At last a chance to post after a busy few weeks.
In Austria at the launch of the new Honda Accord. As usual with Honda, while the car is pretty good, this is really all about engines. Just spent the afternoon trying the 2.2 litre diesel unit, which according to Honda is all, or nearly all new. It really is staggeringly good - it feels five or ten years ahead of most other four cylinder diesel engines out there. I'll be particularly interested to see how Subaru's new boxer diesel stacks up against it; that's turning up in the Legacy in a few weeks' time.
Showing posts with label diesel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diesel. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Saturday, 2 June 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, 26 May 2007
More gap filling from SMMT test day
A bit more on the gaps I was able to fill at the SMMT test day last week.
First up, two cars which aren't quite personal top ten jobs like the MX-8 and Jaguar XJ diesel but are nevetheless excellent. One of these has been around for a bit while the other has only just hit British roads in the last few weeks.
The one that's been around a bit is the Subaru Legacy. A recent Verdict participant was telling me all about his the other week, so I made a point of trying one at Millbrook. It's a bit understated but great to drive, with its vice-free behaviour providing an excellent advertisement for the purity of Subaru's drivetrain concept, which involves mounting all of the major components as far as possible 'in line', including the boxer engine, which contributes to Subarus' low centre of gravity.
The Legacy brought back fond memories of the Subaru Forester XT which featured on the Verdict a couple of years back. That test was held in Newcastle and the surrounding area, and I still remember the Forester munching up the miles and attacking the roundabouts on the A1 with a lot more agility than you would ever guess from its rather staid upright appearance. The XT, in particular, is pretty special - it can accelerate as fast as a Boxster until you get up to the sort of speeds where the bluff bodywork starts to hold it back. I was able to confirm that the diesel boxer engine that Subaru showed at Geneva would start making it into various UK models towards the end of the year, with the Forester and the Legacy being the first to benefit, if I remember correctly. I've got high expectations of this engine - as well as opening up Subaru as an option to large numbers of company car drivers and economy-minded private buyers, the diesel boxer promises to sound very good too.
The new car was the second-generation Skoda Fabia. This has the same frontal styling as the Roomster but a daintier rear. The rave reviews this model has had so far seem to be justified - the quality and the design are excellent. The car I tried was the 1.2 litre petrol version, which has an engagingly throbby three cylinder engine that pulls very well for its size. I'm guessing it must be the same as the one fitted to the Urban Fox that featured on the Verdict last year.
A third gap filled was the Volvo S80. Not quite as exciting as the other cars mentioned here, but a fair enough effort and a respectable alternative to some of the mainstream German stuff. The one I tried had a rather ghastly interior colour scheme though; 'bright brown', if you can imagine that, just about sums it up.
First up, two cars which aren't quite personal top ten jobs like the MX-8 and Jaguar XJ diesel but are nevetheless excellent. One of these has been around for a bit while the other has only just hit British roads in the last few weeks.
The one that's been around a bit is the Subaru Legacy. A recent Verdict participant was telling me all about his the other week, so I made a point of trying one at Millbrook. It's a bit understated but great to drive, with its vice-free behaviour providing an excellent advertisement for the purity of Subaru's drivetrain concept, which involves mounting all of the major components as far as possible 'in line', including the boxer engine, which contributes to Subarus' low centre of gravity.
The Legacy brought back fond memories of the Subaru Forester XT which featured on the Verdict a couple of years back. That test was held in Newcastle and the surrounding area, and I still remember the Forester munching up the miles and attacking the roundabouts on the A1 with a lot more agility than you would ever guess from its rather staid upright appearance. The XT, in particular, is pretty special - it can accelerate as fast as a Boxster until you get up to the sort of speeds where the bluff bodywork starts to hold it back. I was able to confirm that the diesel boxer engine that Subaru showed at Geneva would start making it into various UK models towards the end of the year, with the Forester and the Legacy being the first to benefit, if I remember correctly. I've got high expectations of this engine - as well as opening up Subaru as an option to large numbers of company car drivers and economy-minded private buyers, the diesel boxer promises to sound very good too.
The new car was the second-generation Skoda Fabia. This has the same frontal styling as the Roomster but a daintier rear. The rave reviews this model has had so far seem to be justified - the quality and the design are excellent. The car I tried was the 1.2 litre petrol version, which has an engagingly throbby three cylinder engine that pulls very well for its size. I'm guessing it must be the same as the one fitted to the Urban Fox that featured on the Verdict last year.
A third gap filled was the Volvo S80. Not quite as exciting as the other cars mentioned here, but a fair enough effort and a respectable alternative to some of the mainstream German stuff. The one I tried had a rather ghastly interior colour scheme though; 'bright brown', if you can imagine that, just about sums it up.
Thursday, 19 April 2007
Audi at Ingolstadt - day 2
Another day at Ingolstadt hearing about Audi's race programme. Audi has had a great deal of success with diesel-powered racing cars recently. To the extent that I'd thought about it at all, I'd just supposed that all that Audi had needed to do to be successful with this was to stuff a large enough diesel engine into one of their existing cars.
Apparently, it's not as simple as that; the V10 TDI engine is rather large and heavy, which affects the car's weight, centre of gravity and so on. That means just about everything else has to change too.
Now Peugeot has decided to do a diesel racer too, and the Audi and the Peugeot will go head to head for the first time at this year's Le Mans 24 hour race. I'm told that not much information about Peugeot's engine has got out, so it will be fascinating to see how the French company's car does against the Audi.
Why do car companies want to go racing with diesels? Well, despite the advances in recent years that mean diesel models are often more desirable than their closest petrol-driven equivalents (even disregarding the fuel consumption and possible depreciation advantages of diesels), some car buyers still think diesels are slow, noisy and smelly. Racing success will help dispel that. JCB set a new diesel world speed record not so long ago; perhaps Peugeot or Audi will be tempted to have a crack at that as well before too long. My guess would be that given that this is a comparatively neglected category of record-breaking, success could be fairly easy to come by.
Audi's sporting operation plugs into the resources of its parent and also relies heavily on IT. Some of the technology used comes from PTC, a US software house which keeps tabs on design, processes and all of the relevant documentation. An interesting if trivial by-product of this technology's use by the broader Volkswagen group is the VW Phaeton's handbook. Rather than getting a standard handbook that applies to Phaetons in general, owners get a tailored handbook that matches the precise spec of their own cars. A customer who orders a Phaeton with a sunroof gets a handbook that includes instructions on how to operate the sunroof. If no sunroof is ordered, the relevant section is omitted from the handbook. In fact this sort of attention to detail is typical of the care that has gone into making the Phaeton such a formidable machine.
Apparently, it's not as simple as that; the V10 TDI engine is rather large and heavy, which affects the car's weight, centre of gravity and so on. That means just about everything else has to change too.
Now Peugeot has decided to do a diesel racer too, and the Audi and the Peugeot will go head to head for the first time at this year's Le Mans 24 hour race. I'm told that not much information about Peugeot's engine has got out, so it will be fascinating to see how the French company's car does against the Audi.
Why do car companies want to go racing with diesels? Well, despite the advances in recent years that mean diesel models are often more desirable than their closest petrol-driven equivalents (even disregarding the fuel consumption and possible depreciation advantages of diesels), some car buyers still think diesels are slow, noisy and smelly. Racing success will help dispel that. JCB set a new diesel world speed record not so long ago; perhaps Peugeot or Audi will be tempted to have a crack at that as well before too long. My guess would be that given that this is a comparatively neglected category of record-breaking, success could be fairly easy to come by.
Audi's sporting operation plugs into the resources of its parent and also relies heavily on IT. Some of the technology used comes from PTC, a US software house which keeps tabs on design, processes and all of the relevant documentation. An interesting if trivial by-product of this technology's use by the broader Volkswagen group is the VW Phaeton's handbook. Rather than getting a standard handbook that applies to Phaetons in general, owners get a tailored handbook that matches the precise spec of their own cars. A customer who orders a Phaeton with a sunroof gets a handbook that includes instructions on how to operate the sunroof. If no sunroof is ordered, the relevant section is omitted from the handbook. In fact this sort of attention to detail is typical of the care that has gone into making the Phaeton such a formidable machine.
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