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25 Feb, 2008

Paul Frère (1917-2008)

Paul Frère, my favourite automotive journalist, died on last Saturday at the age of 91. Being an engineer, a race driver and a motoring writer, Frère was renowned for attention to technical details and enlighted thousands of car nuts like us.

During the 50s and early 60s, Frère spent most of his golden years as a race driver in various categories. He won Le Mans, Mille Miglia, Spa 1000 and competed in 11 Grand Prix, although the best result was a second place. After that he devoted his life as a motoring journalist and test driver for Porsche. He published a few books with great insights to Porsche, such as "Porsche 911 Story" and "Porsche Boxster Story". He contributed to many automotive publications and acted as the European editor of Road & Track for many years.

At the age of nearly 90, Frère was still active in road testing and attending racing events. In Jan 2007, he crashed heavily at Nurburgring when he was testing a Honda Civic Type R. He was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Although he survived and returned to paddock a few months later, his health deteriorated recently and was taken back to hospital. After celebrated his 91st birthday, Frère passed away on Feb 23. We will always remember his great works and his passion for cars. The automotive world will not be the same again without him.

23 Feb, 2008

New Ford Falcon (FG-series)

Falcon XR

Australia Ford has released the new generation Falcon, FG-series, one of the few rear-drive family cars in the world. Compare with the current AU/BA/BF Falcon (since 1998), its new design looks slimmer and more pleasing to eyes, although it is no where outstanding. The new body is 25mm longer, 4mm wider and runs a 10mm longer wheelbase. Apart from a roomier cabin, rear occupants will especially pleased with a less steeply-raked rear door opening, which means easier access to the cabin. Inside, the environment is greatly improved from the outdated car, although build quality and materials are still lagging behind the world standard.

Falcon XR

As expected, the chassis is said to be stronger and safer. It continues to ride on double-wishbone front suspensions and "control-blade" multi-link rear suspensions like the old car. However, there are plenty of improvements. For example, the control arms of the front suspensions are now made of aluminum to save 22kg. The rear suspension has higher roll center to match with the front and reduce body roll. New bushings, monotube dampers, 30 mm wider tracks improve dynamics and NVH suppression. Besides, the steering rack is now mounted forward to stabilize the steering response. Variable ratio rack is used for the first time.

Falcon XR

As seen in these photos, 3 distinctive lines are offered: XT is the base car, G is the luxurious version and XR is the sport model. They have different grilles and other cosmetic details.

Engines are all derived from the last generation. The base, also the most popular engine is 4.0-liter straight-6 with 24 valves, double VCT variable cam phasing and (unfortunately) the same cast-iron block as before. New improvements include a new composite intake manifold (saves 4kg) with resonance type variable volume function (to optimize output at low and high rev) and a new cylinder head with reshaped combustion chambers to promote swirl. Max output is 261hp and 288 lbft, 7hp and 6 lbft up from the old car.

Falcon XR

Next up is the turbocharged version of the 4.0 straight-6, also the most interesting to us. Now with 362 horsepower and 393 lbft of torque, it is actually on a par with the V8. Compare with the old engine, it gets a new cylinder and a composite intake manifolds like the naturally aspirated engine (but with fixed geometry because the torque of turbocharging is so strong). A new Garrett turbocharger, accompany with shorter intake and lower exhaust back pressure, responds 30% faster to throttle. Turbo lag is reduced, torque curve is improved. 80% max torque is now available from 1250-5750 rpm, while max torque continues from 200-4750 rpm. At the same time, bigger intercooler and higher efficiency turbocharger allows boost pressure to increased from 0.4 to 0.7 bar, resulting in 34 more horse power. Moreover, the variable cam phasing of this engine is adaptive to driving mood - when the throttle is wide open, it switches to an aggressive valve timing to reduce turbo lag and sharpen engine response. In normal driving, the cam timing is less aggressive so that the car delivers 5% lower fuel consumption compare with the old car.

Falcon XT

On the top of the tree is the familiar Boss 290 5.4-liter 32-valve V8, hand-assembled by FPV (Ford Performance Vehicle). It produces 389 hp and 383 lbft of torque, probably not enough to persuade customers to choose it instead of the turbocharged 6. Admittedly, Australia Ford is phasing out V8 engines under the pressure of high fuel price. Therefore it simply drops the mass production 3-valve V8 and offers only the low volume Boss 290 to new Falcon. It is reserved for the XR8 model. Expect only the traditional V8 hardcores will be interested.

Falcon G

As for transmission, the new Falcon adopts a new Tremec 6-speed manual instead of the old 5-speeder. Automatic includes 5A (replaces the old 4A) for cheaper models and ZF 6-speed for top model or option.

Despite of all these changes, the new Falcon still feels somewhat outdated, in particular its packaging and environmental aspect. It is obviously designed from the same concept and component set of its 10-year-old predecessor. This mean it will be difficult to take on the challenges to be faced in the next decade.

23 Feb, 2008

Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe

Two years ago RR presented the 101EX concept to preview the coupe version of Phantom. Now the production Phantom Coupe is released. Priced at £285,000, the Phantom Coupe rivals directly with the £230,000 Bentley Brooklands - both are 2-door luxury coupes. Production volume is expected to be 200 cars per year.

Its aluminum spaceframe chassis is based on the short-wheelbase Phantom Drophead, but has an aluminum hardtop instead of soft top. 2590 kg kerb weight is only 30 kg lighter than Drophead. The engine is still the same 460 hp / 531 lbft 6.75-liter V12 by BMW, so performance is no match with the 530 hp / 774 lbft Bentley Brooklands. 0-60 mph takes 5.3 seconds, while top speed is regulated at 155 mph.

The chassis is stiffer than both Drophead and Phantom sedan. The suspension setting is sportier. The steering has reduced assistance. The chassis is well balanced at 49:51. It should handle better than its siblings.

The cabin is nearly unchanged from the Drophead, but it has a "starlight headlining" at its roof, which uses optic fibers to realize hundreds of light spots.

23 Feb, 2008

Ford Fiesta

In prior to Geneva motor show, Ford Europe has revealed pictures of its next generation Fiesta. Unlike the Verve concept earlier, this is the real production Fiesta. It will be produced in Germany and Spain like the current car, but sales is expected to cover USA for the first time, so this will be the first “World Car” from Ford since the last generation Focus.

At the moment not much technical specifications are available, but we know it is derived from the platform of Mazda 2. It will have 5 choices of engines – 80hp 1.25-liter, 90 hp 1.4-liter, 115hp 1.6 Ti-VCT (VVT), 68hp 1.4TDCi and 90hp 1.6TDCi. Suspension is again struts up front and torsion-beam at the rear. Steering now becomes electrically assisted. The biggest improvement, however, is definitely the styling, which is way more striking than the current Fiesta.

23 Feb, 2008

Fiat 500 Abarth

Look at these pictures ! The Abarth version of Fiat 500 is way more aggressive than the regular car ! It has big air dams, pronounced fenders, four striking alloy wheels, twin-exhaust on either side and even diffusers ! Under the bonnet is the same 1.4-liter 16V turbo engine as Punto Abarth, though detuned to 135 hp (Punto: 155 hp). Max torque is 133 lbft at 2500 rpm, or in Sport mode 152 lbft / 3000 rpm with no limitation of duration. This should give the little 500 good performance. Torque steer is monitored by TTC Torque Transfer Control electronic system.

23 Feb, 2008

Peugeot 308GT THP 175

Peugeot 308 is now available with the 175hp version of the 1.6 THP turbo engine (same as BMW Mini Cooper S and 207RC). Performance: 140 mph, 0-60 mph takes 7.9 sec. Not fast enough to be a range-topper.

23 Feb, 2008

Renault Laguna GT

Laguna GT differs from the regular Laguna in several ways:

Looks: a more aggressive bumper with side intakes

Powertrain: powered by either 205hp 2.0 16V turbo petrol engine or 180 hp 2.0dCi turbo diesel. 6-speed manual gearbox is compulsory.

Chassis: 4-wheel steering, 18-inch 225/45 tires, 320mm front / 300mm rear brake discs.

14 Feb, 2008

Honda Accord Europe / Acura TSX

The European Honda Accord has been renewed. As before, it is sold in the North America under the name Acura TSX, so at the same time Honda America has also released info about the new generation Acura TSX. They are the same car except the grille. I expect the Japanese Accord will also be the same.

The new European Accord is larger than the old car but smaller than the American Accord. Here below is the comparison of their dimensions:

	New Accord Euro	Old Accord Euro	New Accord US
Length / mm	4725	4665	4930
Width / mm	1840	1760	1847
Height / mm	1440	1445	1476
Wheelbase / mm	2705	2670	2800

In particular, the wider tracks, lower height and increased chassis rigidity should improve handling a lot. We expect it will be one of the best handling front-drive mid-size sedans and rival well with Ford Mondeo and Mazda 6. It rides on double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspensions with mechanical adaptive dampers. A faster steering rack combines with electric power steering which uses axial-mounted brushless motor could improve steering feel and response.

Engines include 2 petrol and 1 diesel:

- The base 2.0-liter i-VTEC produces 156hp and 142lbft, same as before but now Euro 5 compliant.

- The 2.4-liter i-VTEC with twin-balancer shafts gets higher compression (from 10.5 to 11.0:1), larger intake valves, lower exhaust back pressure and revised valve timing to produce 200hp and 172lbft, up 10hp and 7lbft respectively. This is also more than the similar engine used in the American Accord.

- The 2.2-liter 16V i-DTEC turbo diesel engine features piezo injectors and Honda's innovative exhaust cleaning technology to comply with the most stringent US Tier II Bin 5 emission standard without using urea addictive like Mercedes' Bluetec. It produces 150hp and 258lbft, 10hp more than before.

Gearbox are either 6-speed manual or 5-speed paddle-shift automatic.

The most interesting feature of the new European Accord is perhaps the "Motion Adaptive EPS (Electric Power Steering)". If the car senses instability, say, excessive oversteer on wet surface or under braking, it exerts an assistant torque to the steering to help correcting the oversteer. As the assistant torque acts as a supportive role only, it will not override the driver control.

< Acura TSX

14 Feb, 2008

Renault Twingo RS

The hot version of Twingo, RS (Renault Sport), is going to be shown in next month's Geneva motor show. However, apart from these pictures details are scarce. Renault only said it is powered by a 1.6-liter 16V normally aspirated engine tuned by Renault Sport to produce 133 horsepower. This will be difficult to rival the forthcoming Fiat 500 Abarth (135hp-150hp and more torque). Surprisingly, Renault Sport once again goes against the latest trend of downsized turbocharged engine. It is probably because the 1.2TCE engine cannot be tuned any higher.

14 Feb, 2008

Hyundai Sonata facelift

At the other side of the Atlantic, Hyundai announced the facelifted Sonata sedan in the US market. Apart from a more elegant / conservative grille, the much criticized dashboard has been thoroughly reworked to appeal to be more upmarket. The suspensions and steering generally get sportier tuning. In the engine compartment, the Theta II 2.4-liter DOHC four-banger gets CVVT also at the exhaust side and a variable intake manifold system so that power and torque increased a little bit to 175 hp / 168 lbft. The Lambda 3.3-liter V6 also gets a variable intake system and other enhancement to produce 249 hp / 229 lbft.

Unfortunately, prices across the range are also increased considerably. Now a base Sonata is more expensive than a base Camry. As mentioned before, I believe Korean car makers are facing intense cost pressure. 2008 won't be easy for them as well as for Sonata.

14 Feb, 2008

Mitsubishi Eclipse facelift

Here is the Eclipse facelift. The most obvious change is undoubtedly the black mask – interestingly, very much like Nissan GT-R. Other changes are small – the rear spoiler gets larger, the 3.8 V6 gets 2 more horses to 265hp in total. They are unlikely to negate the falling sales.

14 Feb, 2008

Acura RL facelift

Is 2008 the "Year of Facelift" ? Here comes another facelift, Acura RL. As you know, Acura RL fails to establish a strong image and presence in the executive car market, so this time it hopes a mid-life makeover could make life easier. The 3.5 SOHC VTEC V6 has been enlarged to 3.7 liters, accompany with higher compression ratio to produce 300hp (10hp up) and 271 lb-ft of torque (11 lb-ft up). The additional weight of the engine is likely to be offset by an aluminum bonnet. The outdated 5-speed automatic transmission is strengthened to take on the extra torque and added with paddle shifter for manual override. The improved SH-AWD system is said to be more responsive. The suspensions get stiffer springs and thicker anti-roll bars. Larger 18-inch wheels are wrapped with more aggressive tires. So it tries to deviate from its Japanese rivals by focusing on driver appeal.

Outside, the new RL gets a new grille and taillight design. Inside, it gets new rear seats to free up more space, upgraded sound insulation, climate control and materials.

14 Feb, 2008

Mercedes SL63 AMG

Following the facelifted Mercedes SL-class, its AMG versions have also got a facelift. However, more interesting to us is the mechanical side. While range-topper SL65 is basically unchanged (still that 612hp twin-turbo V12 and 5-speed automatic), the keen driver's choice SL55 has been replaced with SL63, signaling the end of the previous supercharged V8. As expected, the new engine is the same as that used in S63 and CL63 – a 6.2-liter 32-valve V8 good for 525 horsepower and 465 lb-ft. 0-60 mph takes 4.5 seconds, a little bit quicker than before.

However, what surprises us is that it employs a new 7-speed gearbox called AMG SpeedShift MCT, where MCT stands for Multi-Clutch Technology. Some publications confused it as a dual-clutch manual gearbox, but I can tell you it is actually based on the 7G-Tronic automatic gearbox with planetary gears. The main difference is the use of an automated wet start-up clutch to replace hydraulic torque converter, so it is a crossover between automatic and manual gearbox. (Just don't ask me why it is called "multi-clutch". AMG still owes us an answer) The use of clutch instead of torque converter allows quicker response required by keen drivers. The MCT offers 4 modes of operation – C (comfort) takes 200ms to shift gear, S (Sport) takes 160ms, S+ (Sport+) takes 120ms, while M (Manual) takes 100ms. Besides, this gearbox offers a Race Start function, which let the computer to determine the optimal engine rev and gearshift points to launch the car, so you can beat Michael Schumacher at the traffic light without ever touching the gearshifter !

< SL65 AMG

Apart from the MCT gearbox, the new AMG SL offers some nice optional equipment, such as ceramic brakes, sportier version of Active Body Control, more aggressive tires, vicous-coupling LSD, an Audi-style flat-bottomed steering wheel and new seats that blow warm air to your neck (now you can enjoy open-air motoring in winter).

14 Feb, 2008

Mercedes SL facelift – more pictures

Last month we have seen the first pictures of the facelifted SL. Now enjoy more pictures.