BMW i8 – <b>car review</b> | Technology | The Guardian |
- BMW i8 – <b>car review</b> | Technology | The Guardian
- VW Scirocco R-Line 2.0-litre TDI 150 PS manual – <b>car review</b> | Zoe <b>...</b>
- Mitsubishi Shogun: <b>car review</b> | Martin Love | Technology | The <b>...</b>
- On the road: Infiniti Q50 2.0T Sport Automatic – <b>car review</b> | Zoe <b>...</b>
- 2014 Ford Mondeo first drive <b>review</b> - Autocar
| BMW i8 – <b>car review</b> | Technology | The Guardian Posted: 16 Jan 2015 10:00 PM PST 'My kid asked me if it could fly.' Photograph: Simon Stuart-Miller for the Guardian The BMWi8 is sleek, fast, futuristic and, most of all, defiant. The rules are, if you want to be green, you have to be crap. These were laid down in stone by eco-friendly cleaning products, and reinforced by decades of dirty hippies. The i8 is flash, showy, outrageously fast – and the future: one day, all cars will be like this – lighter, run on batteries – or cars will have ceased to exist. The hybrid electric motor drives the front wheels, the turbo-charged petrol-triple engine the back. Sure, it plugs into the mains now, but as soon as they perfect the solar battery, this car is going to be first in line to run on sun. The frame is carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, somewhat lighter than aluminium, tonnes lighter than steel. The resulting drive is, in any of the modes – SPORT, COMFORT or ECO-PRO (I'm not shouting; this is what BMW calls them) – more like driving in a video game than driving a car: silent, smooth, otherworldly. The speed dial is projected forwards into space, so only the driver can see it. This is handy, I imagine, if your passenger habitually tells you to slow down. Mind you, in this car, your passenger is going to tell you to slow down anyway. I defy you, feeling so protected (a high window line makes the world seem quite far away) and so omnipotent (thanks to the crazy raw power), not to go too fast, or at the very least accelerate in an ostentatious fashion. Before you drive the i8, though, you have to get in; the doors open upwards in a gull-wing fashion. My kid asked me if it could fly. There is always someone taking a picture of it, if not as you approach, certainly by the time you've got the key out of your pocket. One time, walking purposefully toward it, then suddenly exhausted by the effort of explaining why I had it, even though it wasn't mine, I just took a photo with my phone and walked away. You really have to be cut out for the kind of attention this car will garner: it's like being famous overnight. The cabin is swish and intuitive; in the dark, it comes alive with illuminated blue piping. The seatbelts are bright blue and heavily redolent of the professional pitstop. The posture is low and luxurious in a Swiss-watch-advert kind of way ("I'm reclining like this because I can afford to, not because my back's gone"). The motorway is where it gets to show off. It can make a decent noise, for a start, some of it simulated (people like that). More relevant is the ease with which it takes everything, and its remarkable fuel efficiency: at speed, something like 50mpg, roughly the same as a Prius, which feels like you're pushing it along with your own buttocks. The prototype for the i8 was in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I can't figure out how Tom Cruise swung out of the low driver's seat on his tiny little legs, but I can't conceive of a more Hollywood-ready car.  Price From £99,895 (this model £106,110) • Follow Zoe on Twitter.  |
| VW Scirocco R-Line 2.0-litre TDI 150 PS manual – <b>car review</b> | Zoe <b>...</b> Posted: 09 Jan 2015 10:00 PM PST VW Scirocco R-Line: "More oomph than you expect." Photograph: Simon Stuart-Miller for the Guardian The first time I ever had a boyfriend with a car, it was a VW Scirocco: low, square and noisy (the car was cool as well). In the 1990s, people had Sciroccos as a kind of subtle joke. It was a sports car, but also a period piece – so it was no longer sporty, but it still thought it was. I don't know who the joke was on – the car? The world? Yourself? – but it was definitely irony based. So I never understood why VW brought it back, because, new (it was redesigned in 2008), it wasn't funny. It was just sporty. Ah, but there it is: turns out that funny doesn't add very much to the driving experience, whereas sporty really does. The look is completely different. Everything that was previously square is now round, though it is deceptively low and surprisingly wide. There is a certain open-faced friendliness to the front-on look of this new model, which is the diametric opposite of the original. The interior is sleeker and younger than that of, say, a Passat, but it will be deeply familiar to VW loyalists. Maybe too familiar: if this is meant to be the daring version of more sober models, it could convey that much more strongly with visual cues like – well, I don't know. I'm not a car designer. But I would have known them if I'd seen them. The seats are sculpted, which starts off weird but is actually very pleasing. It's a delightful drive: there is more oomph than you expect, it moves through the gears like a minnow, it takes everything effortlessly. It's so responsive, like (I imagine) teaching a gifted child: the more you ask, the more it can instantly do. I started to anthropomorphise it, imagining its moods on a spectrum from lively to boisterous. It was surely only a matter of time before I started calling it "she". Initially, I thought of it as a classic city car for people who would have bought a Golf but wanted to kid themselves that they would once in a while need to get to 60mph in a short time. It's not that: given its performance, this car is wasted on city driving. In traffic, it's almost painful: you can feel its impatience, and also the pedals are set quite high for constant stop-starting. It has a cool energy-saving feature whereby the engine cuts automatically when you're stationary in traffic. (This is actually rather common now. I wish I could stop being so surprised.) Knowing I had this speed and grace at my disposal altered my driving style a bit: I started to race people off the lights and generally behave like a dick. Then I had a flash of unwanted insight into how I must appear to the outside, in my purple mid-price sports car, driving like a boy racer with the reaction times of someone recently roused from anaesthetic. The only plausible explanation for me being in this car is that I have bought it as an 18th birthday present for my spoiled son, and am driving it home while having a nervous breakdown. But inside my head, we look tremendous, the Scirocco and I. Price From £27,375 (as tested: £29,565) • Follow Zoe on Twitter. |
| Mitsubishi Shogun: <b>car review</b> | Martin Love | Technology | The <b>...</b> Posted: 03 Jan 2015 10:00 PM PST Down and dirty: depsite the decent road manners, it's off road that the Shogun really comes to life. Price £26,199 "In wun hoondred yards, gerrof on the fookin' left!" When it comes to the voice on my satnav, I've always been a fan of Birmingham's most famous son, Ozzy Osbourne. I did take instruction from Sean Connery for a few years – "Follow thissshh road for shix milesshh!" – but found myself spending too much time imitating him, to the frustration of my passengers. Next, I think I might go for Julian Clary, or maybe Kim Cattrall. Or Mr T. Or Morgan Freeman… Yes, Morgan! The giving (and taking) of directions (in cars, and elsewhere) is an area fraught with difficulty. A simple "I said left!" can trigger a full domestic meltdown. A few weeks ago, for instance, my wife was driving and I told her to leave the roundabout at 2 o'clock. After a pause of total incomprehension, she said: "And what time is it now?" I suspect the true reason those old road atlases that live on our backseats are always so ripped and torn is that clueless map readers have had to use them as shields against drivers enraged by poor navigational prompts. The likes of TomTom and Garmin should be given a medal by Relate for services towards ending road rows between couples. Which brings me to the satnav voice in this Mitsubishi Shogun – it's the squeakiest, ugliest, most grating voice I've ever heard. It's so irritating you'd rather be lost than listen to her listless drawl. It's a missed chance to imbue the 4x4 with an appropriately deep and gravelly persona.  Inside story: the interior of the Shogun. Photograph: PR The Shogun is one of the big boys of the road. It's a tough, no-nonsense, authentic SUV. It may not be pretty but it certainly gets the job done. It's been with us since 1982 and was one of the first large 4x4s to couple on-road pampering with off-road performance. This is now the fourth generation of the enduring SUV and thanks to advances in technology it is stronger, quieter, safer and smarter than before. Yet somehow a part of it still seems to be stuck back in the 1980s. Clamber in and the sheer scale of it hails from another time. The massive doors slam shut like trapdoors and the side-hinged tailgate almost needs two hands to haul it open. Despite its terrifying presence, the Shogun is a friendly Gruffalo of a vehicle. It's easy to drive and boasts a quick-thinking automatic which emulates your own driving style (that may not be a good thing). Power steering can be done with a fingertip it's so light, while the hydro-boost braking system is mercifully efficient. In theory, parking should be impossible, but thanks to a raft of reversing sensors, cameras and an amazingly tight turning circle you'll marvel at the spaces you squeeze into. The 1980s vibe isn't helped by the hopeless driver interface. Buttons are tiny, the display is an unreadable dot-matrix, and the controls are fiddly and don't seem to do what you ask. Just like they were 30 years ago. But these are trifling concerns when you give in to the Shogun's considerable charms. It's genuinely loved by its owners: 70% of sales are repeat purchases. The Shogun is a dyed-in-the-wool, no-holds-barred workhorse built for those who actually need to load, lug and pull heavy objects. It's made to slither, climb, wade, plough and clamber over the toughest terrains. It feels unstoppable. The drivetrain, four-wheel independent suspension and traction-control systems mean it could keep going long after your courage has failed you. The 3.2-litre four-cylinder diesel has been revised and primped. It's still a chugger on the open road but it will pull a trailer though a bog with relish. And you can now switch from two- to four-wheel-drive to coax a few more miles from your tank. It's all great stuff, except for that voice: Arnie Schwarzenegger would have been perfect. Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166 |
| On the road: Infiniti Q50 2.0T Sport Automatic – <b>car review</b> | Zoe <b>...</b> Posted: 02 Jan 2015 10:00 PM PST Infiniti Q50: 'I watched it leave with some regret.' Photograph: Simon Stuart-Miller for the Guardian The Infiniti Q50 looks like a car you'd find in an official motorcade, carrying the second-least important person: heavy but not bullet-proof, elegant but not wallet-busting. It's a Japanese marque, a couple of decades old but available in Europe only since 2008. It has an isolated feel, as if it were developed away from all the other cars, which can make it seem yesteryear-y. The curvy front and determined heft belong to a pre-agile driving era. Even creating a name by misspelling a perfectly good word seems a 1990s thing to do. And yet sometimes the little idiosyncratic touches play in its favour: everything's automatic – headlights, wipers, overhead parking camera, the slightly patronising way the seat hums towards and away from the steering wheel, in anticipation of my next move. It got to the point that, when Magic FM came on, I assumed the Q50 knew I was in the mood for Tracy Chapman. It has show-off economy features – a stop-start engine for when you're stationary – but is not structurally economical: some pointy-head has calculated that it's 24p dearer per mile than an equivalent Bimmer, a sum so painful that, once you knew it, you'd visualise on every journey. So, on that basis alone, it fails its own challenge, which is to lure people from cars they know better with some magic combination of instant dependability and enticing newness. There's going to be no brand exodus away from similar motors in the 40k bracket. Having established that I'll never be called upon to buy one, I started to enjoy it. At low speeds, it can feel a bit dieselly and reluctant, but it cuts up from 30 to 70 with so much enthusiasm, it felt like g-force. Something about that power, and the driving position, gave me a zen-like sense that I was inhabiting the spirit of the car, driving it forwards by force of mind. What's 24p to a person who has reached a state of telepathy with a car? It also has an indefinable road presence, partly because it is unfamiliar, so it takes more than an instant for people to figure out how expensive it must be; and partly because, being rather broad, it's zippier than it looks. People spin round as you pass, with a look as if they've just been overtaken by a fat cyclist. There are some classy dashboard features, too: a touchscreen large enough to watch a film on (variously occupied by the satnav and the stereo), and a stop-start button instead of a key insert. I found this counter-intuitive, like changing a cashpoint so the money comes out before the card. Naturally, people will adapt, but a lot of people will forget their cards in the meantime, and I forgot to turn off the engine (but only once). I was not expecting that I'd sink into the seat and it would smell like James Bond, all high-quality fibres and Acqua di Parma, but it did feel a bit plasticky. That said, I was impressed by how well it all stacked together, the way it was one step ahead of me at every turn, clocking light drizzle, ready with an ambient temperature, full of seven-gear automatic confidence. I watched it leave with some regret, largely because I can't see myself meeting one again. Price From £34,125 Follow Zoe on Twitter. |
| 2014 Ford Mondeo first drive <b>review</b> - Autocar Posted: 07 Oct 2014 01:06 AM PDT What is it?:This is the all-new Ford Mondeo. The fleet favourite is new from the ground up, sharing most of its architecture and tech with the US-built Fusion saloon. However, the European Mondeo is arriving here a full three years after its American cousin went on sale, due to alterations to production plans. It also arrives after what we're told are significant revisions to make it palatable for a European audience. This 'tailoring' in Ford-speak includes substantial changes to the chassis, improvements to interior quality, new engine options and additional body styles. It will go on sale in January as a five-door hatchback and estate. At launch we'll have the choice of a 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine, in two outputs, plus 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre petrol turbo EcoBoost engines, all allied to either a six-speed manual gearbox or an optional six-speed automatic. There will also be a 2.0-litre petrol-electric hybrid, which will be the only Mondeo available as a four-door saloon. Shortly afterwards, more frugal and more powerful petrol and diesel engines will be added to the line-up, as will an all-wheel drive option. Later in the year we'll also have the novelty, for this class anyway, of a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged petrol option which will hardly be a fire breather but should be attractive option for anyone paying company car tax – hugely important for most Mondeo clientele. The Mondeo is the first Ford to use a new integral link rear suspension set-up, although it retains MacPherson struts up front. It's also the first Mondeo to have electric power-assisted steering that can be adapted to match the adaptive damper system, which can be switched to Comfort, Normal or Sport for the first time. Inside, it gets the latest generation of Ford's Sync infotainment system and has a suite of optional safety technology to bring it in line with rivals, including pedestrian detection, lane keeping assist and rear seatbelt airbags. So it's an attractive package, but it will have a tough time on its hands. The new Mondeo is arriving late to a party that will shortly include a brand new Volkswagen Passat, a refreshed Vauxhall Insignia with new engines and a revised Peugeot 508. It is also centre stage in a class that is rapidly declining as private and company buyers alike are finding more favour in SUVs, small premium saloons and increasingly spacious cars from the class below. What's it like?:This is a car well suited to chewing through large numbers of miles. At motorway speeds it's impressively quiet, isolating you well from the twin irritations of road and wind noise. The 178bhp 2.0-litre diesel hatchback is hushed even under heavy acceleration, and gives the substantial Mondeo an assertive turn of speed to match near-50mpg real-world economy. The car feels pacey and muscular rather than fast, but for those with an appetite for more performance, a twin-turbocharged 2.0-litre TDCI with 207bhp and 332lb ft launches later in 2015. Completing the picture is high-speed ride quality that is supple, quiet and well-controlled in any of the three suspension settings offered by the adaptive dampers. Moreso, actually, than most of its more aggressively sprung German rivals. Yes, around town you feel a few more thumps, but again they're impressively muted. Opt for the standard passive dampers and you'll find the Mondeo comfortable-riding but still pleasingly taut on UK roads; it pulls off that impression of being compliant over long-wave undulations but also controlled when push comes to shove, which Fords have long been renowned for. Other saloons ride more softly over really bad surfaces, which is really the only price to be paid for the Mondeo's relatively sporty damping. Predictably, the Mondeo's new-found high-speed plushness has taken a toll elsewhere. Successive Mondeos have lost sharpness and this one doesn't handle with quite the precision or alacrity of the last. In truth you do feel the extra weight, but you also revel in just how such a large car can feel quite so nimble – helped through direct and well-weighted steering. You rarely derive huge enjoyment from pushing the Mondeo hard, which is a shame when you consider its lineage, but credit is due to Ford for producing a fully electromechanical power steering setup with decent consistency and feel, and overall a car that's that little bit more keen-handling than the norm. The Mondeo's comfort carries through into the cabin. The new touchscreen infotainment system is among the best in the business. Seat comfort, too, is good, as is the fact that it's feasible to accommodate five six-footers in the cabin and their luggage – one of the main benefits of the new car's added width. Great pains have also been taken to improve the quality of all the bits you touch and feel. It's been a qualified success, with better attention-to-detail than we've seen in any Ford before. At the same time, the German premium brands won't be losing much sleep because of this car, and neither will the creators of the new VW Passat. Particularly jarring are the cheap-looking metallic-type plastic surrounding the centre console, the 8in touchscreen multimedia system that quickly gets covered in dirty fingerprints and shows them up in direct sunlight, and the heating and fan controls which are push buttons rather than the easier-to-use rotary knob variety. Should I buy one?:Most of us are unlikely to be funding a new Mondeo with our own money, so this decision will be partially decided by the monthly contract hire payments and whether you can afford the company car tax. The early signs are that the Mondeo will be good value for fleet drivers, with improved residuals bringing contract hire and lease payments down particularly for high-end Titanium X versions. Most of the car's long-standing selling points - practicality, usability and plain-old value-for-money - are as strong as ever, while key factors like comfort, refinement and costs of ownership have taken a big leap forward. It's just slightly regrettable that such progress comes at the cost of eroding the Mondeo's biggest distinguising quality: it's sporting handling. Truth is, a Mazda 6 is probably a more enthusiatic steer than the big Ford now, and for all the Mondeo's newfound maturity, the VW Passat is still a much classier proposition. However, while this may be more comfort-orientated than ever before, be in no doubt that it's an excellent car. Ford Mondeo TDCi 180 Titanium Price £24,245; 0-62mph 8.3sec; Top speed 140mph; Economy 64.2mpg; CO2 115g/km; Kerb weight 1579kg; Engine 4 cyls, 1997cc, turbodiesel; Power 178bhp at 3500rpm; Torque 295lb ft between 2000-2500rpm; Gearbox 6-spd manual |
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