Golf R dials cool blue point February 12, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 1 comment so farVOLKSWAGEN made our jaws drop in the 90s with its blue and red dials.
The key to it was, yes, the blue background, rather than the red needles. Red needles? Pft. We’d had them for years – it was a proper old school sporting trick, up there with punched leather steering wheels. And shiny black bits for the dash. And strict adherence to primary colours for seat trims.
There’s reason to salute Austin Rover here, too. The Maestro bringing us illuminated needles made VW’s work of genius over a decade later all the more (ahem) illuminating.
By Lord, though, did the R32 cause my dropped jaw to fall off. Years after people had genuinely started buying VWs for the blue and red dials, VW gave us super-special dials for its superhatch. With, yes, BLUE needles! On an ice-white background! Rrrubrubrub!
And so they continue in the latest Golf R.
I had to photograph and film them. See, if I hadn’t done so, I would have to stare at them while driving, and would crash. Indeed, my dially preoccupation would be complete if I called up the oil temperature readout, too.
Details such as this make cars. Well, they do for me, anyhows.
Look out soon for my thoughts on the lights switch backlighting illumination of my new SEAT Exeo ST long-termer. I know, I know – you can’t wait. I promise you, it’ll come soon…
Volkswagen Golf R dials on YouTube
5 facts on the MGF January 17, 2010
Posted by richard in : History , add a commentAUTOCAR man Steve Cropley interviewed the team behind the MGF back in 1995.
His piece is full of fascinating findings: 5 of them caught my eye, which helped show that the MGF was much more than just a rebodied Metro.
Such as:
1 Europe-first EPAS system
MGFs weren’t initially to have PAS. Late implementation meant a simple solution was required. Enter electric power steering – which Rover initially only was to fit on Japanese-market cars, to help with parking. Speed-sensitive, it had then never before been seen in Europe.
2 Trick adjustments to Metro rear suspension
Metro rear suspension anti-dive caused the MGF’s tail to rise and toe-out under braking, and squat under power. Bad. So, to the existing subframe, engineers junked the bottom A-arm, in favour of 3 new lower bits:
• Bottom link
• Track control arm
• Brake reaction rod
These were anchored in different places on the subframe, for optimal geometry. The result was one ‘as pure in practice as that of a uniquely designed system’.
3 Subtle changes to Metro front suspension
Well, just one – the steering arm was shortened, to speed up the steering ratio and improve the Ackermann effect
4 Posh Hydragas units
These were more expensive, with less inbuilt ‘stiction’. They moved at lower loads than in, say, the Metro. Richard Parry-Jones would be proud. That’s why Dr Alex Moulton wanted to see them on the Rover 100 – but Rover couldn’t justify the expense on a low-end car.
5 BMW-spec windscreen frame strength
BMW gave the MGF the final green light. German input was minimal, though: the only contribution was the adoption of the BMW roadster’s specification for windscreen frame strength. Does this mean the MGF has the same windscreen surround as the Z3?
Any more insider facts on the MGF, please share them here!
Land Rover’s ride quality secret
How Ford would have made a Rover
How Ford would have made a Rover January 8, 2010
Posted by richard in : History , 2commentsFORD finally won ownership to the Rover brand name in 2006. But it was providing aid for the brand even before then.
Secret talks in the late 90s were conducted, to sidestep then-chief Bernd Pischetreider’s plans to invest £1.7bn in Rover. Instead of spending so much to develop two new platforms, a future mid-range Rover would have been developed with Ford.
The plan was to take the Focus and develop it into a Rover. BMW engineers, said Car magazine’s Hilton Holloway back in 1999, went so far as to evaluate the Ford Focus.
Their verdict? The VW Golf, which was initially to have formed the base of the Rover, is a fine car… ‘but the Focus is better – almost as good as we envisage the next Golf being.’
And how would they have turned it into a Rover? Easy: ‘new rubber mountings, springs and dampers.’
This has to rank up among the biggest opportunities missed in the entire history of Rover. Despite an insider telling Holloway ‘on a 1-to-10 provability scale, we’ve reached 8 with Ford’. The Mk1 Focus is brilliant. It could have made a superb Rover 200 replacement.
Volvo proved as much by taking the Mk2 Focus platform and creating the Volvo C30. Which is brilliant. Looks nothing like a Focus, neither outside nor in. Indeed, the more I think about it, the more it pains me: seems the ‘unforeseen’, which would have scuppered the deal our insider expected by March 2000, did indeed happen.
Groan…
Land Rover’s ride quality secret
Green car countdown January 4, 2010
Posted by richard in : Technology , add a commentIs this the single most important feature a car can have to encourage economical green driving?
It is, no less, an ETA for sat nav journeys. No more than that, either. Eh? The big deal is..?
This: In real time, it tells you what time you’ll arrive where you’ve said you want to be. In this instance, it’s seen on a BMW M3 Edition Coupe, but y’£100 TomToms have the very same function. With a bit of thought, it’s potentially massive.
It’s why I set sat nav to take me home. Now, Lord, even I’m not forgetful enough to forget the route. No, I instead like to know how long it will take.
Surely you know, you may ask? And yes, I do, roughly. But I like exacts, not guestimates. Particularly as, and here’s the key, my eco head sees my speed vary from day to day. Seriously. And it’s sat nav that allows me to do this in confidence.
Say I have 5mins ‘spare’. I’ll slow down a bit. Tweak the ETA. By driving more slowly, I’ll have returned more miles to the gallon. See it as a bit of real-time money-saving. In practice, it means I can be as green as possible and STILL not miss the start to Corrie.
It’s pilot mode. Whenever they’re late, what does a scheduled aircraft’s pilot say? That they’ll put their foot down and make the time up. That’s because planes are usually operating at way less than vmax – they’re flying at the EXACT speed required to reach their destination on time. No faster. No slower. This is, err, plain efficiency – both of time and of resources.
We could be doing this in our cars in the future: plugging in what time we need to be home, and letting the car cap, say, our motorway speed to only that required to achieve this. Perhaps, with layered financial penalties for those who want to go faster, within the realms of legality? Companies in particular would love this, and with vehicle tracking now all the rage, it would be particularly easy to implement.
Folk don’t like being told to do stuff slowly. But, they could be convinced to do it a bit slower, if they knew by how much they’d be penalised if they didn’t. What’s a few minutes here and there, for the prize of 5mpg and a fiver?
The Maestro of the instruments
Audi Q5 economy enough to tyre you out
Fuel economy economical with the truth?
BMW M3 Edition Coupe photostream on Flickr October 10, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , add a commentBMW’s M division are setting out to do more bespoke stuff for the AG giant.
Enter the BMW M3 Edition Coupe, a super-special and very desirable version of the super-special and very desirable M3 Coupe.
Really, how can it fail? Indeed, press reports until now have been blinding. I’m not about to change this. Instead, I focus on some of the details, via my M3 Edition Coupe photostream on Flickr.
Head on over there, take a look-see, and leave any comments you see fit!
BMW Z4 has 3 Series Convertible to thank
Audi lit the way in ‘88 August 28, 2009
Posted by richard in : Technology , 1 comment so farFASTER cars need better headlights, said an Audi ad in 1988. Particularly models such as the 136bhp Audi 90 (136BHP? Steady…).
What’s more, it added, congested roads mean less opportunity to drive on main beam.
Audi’s solution? To extend the width of its wide-beam asymmetric headlamps. This increased beam breadth and range, on both dip and main beam, by 20 percent. Achieved because, apparently, doubling the width of the reflector doubled the luminous intensity at the side of the road.
Now, some marketing wizardry. Why doesn’t everyone just double the size of their headlights, Audi asked. Because, Audi answered, with conventional round headlights, when you increase the size of the reflector, you may also increase the height of the car’s frontal area. Result: worse aero. A slower top speed. Defeating, guffawed Audi, the point of bigger headlights in the first place.
Some manufacturers, it added, naming no names, have ‘solved’ this by using four round headlamps instead. Imagine; the very thing. Because, of course, to achieve sufficient illumination on dip beam, when only one set of lights is used, they (would) have to resort to ellipsoid lenses.
Great for fog lamps, pooh-poohed Audi, but they fail to produce breadth of beam as wide-beam asymmetric lamps. They also give an over-intense ‘white’ light. This will upset oncoming motorists, rather than the ‘soft’ light of asymmetrics.
And, driving behind an intense beam strains vision and leads to tiredness. Thanks God no foolish manufacturer did such a thing, Vorsprung Durch Technik’d the ad-reading reader.
But, hang on: four headlamps? Didn’t Audi rivals BM…?
Apple Tablet changes the game. Again
Why did people hate the Lotus Elan?
English Channel-crossing pilot – and BMW July 25, 2009
Posted by richard in : What I learned today , add a commentFRENCHMAN Louis Bleriot became the first man to fly across the English Channel a century ago today.
And, today, his feat will be replicated thousands of times – by BA, Virgin, EasyJet, Emirates, you name it.
Oh, and by a Swede, who’s using a reproduction of Bleriot’s original Bleriot XI plane.
Only, with… the original engine.
Yup: reproduce all the stuff that’s not actually so important to keeping you up in the air, such as the seatbelts, the dials, the aerofoils, the colourful lettering. The begoggled teddybear. But, the one component you need to keep going so that you can? Heck, just, bang in the original one. Well, it still runs, doesn’t it?
Swede Mikael Carlson is clearly confident. Like every good mechanical engineer, he knows it’s been looked after (even if most of them who did so are now dead). Knows its provenance. Has seen it, heard it, checked it over with his mechanic’s eye, stared into its oil filler cap, and reckons it will be fine.
I can understand such confidence. What, am I similarly foolhardy and battily brave? No, I’ve another mechanical fascination sitting on my drive this weekend – the million-mile Mobil 1 BMW 3 Series.
I’ll explain in depth all about this later – the headliner is that it’s done 1,000,000 miles (plus) on the original engine. Which (and I’ve just checked) still starts, sounds and serenely soothes just like the syrupy-smooth original.
Carlson, got a spare seat in the Bleriot? I’ll blast down in the BMW for a ride…
BMW X6M suspension secrets July 25, 2009
Posted by richard in : Technology , add a commentSTANDARD BMW X6 models, in corners, work harder, earlier, for agility.
And that, explains Head of M Development Albert Biermann, is down to how the clever torque vectoring rear axle is programmed: power is shuffled round quite considerably, to give a rear-steer effect and kick the back end into corners.
The X6M uses this same technology – but is more linear. ‘It is not as agile, so we don’t work the rear end as much early on.
‘However, once you’re within the corner, we engage it far more – here, the split happens much earlier than in the standard X6.’
Why? ‘So the driver can get on the throttle earlier.’ And feel the ‘rear drive’ balance M reckons is a characteristic of its cars.
It’s not only here where the ‘M-gineers’ (arf) have been busy. ‘Dampers and springs are stiffer – and there are bespoke EDC settings. The ABS and Dynamic Drive are specially adjusted – the stiffness of the roll bar goes hand-in-hand with the dampers.’
There are stiffer upper wishbone hearings, and stiffer rubber in the rear axle carrier. ‘This gives better off-centre feel and more precision.’ The engine mounts are stiffer, too.
‘The upper shock mounts are also completely different.’ This solution, says Biermann, was very expensive, and could be easily overlooked. It shouldn’t be.
In the standard X6, there are three components, all settled together in the upper mounting. This sees the helper spring and damper share a common rubber bearing.
It’s a compromise. The helper spring is offsetting the rubber bearing over a spring, for example.
So, with the X6M, we’ve separated the bearing and piston rod from the helper spring. This means the two bearings fit better together; and one is dedicated to the damper, the other to the helper spring.
Advantages? Considerable, especially over challenging roads. It’s particularly good for comfort – it’s at least as good as the regular X6…
BMW Z4 has 3 Series Convertible to thank
How do you make a BMW X6M? July 20, 2009
Posted by richard in : Technology , 1 comment so farBMW X6M. Or, but for Mazda, the MX6. What in Lord’s name is it all about, ask hardcore M fans worldwide.
Well, it was certainly a challenge, admits M Head of Product Management, Carsten Pries.
‘M cars,’ he revealed, when asked about the process of the X6M’s creation, ‘must display the core values of the brand.’
Which are?
According to our man Pries, M cars must be best in:
• Acceleration
• Lateral dynamics
• Efficiency
• Steering behaviour
• Braking distance
He admits they weren’t sure the X6 could be made suitably ‘M’ at first. The department eventually figured it could – but it wouldn’t be simply a matter of making a big M3.
‘Customers in this segment are different to M3 buyers. We thus had to define in the early stages exactly what these new needs were.’
An SAV, he says, is ‘completely different’, particularly in terms of size and weight. It is therefore vital to develop a good sense of the key requirements.
Which are not the same as an M3, whose buyers are ‘deep into technology – they go into dealers and give them a hard time with their in-depth knowledge! They know so much…’
So what about these M SAV (or, as the rest of the world prefers, ‘SUV’) buyers? ‘They’re performance orientated, but not that into the last technical detail. They want high performance, and a differentiated character in terms of suspension, chassis, steering and design.
‘It needs to be dynamic, easy to control, have a clear emphasis on rear-wheel drive.’ M-lite, if you like. M with bling, you could also say.
See, it is vital the model is highly exclusive – a particular requirement for this segment. ‘It must stand out, be instantly recognisable as something different to an xDrive50i. It should be seen as being the latest, the most powerful. It’s also not a car for people who just like to pretend. Form must follow function. ‘
What Pries means here is that it should not be merely chavv’d up. A no to show without go.
There was another consideration, too. ‘It was vital we didn’t compromise its off-road ability. People want to take these to the Alps – if we restrict this in any way, it will not be as successful as we wish.’
No wonder it took them two and a half years to develop.
Along the way, he ditched potential grumble-areas. BMW M drivers, it seems, don’t like Active Steering. Their power steering systems have to be consistent. That’s why M spent big developing a bespoke Servotronic steering system for its most expensive X SUVs.
Servotronic means variable weight – it’s light at low speeds, weightier at higher speeds – but the steering ratio is consistent.
‘We intentionally didn’t use Active Steering – the steering angle must be consistent whatever the road speed,’ says Pries. ‘This is appreciated by our sports car drivers…’
There it is again. Sports car drivers. BMW’s thought long and hard about this one, about whether an SUV can actually also be an M. It reckons so.
Me? The jury’s out…
BMW Z4 has 3 Series Convertible to thank
BMW tells me why its instruments are lit in orange
BMW LCI not ASAP for M July 18, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , 1 comment so farBMW facelifted the 3 Series last year. Odd, how M hasn’t followed with the M3. Why’s that?
Well, it’s because M has such independence from BMW AG.
It’s able, says Head of Product Management Carsten Pries, to make deliberate decisions separately from mainstream BMs
‘We launched the M3 in March 2008,’ says Pries. ‘In September, AG launched the LCI (life cycle impulse) 3 Series. We didn’t follow, keeping instead the same existing front end.
Why? ‘Because we didn’t think it was necessary.’
The M3, says Pries, is suitably differentiated from the 3 Series not to need the additional expense of an (admittedly subtle) LCI so soon into its like. ‘We carried over the revised design tail lights, that’s all.’
This independence, he adds, comes through M being so well integrated into BMW AG. It can make unilateral decisions 12, even 24 months ahead, as it did in this case.
‘It’s exciting to do LCIs – as with the M6 Competition – but if it’s not necessary, we won’t automatically do it.’
Purity and purpose, rather than marketing for marketing’s sake. That’s M. Now, the X6M…
BMW Z4 has 3 Series Convertible to thank
BMW tells me why its instruments are lit in orange
