Arrivals and departures

O.K. Sorry for the lack of updates but things have been pretty busy here. If I'm not at work I'm either writing or at the gym. It is all good but leaves the poor old blog a bit neglected. Since my last update covered part of my search for a new car it seemed logical to resume by saying that I have found one. A 1998 Honda Prelude VTi, a rare manual example. Despite my general enthusiasm for automatic transmissions I think the synchromesh gearbox is the one to have if you're going to buy a Prelude. Given the rumours of problematic auto-boxes the DIY-transmission certainly seems like a safer bet.

So far I am delighted with it. Some minor details feel a little penny pinched compared with my old 1989 Preludes. Things like the lack of seat memory and unlined coin tray suggest that the accountants took their pound of flesh. Somehow fake wood on the centre console is poor compensation for what has been lost. At least the double wishbone suspension and four-wheel steering escaped the axe - a large part of the pleasure of driving the Prelude is down to the way it handles and steers. Unfortunately I can't make a direct comparison with my old Preludes but not only is there an improvement in grip and responsiveness but also the ride is much more comfortable.

Other noticeable improvements over the old Prelude include more performance and surprising smoothness from the V-tec engine. Especially gratifying is the smoother transition between the two cam profiles - the 1992 Prelude I drove, which gave me my first taste of Honda's variable valve timing and lift technology, suffered a noticeable step between the two stages. Despite the improved performance fuel economy seems no worse than my old, automatic Prelude and a 60-litre fuel tank gives more than adequate range - at the expense of a big bill if you have to refill and almost empty tank.



Getting the Prelude meant saying goodbye to my Citroen BX14. Sold to a BX enthusiast I'm happy that it has gone to a good home. I must admit I never bonded with 'Pierre' in the way that I did with the BX I had before, Claude. Funny how both French cars gained nicknames but neither my current Honda nor any of the others received that honour.

Slow recovery

As my arm heals I am once again able to do with ease the ordinary things I’d always taken for granted. Most things anyway – driving remains a challenge. Gripping objects in my left hand is difficult and painful as is applying any sideways force with my left arm. Managing unassisted steering is a bit of a chore and a gear lever is very hard work indeed. Even pulling on the handbrake feels like painful exertion.

It does give you a new perspective on car design. My Citroën needs more effort to move the lever into the plane of 5th and reverse than it needs to push towards 1st and 2nd. I can manage the push into first or second easily but fifth is hard work and I prefer to use my right hand to select reverse. There can be no need to make things hard work and my car is by no means unique in having a stronger spring on the 5th-reverse plane of its gearbox. In the old days some 4-speed gearboxes had no spring assistance, which made changing gear very easy but I’m not sure there are many cars that are tolerable with just 4 gears. A sequential gearbox would work too, just pulling and pushing for each gear. An automatic would be better.

The design of the old-fashioned pull-up handbrake seems to be falling out of fashion, which is a good thing as it is an absurd piece of design. Pulling it on seems to involve all the wrong muscles (especially when they are impaired in their operation). In my present condition a right-hand handbrake would make more sense (off the top of my head that means cars like the Jaguar XJS, Aston Martins, the Lotus Esprit and the W123 Mercedes-Benz). A lever that could be pushed forward, even with my left arm in its present condition, would be better still; or maybe a foot-operated parking brake is the answer (various Mercedes, the Citroën XM and lots of Americans). I’m not sure an electric handbrake is the answer – with automatic transmission it works well enough but I think something more progressive is needed when balancing on the clutch biting point.

Power steering is the obvious answer to ease the last of my troubles but it needs to be quite direct – don’t want too much arm-twirling. Citroën have probably made some of the most direct powered setups – the SM needed only 2 turns to go from lock to lock and if the CX was slightly less responsive it was still sharp compared to many of its rivals. A C-matic semi-auto CX would work well, I think and there are some CX automatics. An SM would be better, being left-hand drive the gear laver and handbrake can be operated by my “good” arm. But if someone lent me an SM while I recover I’d be tempted to fake my symptoms to prolong the loan.

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

2008 Wish list part 1

Jaguar XF



With the end of the year rapidly approaching you can be sure that lots of retrospective views of 2007 are being readied for publication. Rather than look back (which I will do) I would rather look forward and think about some of the cars I’d like to drive in the next year.

Top of the list is the Jaguar XF, and I’ve stepped into the deadly trap of falling for the car purely based on how it looks and the badge it wears. It is a dangerous position to be in; if I like it, how do I know it isn’t because I am under its spell; if I do not, is it because I was simply expecting too much?

The most appealing aspect of the XF is the interior and particularly the rotary control knob for the automatic transmission. It is such a simple, yet sensible idea that I’m surprised no-one has done it before. The console in which the knob is set looks like a work of art – although it does remind me of the consoles fitted to American muscle cars of the late 1960s.


Jaguar XF console


Plymouth GTX console, can you see why the Jaguar makes me think of this?

Meet the new boss…

… same as the old boss.

Having spent the best part of the last two years with a white Citroën BX you would think that I would fancy a change. So I went out and bought another white Citroën BX. I didn’t go out and choose a white BX; rather a friend of a friend had one that was surplus to requirements. It is 3 years newer than the old car and has done just over 50,000 miles rather than just under 150,000. Unlike the old car, which is a generously equipped 19TRS with a big engine, the new one is pretty the BX14TE St Tropez – near the bottom of the range. Instead of enjoying the torque of the big engine loping along in the high top gear of the automatic transmission I have a small-ish 1.4 litre engine and a very low-geared manual transmission. Instead of infra red central locking I have a different key for doors and ignition and have to unlock each one individually. Steering is manual and takes nearly 4 turns to go lock to lock where the old car with power assistance needs just less than 3 turns.

One of the biggest shocks was the reliability of starting with the manual choke. Just pull it out, turn the key and it starts. Compare that with fiddling round, wondering if you should pump the accelerator and the general uncertainty of the worn out old automatic choke and it is far better. The second shock is the effort needed to turn the wheel; no lazy swinging from lock to lock with the car at a standstill and the engine running. How did people ever consider this acceptable? I don’t like the clutch – like so many clutches the pedal travel is too long and the arc does not correspond with the natural movement of the human ankle. The gear lever action is typically older French car, slightly floppy and vague but quick, flickable and easy. I have also satisfied myself that the left foot can easily find the brake pedal (at least they haven’t changed – still the same short-travel pedal) and the clutch pedal is not necessary for changing gear on the move.

As you might expect there are a few things that need attention. The wheels need balancing, or something as there is a perceptible wobble through the wheel. A new steering wheel would be nice as the old one is breaking up possibly because of the grip required to turn the wheel at low speed or full lock. There are a couple of scratches that could do with touching up and the driver’s sun visor doesn’t’ want to stay up. On the whole it does carry its years well, which hopefully means that a few more years won’t be a problem.

I’ll try and post some pictures soon.

Automatic Choice

Today was in many ways a perfect motoring day. The weather was cool but dry, the sky clear and visibility good. Even better, I was able to travel on single carriageway A and B-roads. While the roads were practically on my doorstep they were unfamiliar. Under those circumstances it is good to have automatic transmission. There are those who say that you can’t be serious about driving if you like automatics but they don’t know what they are talking about.

Automatic transmission encourages left braking without having to worry about any other pedals. A little practice with the right foot and the transmission selector lever means you will never be stuck in the wrong gear. The automatic transmission in the Citroën BX isn’t the best but the control lever allows you to get the best from it. Lots of transmissions allow the lever to be pushed from the drive position into neutral, something that could have disastrous results for the engine if done whilst driving quickly. In the Citroën the lever can’t be pushed into neutral without squeezing a button on the lever.

The same button must be held to lock out third and top gear but it is useful to hold second gear for roundabouts and tight corners. Between drive and 3rd there is nothing to inhibit free movement of the lever, which is great for overtaking or fast bends. Someone within Citroën clearly understood how to get the best out of automatic transmissions.

It was the automatic transmission that did so much to aid my enjoyment of today’s motoring. I also appreciated the Citroën’s suspension as the roads weren’t always as smooth as they could be. If only the steering was sharper, how much more fun I could have had.