Unladen Weight Vs. Kerb weight?

Modem Vs. Wi-Fi?

Unladen Weight is obvious right?

It's just the weight of your car/van/motorhome without anything "laden" in it/on it right?

Well yes and no...

Unladen Weight is now a bit of a useless term, as it use to mean the weight of the vehicle without anything in it; but by anything it also meant without any fuel, or any engine oil, or gearbox oil, or other engine fluids like screen wash or coolant!

It's a bit of a pointless figure really as hopefully once your vehicle rolls off the production line you should have all of these fluids on board for the rest of its life; you're not going to get far down the M1 without ANY engine oil now are you?

Kerb weight is subtly different.

Kerb weight is how you'd expect the vehicle to be when you first buy it; a bit of fuel, all your engine fluids topped up and ready to go, but without any of your possession stowed inside yet. Kerb weight is your blank canvas.

Most of the industry has moved to the more realistic "Kerb Weight".

Notice how I said "most"?

That's because:-

-Some manufacturers use the kerb weight.

-Some manufacturers still call it the Unladen Weight but weigh it with the sensible fuel and fluids, so it's exactly the same as kerb weight... but call it Unladen Weight.

-Some manufacturers stick stubbornly to Unladen Weight, presumably thinking "that's the way we've always done it, so why change?" Well I also presume that these people still use dial up Modems that sang you a song before they connect you to the internet, because "that's they way we've always done it".

Anyway, if we all commit to using the sensible Kerb Weight then I'm sure the world will be a happier place, and we may just have salvaged something from 2020?

Drive safe, and if you need help with vehicle weights, let me know; until then, enjoy the retro sound of the modem to sing me out...

https://youtu.be/gsNaR6FRuO0