Posts Tagged ‘Cars’
Ferrari, the greenest car maker on earth?
February 13th, 2010 | 
Author: Aston Martin sources engine, body and electrical parts from outside the main plant at Gaydon, as does Jaguar. Even Morgan, that most bespoke of car companies, sources one or two components externally, including quite a few trees.
Ferrari 599XX video, pictures and first drive review
At Ferrari, though, everything except the cows that provide the leather is now made at Maranello. Since November, in fact, they’ve even been generating their own electricity in order to power the Scuderia’s various tooling facilities – to the extent that in January Ferrari sold power back to Italy’s National Grid.
As a result, Ferrari now claims that its plant at Maranello produces between 25-30 per cent less CO2 than it did before its new “Trigeneration” system fired up in November – in which mechanical power, heat and cooling are produced by just one source. And that’s real world emissions, by the way, not ones that appear in EU approved documents, and which mean not a great deal in the overall scheme.
Imagine how much less angst would be displayed towards the car industry in general if all cars were created in the same way, with the same efficiency? The green meanies would hardly have a leg to stand on, and us car enthusiasts could carry on enjoying our cars (virtually) guilt free. Even ones like the utterly barking 599XX, on whose launch I discovered all of the above.
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Chevrolet’s (lack of) Spark
A simple car. Straightforward to assess, you'd think. It's nearly all about objectivity at this level. .
Even so, very few cars in my memory have given us such cause for debate about our verdict on them.
What's unusual for Autocar, and unique in my time on the mag, is that the Spark is a new, fresh-from-the-box product to which we've given a lowly two-star rating.
I believe it's the right verdict. During the past year we've tried to make more of our star ratings – to stop being afraid to open up low scores to poorer cars.
Usually, though, it's older cars that fail to paint in the higher stars. So I'm sad the Spark is among them.
A hell of a lot of hard work went into this car. It rides and handles competently. It's roomy enough. The people who engineered and built it did so in the best faith; they made the wisest, most prudent decisions they could; and I have too little knowledge about the constraints their time and budget placed on them.
Hence our consternation. Maybe it's worth an extra half star, we pondered?
Thing is, though, Autocar (as all motoring mags should) reports to its readers, not the industry, and the Spark is a car we could never imagine recommending to somebody.
An examination of the trim, a look at the price list or a listen to the engine is telling. To experience the Hyundai i10 is to seal any doubt: the Spark is off the pace.
But I'm sad that I'm content that we've reached the right verdict.
What comes up must go down
I’ve often noticed that I’m able to record noticeably better fuel consumption on the way to work in the morning compared with the evening drive home. To be honest, I’d not given it that much thought. The morning traffic tends to flow more smoothly than that in the evening, so I suppose I’d absently mindedly put it down to that.
However, I recently spent the weekend with Peugeot’s 5008. It featured, among many other things, a readout giving the car’s current altitude above sea level on the LED display. I’m sure this is something that appears on many other cars’ sat-nav/infotainment screens, but for some reason it really caught my eye in the Peugeot.
And so it was one morning that I noticed my house sits at an altitude of 522 feet above sea level (or 159 metres if you’re in France), nestled as it is on a rocky outcrop in the Chilterns. And 36 miles later I again noticed that Autocar’s riverside offices are just 59 feet (18 metres) above sea level.
No wonder fuel consumption is better on my journey to work compared with my journey home; on the return trip not only does the car’s engine have to propel it 36 miles along the horizontal, it also has to winch its one and a half ton mass (or thereabouts) 463 feet up in the air.
Perhaps there’s something in the notion of the ‘two-way average’ after all.
Automotive virtual reality has finally arrived
Steve Sutcliffe, a driver whose abilities are held in high esteem by more than one supercar manufacturer, had to admit that electronic chassis ‘aids’ have reached a new level of competence.
“Yes, the electronics in this car are specifically intended as performance parts, not safety features. Switch them off and you will not be able to lap a circuit as fast as you can with them on, not even if your name is Fernando Alonso. You might just be able to match the system for a couple of corners if you fluke the perfect sequence of brake, turn-in, balance power, apply throttle at the exit.”
Read Steve Sutcliffe's Ferrari 599XX drive
In a more down to earth way, I experienced something similar on the launch of the new Audi A8. That car will come with ‘Drive Select’ as standard, which allows you to choose from ‘comfort’, ‘auto’ and ‘dynamic’.
This switchable chassis tuning really does make a difference, especially if you specify the optional sports differential on Quattro versions, which can split the engine’s torque between the rear wheels.
Read Hilton Holloway's Audi A8 drive
So far I’m also the only Autocar staffer to have driven the Mito in both stock and electronically controlled Cloverleaf forms. The difference between the two – driven back to back at Alfa’s test track – was incredible.
Read Hilton Holloway's Alfa Mito Cloverleaf drive
It seems that we have moved into a new era, (partly thanks to the new high-speed Flex ray wiring systems) that will see electronic chassis controls so sophisticated that virtually no driver can out drive them. And better still, the average future car could now be wired to have three very distinct personalities.
Ideally, many of us would prefer that exemplary ride and handling was delivered through the engineering purity of the car’s layout.
But then again, these systems can also make 2.7 tonne cars – such as the new Range Rovers – handle with physics-defying alacrity.
25 years after the false dawn of digital speedometers and talking dashboards, it seems automotive virtual reality has finally arrived.
Alfa builds a cracking car – at last
Not true. We take as we find, and what we’ve found for the past decade has been disappointing. Like many others we’re frustrated that Alfa has not being producing cars that are totally worthy of such a great brand. Step forward models such as the Brera and Mito.
Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon 1750 TBi TI test drive review
But I drove home in a cracking Alfa last night, the 159 1750 Sportwagon. It’s fitted with the company’s new 1750cc turbo engine which is good for 197bhp. While it’s hardly electrifyingly quick, it’s satisfyingly rapid, smooth and lovely to live with. Way quieter than an Alfa diesel too.
Most of all I was impressed with the 159. The company’s made myriad small changes to the car since it was launched and they’ve all been for the better. It felt like a quality product and was far more satisfying to drive than the Audi A5 Sportback I was in the night before.
Alfa’s at a bit of a crossroads at the moment. Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne has let it be known that the brand needs to get its act together to secure its future. Most of all it needs to fend off the attack from the Germans and start making prestige car makers at least include Alfa on the shopping list. That doesn’t just include the cars either, it has to include the whole buying and aftersales experience too.
But after my quick drive I’d say that if you are in the 3-series/A4 set market you should at least give the 159 1750 some house room.
It’s given me new hope for the forthcoming Giulietta hatch and what comes after it anyway.
