Posts Tagged ‘diesel’
Eagerly anticipating the new Ford S-Max
February 13th, 2010 | 
Author: Its major failing was that the diesel manual required too much gear changing (because of the lowish red line) and the optional six-speed slusher, which obviously resolved the gear changing issue, dampened the driver involvement and control that a car with such a fine chassis deserves.
I'm off to Spain this morning to drive the new, facelifted S-Max. Ford has already revealed that most of the changes are underneath the bonnet, so I'm hoping that the new Ecoboost engines and Powershift (Ford's DSG) gearbox are going to go a long way to fixing the drivetrain issue.
Check back later for the first drive.
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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.
Progress is easy to miss, especially in a Passat
I spent my Christmas break in a VW Passat Bluemotion, complete with the new 104bhp 1.6-litre VW Group commonrail turbodiesel engine.
Volkswagen Passat S 1.6 TDI Bluemotion first drive
There is nothing headline-grabbing about this car. It does not have a fuel cell, solar panels or an electric motor anywhere under its decidedly bland exterior, and it is not made entirely out of recycled potato and hemp.
It is a normal family saloon with a low-powered turbodiesel engine under the bonnet. But it took me and the other half to see family in Koburg, Germany for New Year in perfect comfort whilst easily achieving over 800 miles to each 70-litres of fuel.
That still means we fell short of the claimed 62.8mpg combined figure, but we did manage mid-50mpg for much of the trip and there was no compromise in the overall capability of the car. It was quiet, spacious and pleasant to be in. And it was cheaper and more convenient overall than catching a plane and picking up a rental special at the other end.
Of course, the Passat Bluemotion is exactly as dull as it sounds, and clearly this is a way to make the most of what’s left of finite fossil fuels (and motorists’ over-stretched wallets) rather than the answer to all our renewable fuel needs.
But I think the car industry deserves more credit for making such a constant and rapid move towards better use of resources. That there are many similarly efficient models around, including excellent efforts from Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Kia and Audi among others only goes to prove that progress really is global.
So in the midst of all the frenzied efforts going into producing tomorrow’s planet-saving, blue-sky technologies, let’s take a moment and remember that we’re not doing so badly with the stuff that you can buy today. Well done, chaps. Now carry on.
Just how good are winter tyres?
What with all this talk of winter tyres we thought we’d do our own little investigation while the snow is still around. So today we ventured down to our nearest snow bound test track to experiment with two RWD diesel BMWs. One with its regular summer tyres, the other fitted with a set of Continential Cold Weather tyres.
This wasn’t a proper scientific test, in no small part down to the fact the two test cars were different models. BMW's press garage is snowed in, so we had to make do with what we already had at the office and a 118d, borrowed from Conti.
Watch the winter tyre test on video
So not exactly a fair test, but still we thought it might tell us something interesting.
On a level icy surface our long-term 635d on summer tyres could just about get going, but introduce any sort of incline or angle and it just struggled massively. While the 1-Series with winter tyres still slipped around a bit, it found traction much more quickly and generally felt ten times more secure. It even managed to keep going through thick fresh snow. Conditions that had us pushing the 6-Series.
Talking to the people at Conti here’s the really interesting thing - winter tyres aren’t just for snow, they can be used on slush, ice, frost and even wet roads. In fact any time the temperature dips below +7deg you’re better off on winter tyres. Apparently.
Also there’s no real reason you can’t use winter tyres all year round in the UK. There is some trade off in dry braking in really hot conditions, but this balanced with better braking in the wet and cold. Likewise the softer compound might wear more quickly in the summer, but this is balanced with better wear rates in the winter.
So why aren’t winter tyres more widely used in the UK? According to Conti, they account for just 0.5% of UK sales. Mostly it’s down to the fact that we just don’t have the culture or infrastructure here to encourage people to switch between summer and winter tyres. And in my opinion it’s about time that changed.
If for no other reason than it means you can continue to enjoy the benefits of rear wheel drive even when the roads get a bit snowy.
Infiniti isn’t Lexus
Even though the cars are good, Infiniti already seems to have copped all manner of flak. Observations like, it’ll never take off; BMW won’t notice or care; they’re just Datsuns in disguise and it’s going to be like Lexus all over again.
Why all the hostility?
OK, let’s take the last one first. Lest we forget, Lexus was created originally for North America where over the years it’s been hugely successful and influential (yes, even Mercedes and BMW had to sit up and take notice). Europe has been a much harder slog and 20 years on, Lexus is still mostly about refinement, comfort, quality and luxury, and now eco-friendly hybrids, of course.
Driver appeal and sportiness have never been high on the agenda – until the IS-F came along, that is. And it’s here that the two Japanese brands part company.
Infiniti most definitely is about driver appeal and sportiness, just the kind of things readers of this site and mag are wired in to. Nissan has some demon engineers who turn out good stuff like the 370Z, Skyline and GT-R and when you drive the latest Infinitis, you can feel this DNA coming through.
Yes, I know, all that on its own is not enough. Until Infiniti comes up with some new clean diesels and gets C02 down to a certain level, it’ll be a blip on the radar screens. Guess what, Nissan knows that already which is why diesel power and a new rear-drive hybrid are working their way through the system as we speak. The party starts on that next year, but – yes – really should have been there from the start…
Nissan is also clued into the badge snobbery bit, which is why it’s not making any rash promises about world domination and blowing BMW away tomorrow. It look Audi, after all, the best part of 20 years to make it into the same premium car park as BMW and Mercedes.
Nissan is sensibly starting out slow and steady and, yes, much ultimately depends on how much Carlos Ghosn invests, when the diesels and hybrids come and what the dealer experience is like.
Anyway, Infiniti is not going to be like Lexus. The cars and culture are different, with Infiniti appealing far more to the (free-thinking) petrolheads among us. An attitude like that is eminently worthy of support, I’d say.
