finding the signal in an industry filled with noise
Now that every kid with a fiberglass bumpered Civic CX has a Type R sticker on their cars, Honda’s considering a model that will out-R the Type R: the Type RR. (Say that 5 times fast).
You can read more conjecture here.
Actually as far as we know Britian’s best known journalist Jeremy Clarkson spent his own money on a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG, a Range Rover Vogue 4.4, a Toyota Landcruiser and a Ford Focus.
For those of you who hadn’t noticed, VW products – though seemingly solid and stable on the highway – have been astoundingly poor handlers for oh – over a decade now.
For the new Jetta/Golf/Passat chassis, VW spent some serious money on the body structure, suspension and steering. They even hired away engineers who had worked on the BMW 3 series and Ford Focus. The result is a car that combines some of the best aspects of those two cars, especially in GLI/GTI form. Take for example these excerpts from Car and Driver’s February 2006 comparison:
“What a hoot to drive…”
“Easy to get pinpoint location in corners and squirts out of ‘em with great gusto.”
“...this car rules ! Eager turn-in, nice balance, great grip, good power, outstanding steering.”
We’d prefer it on lightweight 17” wheels and with the 2nd generation Haldex 4Motion system, but then no one would buy the A4…
UPDATE: You’ll find more reviews here...
A number of recent advancemens in automotive engineering are inspired by natural phenomena, the most recent we’ve heard of being Nissan’s pioneering paint that ‘heals’ itself when scratched.
Click here...
Last week a friend who takes cars almost as seriously as I do said he didn’t see the point in the Range Rover Sport. I disagreed, my argument sounding a lot like this excerpt from evo:
think of the very first Range Rover, the really cool one. Remember the way it was properly utilitarian as well as being somehow glamorous. Remember how it was a good bit smaller than the current full-house Range Rover and Discovery models. Now imagine it brought up to date…
The modifications by Chrysler’s tuner, Sports and Racing Technology (SRT), have transformed the Grand Cherokee [SRT8] into the kind of machine it should have been all along. The suspension can’t match the adaptability of the air systems used by rivals and there’s a lot of dive under braking and too much rebound over bumps, but it’s a vast improvement over the standard car.
source: evo
UPDATE: from Inside Line:
You can tell where they spent the money. As Executive Editor Richard Homan stated: “One lean into the brake pedal or a turn of the steering wheel makes it clear that this is a performance-engineered project, not a ‘guess it needs more power’ also-ran vanity vehicle. SRT placed the needs of the enthusiast first — engine, drivetrain, suspension, brakes, steering and seats. The best carmaker in the U.S. right now is team SRT.”
“There’s the Colin Chapman [Lotus] approach, which is to have soft springs and stiff anti-roll bars; and there’s the BMW approach, which is to have stiff springs and soft bars… [At Jaguar] We’re sort of in the middle…”
-Mike Cross, Jaguar’s head chassis guy
source: Motor Trend
“Germans like things understated, Americans want flash.” – Filip Brabec, Audi NA product planning manager
source: Automobile, Feb. ‘06
some staffers cited excessive tire and transmission noise, a cruising range of less than 300 miles, and an excessively tricky clutch as reasons to prefer other cars. source: Aaron Robinson, Car and Driver 09.05
(If the auto transmission didn’t have 4 speeds, we’d prefer that model over the manual – especially as it eliminates all the complaints other than the short cruising range. If any car needs a sequential manual transmission it’s this one…)