The Car Thread

[Richard.John]

Shozuki,

Nice car. I drove a 5 series estate the other day and it must be said, it was mighty. The 335 coupe is lush but expensive and a M3 would go down nicely sometime.

Anyway, regarding the Lambo, I had forgotten that they have access to Porsche stuff via Audi/VW etc. Maybe they will make Panamera but a good looking one this time.

[Alastair]

So, the 2 seater convertible hire in Italy didn't happen, stupid hire car company getting things wrong as usual (it's happened before). After trekking round all the rental offices in the airport we ended up with a bit of a coup though, the new baby Alfa Romeo, or 'junior' if you know your Alfa history, MiTo (say 'me too').

It was only available for sale in Italy the week before we arrived and wont be available in the UK until January 2009.

If you haven't heard of it it's basically Alfas new mini, a small 3 door 4 seater. There is going to be quite a few engine and spec choices when it does come to the UK, from a ~90bhp petrol to a couple of turbo diesels. The model we had was the one I was most interested in after reading about it a few months ago, a 1.4 litre turbocharged petrol engine that produced 155bhp when running on overboost. Interestingly, there was a DNA switch that controlled the engine mapping and a few other characteristics. D = dynamic - overboost enabled, throttle response sharpened, added weight to the steering and loosening of the traction and stability controls. N = normal - turbo still active but no overboost, everything else normal and nannying. A = all weather, engine the same as in normal I think but with the traction and stability ramped up to the max to cope with snow and ice.

Needless to say, it was only worth driving in D mode as the others were far too dull and it felt just like the 1.4 it really was. However, switch to D, wait for the turbo to spool (there was a lot of lag) and it took off like a rocket, great for overtaking on the twisty mountain roads, if you remembered that you needed to allow that extra second or too for the turbo to spin up before anything interesting actually happened that is. Disappointingly, it was all mid range. Once you got through the initial surge and shifted up, the expected next gear thump never came. Full bore starts were only exciting in first/second as once above that it was just normal acceleration as the turbo was fully on the go the whole time.

As for the mentioned assisted steering, I didn't like it. I didn't know before I got home and re-read about it that the steering was electrically assisted but driving it I could tell, the first 3 or 4 degrees of movement either way resulted in nothing happening, once it started to turn it was keen but as the feedback through the wheel was electronic it just didn't feel right and resulted in often needing to make a few corrections at a corner to keep it on the desired line. Ride quality was remarkably good though for a car running on 17's with skinny little sidewalled P Zero Neros until you hit a big bump/rough patch at speed. Heading straight it sent the car into a shudder, round a bend it threw it well off line and the lack of accurate steering feel didn't help in delivering confidence when dragging it back on line.

It was very capable however, on the blast back to the airport we covered around 45 miles at a solid, GPS indicated, 100-105mph non-stop with no problems, not much noise and no dramas unless there was a big surface change on the autostrada, again the steering wasn't great but once used to it it was perfectly drivable.

Did I enjoy it, definitely, the attention from the car mad Italians was great, we had a comment of 'Cool machine' within half an hour of getting it from a toll booth attendant guy, plenty shouts of 'Hi Mito' and loads of stares. Would I own one, probably they seem good value at around 15k for the engine spec we had but I'd rather a better turbo delivery if I could spec it myself, maybe the turbo diesel?

If you've read all that and still don't know what I'm on about, to save you googling it, here's some shots I took of ours.

One
Two
Three

[vanpeebles]

15K sounds like a lot of money for a 1.4 turbo.

[charlesr]

Good write up.

[EvilBoris]

aye look Ford have actually remembered to redesign the Ka after 11 years

[Richard.John]

Alastair

You sound scarily like a motor journalist. A new career perhaps? The important question is.......did you see any exotics, namely those from a small hamlet called Maranello? You may have heard of it, their cars are mostly red.

[Alastair]

I was thinking it would come across as pretentious toss when I was writing it. I didn't think I was one for writing really but did quite enjoy doing that.

I saw two 360's and that's it One silver and one yellow. The silver one was German too. No Lambos, one Maser and that was it apart from an Aston on British plates that I assume was on his way to the GP.

Northern Italy is a holiday hotspot for the Germans and to be honest, during the day two thirds of the cars there were German, saw an awful lot of BMW's and Audi's, less so mercs but still a lot. What I did see was a lot of Lancias, they make damn ugly cars!

[Richard.John]

A great write up I would say.

On my last day in Italy, many moons ago, we were heading back to the airport and I was a bit pissed as I hadn't seen a single Ferrari. Just as we were walking to the station to catch the train, three Ferraris sped by in convoy, splitting our ears with their glorious exhaust note. One may have been an F40 too, though I am not 100% sure.

[johnno15]

A couple of pics of my (filthy) car

[Richard.John]

Nice but CLEAN it. What kind of power by the way? I love roadsters.

[johnno15]

Nice but CLEAN it. What kind of power by the way? I love roadsters.

Yeah it needs a good clean

Not a great amount of power tbh 138 BHP and 0-60 in 7.2 seconds, quick enough but nothing earth shattering

[Richard.John]

It's the weight though isn't it. 7.2 is good for a car with a 138 bhp surely. I think speed is over rated as we can hardly tap the potential of sports cars on our roads today, let alone super cars like GTRs, Porkers or Ferraris. I love to mash my money pedal in second when exiting ETC (electronic toll collect) gates here in Japan, but before I know it I am doing 100 kph, and are therefore at risk of being pulled over by the boys in blue. Handling and balance are preferable I would say, to outright speed. Of course the super cars have that area covered too. Sigh.

[Alastair]

Completely agree Richard. Until you go to a track or visit Germany and have a blast on an Autobahn!

Nice pictures Johnno, is it true that they have next to no luggage room at all?

I did a photo shoot with an AC Cobra (replica) yesterday evening, great car, so small and cute. When the engine's on it's savage sounding though. I'll get the photos online in the next couple of days.

[charlesr]

If you have 14 mins to spare:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=3965460

An old Top Gear vid showing that it's all about handling.

[Richard.John]

I will have to dip my toe into the world of tracks days sometime. I went to Twin Ring Motegi recently but that was just to take a look at the Honda collection.

Anyway, Autocar has a shootout vid on its site right now filmed in the Isle of Mann. Lambo vs GTR and a Lotus and KTM to add a bit of lightweight spice. Needless to say the GTR is unbelievable for the money.

Alastair, what engine did the replica have then? Many moons ago, I was thinking of building an AC or a Lambo.