Anything goes

Welcome to the DAFTAs...

2010-03-20T20:53:00Z

Welcome to the DAFTAs (Deserving Awards For Transport And Science).

In no particular order, this week they are:

Most irritating web contributor of the week; nickscheele
So far nickscheele has made approximately 56, 987 contributions to our web forum, none of which have been very positive, most of which have been curiously irritating to read. The thing about nickscheele, though, is that quite often he’s right. Which is doubly irritating from our point of view. Keep up the good work, nickscheele, and remember; try to smile at least once every 24 hours.

Read nicksheele's latest contributions in the 'Talking road cars with Lewis Hamilton' blog here

Yarn of the week; petrol prices reaching record levels
The AA has predicted that petrol prices will soon rise above the previous record of 119.7p per litre, due to the “increase in the wholesale cost of petrol.” Whatever that means. Surely it would be better, say, if we could agree to pay for our petrol on a half-sale basis, a bit like they do in the Middle East? Actually no, sorry, that’s not possible given the mess our economy is still in, is it? Perhaps instead our petrol could be quantitatively eased into our tanks at, say, £2 a gallon – just as it is in the USA.

Fuel prices to hit record levels

Yawn of the week; the Bahrain GP
Nice rule change Mr & Mrs FIA, bang on target with those new fuel regs.

Alonso wins in Bahrain - picture special

Horn of the week; the Audi R8 GT3
No qualification required

Hardcore Audi R8 planned

PR announcement of the week; Lotus/Naomi Campbell to save the world (including Haiti)
Just when you thought that everything was about to go pear shaped in the world, the extraordinary combination of Lotus and Naomi Campbell has lunged forwards and agreed to save us from ourselves. So everything’s fine now; you can all go home and sleep soundly, happy in the knowledge that Norfolk Naomi will be at our sides if and when the sh*t next hits the fan.

Car of the week; Peugeot RCZ
Who cares how it drives when it looks as good as this? At a stroke the RCZ makes the TT et al seem dull, predictable, and strangely un-French by comparison. And the best news of all is that it’s actually not that rubbish to drive. In fact, it’s really quite good. More of the same please, Peugeot.

Read the Peugeot RCZ first drive review

So until this time next week…

I need your help for my fuel protest

2010-03-19T16:06:00Z

As you may have noticed, the price of fuel is on the up. Obviously the knee-jerk reaction is to burn some sheep, organise an ineffectual ‘Don’t Drive Day’, or just sigh heavily. However, I have resolved to do something practical about it this time.

Previously I have got huffy and joined the Battery Vehicle Society a few times. I also looked into those on-board hydrodgen plants that cost £500, and those rather cheaper jam jar based ones that probably start to corrode your manifold and cylinder heads prematurely. Yes, I even read up about those daft magnets. Indeed, I was with a mechanic the other day when he found some on a E39 525i, and he couldn’t stop laughing.

Petrol prices set for record high

So although I am tempted to buy a cheap light car like the Perodua Nippa, make it lighter then reprogramme the ECU, put pizza plate hubcaps on and a teardrop tail, what I would really like to do is just convert an existing petrol engine so that I can drive a car I actually like.

Methane comes to mind and so does alcohol. Just like with LPG you start with a smidgen of petrol and then switch over to the homemade stuff.

The point is I could make methane (cue joke) and alcohol, just like the southern state moonshiners. Then there is just the small issue of Revenue and Customs to contend with.

As you are all so clever, what do you think I should do?

And aside from chip fat and bulk buying cooking oil at Asda, any other bright ideas?

I’ll junk the six-pot if you can convince me that your steam-powered compressed air hybrid will do the business.

Talking road cars with Lewis Hamilton

2010-03-19T10:16:14Z

At yesterday’s launch of the McLaren supercar I got the chance to sit and have a chat with Lewis Hamilton.

Predictably he thought that the new MP4-12C supercar was terrific, but admitted that his experience has been limited to half a day at the Goodwood circuit for a promotional video that was shown yesterday. Unlike Schuey’s much heralded input into Ferrari’s road cars, McLaren drivers it seems are just instructed to get on with winning world championships.

McLaren MP4-12C - new details + pics

Lewis has, though, specced one up with the on-line configurator: red, with black wheels and a black and red interior. He will, he says, be harassing Ron Dennis to sort him out with a real one in identical trim.

More illuminating was the other things Lewis had to say. 24-year old Lewis’s road car experience is pretty limited to say the least. He tends to get driven when he’s in the UK to maximise his rest and when he’s not travelling his driving is the 15 minute schlep from the airport to his apartment in the Merc company car – a white GL420 with chrome wheels. Lewis did tell me that he also owns an SL Black - ‘his baby’ - but has spent little time driving it.

Not surprisingly, he’s never driven a Ferrari, though would like to own one, one day – even if they’ve got a ‘bit common’ now. Also on the wish list is an original Cobra and a Mustang GT500.

Most impressive still was the relaxed way that LH was chatting to me about cars, and life in general. You always worry that F1 stars, especially McLaren drivers, are going to be be super on-message but he wasn’t at all. Just a normal, polite and intelligent young man – he even offered to make me a cup of tea.

Earlier in the day I got the opportunity to witness the body language of him and Jenson together. It seemed pretty clear to me who was the most relaxed and comfortable talking about McLaren in general. Then again he has been wandering round the place since he was a small boy.

Nissan Leaf; only the beginning

2010-03-18T17:48:22Z

UK PLC should think itself lucky to have been awarded a contract to build the Nissan Leaf.

Although the government has been pressing the industry flesh and waving around the country’s chequebook, the whole plan was nearly torpedoed.

Nissan Leaf's Sunderland deal

The Olympic Committee’s decision to award the 2012 vehicle contract to BMW, de-stabilised the carefully laid industrial plans that would have seen Leaf production announced alongside Nissan winning the Olympic vehicle bid.

I drove the final Leaf prototype in Japan last October and have to say it was very impressive. Very quick, very smooth and the single gear ratio gave the car an unparalleled quality of seamless acceleration.

Have no doubt that the Leaf has been thoroughly and thoughtfully engineered. However, I can’t see the Leaf becoming a runaway hit with private buyers.

It will be relatively expensive, even with a government subsidy. So it’s most likely to be best as a second, commuting car for affluent eco-conscious drivers with a private parking space.

Leaf ownership might make even more sense in central London, where it avoids the Congestion Charge and most parking charges. There are even promises from Mayor Boris Johnson to get ‘thousands’ of charging points installed before the 2012 Olympics.

However, I can’t help hoping that Nissan will follow up the Leaf with another vehicle based on the same electric platform. Something more MPV-like with larger capacity batteries would be ideal for inner-city light delivery, public sector cars and even taxis.

While the compact hatch layout is ideal for the Californian highway commuter, electric power makes the biggest sense in the UK for zero-pollution inner city use. London (and some parts of Oxford and Manchester) have the worst air quality in Europe. And that’s a consequence of using ageing diesel engines in stop-start conditions.

A concerted move towards low- and zero-pollution commercial city traffic should be part of future government planning.

With the Leaf and Leaf’s batteries being made in the UK, UK PLC and Nissan should move to capitalise on the technology and develop an electric car for even more suited to UK demands.

No debates, McLaren Automotive is great news for Britain

2010-03-18T12:46:00Z

Here at the launch of the McLaren MP4-12C it’s easy to forget that we’re not just at the launch of the new supercar, but also a new car company.

So maybe it’s worth putting aside what we think of the looks of the car (a bit bland is my personal view) or whether the impressive technology it has will be enough to threaten the tough competition that Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes represent. And let's forget speculation on how good or bad it will be to drive, or even whether the McLaren brand has the provenenace with road cars, or even demonstrates the passion to compete with such illustrious rivals.

McLaren MP4 - new details + pics

McLaren will only build sportscars

McLaren: "F1 boosts road car"

What I keep thinking about - whatever we end up thinking of the car, or whether it’s a commercial success - is that Ron Dennis and the team do deserve some recognition for launching a new independent car company on this scale. When was the last time this happened? Even more poignantly, when was the last time it happened in the UK?

In the spring of 2011 an all-new factory will open in Woking and a 1000 cars a year will initially start rolling off the line. By then a global network of dealers will be in place and the MP4-12Cs will start finding homes.

Ron Dennis is predictably bullish about the future too. "We know that lots of car companies have come and gone, and we’re not going to be one of them. We’re here to stay," he said.

I don’t yet know what the car is like - or what the two other cars in development will be like. But Dennis can be truly proud of forming a new car company and it’s got to be good for the UK’s global engineering reputation.

What do you think of the new McLaren?

2010-03-16T15:18:00Z

Until last week I hadn’t seen the new McLaren in the flesh. All I’d seen were pictures of various prototypes testing, and that video of it being driven in Spain by McLaren’s chief test driver and all round nice bloke, Chris Goodwin. And until last week I hadn’t been overly enamoured by what I’d seen.

In the raw, though, the MP4-12C has miles more presence than it does in photographs. It’s not a big car but it has bags of attitude, even if it isn’t drop dead gorgeous in the traditional sense.

Watch the Mclaren launch live - Thursday, March 18, 10.30am

McLaren MP4-12C on video

Sounds good, too. The noise it makes doesn’t make the earth shudder beneath your feet. Instead it sounds technically complex, like a flat plane-crank V8 with a whole load of extra stuff on top; turbo whooshes, wastegate fizzes, exhaust blips during downshifts as the fuel supply is cut momentarily, even the odd bit of chatter from the diff at idle if I’m not mistaken.

What I also hadn’t grasped until last week is how insanely rapid the new McLaren is going to be. For some reason I hadn’t quite registered that it is going to comprehensively destroy everything else in its class in a straight line – including the new Ferrari 458.

Officially it will have 600bhp and weigh less than 1400kg. Unofficially, the ones I saw testing had over 620bhp and weighed less than 1380kg. With a DSG transmission and gearing that will be far closer and shorter than that of the F1, plus a fair bit more torque from its twin turbo V8, this is going to make the MP4-12C significantly more accelerative than its famous ancestor.

According to off-the-record McLaren test driver parlance it “absolutely mullers” all the other cars they’ve benchmarked it against dynamically – including the you-know-what – and yet it’s also entirely comfortable to drive on the road.

Will that be enough to lure people away from their Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis?

I’d love to know what you lot think; yes or no? And if not, why not?

BMW's 5-series Touring appeals

2010-03-15T11:45:45Z

Maybe it’s my advancing years but there’s something extremely appealing to me about posh estates. A car for all reasons sort of approach.

It was one of the reasons that I was so keen to have a sneak preview at the new BMW 5-series Touring the other day. That, and, unlike my colleagues here, I still haven’t had a really good crawl over the new 5-series full stop.

BMW 5-series Touring - full details and pics

What I found was a thoroughly convincing car. The new Five is yet another car that you really have to see in the metal to appreciate its looks. It’s far more elegant and handsome than the outgoing one – especially as a wagon.

And, just like the saloon, it’s roomier, quicker, greener. You get the picture.

Just as interesting though was chatting to the marketing bods about who buys the wagon over the saloon.

Touring buyers, apparently, are younger (average age 47, compared to early fifties), much more likely to participate in sport, have a more active life, be more likely to be paying their own money for the car and, generally, display more loyalty to BMW and the format than the four-door owners.

Some of that I would have guessed, mind you but even so.

A slightly thornier issue for the BMW sales force is the presence of the 5-series GT this time around. That, after all, is also a more practical version of the saloon. The marketing types reckon it will appeal to a different sort of customer, the GT being bigger in the back and pricier too. I’m not so sure though.

I think BMW’s in danger of eating its own lunch having the Touring and the GT in the same line-up. But we’ll have to wait and see.

Either way, the Touring’s probably going to be on my wish list. And not just because I want to look young and sporty either…

Technorati Tags: BMW 5-series, Touring, GT

Which soft-top is the best used buy?

2010-03-12T14:44:13Z

I’ll assume that you are just as terrified as I am of a Panamera with the roof missing. Four-door open cars used to be great for dictators and their families on day outs.

Now they just look stupid. If you really want wind in your hair as everyone knows you either buy a safe but entertaining Mazda MX5 or a Caterham.

In my experience, more than two is a crowd in a cabriolet and the only thing rear seat passengers get is severe buffeting.

So as it is still so blimming cold and its drizzling where I am too this seems like just the right time to consider just what sort of chop top we should be looking for this spring.

At my time of life a big old Merc E is good and I’ve never minded an open air Saab - their flexiness is all part of the fun while at the same time allowing four on board.

Oh yes, and it may be a classic car cliché, but a Triumph Stag still does it for me.

I don’t see why we should pay some massive premium for an open car. What’s your pick as a value roof-less buy?

Oh yes and as a side issue, the Volvos gone so what has it been replaced with. Just one clue, it is the same colour blue. Any guesses?

Technorati Tags: Porsche, Panamera, Saab, Mazda MX-5, Volvo, Caterham

Audi LED lights are for poseurs – discuss

2010-03-11T17:12:05Z

What’s your reaction when you see an Audi with its LED lights ablaze at 11am on a bright sunny day? Do you think; wow, those things look a bit suave, nice car my friend, well done?

Do you think; although it looks a bit flash, at least I can see that car from miles away, which is a good thing on our increasingly crowded roads? Or do you think; what a berk. And no, absolutely no way am I going to let you into that gap.

Here’s a thing. I used to be split pretty much straight down the middle on this. The car lover in me quite likes the way LEDs look, the car driver in me knows they are almost certainly safer than no lights at all – and the car cynic in me knows that most people who light them aren’t doing so purely on safety grounds.

Yet until recently I thought that, certainly as far as Audis are concerned, you couldn’t actually switch them off – just like you can’t switch the sidelights off on Volvos without removing the fuse.

Except I’ve discovered that you can. Scroll through the computer menu and you will come across a setting marked “lights” (amazing that…). By clicking in the relevant box you can program the LEDs to automatically come on whenever you start the car, or you can click them off.

Which means that whenever you see an Audi with its LEDs on at 11am, you know the driver has made a conscious decision to turn them on. Whether that makes them a poseur or not, well, that’s entirely up to you.

Technorati Tags: Audi, LED, lights, R8, A8

Ferrari, powered by Rolls-Royce

2010-03-04T15:37:00Z

Recently, I spent the morning at Ferrari’s Modena plant partly because the company wants to make a point of its green credentials.

Ferrari has spent the last few years completely re-building Modena, not only installing smart new production lines but also new buildings that consume less energy and 4000sq meters of solar panels.

Ferrari 599 hybrid revealed

However, the Italians have gone one step further and built their own mini on-site power station, which provides not only electricity but also cooled water and super-heated water.

Hard-hated and ear-defended, we were allowed into the bowls of the Modena power station to see an extraordinary sight.

At the heart of the operation are two more-than-room-sized V20 (yes, that’s 20-cylinder) engines. Each motor measures in at 769-litres and churns out the equivalent of 23,000bhp.

Powered by gas (and started up with compressed air), these engines are built specifically for power generation, run at a constant 750rpm and are said to be among the most efficient internal combustion engines in the world.

However, despite them being sprayed Ferrari red, the engines are actually made by Rolls-Royce. (That’s the aero engine company, not BMW’s flagship auto brand).

So every Ferrari, including the on-site manufacturing of the whole engine, is built with power generated by Rolls-Royce. I really hadn’t expected that.

Young Ruppert takes to the car park

2010-02-26T12:26:54Z

Do you want to know how to put a smile on a teenager’s face? Teach ‘em to drive.

I know this because I took the youngest Ruppert to Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent the other day. The Seat Young Driver programme does not take place in the shopping aisles obviously but in a designated Young Driver Zone.

When we went there were cones to drive round, but once the weather gets better, proper road markings will make the former coach park look even more like a suburban driving school rat run.

All the children need to be is more than 1,5 metres (4’11”) tall and aged between 11 and 16. They then get one to one tuition in a dual control Seat.

Watching the youngsters get behind the wheel for the first time is slightly worrying as you might expect them to stall, kangaroo and generally rev the little Ibiza into oblivion, but not a bit of it.

They concentrate and move deliberately around the course, listening intently to what they are told. In complete contrast to the way many so-called grown-ups deal with the challenge of driving.

After an hour they are more confident, happy and beaming from ear to ear. It’s a good way to start driving rather than have your Dad going mental because you’ve just burned the clutch out on his Cortina/Mondeo (delete according to your age).

Yet the great and the good can only see negatives in all this.

Inspector Alan Jones at the Police Federation said: "Driving on one of these courses at 11 years old, it's another six years until you can get a driving licence. How does it replicate the real world, the spontaneous incidents? Are kids mature enough at 11, 12, 13 years old to understand what's happening on the roads, to be able to manage all the demands and pressures? I'm not persuaded it's a good idea."

Those killjoys at The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents were even more negative.

"While early education is a very good thing, the same does not apply to driving a car. It will probably mean youngsters will take fewer lessons when they come to learn to drive and if they take fewer lessons they will get less experience.

"That means when they pass their test they may be at greater risk of crashing because they won't have had as much experience when they are supervised"

Twerps. What I saw was young people learning vital life skills in a highly controlled environment. I’d like to know what you think and what car you first drove. Mine was an Audi 100LS.

Toyota Congressional Committee is a farce

2010-02-25T16:47:00Z

What a farce yesterday's congressional hearings over the Toyota recall were.

Just to recap, company boss Akio Toyoda was summoned to answer questions from a US Congressional Committe e in Washington.

Did it answer any questions though? No. What we got was a load of blustering from congressmen trying to put Toyoda on the spot and, no doubt, trying to look tough to voters back in their home states.

Toyoda for his part gave rambling answers in corporate speak made painfully slower as they were going through a translator.

Basically, he's sorry. Toyota is working hard to put it right and the boss will make sure it doesn't happen again.

But the US government hardly needed to go to these lengths to get this response.

Toyota has 10 plants in the US and can rightly call itself an American car maker such are the numbers of cars it makes and the number of Americans it employs.

I wonder if any of the Big Three would have got this OTT treatment if they had been involved in a similar issue?

VW Scirocco R - why the dual-clutch makes sense

2010-02-24T17:17:01Z

I’ll confess to being less than the world’s biggest fan of dual-clutch gearboxes, but this week’s road test of the Volkswagen Scirocco R has reminded me that they do have their place.

Thus far I’ve only driven a manual Scirocco R (the road test one) but colleagues who have driven both all assure me that the automated DSG system is superior in this case.

Read the VW Scirocco R first drive

I can sort of understand why. This VW’s manual gearbox was on the looser side of things, which makes fast gearchanges in the Scirocco genuine punctuations in the performance; especially because while you’re off the throttle, the turbo has time to wind down, and it takes a pause before it winds itself back up again, turning acceleration into something of a succession of surges.

In the DSG equipped car you get far quicker, crisper shifts – accompanied, I’m told, by a meaty pop through the exhausts (though these I can take or leave if they’re ‘engineered’ in just for effect). And the engine stays on the boil.

Sometimes that’s what I dislike about twin-clutch gearboxes: that it turns driving into little more than a wheel-twiddling, paddle-flapping operation devoid of involvement. It’s all a bit sterile.

But in the Scirocco R’s case I’ll make an exception. Because where the manual Scirocco R tries to offer extra involvement, it falls a bit short. The DSG probably suits it entirely.

Give a greenie the vapours

2010-02-19T17:20:00Z

According to my neighbour I now own – and I quote - “the most morally reprehensible line up of vehicles” she has ever seen.

I must stress that we do get on very well, in the way that nice middle class people with different opinions and outlooks on life often do. After all, we do the same dinner party circuit and charity fundraisers – all that sort of thing.

However, when it comes to green issues we do beg to differ.

Obviously I don’t see anything wrong with my current collection of cars, which I am actually rather proud of. However, I do concede that there are some cars in there that could give a greenie some serious vapours.

My challenge to you this week is to come up with the most entertaining green bothering engines you could own. I dunno, an uncatalysed Kia Pride, a two-stroke chainsaw, a T34 Tank and an MOT emissions failure Veyron, spring to mind as examples.

The funniest suggestion will win a copy of my new book, Bangernomics Bible.

A lot of people have asked why I’ve published this. Well, I can reveal that I wrote it in response to public demand, when one person tried to borrow it from their local library and the only copy there had been defaced by an Autocar reader and then used to mop up a tea spill.

So if you want to get your hands on the Bangernomics Bible (do say alongside your submission if you don’t - I quite understand), then come up with a garage full of inappropriately extravagant conveyances and CO2 belchers.

Why Forster is good news for Jaguar Land Rover

2010-02-15T15:47:00Z

The appointment of Carl-Peter Forster as CEO of Tata Motors seems so logical, and has been hanging in the air for so long, that it is almost a shock that it has finally happened. In the motor industry, profoundly sensible things have a habit of not happening. However, it strikes me that Forster's elevation is great news both for the long-term future - and status - of Tata's worldwide automotive business, and for Jaguar and Land Rover in particular.

Forster will bring a new vigour and a Eurocentric awareness to the ambitious Indian business that it has lacked until now (even if Fiat's Sergio Marchionne has perceived its abilities and ambitions by appointing Ratan Tata to the Fiat board). For the British marques this looks like long-term good news, though there may be some short-term discomfort in the Midlands.

Forster new Tata Motors boss

Recently departed JLR boss David Smith did a fundamentally good job, but was deemed to be proceeding too slowly with corporate plans, and not to have been enough of a 'car guy'. Forster knows the Midlands companies having been at BMW when the Munich company was trying to make a modern concern out of Rover, and is doubtless full of bold ideas about how he'll do it better this time. I would expect the local management at Jaguar and Land Rover to be getting some early benefit of his advice.

Everybody inside Tata/JLR - and those outside - will benefit from Forster's communication skills. He is quite brilliant at winning friends to his cause and enthusing his colleagues.

If JLR is close to the top of his priority list, which it should be, we are in for an exciting ride.