Hard Year's Drive 2007 - Part 5

Final installment, a Honda "soft roader" and Peugeot van.

There was one more new car Honda CR-V 2.0 i-VETEC which was almost entirely unremarkable. Honda did an impressive job making the CR-V feel car-like. I remember the original CR-V felt much more cumbersome. Honda have made good automatic transmissions for years and the one fitted to the CR-V was better than any other I’ve encountered. Most of the time there was no sensation of shifting gears and it always seemed to be in the right gear. What a shame Honda decided to spoil things with an awful, stiff and counter-intuitive selector. Normally when I evaluate a car with automatic transmission I start by leaving them in Drive to see how well they cope as most people will use them. I also like to try any manual over-ride or means of holding gears as, under some circumstances, this gives better results. Just moving the CR-V's selector from Park to Drive was enought to put me off using the selector any more than necessary. I had thought Honda would standardise the Tiptronic-style selector, first seen on the NSX and currently in use on the Accord.



Finally, a house move this year meant hiring a Peugeot Boxer van. It did a perfectly acceptable job although the arrangements for changing gear took some getting used to. Every other gear lever I have ever encountered has moved in a gate that involves forward, backward, left and right movements. In the Boxer, however, the lever was at an unusual angle so that all the movements were diagonal. It never caused me any problems but you have to wonder why, when the conventional gate has worked so well for so long, Peugeot felt the need to change it.

This year was a little disappointing but it was interesting to see that I drove exactly the same number of cars in 2007 as I did in 2006. New cars arrived at a rate of less than one a month, which suggests a lack of effort on my part. I must try harder in 2008.

The End

Hard year’s drive 2007 Part 4

This is the penultimate installment. The Saab 9-5 is one of the longest running models on the market. Maybe that is why the best version is so good - Saab have had years to carry out fine tuning.



One of the most satisfying cars of the year was a Saab 9-5 estate Aero HOT. There was nothing to suggest that it would be any good, the prospect of a powerful front-wheel drive car with a large 4-cylinder engine was not particularly mouth-watering. On the road any misgivings soon disappeared; the driving position took a lot of fine tuning and the steering wheel wasn't nice to hold on a long drive. When driving it those failings faded into the background. There was a solidity to everything about the Aero; even the ride, which was firm but never uncomfortable. The linear, predictable and utterly dependable response of the steering, brakes and even the turbocharged engine offered tremendous assurance. There was no doubt that the 9-5 would do whatever was asked of it. The only worry was the frequency with which the traction and stability control intervened. Even on a perfectly dry road a moderately energetic left-right-left flick around a roundabout had the warning light coming on - at least the traction control is subtle in its behaviour rather than suddenly cutting power.



While I had the Saab Aero I drove another 9-5 estate; a 2.3 BioPower, which runs on E85 bio ethanol or normal unleaded petrol. The idea is that, by running on a fuel derived from growing plants (E85 is bio ethanol plus 15% unleaded petrol), the BioPower will reduce the quantity of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. The engine produces more power when running on E85 - a difference you can feel - but to take advantage of the benefits you need to live near a petrol station that sells E85 and there aren’t many yet. The penalty is that fuel consumption on E85 is somewhat higher and the small tax break on the fuel does not cover the difference. I was slightly saddened to find that the BioPower was softer in its steering response and yet no more comfortable. The differences under the skin may be small but they add up to a big difference on the road. When you take away the power boost from the bio ethanol and the 9-5 BioPower felt slightly disappointing.


To be continued ...

Hard year’s drive 2007 Part 3

Continuing the account of the cars I drove in 2007. This time it is out with the old and in with the (slightly) new(er).



When I drove the MG Midget I struggled initially to get to grips with a manual transmission. Those skills have lately been refreshed as my old Citroën BX19TRS auto was replaced by a Citroën BX14TE St Tropez. The new car has proved to be full of surprising contradictions. The BX14 doesn't have the central locking, powered windows, electric sun roof or even power-assisted steering of the old car but the seat fabric and dashboard plastics seem much better quality. It looks a lot smarter inside and more modern. With the smaller engine I expected it to be much slower but more economical; subjectively it does not feel slower and my economy checks suggest that the BX14 is only 2mpg more economical than the BX19 - I expected more. Despite an unexpected and nearly catastrophic failure of a hydraulic pipe early in my ownership the new car is proving to be just as endearing as the old one.

To be continued ...

Hard year’s drive 2007 Part 2

It was going to be an epic post to review all the cars I drove in 2007. For a blog format this didn't seem appropriate so I decised to break it down into several installments. Last time I looked at a couple of Vauxhalls. This time it is an unlikely pairing of Skoda and MG.



The Skoda Roomster 1.4 was actually the first new car of the year. I wanted to like it; I admired the unconventional styling (particularly in the vivid blue paint of the test car) and the refreshingly colourful interior. Neither of those things could really be enjoyed while I was driving. What sparked my frustration was the way the door pillars blocked the view – a common problem with new cars. After that I noticed that there was more noise that I expected - at speed the engine felt as though it was revving its head off. On uneven roads the Roomster bobbed around as though the suspension couldn't cope. It should be said, however, that neither the ride nor the noise levels were any worse than in the Corsa.

The Skoda’s problem was that it was too tall, a criticism that couldn’t be levelled at the most entertaining car of the year; a 1972 MG Midget. Something so simple and even downright crude in places surely has no right to be such fun but it was refreshing to be able to look under a bonnet and be able to identify all the components within. It was great to have something so straightforward that I could fix it (or help to fix it) in someone’s back garden with about 3 tools. On the road it was sheer delight, for one accustomed to automatics getting used to the short-travel clutch was difficult. But the clutch pedal was an object lesson for all to copy – why does a clutch need more than an inch or two of movement? The gear lever was a delightful, mechanical, flick-switch affair; the engine was coarse but very charming; the brakes needed a big push (no servo?). The steering was pure delight, light and direct. Driving the Midget required skill and understanding but there was no substitute for the pleasure gained from getting it right.


To be continued ...

Hard year’s drive 2007 Part 1.

The old is good not just because it's past,
nor is the new supreme because we live with it,


The words of Paul Hindemith echoed in my mind when I began considering the cars and van that I drove in 2007. Those cars that were new models were at best disappointing and at worst inferior to an equivalent car from ten years ago. It was the older models – not just old cars but new cars that have been in production for years – that proved far more satisfying.



I was appalled by the Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 twinport, which I hired early in the year. It was slow, noisy, bouncy and erratic in its steering. As a car for pottering round town the Corsa might just be acceptable but it was hopelessly out of its depth on the open road and far to noisy on the motorway. The most frustrating thing was the way it positively defied my attempts to drive it well – only feeling right when driven thoughtlessly or even badly. Where did Vauxhall go wrong? A 1994 Astra Swing, borrowed while my car was being repaired, was a much better car. The dampers felt worn out and the interior was a bit grimy but I came away impressed. Comfort, driving position, visibility, performance and economy were all better than in the Corsa. I even found myself admiring certain details, particularly the way the doors sealed and the side windows that were practically flush with the frames.


To be continued...