the roads at 80+, far more scary, mopeds? No protection at all and 30 mph
All about cocoon perspective vs whats perfectly acceptable if you want to get on with your lives, these people dont live in bubbles of fear like many on here, they’re the ones who are free by comparison, living how they want to and how they believe they should be able to.
Funnily, i lost my license here due to speed, my choice was a twist grip throttle electric bike delimited to 60kmh, it had pedals but you werent using them, often i went past these guys in their cars
Mind you, theyre hardly full of smiles
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