Brushing up on the classics

I dislike the term “Classic Car” because it is vague and ill-defined.  I also suspect that it represents misuse of the English language.  Despite that I always seem to enjoy the big classic car show held every November at the National Exhibition Centre.

The most interesting thing (from a personal point of view) about the show is noticing what captures my attention.  Fancy stuff from the famous names seldom does it and my favourite cars get barely a cursory glance; it is the odd stuff, the things you don’t see every day (or in every other magazine). 

Passing time transforms the mundane into the interesting.  How else to account for my pleasure at seeing a well-preserved, low mileage Fiat 132?  It might not be the most inspiring car in the world but you could say the same of the Morris Marina, a car with a strong – if occasionally inexplicable – following.

From a certain point of view the appeal of Citroen’s 2CV is equally difficult to fathom.  It isn’t fast or pretty or luxurious.  Some cars have interiors that are like the inside of a gentlemen’s club; the 2CV is more like an old potting shed.  For all that, it was a very comfortable place to sit.  The simple, hammock seats somehow manage to provide all the comfort and support you need as you contemplate the seemingly random collection of instruments and switches on the dashboard.  Where else would you find a choke control labelled with an “S”?  In French “strangulateur” means choke – but don’t quote me on the spelling.

Catching Up

It has been busy lately hence the blog has not been as updated as often as I would like. Not that I’m complaining, I like the constant stream of activity, writing helps me to keep up with the news and there is the never-ending pleasure of seeing the finished result on the (web) page.

To be really thorough would mean going back to the SMMT Test Day in May. Two cars proved to be unexpectedly pleasing; the Fiat Grande Punto 1.4 T-jet and the Audi A4 3.2 quattro. One shared characteristic was that both cars seemed generally good without offering any singularly defining characteristic or area or excellence. Of the two the Audi was perhaps understandably the more impressive, feeling impressively sure-footed but – surprisingly - slightly less well assembled than the Citroen C5.

SMMT Test Day 2008

Last year I wanted to go to the annual Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) test day but I was too slow in applying. This year I was better informed and got my name on the list in plenty of time. As well as providing the opportunity to drive lots of different cars it is a superb opportunity to meet the press officers and press fleet managers and other journalists. I’m sure I could have made more of the opportunities to make contacts but I’m quite pleased that I have made some new contacts.



My day’s driving started with a Jaguar XK8, it was supposed to be an XKR but I wasn’t about to complain. Without a doubt this is a magnificent car, smooth, refined and surefooted. It was a fine way to learn the curves of the Millbrook hill test route and to get a feel for driving round the high-speed bowl. Those test tracks do a good job of replicating country road and motorway driving respectively. There was also a “City Course”, which didn’t feel much like a city but is laid out in a series of tight curves with a couple of speed humps for good measure. I had great fun whizzing round in a couple of Fiat 500s – I fear I may have upset the man from Fiat by saying that I preferred the cheaper more basic model. More than any other car I tested I could see myself actually buying a 500 for my own transport.



The other interesting pastime of the day was to see what was in demand. Bentley, for example, had 4 cars and by lunchtime all the time slots were fully booked. Nissan was taken aback by the popularity of the fuel-cell concept vehicle and so was Audi for the R8 and RS6 Avant. According to the list of vehicles there were 2 RS6s but only one actually appeared to be in use. The Nissan and Audis were the only cars I felt I missed out by not trying – maybe next year.

2008 Wish list – a few more things

Time to finish the New Year wish list with a few final ideas:

Visit the Geneva Motor Show – The Geneva show is possibly the most prestigious motor show and with cheap flights isn’t as expensive to go as you might think. If this wish doesn’t come true I have only myself to blame. Need to get my skates on and book.

Drive more cars – At the start of each year I wonder what I am going to drive. Keeping up with the latest and best new cars is a difficult business – with any luck I’ll manage to borrow some press cars in 2008. I’d like to have a go in the Fiat 500 and the Renault Laguna coupé with 4WS (although that might be due in 2009).

Get published more often – it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation but hopefully the more cars I can drive the more saleable features I’ll generate and the more stories I can get in print the more likely it is I’ll be able to borrow press cars from the manufacturers.

Drive a Bristol up the Fosse Way – don’t know how likely this is but when I drove up the Fosse a couple of months back I wondered how nice it would be to do the journey in a decent car. I could practically hear the thrum of the Bristol’s BMW-derived 6-cylinder engine and see the view over the curvaceous bonnet. Or would I prefer the hushed progress and generous view from a later V8 Bristol? Better try both I think.

All that remains is to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Number crunching

The British digital television channel “Dave” shows, amongst other things, repeats of the BBC’s motoring program Top Gear. I was watching one of the repeats today, the episode where a Bugatti Veyron and a Cesna light aircraft race across Europe. The Veyron has a power gauge to show how much power is being used at any given point. The presenter observed that at 80mph the Veyron needed only 50 of the 1,000 or so bhp to move it along.

It made me think; 50bhp isn’t a huge amount of power but is it more or less than ordinary cars need for a typical motorway cruise?

Exact figures are hard to come by but I looked at a selection of cars with about 50bhp and also with top speed around 80mph. The Chevrolet Matiz has 50bhp and can do 90mph; the Fiat Panda 1.1 has 54bhp and can do 93mph. You have to go back many years to find cars with top speeds in the 80mph range. In 1966 a Ford Cortina needed 63bhp to do 82mph; by 1970 a Hillman Avenger could manage 81mph on 53bhp although the Citroen GS looks like it was ahead of its time by doing 93mph on 55bhp.

I’m not sure if this proves anything except that it takes less power than you’d think to drive at motorway speed.

European Car of the Year 2008

The votes have been counted and the winner announced in the annual European Car of the Year contest. You can read my predictions here. I’m quite pleased that I predicted the Fiat 500’s victory but that is the only thing I got right. The second place for the Mazda 2 came as a complete surprise.

Autumn Time

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us, which means it is time for the annual European Car of the Year contest. Voted for by a jury comprising of 58 members from 22 countries, the number of jurors representing each nation depends on the size and significance of the motor industry and new car market in that country. Each juror has 25 points to award to at least 5 of the seven finalists. No more than 10 points can be awarded to any one car and ties are not permitted. Furthermore each juror must provide a written justification for the way they voted.



The shortlist for the 2008 ECOTY has been released. From 35 eligible cars seven have shown the “right stuff” as potential Car of the Year material. Those cars are the Fiat 500, Ford Mondeo, Kia Cee'd, Mazda 2, Mercedes-Benz C-class, Nissan Qashqai and the Peugeot 308. Picking a likely winner from that lot is incredibly difficult. The Ford and Fiat are both highly regarded and both marques have a strong history of COTY winners. Only once, in 2005 when the Toyota Prius won, has a car built outside Europe been the outright winner – so it is unlikely that the Mazda 2 will win. Mercedes have only enjoyed one COTY win and nothing I’ve read about the C-class suggests that it could beat the Fiat of Ford. The Nissan might suffer because it looks like the sort of car we are supposed to hate – a SUV – or profit because it doesn’t fit typical classifications. The Peugeot will do well with the French judges but probably not any others where as the Cee’d could do surprisingly well.



I think this is the strongest COTY line-up in years. Only the Peugeot 308 and Mazda 2 seem incongruous – the Lexus LS and Land Rover Freelander might have been more interesting finalists but possibly not consonant with the spirit of the time. My prediction is that the Fiat 500 will win, the Mondeo will be second and it will be close for third place between the Mercedes C-class and the Kia Cee’d. Kia challenging Mercedes, who could have predicted that?

Peugeot and Citroën go head to head to find silliest van name

Citroën and Peugeot both announced the launch of compact vans. In fact if you look closely they appear to have launched the same van under 2 identities. The Citroën van is the Nemo, which means “no one” in Latin. Whether the intention was association with a character from Jules Verne or Disney Pixar is unclear. Peugeot, not wanting to be outdone, chose an even more bizarre moniker – Bipper. There is a third derivative with a more sensible name – the Fiat Fiorino. All three vans are made in the same factory in Turkey and represent the latest in a long line of commercial vehicles from Fiat and PSA Peugeot Citroën.

Weekend Fun 3

Last post about the Oulton Park Gold Cup. I’m not much of a fan of motor racing but it is much better to see racing cars in action on the track rather than static in a museum. You do see some fine displays of driving skill as old racing cars generally have more power than they have roadholding or braking ability. This year some of the more prestigious cars stayed away because the Goodwood Revival was the following weekend. As a result there were no C or D-type Jaguars, no Listers, Ferraris or Corvettes, which was a disappointment given the high standard of entries in past years.

What was interesting was the difference in sound quality between the different engines. The sound of a 4 or 8 cylinder engine carries much more clearly than any six. Subjectively the loudest cars of the weekend were the Chevron sports cars and the Formula 5000 single-seaters. Formula 5000 was an interesting discipline, using Formula 1 chassis but with production-based 5-litre American V8 engines to keep costs down.

Favourite moments of the weekend included watching the historic Formula Junior cars and seeing both a Fiat 124 coupé and a BMW 328 (well, a Frazer-Nash BMW) in action. The Fiat is such a rare car because most examples rusted at a frightening rate – a shame because contemporary accounts rate it highly. As for the BMW, it was the most modern of the pre-war cars – no wonder so many people hold the 328 in high regard.

I Must Drive This Car

Fiat has announced a new “500” to go on sale 50 years after the original. The styling draws heavily on the Trepiuno show car of 2 years ago and the 1957 nuvoa 500. Judging by the reaction to Fiat’s preview photos it will be a huge success, there is something about the cute styling and modest size that makes the 500 immediately wantable.



The only worrying thing is whether the driving experience will live up to the styling. The old 500 was loved as much for how it drove as how it looked. The old car could be - had to be - driven flat-out everywhere but seemed to enjoy the treatment. With the engine in the tail the 500 had light, quick steering that no front-wheel-drive car could match. The 500 felt and sounded like nothing else (save its replacement the 126).



The same could not be said of the Cinquecento, the last Fiat to wear the “500” name. In many ways it was a good car, very sensible and practical. It was impressively refined and easy to drive with no quirks. The problem was that it felt just like any other small hatchback, with low-geared steering and a dull engine note.



The latest 500 is a car I can’t wait to get my hands on. The styling both inside and out is so unlike anything else on the market and the 500 shares its “chassis” with the next Ford Ka. The current Ka is great fun to drive as long as the same is true of the new Ka it also promises that the 500 will be great to drive.