We like vans because they’re stiff October 4, 2009
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars , add a commentGIVE a motoring journalist a van and he’ll be your best friend.
Particularly if you are Ford’s Bob Wright, who controls the press fleet, and distributes said vans to house-moving journos who just so happen to also have a pressing need to get a van out on test.
But, why? Just why is it we love driving them? Is it their simplicity, their great visibility, their excuse for you to drive like an arse, the fact they’re just plain different, the fact they’re always so surprisingly good? Well, probably all of that.
There’s another to add in too, though. They’re stiffly sprung, to help manage those heavy house-move loads. And, thus, handle like big GTIs. Yes, really. The latest Ford Transit is an absolute riot through the lanes; a Mercedes Sprinter is an utter class act.
They’re chuckable, accurate, precise, lithe and fun. And why is this set-up such a welcome surprise, when GTIs and sports cars are so commonplace? Because, reckons a chassis pal of mine, car makers are getting scared of sticking stiff springs on.
Particularly the Japanese, he reckons. Car makers don’t want to offend with the initial thudder of a ride, so will go down on the spring rate to give response frequencies to bumps that are, well, pleasant. Trouble is, they forget to perfect the damping to deal with the after-effects of this – meaning as soon as surfaces worsen, so does the ride.
None of this worries van drivers. They need a set-up that will compensate for their gregariousness both on the way to and from picking up those 12 200kg generators – so, spring rates go up, handling benefits accordingly, and chassis engineers are forced to carefully consider the damping rates to deal with this huge variation.
Vans are stiff. But, because vans are stiff, vans are actually far more intricately engineered than you first may think. Making them a blimmin’ riot of a test car.
If only I could shift my house…
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Why I dig DSG September 19, 2009
Posted by richard in : Technology , add a commentIT all started after I loved a Golf GTI for a weekend.
You know, I mused in the office, I might even go for DSG over manual. GET OUT came the command. Call yourself an enthusiast, and eschew a manly manual?
Yup, and I’ve been thinking why. See, when I change gear, I’m always (forlornly) striving for the perfect gearchange. I like metering clutch precisely, going off and on the throttle with metronomic timing, savour the happy synchromesh, err, thanking me for saving it some work.
Thing is, it becomes an obsession. I tend to concentrate on it unduly; which makes the pain of a joltly 2-3 shift disproportionate. Which, because I’m no Jackie Stewart-like driving God, can ping up a bit too often at times.
With DSG (and other twin-clutch gearboxes), though, you’re guaranteed perfection. The satisfaction of a delay-free shift from a tricky high-revs 1st to a mid-range 2nd is removed. It does it perfectly, every time. Which means the rewards, even though I don’t have anything to do with it, still tangible.
Cheat, some still say. Yup. But while (and stay with me here) hand-writing a letter and maybe, just maybe, getting every letter just so is uber satisfying, usually it’s just a scrawl. Far better to use a word processor, take the effort out, and get the satisfaction all the same. I love technology, embrace it for the rewards it brings. That’s how I view DSG – brilliant, Apple-like tech that, well, just works.
Every gearchange gives me the feeling, the satisfaction of perfection – and, although it’s nothing to do with me, the sensations are enough for it to win through.
Automatics are different, as they’re slurry cop-outs. Clutchless manuals are, by and large, an ugly disaster. But twin-clutch DSG-style units? You know, PDK and their brethren? It’s technology that rewards me. And why I’m in the pro camp.
(Of course, if the manual alternative were a brilliant Ford or Honda-esque gem, rather than VW’s slick but detached equivalent, my decision may be different. Nothing like a motoring journo sitting on the fence, aye…)
(Oh, and on the subject of cheating, I know the Ferrari F430’s gearbox is robotised manual, not twin-clutch. But the image IS cool, isn’t it…)
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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…
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