Tips & Guides

Two very different systems sit behind the same warning symbol, and the cheaper one cannot see all four tyres going soft together. Even the better system is only required to warn you once a tyre is twenty per cent low, which is far past the point where it costs you fuel, range and grip. Check pressures cold with your own gauge once a month, and use the laden figures from the door placard before a loaded trip.

Flash charging pushes enormous power, up to around a megawatt, into a battery in a short burst, and BYD claims it can add about 400 kilometres of range in five minutes. The idea started with buses topping up at their stops and is now reaching passenger cars. For now the catch is that only a handful of cars and chargers can actually do it, so for most drivers it is a preview of where charging is heading.

Electric cars do wear tyres faster than comparable petrol cars, by around 20 percent, because they are heavier and their motors deliver instant torque. It is real, but largely manageable: EV-specific tyres recover most of the gap and a smooth driving style does the rest. The one genuine downside that gets little attention is that heavier EVs shed more tyre particulate matter.

Parking with two wheels on a kerb rarely hurts your car while it sits there; suspension holds the weight at an angle fine. The real damage happens when you mount or dismount, and it lands on tyres and wheels first, above all a hidden sidewall bulge that cannot be repaired. Take it slow and straight, and remember that across most of Europe pavement parking is not allowed unless a sign permits it.

Straightening your wheels when you park is mostly about safety and habit, not overnight damage. What actually strains your power steering is holding full lock with the engine running. On a slope, the way you leave your wheels decides whether a runaway rolls into the kerb or into traffic.