MINI special edition website treasure find! March 30, 2009
Posted by richard in : Uncategorized , add a commentWell, today’s Mini discovery is one of my best yet. A website DEDICATED to my Mini thrills. And no mistake.
www.minilimitededitions.co.uk is just that – the most delicious resource of 1980s Mini special editions you can imagine.
It looks to have been out of action for a good few years now, but creator Andrew Murray has still got a bit of a gem on his hands. A burgeoning tennis career is perhaps the reason why he’s let the design updates slip, but the basics are still sound and in place.
Here’s 5 discoveries you will make by visiting…
• How many Park Lane models were sold
• The first special edition Mini to use the Mk5 bodyshell
• The official colour names of the original Sprite’s red and yellow
• What was special about the wheels on Jet Blacks and Red Hots
• The original name intended for the Advantage
Believe me, there’s no ‘could’ about it. I HAVE spent hours there, and have bookmarked it, and tagged it, and… well, you name it.
I’ve also dropped a line to the mail address on the site, to see if I can’t twist Andy Murray to revive the site, and bring it back into the modern age. Goodness knows, it deserves it.
In the meantime, if anybody knows of a decent black Designer, think of me, won’t you..?
Volkswagen Golf looks to history for GTD inspiration March 29, 2009
Posted by richard in : Uncategorized , 5commentsHow cool is this? The Golf GTD. Like a GTI. But green and eco, too. Even PR genii are rarely this on message.
On the eve of the 211PS Golf GTI arriving in the UK, it risks stealing some of that car’s thunder, which is an unusual thing for Volkswagen to do. Why go for that one, when you can get 15mpg more here, and almost as many thrills?
I reckon it’s a bit of a ploy. For, Volkswagen has done this before. The brilliant, iconic Mk2 Golf GTI also spawned a GTD cousin. Again, it was a pretty high-spec diesel for the time: turbocharged, intercooled, properly whizzy by contemporary Ford Escort 1.8 D GL standards.
It had the looks of the GTI, the steering wheel, the dials; the two were really hard to tell apart. Not that you had to bother all that often, mind. See, the Mk2 GTD hardly set the world alight. It struggled to sell.
Blame an unenlightened public. Fuel was cheap. Diesel something for trucks. Wot wud yer want a DEESEL GTI for? Hairshirts, not designer hairgel, came to mind. It lagged, then quietly disappeared.
And the Mk6? Well, it’s got the looks, the steering wheel, the dials… yes, it really is three-quarters of the way to a GTI. Just like the old one. Only, this time, it will sell. The world’s ready for it.
For the record, I’ve listed the big differences here:
• GTI: Red tartan seats. GTD: Grey tartan seats
• GTI: Red stripe on the honeycomb grille. GTD: Chrome stripe
• GTI: GTI badge. GTD: GTD badge
• GTI: red stitching on the flat-bottom steering wheel. GTD: black stitching…
… get the idea? Of course, instead of the gem-like 2.0-litre turbo petrol, it’s got a common-rail 2.0-litre turbodiesel, producing 168bhp, for 8.1secs to 60mph. That’s a second down on the GTI. More torque makes up for it.
It’s got a quasi-GTI chassis, too – which is available with the very same pneumatic adaptive suspension system. This trick setup is said to work brilliantly. A so-equipped GTD sounds quite a thing.
Indeed, it’s looking so good – and so ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’s-not-a-GTI’ (VW dealers should prepare for the GTI badge orders), that I think the company who invented the GTI may just have reinvented it.
The GTD is, however, preferable, for one reason above all. GTIs have ridiculous twin exhausts poking out of the rear bumper. GTDs have proud, GTI-tradition dual pipes, poking out the left hand side. Just as it should be. None of this two-side nonsense.
That it also does 53mpg and emits 39g/km less CO2 is but the icing on the cake. Eight-tenths a GTI’s driving talent? Given how brilliant CJ here tells me that car is, it sounds like a pay-off well worth making.
Volkswagen was ahead of the game with the original GTD. The world wasn’t ready for a hot diesel hatch. Now, it is. This June, hot hatch hot cakes will be diesel-powered, mark my words…
Porsche makes cranky Cayenne cool
Secrets of the new Toyota Prius
What I learnt… from Autocar, 11 March 2009
Have I (again) solved the great Mini search? March 29, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 4commentsSo, as you know, I’ve been looking back at old road tests in Autocar. The Mayfair one was revealing. While the 1997 Cooper one properly got me going.
I asked the question, wonder if the Mayfair’s still on the road? Tom Rowan answered it – probably not. He did a canny registration search, and discovered the potentially bad news.
Well then, I thought… if it worked for that, why shouldn’t it also work for P 752 KWK, the 1997 Rover press fleet car?
To the DVLA link I duly went. Whence, I got back some very interesting news.
The car still exists.
But it’s currently declared SORN.
Why? What’s it doing? Where’s it living? Has it been crash-damaged, and is currently being repaired? Is it a restoration project? Has the owner discovered its famed provenance, and is keeping it safely stored in a lockup somewhere?
I don’t know! But I would love to… see, if this is a car in ill health, that the owner wants to move on for minimal bucks, I’d definitely be interested. Hey – owning an ex-press car… what a thrill!
It could even be the same car my boss Peter Burgess had down here on loan all those years ago. It could be the same test car my mates at Autocar thrashed around the track. Providing me with the delights to pour over a few weeks later.
It’d be nice to find out. Anyone out there recognise it, and can help? If so, let me know.
Because, staring at the images, a metallic orange Rover Cooper on 13”s would do the job quite nicely, I think…
Can you help me buy a Mini in 2009?
Mini search over already? If I’m lucky
What can I expect from a Mini?
Porsche makes cranky Cayenne cool March 28, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 3comments
Everyone’s least favourite Porsche is the Cayenne. (Yes, even the 924 has fans).
But here’s why it’s suddenly cool: the Porsche Design Edition 3.
Now, we’ve already seen Cayman and Boxster Design Edition models. They, like this Cayenne, are jazzed-up Porsches, by the company’s industrial and product design division in Austria.
The Design Studio over there has fairly gone to town on the Cayenne, with special paint, 21-inch wheels, unique design stripes and an Alcantara-shod interior. If that’s not quite stand out enough, there’s a double-decker rear wing offered as a no-cost option.
All rather exciting, especially as only 1000 of the £64k 405bhp V8 Cayenne will be made. But the best part is not the SUV, but the bits that come with it.
Such as, a Porsche Design Chronograph watch. Yes, really. This is a unique Design Edition 3 timepiece, and there will only be as many as there are Cayennes.
In true game show style though, that’s not all. There’s also a four-piece Porsche Design Edition 3-branded luggage set. Yes, even suitcases are made cool by Porsche.
Both are seriously wantable possessions. Both will ensure sky-high valuations, in 3 decades’ time, for any Design Edition 3 Cayenne with both still in tact.
Both are reasons why I want to buy a Cayenne Design Edition 3, squirrel the goodies away in the loft, and then… well, go up into the loft and look at them occasionally. Then hide them away again. It’s a car geek thing.
I would have done the same with those Golf GTI MkII Anniversary forged alloy wheels I almost won on eBay. I certainly do with my Golf GTI MkII 16v uncut key, complete with 16v cap-on-a-string in place.
Who understands?
Anyone..?
Fuel economy economical with the truth
Why car scrappage is now inevitable
What can I expect from a Mini?
Mini fixes easy to come by… March 27, 2009
Posted by richard in : What I learned today , 1 comment so farOver to my mate Keith Adams’ AROnline site, for my daily fix. And, lo, what should sit at the top, but an UPDATED Mini history!
I won’t spoil it for you, not least because it’s an absolute fact-packed epic. Who needs a bedtime book, when you’ve got treasures like this.
But charging on through did open my eyes to a few reality checks. Such as, how the Mini nearly died in the mid-1980s… my era of Mini! The production folk wanted to get shot of it, and hand over the space to more modern designs, that were easier and more efficient to produce. Such as the Metro.
At the same time, though, market research was underway at Austin Rover. Which revealed that most people thought the Mini was, well, already dead. They didn’t realise it was still in production.
Yet the research also revealed how fondly they still thought of it. Ker-ching, went the marketeers, never ones to miss the chance of making a buck.
Result? The famous special edition plethora, which marked out the Mini’s final decade-and-a-half in existence.
These are the Minis I know, love, and collected brochures of as a kid. Designer, Park Lane, Sky Blue, Advantage (now THAT would be a buy), Check Mate… lord knows where the brochures are now, but I had the lot back in my yoof.
Wouldn’t have been the case if it wasn’t for the marketeers and researchers, though. Engineering would have got its way, and more Maestros made at the Mini’s expense. Shudder.
For this reason, I’m going to have a cup of tea. In recognition of marketeers everywhere. Cheers.
What can I expect from a Mini?
Can you help me buy a Mini in 2009?
Fuel economy economical with the truth? March 27, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, What I learned today , 5commentsFuel economy is all nowadays. Not since the 1980s have manufacturers been so intent on producing efficient cars.
It’s all in the name of being green, you see. That’s why we’re seeing the return of the ‘eco special’.
Back in the day, car makers achieved good returns with long gear ratios, economy meters and stripped-out, lightweight equipment levels. Volkswagen Polo Formel E, anyone? Austin Metro 3+E?
25 years later, things are, of course, much more advanced. We have, err, long gear ratios, trip computers and, well, stripped down equipment levels. Audi TDIe, Ford Econetic, etc and so forth. OK… not much progress there, then. But, if something ‘aint broke and all that…
Why this post, then? Because Ford’s revealed some of the secrets behind the eco game in Automotive Engineer this month. See, nowadays there’s far more to it than simply keeping the revs low.
The fuel test cycle may be oft-criticised, but it still takes in a whole host of parameters. Which can be, for want of a better word, massaged.
Here’s 5 revealing ways the new Fiesta Econetic beats the system.
• Every kg saved benefits real-world economy – but only HUGE mass reductions affect the test cycle figures. That’s because ‘inertial weight classes’ are used, each covering around 100kg. This is basically a rolling road with a resistance against it. But… it’s only by shaving enough to move into a new band that you will improve economy.
• Fitting longer gear ratios is expensive. Volkswagen does this in Bluemotions – 1st and 2nd are standard, 3rd to 5th stretched. Far cheaper, says Ford, to simply fit a longer final drive ratio. It cuts 5g/km from CO2 emissions. But depends on having a torquey enough engine to still pull well in 1st and 2nd…
• It’s not hard to make a more aerodynamic car – but it IS costly to produce and fit the bespoke panels required. Ford reduced CO2 emissions by 2g/km, by easy measures. The maker didn’t want any more bespoke ‘workstations’ on the production line, to fit extra aerodynamic addenda.
• An easy fit, you’d think, would be aerodynamic wheel trims. Yes, says Ford – but the redevelopment work in ensuring the brakes behind them get enough cooling air is another matter. That’s why they’re not here.
• The biggest trick to improving test cycle economy is recalibrating the engine ECU. Measures here include reducing the idle speed, as it takes up a big part of the official test cycle. In the future, Ford also expects eco credits for fitting a standard trip computer.
All of this helps improve the official figures. However, only some of it will affect real world economy. Just goes to show, when judging economy cars, that it’s best to look beyond the figures, and what measures are actually employed to achieve them.
Are they test cycle cheats, or real-world benefits?
Why car scrappage is now inevitable March 27, 2009
Posted by richard in : Uncategorized , 3commentsIt is now a matter of when, not if, the Government introduces a new car scrappage scheme. Because, such is the momentum now behind it, to not go ahead would be disastrous.
Renault has recently had to boost production of the Clio by nearly 10 per cent, just to meet demand. This comes on the back of previous swingeing cuts in car production.
And that’s just one example, of many. Ford’s Fiesta plants are working flat out and still struggling to meet demand. The Peugeot-Citroen-Toyota plant in the Czech Republic, which makes the sub-110g/km CO2 city trio, is also upping numbers. And so on.
Contrast this with new car sales in general across Europe. They fell by 22 percent. Manufacturers have responded to this, by cutting production. Officials say new car build has dropped by 40 percent.
Honda has even closed its Swindon Civic factory entirely for a third of the year.
But countries which have a scrappage scheme have seen the opposite. Sales in Germany last month rose by 21 percent.
Who has a scrappage scheme, then? Austria. France. Germany, obviously. Greece. Italy. Portugal, Romania. Spain. It’s hardly small fry. Not some harebrained scheme thought up by the SMMT. It works.
Remember the VAT farce? The Government announced it last year… weeks ahead of time. So, customers stopped buying until it came into forge. Big ticket items such as cars were particularly hit.
Chairman of Ford Retail, Chris Hayden, told me that car sales ‘simply stopped’ in November, as buyers waited for the VAT cut to kick in.
The risk is, such is the expectation of a £2000 rebate for those buying a green new car if they scrap their old one, confidence would simply collapse if the Government chooses not to do it.
This would be the exact opposite of intentions, and really threaten the future of an industry already under massive pressure. This is why such a scenario will not exist. This is why the Government will go ahead with it.
A scheme will be announced one day, and take effect the very next. Sending out a clear signal that it is OK to buy new cars. The Government will recoup the money in VAT. Buyers will get greener new cars. Dealers will survive. The environment will benefit. It really is win all round.
Surely the Government has to follow logic, rational argument and the public mood, by rolling out the scheme soon?
What can I expect from a Mini – 2 March 26, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , add a commentOK, I’ve been ploughing the Autocar library again, seeking out tests from back in the day. 22 January 1997 doesn’t sound *too* far back in the day, even though it is, actually, 12 years ago. Gawd, etc.
Anyway, Autocar Road Test no. 4228 is of the Rover Mini Cooper, by now with airbag, seatbelt pretensioners and side impact bars.
The radiator’s on the side, damping pads are fitted in the roof, there’s an extra exhaust silencer, and the final drive is longer. All helping the 1275cc meet the 74dB noise limit.
Fear not, says Autocar. It’s still a Mini, and thus, unlike any other car on sale. Encouragingly, the 63bhp A-Series is now ‘evergreen’, taking nearly 10secs off the Mayfair’s 0-60mph time. It’s still unrefined, though.
The ride also remains bouncy – ‘burying drivers’ heads in the roof’. The key is finding a smooth corner. There, says Autocar, four-wheel drifts are the norm. Intimate, if crude, feel through the steering helping you achieve ‘perplexingly high speeds’.
Needless to say, the interior is as dated as ever (despite a two-speed fan!). It’s very cramped, doors are tiny, and tall people simply have to bend their knees. Buttons on the dash are unlit (I didn’t realise that) and the boot is highly awkward.
Once again, Autocar’s objective terms write the Mini off as from another era. But, of course, it is! That’s why it’s so great! And thus, ‘as an object of basic desire, it’s still up there with the best of them.’
Couldn’t have put it better myself…
What can I expect from a Mini? March 25, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 5commentsI have yet to drive a Mini, but am getting more eager by the day. Until I snare one, I’m having to get my fix from virtual sources.
Hence, me turning to Autocar, 23 August, 1989.
Here, the magazine subjected a 998cc Mayfair to the rigors of its full road test, as a celebration of 30 years’ production.
What did Autocar make of it? Well, I took from it the following impressions:
• Engine
It’s slow. The Mini is substantially slower than the original 1959 test car, says Autocar. Sure, it weighs 10 percent more, but the engine’s also bigger. 0-60mph in 22 seconds sounds slow to me, a top speed of 78mph below my everyday cruising speed.
It’s also, says Autocar, slower in the gears. This is because the gearing has been raised over the original, by 20 percent. At least that means you don’t have to rev it; there’s a ‘cacophony’ near the 5750rpm redline. But, it lugs smoothly through the rev range and, says Autocar, isn’t as unrefined as has been made out. Unlike the gearbox, which whines, is obstructive and agricultural.
• Driving impressions
Autocar loves how the Mini handled. By modern standards, the turn in is almost too sharp; the communicative steering means you place it inch-perfect every time. It’s also throttle-adjustable.
The ride isn’t as bad as feared. It’s nervous in town, with the short-travel suspension easily caught out. But it’s very stable on motorways, dealing with low-frequency undulations well.
• Interior
The car is dated from behind the wheel, with switches out of reach. Visibility is fantastic, but the driving position has ‘serious problems’. Space is ‘inadequate’, noise levels high and the seats, while not uncomfortable, are lacking in lumbar and lateral support.
Even Mayfair trim is sparsely equipped. However, it feels sturdy and strong, with the doors shutting cleanly and solidly. The paintwork would be favourable on a car costing twice as much. Alas, minor items are shabbily assembled, and the keys are difficult to put in the locks.
• Summary
It is slow, unrefined, cramped, and modern superminis are in a different league. Doesn’t matter. It’s still easy to make a case for the Mini, concludes Autocar. It’s great fun to drive, and stands out in a world where cars look ever-more anonymous.
All that criticism’s to be expected. All that we can take. We buy Minis not for rational reasons, but emotional ones. Autocar’s modern-perspective take has only served to reinforce that… now then, does anyone know if F 21 RKV, the reg of the test car, is still out there?
NEW: Bentley Continental GTC Speed photo stream on Flickr March 25, 2009
Posted by richard in : Uncategorized , 2commentsWant to see what I’ve been up to on my latest launch event? Well, check out my Bentley Continental GTC Speed photo stream on Flickr.
And be sure to come back here over the next few days. As ever, I’ll be charging through all my notes and feeding back to you.
Check out the images for a feel of what was what in Crewe!
