How to make a motoring journalist happy August 21, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars , add a comment
Mad cars and people who are mad about cars? Makes for a perfect day.
So it proved this week when I was given a double dose of why-I-love-the-jobbery.
For Total 911 magazine, I write ‘classic road tests’. These are a modern-eyes drive in a classic Porsche, offering a retrospective look at just what made each special.
This month, it was the turn of the 964 Turbo 3.6. A rare car indeed: only around 1000 were built, and there are barely 40 in the UK. Finding one for the feature, in holiday-packed August, was, shall we say, challenging.
Turbo 3.6 owner Steve Armitage to the rescue. A Porsche nut, Total 911 fan, someone more than happy to help us out and, as he proved on the day of the shoot, an all round Good Guy to boot.
Male bonding paragraph: Chaps such as Steve make a great job THE best. He was helpful, trusting, listened to what we wanted and did his all to help us out. He did not treat us as a nuisance, did not forbid us doing things we suggested, understood we had a task list and made sure he helped us complete it.
We paid him back with a gem-like set of images, courtesy of Alisdair Cusick. Deal!
Model photoshoot
On gigs like this, it’s important as a journo to be as straight up as you can with the proud owner of the car. Respect is essential – fail to show this and you deserve moronic status.
Never forget, they don’t know you from Adam. It’s vital you thus eradicate any hint of cocky, arrogant, primadonnary. Pretend you’re on the other side instead. Pretend it’s your car.
When, though, it is reciprocated with the warmth our man Steve did this week – well, it makes every windswept moorland February photoshoot worthwhile. Nope, they’re not all like last week, but when they come around, how we savour ‘em.
Goodness, his wife even treated us to THE best toast at the start of the day. Lucky? You betcha!
Fingers crossed Steve now likes the feature…
+ Share your memories of highs like this…
+ … And let us know of any horrors you’ve had, too!
+ What’s been the trickiest car you’ve had to source for a shoot?
Ford clears the way for quick dealer profits August 14, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars, Technology, What I learned today , add a comment
Ford Quickclear heated windscreen tech is something invented not for customer convenience, but to please the UK’s largest car dealer network.
Well, sort of.
History time: it’s been around since the 1980s, and was designed to make life easier on winter mornings. Drive away in seconds, instead of minutes, went the promo (remember the man with the Orion in the print ads?).
Whether that was actually possible in cars with chokes, choking on sub-zero temperatures, is a moot point, but the thought was there.
Actually, though, I reckon it was developed to be a dealer-pleaser, too.
Dealer hots
Ford has more than 500 dealers across the UK (and maybe loads more back in the day). Each may have, ooh, between 20 and 100 used cars sat outside to lure people in.
Enter one cold snap, and cue frosted-over windscreens for each. What will be obscured by such an event? Yes, the price sticker hanging from the sunvisor behind the opaque screen.
In terms of manhours, this represents a lot of expenditure (and a veritable deluge of moaning). How better would it be to slash (silence) this with just the press of a button?
Of course, it wasn’t a perfect plan. Not all cars would be fitted with Quickclear screens. The higher-margin posh cars would be, though (Granada Ghia X and the like). They’re the ones in which dealers would have most cash tied up, and which they wanted to sell fast.
Quickclear would ensure the risk of missing vital marketing opportunities were minimised. Cue dealers quickly clear(n?)ing up (ahem).
OK, I admit. Ford probably didn’t invent Quickclear to please its dealer network. There, I jest, with tongue in cheek.
But knowing how thorough the brand is, I don’t doubt the consideration could have helped push the tech through in the planning meet, or featured in the strategy document presented to the Board…
+ What other unexpected uses for car tech can you think of?
+ Do you know of any other ‘Eureka’ type car inventions?
+ Ford is market leader and has Quickclear: coincidence?
VW Golf Bluemotion: Golf GTI for eco greens? August 7, 2010
Posted by richard in : 0 to 60, Green cars, Minutiae of cars, Technology , 2comments
Golf GTI have usually been The Supercars That Rule for we real(ish)-world folk.
Give me a mint Mk2 and I will do anything (anything) for you. I cherish/Tweet Mk1 sightings, would love a Mk6 and often browse Autotrader for cheap Mk5s.
OK, the Mk4 wasn’t ace, but still desirable because of its interior/steering wheel/wheels. I’m that obsessed, I even see the merit in the Mk3 (neon metallic green, please).
But I’m also a bit of an eco nut. An mpg obsessive. (Incidentally, I blame my Mk2 for this: it was my first car to have a trip computer.)
Although the Mk6 does 38.7mpg, and emits 170g/km CO2, that’s still too high for an everyday preacher like me. What to do?
Well, Volkswagen has a solution. Create a new sub-brand, infuse it with GTI-style marketing distinction, make it desirable and wantable in its own right – and continually develop and hone it as you go along.
Golf Bluemotion. The Golf GTI for greenies
Bluemotion is exactly that. Indeed, it is the longest running eco sub-brand (since joined by SEAT Ecomotive, Ford Econetic, Vauxhall ecoFlex… you get the idea). Like GTI, VW invented it as an engineering-led challenge-fest.
How eco, you imagine the tecchies musing, can we make a standard production hatchback? Without hybrids, new-gen engines or special techniquery demands?
The Polo Bluemotion was the first, soon followed by the ‘Mk1′ Golf Bluemotion (Mk5). Now, we’re on the ‘Mk2′ Golf Bluemotion, based on the Mk6 (with me?). It is this car I’m running as a long-termer.
It is this car that gets admiring glances thanks to its lowered suspension, its body styling aero tweaks, its characteristic Bluemotion blue paint.
Those in the know notice the badge on the grille, situated in the same position as many a GTI moniker. They’ll admire the wheels, but also be able to reel off the stats: 99g/km CO2, 74.3mpg. Up (and down!) from the 62.8mpg and 119g/km of the Mk1Mk5, you know. And it uses the EA111 1.6 TDI instead of the EA111 1.9 TDI. And it’s still mated to the 02J gearbox. And… etc…
All of this is GTI-style: the same things that attract there also apply here. That’s the beauty, see. A GTI uses efficiency to hone what’s there and create more speed. The Bluemotion does the same, but to yield more mpg.
It’s just that the route to both – lowered suspension, bespoke body and a new ‘That Badge’ – presses the same buttons for car fans who like their supercars hot hatch sized.
In the future, then, will the Bluemotion become The Supercar That Rules? There’s a thought. See, partly, it already does…
I have but one worry. Will this mean the Bluemotion badge is to be nicked off my Golf, as it was on the GTI?
+ Has hp had its day?
+ Nice dials, mate
+ BMW, you cheeky chaps, you
VIDEO: Range Rover Evoque on the road July 29, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, News clues, pr , add a comment
RANGE Rover scoops are everywhere these days, as the launch of the Evoque builds up.
I reckon I’ve got, err, one of the best so far (if you’ll indulge me in my fantasy…).
Here is the world’s first public driving video of the official Range Rover Evoque!
MARVEL as it exits the corner.
GASP as it wafts by the camera.
BE WOWED as it, err, rolls back into security-guarded secrecy.
OK, it was actually the Range Rover Evoque driving off stage following its public reveal at Kensington Palace. (You know, the ‘Posh Spice and Zara Phillips’ one).
Even so, it was driving, it was right after the launch, which (technically, of sorts) makes this a World First Drive video!
I jest. Looks good though, no?
EREV 101: Electric car becomes realistic? July 3, 2010
Posted by richard in : Green cars, Minutiae of cars, Technology, ev , add a comment
VAUXHALL is to market its range-extender electric Ampera via a catchy new classification: EREV.
Extended Range Electric Vehicle, that is. I reckon it’s going to become as common parlance as SUV, MPV and, indeed, EV itself. ‘Eeee-rev’… sounds kinda cool, no?
Question is, what it is. Here, I hope, is a simple crib sheet explaining it.
What is it not?
A Hybrid.
In a Hybrid, like a Toyota Prius, you have an electric motor and a petrol engine. The electric motor drives the wheels, until the batteries run out. Then, the engine drives the wheels, with electric assist.
What is an EREV, then?
In an EREV, you have an electric motor, that drives the wheels. When the batteries run out, the electric motor still drives the wheels. Only this time, a petrol engine starts running, producing electricity to feed the depleted batteries.
Sounds similar… what’s the key difference between Hybrid and EREV?
EREVs are SOLELY driven by an electric motor, fed by batteries. In a Hybrid, wheels are turned by BOTH electric and petrol motor. That’s the key difference.
To explain… there are two modes of powering EREV batteries: by plugging them into the wall, or producing electricity on the go from an onboard generator.
Which, here, just so happens to be that petrol motor. But really, it could be anything. Fuel cell? Hydrogen IC? Nuclear reactor? Anything will do, so long as it can make enough electricity. That’s how immaterial the engine is.
In a Hybrid, when the batteries run down, the engine barges the electric motor out of the way and takes over running the show. It becomes a first-line of drive, rather than the supporting role it plays in an EREV.
This means you can view the Vauxhall Ampera as an EV with a 350-mile range. 40 of those electric miles will come from power fed from a 3-hour recharge, stored onboard in the 16kW battery pack.
310 extra miles will then come from power produced in the generator by combusting the fuel in the tank.
After that? You ‘recharge’ – either by plugging it into the wall… or refilling the fuel tank. Or, both.
A little bit of genius? Lord, yes. It’s brilliant. Until battery capacity really rockets, it makes the EV viable. It’s an absolute masterpiece that will make EVs sell to real buyers.
It’s also a potential goldmine for GM. The most significant leg-up the electric car has yet got? I really do think so…
+ Are you as excited about the EREV concept as I am?
+ What do you see as the downsides?
+ Do you think it is better or worse than a pure EV – and why?
Lotus shows how to enrage the motoring journo June 27, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, News clues, What I learned today, pr , 3comments
LOTUS this week fired up an apoplectic rage of motoring journos exploring ingeniously creative alternative takes on the image of Colin Chapman spinning in his grave (I respectfully bowed out after I read Autoblog’s hybrid quip…).
Why? Because the firm has announced its intention to move upmarket.
Lotus will, in the future, be about challenging Ferrari and Porsche, in their exalted price brackets, rather than being the next obvious trade up from a Caterham.
And with this, many have assumed, comes a move away from everything the brand stands for. Lightweight, simple, light, affordable, only add lightness, don’t weigh much, all of these will be thrown out of the window, it is predicted, when Lotus starts instead selling Plutocratic Panamera rivals.
Me, though, I’m a dissenter. I reckon it’s just what Lotus should be doing. And, get this, feel Colin Chapman would agree.
Why? Well, why did he start making road cars in the first place? To finance the racing car team. And the more you can charge for those cars, the more money you have to go racing. Bingo.
OK, one of the first Lotus was the simplistic Seven. But this gradually moved over for higher-profit, more upmarket models, such as the Elite, the Eclat and, yes, the iconic Esprit. The period price lists reflected the trend, showed Chapman’s thinking.
So, why not the same approach today? After all, Lotus carries stonking brand currency. It’s back in F1, and doing a pretty good job to boot (as I write, a Lotus sits on the Valencia grid in 19th. Million-time World Champ Michael Schumacher, in the big-bucks Benz F1 team? 15th…).
It would be remiss of management not to trade on this value. Besides, who’s to say a move upmarket will distill the famed Lotusness? Isn’t there more opportunity for lightweight innovation and clever tech details with higher-margin cars – and wouldn’t Chapman have relished the opportunity?
Besides, it’s not even as if the aged Elise itself is all that cheap anymore. No, I’m all for it.
And if part of the move means Caterham can buy the production line for the Elise, and carry on the tradition with a sister to the Seven, then power to ‘em…
+ Do you agree with me?
+ Can Lotus pull off a move upmarket?
+ Just HOW cool would a Caterham Elise be?
Suzuki Swift superhikes engineering June 26, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, Technology, What I learned today , add a comment
Suzuki’s all-new Swift may look nothing of the sort, but there’s far more of interest below the same-again surface.
At the Austrian launch, Suzuki flew over a veritable entourage to explain all this to me. Talk about love for their job… these guys showed a surprise passion I just wasn’t expecting from Suzuki.
So, what did they say? Plenty. Here’s some snippets…
Take the all-new platform, for instance. This has been engineered to be both more rigid and more solid in a crash. Yet, despite ever-increasing demands from customers and Euro NCAP legislators, it’s also lighter than the old one.
That’s despite being 90mm longer than before, with a 50mm wheelbase stretch! How so, I politely implored?
Well, explained chief engineer Nayoyuki Takeuchi, through greater use of high-tech, high-tensile steel. ‘The old car had 46 percent high tensile steel, up to 590Mpa in grade.’ Steel experts (no, not him) will know all about this.
‘The new Swift is 52 percent high tensile, with grades up to 1570Mpa. This is an extremely effective strategy for weight saving.’Steel experts will be impressed. I’m not a steel expert (despite being a Steel fan), but know 3x more stiffness is A Good Thing.
Many panels are thus thinner than the were before: the higher-quality steel can be a of a thinner gauge yet still outdo the old ones for strength.
There are also detail tricks to further boost the rigidity of the Swift. The boot opening, for example, is smaller than before. By reducing the ‘hole’ in the rear of the car, flexing is reduced.
Suspension components have also been strengthened, again without gaining in weight. A significant, tangible improvement here is a rear twist beam that’s 50 percent more laterally rigid (50 percent! Good Lord). This aids handling precision by reducing component-flexing ‘slop’.
It’s also 2kg lighter, and a full 25 percent stiffer in roll stiffness. Even the rear hubs are 2kg lighter, thanks to a 3-in-1 hub assembly. Yup, they too are more rigid as well.
And for some truly innovative thinking, look to the steering. Suzuki has fitted a variable ratio rack; it’s faster just off-centre, to improve dynamic response for the driver.
Wind on more lock, though, and the ratio slows. Why? It means less effort is needed, so the electric power steering motor can be downrated, so achieving better mpg from the reduced power draw!
Amazing, I thought, as I went back to the test route. Wasn’t expecting all that, and made me see it in a new light. This car feels plain high-quality and thoroughly engineered as a result: if prices are right, it will be a bargain.
Thing is, will anyone notice?
+ Some cars just ‘feel’ plain well-engineered – which stand out for you?
+ Is Suzuki right to carry on with the same-again styling?
+ What’s the difference between Japanese and German engineering thinking?
BMW 4 cylinder: 6 litre smoothness, 5 litre eco June 25, 2010
Posted by richard in : Green cars, Minutiae of cars, Technology , 2comments
BMW’s latest 5 Series marks the introduction of 4-cylinder engines into the F10 platform. Until now, it’s been all 6-cylinders or V8s.
Powertrain manager Jan Kretschmer revealed what’s been keeping them busy at the launch of the 520d variant, on the debut of this September’s F11 Touring.
My, they’ve been well-occupied, it seems. ‘4 cylinder engines are always a bigger challenge for our engineers,’ he explained; even ones like this, with counter-rotating balancer shafts.
They have, as you know, a different (‘and higher’) level of NVH – noise, vibration, harshness. ‘You have to consider this before you even start with the development and installation.
‘Luckily, our Body-In-White department is able to conduct a lot of simulation work (big investment in computer technology over the past half-decade facilitates this). This means we can predefine possible weaknesses where extra stiffening may help – or, actually, stiff areas where some weakness may be beneficial!
‘They start this 5 years before the vehicle hits the road.’
Concurrently, his powertrain team will be working to provide the smoothest possible engine for eventual implementation. With the 184hp (135kW) 2.0-litre diesel, Kretschmer explained the process was one of evolution. ‘We were tasked with further refining an already high-level engine, rather than reinventing it.’
Two key development areas were prioritised here:
• Engine Mountings: ‘These must be isolated. We fit electronically driven semi-hydraulic engine mounts, with 2 characteristics. At idle and low rpm, they are ‘weaker’, to absorb low-level vibration. When driving, there are fewer engine vibrations, so we stiffen them to improve handling.’
• Fluctuating Torque: ‘This is harder to isolate on 4-cylinder engines than 6-cylinders. On manual models, we fit a pendulum-type flywheel which minimises these oscillations and reduces the booming rear axle effect. The 8-speed auto has a new torque converter with a twin-damper system that provides isolation.’
Minimisation of fluctuating torque is the aspect he is most proud of, as it is extremely significant. ‘We have reduced it going into the transmission by 60 percent.
‘This helps us drive the car more at lower rpm, with longer gear ratios on the manual and new gearshift profiles on the auto. With the new 8-speed, this alone has led to a 9 percent improvement in fuel efficiency!’
in doing so, Kretschmer has created a ‘5-litre’ engine for the 5 Series (that’s 5 litres per 100km – 56.5mpg). Don’t think his efforts have gone unnoticed by the Board, either.
‘This is the volume model for the 5 Series, so the pressure has been on us to further improve.’ Good job, really, that he’s done just that.
+ Do you think BMW makes the best 4-cylinder engines on the market?
+ Would you consider a 520d?
+ If not, what are the main reasons stopping you chosing diesel?
MINI engines now 3-in-1 June 20, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, Technology , add a comment
HOW do you make a MINI One engine? Make a MINI Cooper engine and detune it. Simples.
It’s true, as well. All 1.6-litre MINI engines, be they in the First, the One or the Cooper, are now exactly the same. They’re built on the same line and have all the same bits inside.
A MINI engineer from UK build centre Hams Hall told me this is for production efficiency. By standardising all the parts, it actually works out cheaper than having bespoke variations for each version.
So, although a MINI First engine may thus seem more ‘valuable’ than a Cooper engine, it’s actually much more efficient for MINI and all its buyers alike to do it this way.
Besides, the intelligence is in the ECU mapping, anyway. Releasing the power in the Cooper is more than just switching a different number or two in a computer. That’s where your extra Cooper value comes in – knowing brains have been boffing-ing away in giving you the extra value, but in a driveable and linear way. You’re buying into someone’s IP.
It’s the two other versions that really benefit, though. See, the old MINI First and One had 1.4-litre engines. ‘People complained they lacked torque – with the 1.6-litre, we’ve filled in the gaps, but the longer gear ratios also mean it’s more efficient, too.’
Does beg one obvious question, though. How long will it be before Superchips-like companies offer a Cooper-creating First tuning kit for the MINI?
There’ll be distinct Porsche crossovers if they do: back-to-basics Cooper Club Sport, anyone?
+ MINI is not the only firm doing this – can you name any others?
+ How does MINI’s approach contrast with the downsizing trend?
+ Could future MINIs move back to smaller engines with turbo to fill the torque hole?
Ford flawless factsheet find: PR finery June 7, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, pr , 1 comment so far
FORD ran a press launch for the facelifted S-Max range last month – and, in each test car, laid an A4 factsheet.
I cribbed one of these and was so impressed, I thought I’d share it here.
Basically, it contains everything a motoring journo needs to know on the launch drive of a new car. Which, remember, we usually approach blind, or armed with but the merest facts. This, thus, is magic to us.
See, you tell us all about the car at the press conference in the evening. All that doesn’t help us upon first acquaintance, though!
To Ford’s marvelous factsheet, then. Basically, it’s a double-side of A4, with all the key gen: sales stats and facts, what the ‘new’ car you’re in is, in a nutshell, all about, plus the background of how it came to be.
Then, bulletpoints. Indeed, categorised bulletpoints! Of exactly what’s new, both outside and in (and we really love bulletpoints).
Snippets such as ‘New LED tail lights’, ‘Chrome strip around glass area’ and ‘New interior colour, graphics and materials’ help us no end in pinpointing the bits you’ve changed – and making a judgment on them at the time, rather than from memory.
Ford even goes on to summarise the car’s new technology – in a line or two, not a chapter or two! – and then outlines other engines and transmissions also available.
In short, it’s a dream. Journos can nick it (which, of course, we will do) and be fully genned up afterwards, plus far better informed at the time. That’s how easily pleased we are, see..!
Now Ford’s got the ball rolling, though, who’s going to improve on it?
+ What’s your favourite car maker press format?
+ When a maker mentions interior quality, do you rate this by tapping said parts with your knuckle?
+ What’s an absolute press release no-no?
BMW shows professionalism of PR industry
