Evolutionary thinking

About the most difficult question I was asked by a friend after the SMMT test day was what my favourite car of the day had been. How on earth could I choose between the varied delights of the Jaguar XK8 and the Fiat 500? Something coarse but entertaining, like the Vauxhall Astra VXR Nurburgring or civilised and satisfying like the Audi A4 3.2FSI SE.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X SST was the only car that could stand a chance of being the best at almost everything and so, by default, the Evo had to be my favourite. Don’t, however, think that I was less than keen on it. In fact I enjoyed the Evo intensely – so much more, in fact, because it was more civilised than I expected. The twin-clutch sequential transmission must have helped; how could a dreaded “flappy paddle” gearbox shuffle forward and back at parking speed with such suavity?

Never mind parking, this is a car for whizzing, charging, zipping and dashing. How beautifully it danced on Millbrook’s hill route, up and down hills, around ever tighter corners. The transmission worked well as an automatic but was pure bliss when changing gear manually. With the gear changes at the second fastest setting (I never tried the fastest) the response to the paddles felt instant. The only complaint I had was that second gear could have been higher as dropping down from 3rd gear always seemed to have the engine screaming its head off.



It was the engine and transmission that dominated the experience. The steering and brakes must have been fine, the ergonomics acceptable. I do remember that the driver’s seat was good. I certainly can’t think of anything that was wrong with it.

Before I drove the Mitsubishi Evo I wondered what the appeal might be. Surely sticking a powerful engine in a family saloon was a mistake, diverting it from the proper purpose of being sensible family transport. In fact the way it goes is positively addictive, I just want another go, I need to feel that gear change again and the G-forces as the Evo charges round another corner. And maybe I need to try the manual version too for good measure.

Something published

Before I went to the SMMT Drive Day one of my aims was to try and make contact with someone from the press. I managed, quite by chance, to bump into someone I exchanged emails with a year or two back. As a result I'm working on a car review for him and, in the meantime, I was asked to write a short news piece on the new small Rolls-Royce. Check it out by clicking on the title or click here.

SMMT 08 – A tale of 2 Renaults

Two cars I was very keen to try at the SMMT test drive day were the Renault Laguna GT with Active Drive and the Clio Renaultsport 197 Cup. Having heard the rumours that Renault were going to be doing four-wheel steering and then seeing the press release confirming how they were going to do it I was eager to try it. With the Clio, I wanted to try a quick Renault hatchback.



The Laguna looks impressive and feels good to sit in but comes up short on the move. The first irritant is the steering wheel, which is annoyingly not round. The gear lever feels somewhat loose and floppy, which is how the whole car feels. Four wheel steering works every bit as well as expected but the rest of the car does not invite, encourage or reward hard driving. If the GT suffix usually denotes Grand Tourer the Laguna is rather too much Tourer and not Grand enough.



If only the Laguna could enjoy the polish and fine tuning that made the Clio what it is – which is to say rather wonderful. True, you sit more on the car than in it and getting in and out of the deeply contoured Recaro requires considerable agility but it puts a smile on your face. Everything about the Clio 197 feels taught and positive, it positively begs to be driven hard and fast – with verve and enthusiasm. Although it feels too high that difficult to enter seat is superbly comfortable and holds you in place perfectly so you move with the car. Somehow this has been achieved without making the Cup unbearable on the motorway.

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.