Let it Shine..

Its probably fair to say the jury is still out on the contribution that hybrids are able make to CO2 savings, especially as the best only match the fuel economy figures of a modern European turbo diesel. And that's likely to remain the case until an affordable plug-in is market-ready.

On the petrol hybrid's side, there is a case to be made around the provision of diesel-like economy without the nasty particle and NOX levels produced by compression ignition engines. And frankly I'm tiring of the rumbly vibes that a tdi generates; there really is nothing like a good petrol engine for raising the hairs on the back of your neck.

Having said that I've always had a soft spot for Honda. Even post Soichiro they appear to have retained engineering integrity, and have developed a great track record for commercials (even though their actual track record has been frankly a bit of a disaster recently). After breaking the market with their pre-CDDti Insight - a 2 seater coupe - Honda went pretty quiet and the current RoW based Civic hybrid misses the mark by a long way.

The new model looks to be much more successful, its a a lower price-point compared to Toyota, and is clearly defined seperate model, not a modified Civic. At least, until the next one!

Here's the commercial for the new Honda Insight* - enjoy.

SS7
*PS Wonder if I can borrow one for a weekend?

Goodbye boy Golf, hello...

.... lady-boy Golf?

Its been all-change in the SS7 garage recently. The VR6 has gone to a discerning buyer, as has the Cayman. Each buyer had a bit of a profile; that of the VR6 was the MD of a Porsche specialist dealer and expensive-wax importer. He was looking for an excellent VR6 to use as a show-car to advertise their wares. Mine met his requirements precisely, and what's more, inspite of the pesimism of the naysayers on the VR6OC website, he paid good money.

The Cayman went to the engine builder at a well know British sportscar manufacturer (think 4 wheeled motorbikes.....) within 3 days of me putting it on the market. And the agreed price was around 60% of what I paid - a pretty good result in today's market; I'd had the car for 30 months and 16k miles.

So that reduced the fleet to 1. I believe there are some families who can manage with one; ours can't, so the search was on for a replacement.

Now the SS7 forecast for summer '09, is Long, Hot & Sunny. The nippers (SS7 jnr and SS3 1/2) have also now reached the stage where they can be trusted not to launch themselves out of a roofless vehicle, and Mrs E-H and I have fond memories of driving a soft-top in the South of France.

With that in mind it made sense to look for a convertible - one with 4 seats. Once Mrs SS7 and I had rejected several offerings on the grounds of image(her) running and purchase costs(me) the usual suspects remained; BMW 3series, Saab 9-3, Audi, and Golf.

The search took a couple of weeks, and included the usual experiences of dodgy private buyers, and dealer cars described as 'mint' when in reality they were worn out and shabby. Then one evening ebay turned up a low mileage 2 owner Golf Cabriolet within 10 miles of us. This was in black (not my no. 1 choice I'll admit) and was a 2.0l Avantage with rare aircon and electric everything.

I did get a chance for a quick look-over even though the car wasn't taxed. Compared to the other cars I'd looked at this was nice and clean and obviously had been cherished and garaged for most of its life. The sellers, (about to drop sprog #1) were genuine, albeit not car people.

That evening we 'won' the ebay auction, and although we were the highest bidder, the optimistic reserve wasn't reached. However a deal was reached by phone afterwards, and next day the car was ours.


So far, after an over-due service and the addition of 6 months Brown tax, its been a lot of fun!



SS7

Brawn vs Brains

So after 5 GP’s, Jensen Button has scored 40 out of a possible 45 points.

And crucially, the Spanish GP at the weekend signalled the start of the main European season, when we expected the big teams to catch up.

But they didn’t.

And what’s more, current limits on testing time mean it’s a lot more difficult to throw dollars are any problems- the big boys look stuck with underperforming cars..

On that basis, Ross Brawn has got to have moved from thinking that his team got a lucky jump start on the others, to thinking they can actually win both the 2009 driver’s and constructors titles.

And if I think that, the other teams are going to be thinking the same - and the gloves will be coming off fast.

Its going to be an interesting season,

Coming to a website near you....

So the company I’ve slaved long and hard for through thick, thin, 6 years, and 11 changes of manager decided they could do without my services for the duration of the recession.

Lovely people, but at least they assuaged their corporate consciences by sending me a fat cheque. Of course, this will require a rationalisation of the fleet.

The regular reader may remember I've got a late model (1998) Golf VR6 Highline with like-new purple leather (those crazy Germans....), aircon, and only 34k miles.

The VR6 was never really intended to be a back-roads hero in the mk 2 Gti mould. Its a great A road and M'Way (autobahn?) q-car that's deceptively fast, has a lovely smooth 6-pot motor, weighs only 1250kgs, and is sensible money to buy and run.

It has very long gearing (>100mph in 3rd and geared for 160mph in top), and the engine only comes good at 3500rpm,. As a result mid-range isn't as grunty as you might expect, but I get 30-35mpg with reasonably fortissimo usage - although admittedly I don't do a lot of town driving. Brakes are fine for road use (inc ABS), the front discs taking up all the space inside a 15" wheel.

Mine came with utterly shagged dampers, even with the low miles – 30k at that point. They were ineffective to the point of making me feel seasick, let alone the effect on braking as the wheels flapped in the air after hitting any bump. I replaced these with std spec Bilstein dampers and the only thing that came into focus were those luke-warm contemporary road tests. The ride was still horrible– it gave an impression of uncontrolled weight over the front wheels, float, wallow and poor body control and it crashed against the bumpstops on lateral ridges.

So I bit the bullet and had £700 worth of Bilstein B12 suspension and bushes fitted by those wonderful people at G-Werks in Littlehampton. It transformed the car. It'll never be a one of the great chassis, but the urgent howl of the narrow angle V6 at 6000rpm is plenty of compensation.

However, two cars aren’t going to wash right now, so sadly the Golf is going to have to go. A couple of minor tweaks this week and expect to see it in the For Sale boards of Pistonheads, Edition38 and VR6OC. Look for the most expensive vr6 there…..

Right now the Cayman stays, but there is an overwhelming argument for having a car with at least +2 rear seats. Do I have a 993 itch to scratch?

SS7
PS Classic and Sports Car tipped the vr6 as a future classic last month

Two Tribes

Goodwood breakfasts start this Sunday, a pleasant harbinger of the summer to come. The theme, apparently, is ‘Mini Mayhem’. Power to the people and all that, certainly it has the potential to attract a different sort of clientele from ‘Ferrari 250 Competition cars’ or ‘Bentley – The WO years’.

I predict lots of modded Polo’s and Jap stuffs stuff bringing it with it the sniff of egalitarianism and the welcome sight of a tweeded old boy chatting to a youth clad in JB Sport’s finest next to the open bonnet of a superbly modified VW.


SS7

My Greatest Motoring Moments

1/ Driving a girlfriend's Alfasud. All of 1200cc, but a pure driving experience that a series of MGB's had never provided

3/ Taking my Escort RS turbo company car to Austria skiing, and hooning up and down some valley roads just for the hell of it. Until the native's complained. Oh, and winding the speedo past 140 and off the clock on the way home!

3/Borrowing the old man's Porsche 924 and emptying 2 tanks of fuel driving sideways around Oxfordshire in the pouring rain. Brought up on fwd, I hadn't really known what steering feel meant until then.

4/Hungover and knackered when I collect my 911/964 from the dealer in Hamburg. Twenty minutes later I was doing 165mph on the autobahn, hangover a distance memory and feeling more alive than I had done for months. I laughed all the way through Belgium.

Its Official

Reading [a major UK based internet car forum, lets call it Petrolheads] you’d not been blamed for forming the impression that every Official Porsche dealer was exclusively staffed by crooks solely employed for the purpose of swindling any idiot fool enough to enter the premises. Not only that, but their products are over-priced tat that self-combust and disintegrate no sooner than the stingy warranty expires.


I beg to differ. Before Christmas I took my Cayman for its first service at AFN Guildford. They invited me to drink their coffee and were happy for me to use their showroom as an office for a couple of hours while I waited for a lift. The staff were friendly and courteous, and in some cases very easy on the eye.

They cleaned the car's interior (I asked them not to do the bodywork) and threw in a bottle of screen-wash. Once the service was completed, I was advised that brakes had 6-8k miles in, and so did the tyres but that was perfectly normal and didn't need changing now. They noticed that one horn wasn't working, and removed the front PU to fix it under warranty. While the PU was off, they cleared out the leaves from the radiators and warned me to keep an eye on them. I paid the fixed amount.

After filling up with Shell SUL, I took the long way the 60 miles home, south through Surrey into West Sussex. The roads were deserted, the car was superb, with plenty of performance for the high speed downland roads, and the drive was utterly memorable.

I drive an old Golf during the week, and every time I get back into the Cayman its like getting into a GT3. It also does an easy 30mpg, hasn't cost me a penny in repairs, and I still turn around and look at it every time I get out and walk away.

Its easily the best car I've ever owned The List and I've thoroughly enjoyed every one of the 16k miles so far. Right now I'm planning a raid for next summer to the new museum in Stuttgart.

Porsche have produced a great ownership proposition, internet knockers can't ruin that experience for me.


SS7