Peugeot has launched the world’s first diesel-electric hybrid, despite the world telling us it can’t be done.

The costs!, says the world. The technical challenge!, it points out. The woes of running a diesel engine on short-burst cycles!, it chucks in. Petrol is OBVIOUSLY the only way to make a hybrid, went conventional logic. Until Peugeot disagreed with it.

So, how? Well, the PSA Hybrid4 system has been made affordable by locating it on the rear axle rather than the front (thus separeating it from the engine completely), and cleverly using propriety parts when doing so. Parts bin components stretch to 508 rear suspension on the 3008 that launches it, with the entire system designed to be a plug-in module rather than something to be built in.

Basically, Mulhouse builds the modules and ships them to Sochaux, where they’re bolted on during production in a process not unlike fitting rear suspension itself. It’s even done on the existing 3008 production line, so a Hybrid4 can roll down in between a 1.6 HDi 112 and a THP Turbo 165.

Peugeot says it’s so modular can be fitted to any C-sector and D-sector model. 3008 and 508 RXH we’ve seen: regular 508 Hybrid4 is on the way. The 5008 may be a challenge with its seven seats, but as the Hybrid4 gear takes up no extra space in the 3008 (not even the batteries encroach, unlike as in the Toyota Prius/Auris HSD), Peugeot may already be onto it.

Peugeot v Honda

Incidentally, Honda said one of the remarkable achievements of the Jazz Hybrid was the fact interior space remains identical to the regular car. That’s why it could only hit a 104g/km CO2 target, rather than 99g/km.

Well, Honda, here’s a Peugeot hybrid with no less interior space too – that also meets 99g/km and thus gets free road tax over here. OK, it’s a CO2 target-hitting trick pulled with smaller alloys and no standard sat nav (presumably to save weight), but even so: does this mean, Honda, you’ve been outsmarted by Peugeot?

I digress. Peugeot won’t with the latest 308, though. While it could design a diesel-electric hybrid version of the current family hatch, it won’t. That model is too close to the end of its lifecycle, so hybrid will have to wait until the next one. Peugeot did hint at the expected CO2 figure, though: 89g/km from this 2.0-litre HDi 163 setup.

There also won’t be a hybrid 207, despite the technology being entirely scaleable. The benefits would be far too small, said Peugeot, and supermini cars are already very low on CO2 without the need to add expensive hybrid – which, besides, would be a proportionally much higher cost.

Clever drivetrain

One very clever aspect of the technology is the separation of engine and gearbox. Not only does this make it far, far easier to develop and build (no whizzy Toyota CVT gearbox here, for instance – just a regular Peugeot robotised manual whose lurching shifts have been smoothed significantly by giving a burst of electric motor torque during gearshifts – very clever), but it also means different engines can be used.

Here, we have a powerful, highly-tuned 2.0-litre. The integrated starter-alternator it’s fitted to is also available on the 1.6 HDi. Fuel economy potential of a 1.6 Hybrid4 150 (with the electric motor providing the power boost), then? In a mid-range Peugeot  308 hatch that may already duck below 90g/km in 2.0 Hybrid4 200 guise? Potentially mega.

The component that’s most significant of all, and the reason why other makers haven’t yet done diesel hybrid, is Peugeot’s integrated starter-alternator. This has been uprated for its new application, from 3KW to 8KW – to ensure it can supply charge to the battery. In normal hybrids, the trick gearbox takes care of this, diverting power away from the engine to create a generator function.

Peugeot can’t do this as the electric motor isn’t built in. So, instead, the starter turns into a generator meaning that, whenever the driver is on the power, electricity is generated and transmitted, via four beefy electrical cables, from front to rear.

Oh, and the four-wheel drive function doesn’t disappear if the rear batteries are flat, either. The starter-alternator can generate charge to power the rear motor direct, ensuring the four-wheel drive function is always available, rather than being charge-dependent. Truly, truly ingenious.

The elegance and relative simplicity of Peugeot’s remarkable hybrid system is brilliant. Have other makers simply tried to be too clever, which is why they’ve not done a diesel hybrid before? Peugeot has, instead, been logically astute – and, in doing so, brought to market the first mainstream hybrid that actually works on the road as you’d hope.

Believe me, it’s not going to be the only time we see the hybrid concept debuted here by Peugeot…

+ Stop-start or start-stop?

+ BMW ECO PRO

+ From the Porsche archives: Carmine Red and the Panamera GTS

The biggest influencer of fuel economy is the driver. Low rolling resistance tyres save 3%; auto stop-start can save 5% or more. 

The driver, however, can save 20% – and it is this massive potential, greater even than the sum total of every Bluemotion-style pack of eco changes to date, that BMW is seeking to tap into.

The new BMW 1 Series marks the debut of ECO PRO, an interactive function of iDrive that teaches greener driving and rewards for doing so (it’s also coming to the new 3 Series too). We’ve had such systems before – Fiat’s eco:Drive, Ford and Honda’s ‘petals’ and so forth – but BMW’s is the best yet.

More than just an electronic ‘badge’ that are usually an intriguing gimmick for a few weeks but then forgotten, ECO PRO offers tangible benefits that offer the potential for game-changing developments in the future.

It is opt-in: drivers must select ECO PRO from the BMW drive select switch (‘anti-Sport’ as one engineer dubbed it). Doing so does three things:

• Selects bespoke settings within engine ECU

• Optimises electric load

• Displays ECO PRO screen

The electric load saver function is meritorious in itself. No mainstream maker has fitted a function that dials back the electrical consumption of accessories such as electric seats and heated rear window: a bit like the National Grid cutting power delivery to your house.

The interactive element is the snazzy bit. All the time you are consuming less fuel than the car’s combined average, the famed BMW economy gauge (now electronically represented) dives into the blue zone. Blue means you’re saving fuel – and the deeper you can get it in there, the more fuel you’re saving.

There’s more. To make it tangible, an additional readout, also in blue, shows how many miles more you’re getting from the tank. This is the ingenious part: the more you take it steady, the more miles you eek out.

It is reset each time you refuel, so is stored even if you turn the engine off. Thus, a permanent incentive to save fuel and claw the miles back. A savings account that’s in your hands – so if you want a ‘free’ 50-mile’ trip on the weekended, ease off to claw back the miles.

There’s yet more. Don’t get the idea of eco driving? ECO PRO to the rescue – it flashes up tips and hints on the screen as you go, based on an analysis of driving style. It knows that heavy braking is not efficient, nor is going fast, nor is accelerating hard, nor is holding onto gears.

All of this stuff may be obvious to us, but it’s not to all: a few lines of text saying as much, as the driver commits the eco error, will soon give them the idea.

And as it’s all part of the challenge, if they’re engaged by saving fuel, they’ll be keen to take the messages on board.

Is this gamification of saving fuel, with an active feedback loop to provide tuition, the future of saving fuel? The driver is the single biggest key to big, big gains in fuel efficiency: are we to see more onboard games in the future, feeding a real-time PlayStation Network to turn drivers into eco-inspired gamers?

+ BMW 1 Series power meters

+ VW Golf R dials’ cool blue point

+ Diesel drives Peugeot sub-130g/km CO2 win

Green cars and eco sub-brands have to be a staple of any right-thinking manufacturer these days. 

If you’re not showing off your eco credentials with a special badge applied to your very greenest, most environmentally-aware models, you are, it seems, a little bit nowhere.

These green sub-brands are a sort of BMW M/Audi RS/Mercedes AMG version of an eco car: the most hardcore, highest-green-performance planet-savers. If you like green cars, these are your poster boys.

Each manufacturer has different standards for its greenest cars, but the principles are generally similar: dictate a CO2 benchmark they must dip beneath, stipulate a range of technolgoies such as stop-start that they must be fitted with, maybe throw in the fact they should be built in an ISO 14001 facility, and bingo: one green sub-brand set of standards.

But boy, they’re confusing. What’s an Econetic and what’s an Ecomotive? Who likes eco2 and who goes for EcoDynamics?

Well, salvation: here is an easy user guide to all the eco brands on the market. Coming up will be an explanation of all the standards each has to adopt.

For now, let’s keep things simple. Want to know what’s the greenest Renault and the most eco Ford? Well, here’s them all… updated as more come to market!

Audi: TDIe

BMW: EfficientDynamics

Citroen: Airdream

Ford: Econetic

Hyundai: Blue Drive

Kia: EcoDynamics

Mercedes-Benz: BlueEfficiency

MINI: Minimalist

Mitsubishi: ClearTec

Nissan: Pure Drive

Renault: eco2

SEAT: Ecomotive

Skoda: Greenline

Toyota: Optimal Drive

Vauxhall: EcoFlex

VW: Bluemotion AND Bluemotion Technology

Volvo: DRIVe

+ Land Rover Defender: the great green potential

+ EV 101: electric car basics

+ How Honda justifies the Jazz Hybrid

Peugeot has achieved sub-130g/km status this year.

That’ll please European legislators, who say European car makers must hit this range-average target – or else…. they’ll pay.

It’s been a gradual but sustained CO2 reduction for Peugeot: in 2001, its range average was 155g/km, falling to 145g/km in 2006. And the main driver of this? Diesel.

Today, Peugeot’s sales split is biased 64.4% diesel, and it commands 8.3% of the European diesel market overall. As diesel is, says Peugeot, 30% more fuel efficient (for similar advantages in CO2 too), it has an inherent sales advantage that is now paying big dividends.

Now, it’s going one further, and making a diesel hybrid. It’s been much-discussed elsewhere how logical this is, but here’s a bald-stat summary: Peugeot’s four-wheel drive crossover hybrid has a better CO2 figure than Honda’s five-door supermini hybrid.

The added logic of the Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4

Why, though, asked a French journalist, is it introducing it in the 3008 range, rather than an all-new car? Because, replied Peugeot, the 3008 has been a bit of a hit.

289,800 have been sold since it was launched in 2009; in 2010, the 129,600 sales total was, apparently, 40% up on objective. Year to date, it’s up another 16%. Even more impressively, the sales are 55% conquest, compared to the normal 35-40% for mainstream makes.

The 3008 will overtake the 308 in Peugeot UK’s sales league this year – a more expensive, more premium model overtaking the lower-range heartland that used to win it so many sales. The hybrid will also take 20% of those sales next year, too. Yes, 20% – for a model that starts at £27k.

So Peugeot is charging premium prices, presumably winning some premium customers, and backing it up with marketing focused on making it appear more premium. Could it actually end up becoming the mainstream-premium maker it wants? The 3008 HYbrid4 will be a telling test.

Even more smartly, although it’s pushing up prices, it won’t be paying any CO2 penalties as a result. The HYbrid4 technology is cleverly modular, so can be applied to any C- or D-sector model. 99g/km Peugeot 508 It’s on the way next year – with the 109g/km Audi Allroad-style Peugeot 508 RXH there to, yup, continue the premium drive.

Peugeot driven by diesel

All thanks to that staple of Peugeot’s range, the diesel engine. Diesel allowed Peugeot to get its average below 130g/km, without hefty investment in high-tech eco gadgetry. Now, it’s allowing the brand to explore new premium opportunities with further-enhanced impressive low CO2 claims.

The diesel-electric hybrid experience is classy, feel-good and, crucially, works with the sophistication expected of a premium brand drivetrain. Now, Peugeot’s going to exploit it, with some classy upper-range models.

Apparently, the 3008 HYbrid4 is generating real interest, and the special launch editions of the Peugeot 508 RXH sold out within three days. People already like diesels, and like the idea of hybrids. Peugeot has combined the two to create a very marketable concept that’s working even in sectors previously out of bounds to the brand.

The power of going green: there’s a clear business case for it too, that Peugeot is already enjoying. Yet more evidence that, right now, green cars really do hold all the cards.

And diesel is, at the moment, key to the whole green car movement.

+ Land Rover Defender: the great green potential

+ SEAT applies the sun green

+ How Honda justifies the Jazz Hybrid

Land Rover this week launched the Defender version that will give the oldest Landie on sale yet another stay of execution.

The old 2.4-litre Ford Transit engine has been replaced by a 2.2-litre turbodiesel, related to that in the Freelander 2.

Producing 122hp and 265lb/ft of torque, it crucially also sports a diesel particulate filter, helping it achieve supertough Euro 5 emissions standards.

This is a legislative requirement for all new cars on sale. It came into force in January 2011 for passenger cars (and January of 2012 for light commercial vehicles such as the Defender) and has already done for family favourites such as the Honda Civic i-CTDi.

No, Honda wasn’t able to make that model Euro 5 emissions compliant, so it hasn’t been on sale since the start of the year. (A surprise for a company with its heart in engines such as Honda. Then again, that heart is in petrol engines, so perhaps it’s no surprise the diesel died.)

Now Land Rover has cracked it though, meaning the Defender can now stay on sale until 2016. That’s when the next wave of legislation kicks in, and around which high-level discussions are under way within Land Rover right now.

Green Defender

Here’s a fanciful thought for now, though: how about a stop-start Defender eD4 eco special?

Crazy? Well, why not..? There’s a stop start Freelander, after all, and the 2.2-litre engine has recently been revised once again for the Range Rover Evoque, where the stop-start version emits as little as 129g/km CO2.

Why not put this engine into the Defender? Indeed, why not go one further – optimise it for the road, alter the gearing, swap off-road tyres for low rolling resistance on-road ones, fit it solely to the 90 version… creating a sub-225g/km Defender – or, even, a sub-200g/km Defender?

The new 2.2-litre 90 version emits 266g/km, with its heavy off-road bias. It would be a big jump to 200g/km, but it’s not that fanciful when you realise how off-road optimised the Defender is.

There are probably a whole host of reasons why (including the fact Defenders are built for off-roading, and an on-road special may not fit with the brand values), but from a PR stance alone, it would be quite some statement for Land Rover to make.

Green Defender special, showing how eco even old icons can be? As a way of showing how truly modern and environmentally friendly Land Rover can be, it would be a flag-bearer and then some. There’s no shortage of engineering talent within Land Rover that could make it so if challenged to, either.

So, Land Rover MD John Edwards, how about it?

+ Renault Energy dCi 130: F1 on the road

+ June 2011: what is Land Rover doing at the moment?

+ SEAT applies the sun green

Ford in North America will, by next year, have fitted Auto Start Stop to all new cars on sale.

This will save at least 4% in fuel used, for every new Ford sold in the world’s second-largest car market.

Depending on usage, the savings can stretch as high as 10%: after living with stop-start in a VW Golf Bluemotion, this seems pretty believable. Fuel economy used to plummet once I turned off the motorway during my daily commute. Not anymore.

Just one thing, that first struck me back when I drove a stop-start Mercedes A-Class a few years ago. When the engine was off, the water pump stopped (as, of course, it would)… and the heater started blowing cold, not hot.

This was hardly a step forward: it was a bit like driving a 1950s classic, whose dynamo-powered headlights would dim when you stopped. Not a clever thing, that.

Luckily, Ford’s being smart. Fully aware that US buyers wouldn’t take this, the firm’s fitting stop-start 2.0: not only does it have a larger-capacity battery and upgraded starter motor, it also has an electric pump to keep the coolant flowing through the engine.

Thus ensuring the heater still blows hot. Small detail? Seemingly yes – but experience of that A-Class on a January test drive taught me that such things matter.

Far from being a cheap add-on way of massaging fuel-saving legislation, stop-start is actually quite involved technology. Land Rover was the first one to really understand the intricacies involved: an engineer explained to me just what went into developing the Freelander Td4_e at its launch in 2008.

This included ensuring the radio stayed on, the CD didn’t jump, the sat nav didn’t reset, the phone call that was underway when the car came to a halt didn’t cut out. Tiny, easily-overlooked details, that can drive customers mad when they discover them, should engineers not have.

Land Rover, of course, went one step further. The engineers there are genius: they hated the diesel shudder that most oil-burners exhibit when switched off – and knew that this would become exceedingly annoying when magnified thanks to stop-start.

So, they massaged the fuel injection and valve timing, to ensure there was no resistance when it cut off. Smooth run-down, in other words. Once you’re aware of how some diesels shudder when you turn them off, you’ll really appreciate this.

The rush to stop-start is obvious: due to the way official fuel consumption tests are arranged, standardisation can give official mpg gains, that town-bound users will find are magnified.

Trouble is, some makers did this without giving thought to the implications of such a system.

Mercedes has to rank as guilty here, for its chilling blast of switch-off sufferance. It’s not alone, I’m sure. But it’s a transgression that’s going to be rectified soon – because others aren’t falling for it.

Stop-start: Smart, but also dumb, if not integrated by the smart.

+ VW Golf Bluemotion: GTI for eco greens

+ New Ford Focus raises great expectations

+ Vauxhall does the electric car market a favour

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

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?

NISSAN is going to be the first big brand to launch an electric car in the UK, with the radical and potentially game-changing LEAF.

It is a bold move by the Japanese brand, which hopes in time to be building 50,000 of them a year in the UK. But, interestingly, it is getting help in its goal here from electric car arch-rival Vauxhall.

GM’s Vauxhall Ampera will follow the Nissan to market in the next year or so. Unlike that car, it will have a small engine to power the batteries when they run flat – but will still be an ‘electric-driven’ car. Thus, it will still have a big battery count.

And herein, for now, lie the problems. Batteries are very expensive. They’re going to get cheaper as production volumes rise, but the chicken & egg situation means someone has to make the first move. Here, it’s the car makers – and the consequence of this for us will be, at first, high prices for car buyers.

Or will it? See, with the dawn of the EV, some are forecasting a change in car buying habits. One where, instead of being purchased outright, cars are leased. A bit like in the early days of TV: you’ll pay a set monthly fee over a contracted period, and at the end, hand the car back.

This will, of course, be quite a culture change for UK car buyers – who, as with houses, like the idea of owning their own car (despite the fact that, unlike houses, cars depreciate). Going big into this new purchase scheme with a brand new concept of car could be too much for some.

So, enter Vauxhall, which is doing the preliminary work for EV marketers right now with a new scheme for the Corsa. Personal Contract Hire, or PCH.

See what they’re done there? PCH, PCP – instantly it seems familiar, something to consider.

It works just like a regular contract hire scheme, and is great for car makers for all the reasons that PCPs work well, too. Such as, guaranteeing a car coming back to the dealer in 2 or 3 years’ time, with no more than a prescribed mileage, with a customer probably happy to do another deal.

To the table, it also adds low deposits and low monthly payments. A more affordable way of doing things. With a bit of explanatory marketing to prepare people, it’s potentially perfect.

And what applies on a Corsa will also work on an Ampera. Or even a LEAF. It’s starting small. but could Vauxhall be laying the groundwork for a new trend in UK car buying?

EV shock from Nissan LEAF news

How torque curves will change in the future

What the iPhone can teach us about electric cars

RENAULT and I won our class in last year’s MPG Marathon – a right ol’ result, it was, after 400 miles’ somewhat steady driving.

But how? All down to the Grand Scenic I drove – fitted with the 1.4-litre TCe ‘downsized’ engine.

In Renault parlance, this is a 2.0-litre power-puncher with 1.6-litre fuel-sipping ability. Tiny turbo, no direct injection, Nissan all-alloy block and plain efficiency. It’s a canny wee thing, alright.

Particularly if you want to drive economically. See, its key characteristic is delivering loads of torque at really low revs – diesel-like revs, in fact. Throughout the entire Marathon, I honestly didn’t exceed 2000rpm. And still managed to summit the 1-in-2 climbs dotted through the route.

That tiny turbo allows this; it spools up fast, which is just what you need for eco driving. Here’s traits I exploited:

•    Responsive to light throttles
•    Ability to select 6th at ridiculously low speeds
•    Linearity when modulating the throttle
•    Turbo doesn’t ‘run away’ from you
•    If you’re genteel, then so will it be

Being eco is about fluid motion. You need to swim along, with not a misplaced stroke, slipping along like an eel. Only with infintesimal control over the fuel being pumped into the engine can you do this.

Tiny turbo engines often produce great figures on the test rig, but plunge in real life, due to the turbo sucking in air like an iron fist, and forcing fuel injection to throw petrol in accordingly. Many people who drive at low revs and in a seemingly eco manner actually get mediocre economy – because of the lack of control the engine seems to have over itself.

None of that with the TCe. If you want to accurately throttle back as far as necessary to maintain pace, you can do. No torque-free gullies to fall into, no risk of being left floundering. It’s almost electric-like in its reponsiveness when you’re taking it steady.

The result of this is 50.3mpg in a 7-seat Grand Scenic. Official.

Wake up with the sun

Oil be: It’s back

RenaultSport past to inspire turbo future