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NSW needs to change P-plater laws | opinion

Ford's Fiesta Ecoboost S is illegal for P-platers to drive, despite being extremely safe and relatively low powered.

The Victorian government today announced it will overturning the blanket ban on turbocharged, supercharged and 8-cylinder plus vehicles for provisional drivers in the state, in favour of a power-to-weight ratio rule.

The South Australian government has had this in place since March and the Queensland government has had it since January. Yet despite considering changing the rules last year, the NSW government hasn't budged.

Let me explain how flawed these rules are. As a P-plater myself, I am able to drive Honda's insane S2000 sports car that has a power-to-weight ratio of 140kW/tonne but I'm not allowed to drive Volkswagen's five-star ANCAP rated Golf that has a power-to-weight ratio of just 83kW/tonne. Simply because it has a small turbocharger to save fuel.

Ford's excellent ecoboost engines are turbocharged petrol engines that are designed specifically to save as much fuel as possible. They do so by the use of the turbocharger and are usually pretty low powered, much less powerful than a lot of legal P-plate approved cars. But, of course, cars that run them are off limits.

New South Wales, it's your turn to get with the times.

Read full story at www.news.com.au

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