Anorak Corner 9 - horsepower: metric and imperial

A minor change to the layout of the Verdict means a few more pieces of data are now being included in the small specification table that appears at the top of the test. For example, we are now listing each test car's power output, and the chosen measure is imperial bhp (brake horsepower) rather than the very similar metric horsepower, usually referred to as DIN PS = Deutsches Institut für Normung (the relevant German standards body) and Pferdestaerke (German for horsepower). Where the manufacturer issues a figure in terms of PS, we are turning into an imperial bhp number by applying the relevant conversion factor.

Lots of carmakers like to use DIN PS because it looks impressively techy and German, but the irony is that in Germany itself, in advertising material and so on, the PS measure has now almost completely died out. Power outputs are now normally given in terms of kW (kilowatts), and the PS figure can only be shown in brackets after the main kW figure.

Anorak corner 8 - Kia cee'd indicator stalk

This is the indicator stalk of the Kia cee'd SW I was testing recently. The hatchback version of the cee'd that appeared on the Verdict last year had a right-hand indicator stalk. Now, as the photos shows, it has migrated to the left.


In fact I think this is the second or third change since I first tried a pre-production cee'd at the original launch in late 2006, I believe it was. Although I think there's much to be said for a right-hand stalk on an RHD car, I hope Kia's now finally made up its mind!

Anorak Corner 7 - the eyeball vent

These were very popular on British cars of the sixties - Cortinas and Hunters, for example - but I was surprised to see them on the 1977 Capri I had on test recently (see below). I thought they'd been phased out by then.


I've always thought this was a very simple and effective design but I recall reading somewhere that they tended to be leaky and draughty, and that's what eventually did for them.


Anyway, so keen was BMW to plunder the back catalogue of British car design for the retro detailing on the MINI that it reinvented the eyeball (see above for an example from last week's Clubman test car). I think the first BMW MINI had just two but the latest revamped version has four. Can't remember whether the 'proper Mini' had eyeballs back in the sixties, though.

Anorak corner 6 - Bentley's individually signed engines

A bit of under-bonnet detail from the Bentley Azure test. At least on the more expensive models using the most recent versions of the traditional Rolls/Bentley 6 3/4 litre V8 that dates back to the fifties, the company still fits a little plaque bearing the name of the person that put the engine together. The engine on our test car was assembled by P.A. Titley. I'm happy to report that Mr Titley appears to have done a magnificent job (at least I'm assuming it's a Mr Titley rather than a Ms Titley, even in these liberated times) in this case.


Aston Martin fits these little plates as well but recently they have borne the name of the person who carried out the final inspection, presumably because that company's engines are no longer made the old-fashioned way. I don't suppose making people put their name to their work is an absolute guarantee of quality (think of all those corny Verdict test write-ups that have appeared under my by-line) but I'm sure it helps.

Anorak Corner 3 - Saab, Ford and their differing approaches to E85

Ford and Saab have so far been the front-runners in promoting the use of E85, a blend consisting of 15% unleaded and 85% renewable bioethanol. Both have introduced cars to the UK market that have been modified to run on this fuel. I understand that the main differences between these cars and the equivalent standard models are changes to the materials used in the various bits of pipework that make up the fuel system - E85 is more corrosive than the unleaded fuel most cars run on.

E85 also has a higher octane rating than unleaded - 105 is the figure that is usually quoted, compared with 95 for standard unleaded and 97 to 99 for super unleaded. Ford and Saab differ in how they handle this characteristic of E85. Ford sets up its engines so that they don't develop significantly more power when running on E85. Perhaps the company takes the view that there will be a higher degree of acceptance for E85 if the experience of driving a car running on the fuel doesn't feel different to that of driving one running on unleaded - a question, perhaps of not scaring the horses by giving them too many horsepower to play with.

Saab, by contrast, has years of experience with knock sensors and turbo-charging to fall back on and sets its engines up to exploit the higher octane rating of E85 - its 2.0t BioPower unit, for example, delivers 20% more horsepower and 16% more torque than the equivalent unleaded-only engine. This difference certainly makes itself felt on the road.


So which of these approaches is correct? I don't think it's possible to answer that question clearly at the moment. Saab's and Ford's current engines are very much the first generation of E85-capable power units; they are adapted from existing designs and aren't fully optimised to run on E85 as they still need to be capable of running on standard unleaded as well. But if E85, or even pure bioethanol becomes universally available, it looks like more drastic changes to engines could be introduced to exploit the higher octane ratings - small turbocharged engines with lots of power that minimise the fuel consumption penalty of running on bioethanol look like the way it's going.

Anorak Corner 1 - Subaru's Symmetrical AWD system

A few days back, I mentioned the purity of Subaru's drivetrain layout, in which the main elements are laid out in line and a boxer engine is used to achieve a low centre of gravity. This photo (click for an enlarged version), taken at the Salon d'Automobile at Geneva a couple of months ago shows Subaru's so-called 'Symmetrical AWD' system in all its glory.


Subaru has been using this set-up for 35 years and takes it very seriously. Diesel engines have had to wait, presumably because Subaru insisted on developing its own boxer diesel (now on its way later this year), rather than buying in, say, an L4 from someone else.