[anjan_c2007]

Petrol heads will surely remain alive, well and kicking at least till the lifetimes of all present day teambhpians.

(1) There's nothing either worth its salt or worth even a mention that could scare or deter petrol heads from their passion!

(2) This is very true despite the fact that many doomsayers predict that petrol heads could be soon out of fashion!

(3) Once petrol heads resist, endure and survive the new headwinds which are expected at the rate of one every decade, the non petrol heads and doomsayers would learn their lesson!

(4)Every other headwind, be it either in form of the hybrid or EV or hydrogen or else, could soon face contraction leading to their population subtraction and could eventually go out of fashion!

(5) Petrol heads have no expiry date, nor do their cars/bikes though these have been and would be demanding gasoline only to fill empty stomachs (since 136 years) by the gallons!

[Jekyl87]

Change is inevitable. Reading the thread, I just imagined a similar conversation a 100+ years ago.

"Hey John, you seen those new horseless carriages running around... They call them automobiles or some such. Makes me sad"

"Why? They seem real good to me. All shiny and black. Doesn't shit behind it that you need to clean. Don't get sick or complains too."

"My pa and pa's pa had all been driving horses all their lives. I've been mucking the stables since I was knee high, and learning to take care of the horses with them. I'd been looking forward to driving one of me own when I grew up, and now that I have, I forsee me son will not be able to. He will be working on these new-fangled automobiles and become some kind of crazy Petrol-head. "

"You mad. Horses will be there too. At least a few decades. They'll have to build roads and gas stations for these automobiles. The technology is still new. But i see your point, I will miss some of these thoroughbreds."

"I just wish I could have driven horses like me pa and his pa before him for another 30-40 years, John. A man can wish..."

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by Jekyl87

"Hey John, you seen those new horseless carriages running around... They call them automobiles or some such. Makes me sad"

"Why? They seem real good to me. All shiny and black. Doesn't shit behind it that you need to clean. Don't get sick or complains too."

Ha Ha ! Thanks to automobiles. Else this-->

Flashback to the late 1800s, and you’ll meet a very different New York where almost five million pounds of manure was being dumped on the city streets every day (we can imagine how that would effect our commute to the office). At the rate horse dung was accumulating, it was predicted that by the year 1930, horse manure would reach the level of Manhattan’s third-story windows. With poop literally lining the city streets, stoops became an important and functional part of New York City’s architecture.

According to an article in the New Yorker from 2009, piles of horse poop lined the streets like banks of snow and at times reached as high as 60 feet! Come summer, the smell was overbearing and when it rained, poop-rivers flooded the streets and sidewalks often seeping into people’s basements.

Link

[vinya_jag]

The Future of Petrol-Head is to enjoy a train journey.
Integrated transport is the solution every country should be focusing towards. An ocassional drive for leisure would be the most we should be able to afford.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/tra...transportation

Europe is all for trains. Look at how the countries are rated high, if their railway system is extensive. I am sure, 30 years from now, we would be hopping on our bicycles, to the nearest train stations. I, for one, am looking for a safer, healthier and a stress free transport in the years to come.

[Blow Horn Ok]

One thing that pinches me hard about the automobiles is that how costly they have become in last 3-4 years. Finding an acceptable car below 10 lakhs on road is seems a difficult thing today. Customers are forced to pay through their neck for the taxes and features which they would rarely use.

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by Jekyl87

"Why? They seem real good to me. All shiny and black. Doesn't shit behind it that you need to clean. Don't get sick or complains too."

Soon, we'll have Hydrogen fuel cell powered cars that 'urinate' clean water, just for the culture.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by MVM

I felt disappointed when Maruti pulled the plug for their iconic 1.3L diesel which had been used in their cars since the first Swift diesel was launched in India. For the past 15 years we have had the Maruti 1.3L diesel engine in 3 of our cars, 2 of which we still own.

It was NEVER "maruti's" diesel engine. It was Fiat's engine.

It's like the "Drishyam" movie.
People heap huge praise on "maruti engine" (Hindi remake)
or
"Tata vista/manza engine" (telugu, tamil remakes)
The original is malayalam. The engine is Fiat.

[Sankar]

About a century ago all the "manure-heads" had to reluctantly switch over and become "coal-heads" and"steam-heads" and further evolved into being "petrol-heads" and "diesel-heads". "Petrol-heads" will evolve into "lithium-heads" (pun not intended) and probably change into some-other-head some time from now.

Its that time of the century once again. Not just for automobiles.

[digitalnirvana]

A couple of posters have already mentioned about manure. But I'm still going to leave this here, because it deserves a watch.

https://youtu.be/w61d-NBqafM

Petrolheads are car lovers. And we're not going anywhere. We're not tied to the romanticism of exploding dead dinosaur goop every time we need to travel.

No, we love cars. All kinds. Diesel, petrol, hybrid, manual, automatic, pedal powered. Whatever.

Cars will stay as a means of private transport for at least 2 decades more till autonomous driving becomes commonplace. So don't despair. Become a Volthead.

[pavi]

Originally Posted by MVM

I felt disappointed when Maruti pulled the plug for their iconic 1.3L diesel which had been used in their cars since the first Swift diesel was launched in India. For the past 15 years we have had the Maruti 1.3L diesel engine in 3 of our cars, 2 of which we still own.

Looks like you need to redraw the picture here. It was never a Maruti engine, although most population always thought its a Maruti engine 'what else can it be'. Basically it's Fiat who pulled the plug, and Maruti has no 'plug' now (pun intended). There is no doubt that the multijet engine was a marvel in its own right, it changed people's 'concepts' about a diesel engine and gave the common people a chance to experience 'turbo charger magic'.

I once had an argument with my uncle who bought a Brezza automatic (previous model, 4 speed automatic), he owned a Fiat Punto multijet before that. He was hell bent saying it's a 5 speed automatic, reason being '4 speed era is long gone, now all automatics are atleast five speed'. I had to finally agree that 'I am stupid, and unaware of the current automatic gearbox universe', so that he can feel 'he is a champion'

[am1m]

I mean honestly, when was the last time you were able to really push and enjoy your car in absolute safety? Perhaps once in a few months on a highway drive. Otherwise the traffic in all our cities and towns and these days even in/en route to popular holiday destinations ensures that frustration instead of free revving is the order of the day. An automatic, big screen entertainment system, and climate control are more important than torque or bhp numbers.

The rest of the time, being a 'petrol head' means cleaning your vehicle, fiddling with the bluetooth connectivity, and reading/posting on Teambhp!

Not to mention, how many enthusiast cars are there in the first place, forget reasonably priced? IMHO, the future of the petrol-head in India is already done and dusted.

(Things look better when it comes to bikes. The 250-300cc segment is finally picking up!)

[enj0y_ride]

Originally Posted by MVM

The diesels are slowly being pulled from production and within the next 10 to 15 years I feel the petrol engines will face a similar fate.

Originally Posted by GTO

- Petrol engines are here to stay. It's a long, long time (think couple of decades) before they are phased out (if at all) in favour of EVs. And even in a hypothetical full-on EV world of 2050, there will always be a few ICE vehicles on offer.

I guess many of us echo your thoughts. As others pointed out, Petrol might stay longer for at-least two decades. However, there's another terrible situation arriving, with increasing Ethanol blends or the hyped Flex fuel. All cars sold now support E10 petrol ( or lower Ethanol content ). Two years from now, we will get only E20 petrol from outlets as Govt is hell-bent on that ( unless they come up with a policy to sell E10 or E5 as premium ). Its going to gradually increase to E50 or higher over a decade and the petrol engines as we know it, will be more or less obsolete though some variations of it will exist.
This will motivate more consumers to opt for BEVs rather than dealing with the nightmare of this flex fuel.

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by pavi

Looks like you need to redraw the picture here. It was never a Maruti engine, although most population always thought its a Maruti engine 'what else can it be'. Basically it's Fiat who pulled the plug, and Maruti has no 'plug' now (pun intended).

It's neither Fiat nor Maruti who pulled the plug. Both would have been happy to continue selling it for decades to come. Maruti gets the sales, Fiat gets some of the revenues. It's BS-VI / Euro-6 that pulled the plug. Diesel engines are polluting. It costs too much to make them less-polluting. Simple as that.

I have only ever driven petrol cars; got my licence in 1991 and bought my first car in 2004 (drove my parents' car and rental cars before that). I intend to keep my current car for as long as it runs (currently 12 years, 104000+ km), and after that, it's an EV or maybe no car. Even now when alone I mostly cycle. I honestly will not miss petrol cars, their noise, their emissions, their complexity.

But EVs aren't really the full answer either. Improved public transportation is the answer, and the few cases where cars are necessary (for elderly/infirm, taxis, last-mile solutions like share-autos) should be EVs. That would be the ideal world. Imagine a city with no fossil fuel fumes in the air.

[theroadrunner]

A good thread, thank you.
I have been in the same predicament since 2021. Let me try and put my views across in a different way. We may call ourselves as Movers because, all of us, will love to be driving or riding any vehicle that moves. Our dilemma stems from the fact that the cost of buying any thing has gone up multifold times though our rate of salary increase is in constant disagreement. Now, most of us on the forums are Keepers too. I have a 11 year old Santro and only recently the 2 lakh KM plus WagonR was let go. We also want our vehicles to provide easy maintainability as well as inexpensive running costs. Thirdly, we are peeved with the scatter-brained regulations and policies being released left right and centre by the Government. Yes, our crude import bill is ruining our Trade balance. We now dont know if Diesel will be stopped for private vehicles (hypothetical) or if Petrol will hit Rs.150(God Forbid) or if Japanese firms will push Hydrogen fuel which they have not been able to convince in the US. And then we have the EV, PEV, Hybdrids etc.
I have been trying to make up my mind to get the Jeep Compass 2.0 MT Diesel and have done a dozen test drives too, but, this fear of the unknown is stopping from splurging our hard earned money in a Keeper, only to find the Diesel may not have a long run.
We still do not have cleaner source of Electricity in a majorly coal-dependent nation and that I hope works in favour of Petrol and ICE engines until at least next 10 years.

Only if we have clear automobile roadmap for the next 20 years, it would make decision making for us easy. I sincerely hope it is made available. Petrol, Diesel, EV, Hybrid, Hydrogen - Bring all of them on, but layout how long, why and how.
Till then, lets keep revving!

[pavi]

Originally Posted by rsidd

It's neither Fiat nor Maruti who pulled the plug. Both would have been happy to continue selling it for decades to come. Maruti gets the sales, Fiat gets some of the revenues. It's BS-VI / Euro-6 that pulled the plug. Diesel engines are polluting. It costs too much to make them less-polluting. Simple as that.

Out of topic post incoming.
It is not that much simple. Case in point, Maruti's 1.5L diesel engine. If Hyundai can make their 1.5 engines satisfying the emission norms, Maruti and other companies should also be able to. So in real terms of 'pulling the plug', the final call is still being made by the company. Pulling the plug also means I can't do it or I won't do it depending on the actual discussions happened in the companies who 'pulled plug' on small diesel engines upto 1.5L.