New VW 'best car'?

Ask anyone what is the best car Volkswagen has built and you'll probably get one of two answers: the Beetle or the Golf.



For me, though, maybe there's another option. One that might not rank in the top three in most people's mind. Drive it and see.

The Jetta has been here a while now, the replacement for the Bora. The sedan companion to the Golf, it is smart in style, a long drive ahead of its predecessor. It is roomy front and back, and maybe even has become an in-house competitor to its bigger brother Passat.

I like sedans. I like them better than hatches. As designs they represent the traditional shape of the car much better than any of the current niche derivatives. I even remember when hatches were niche.

Anyhow, this is also a country which likes sedans, so Jetta is a viable model here.

Let me run through the other attributes, then I'll get to the best one of the review car.

It is arguable that the latest Jetta also represents some of the best build quality in the business. The gaps between sheetmetal components are minimal indeed, and that helps to present an image that is as good as the best luxury cars out there.

The overall styling is nicely understated, yet very much of this time. And by not being avantgarde, the Jetta will wear well as a design through its model life. The front end, despite having a strong flavour in line with VW’s current grille philosophy, is well balanced to the rest of the car. The comparison with cousin Audi’s A4 is certainly to be made here –- the latter car always looking a bit heavy on the front.

The interior design is very recognisably Golf and its derivatives. Not VW’s strongest point, but even if a little staid, it is in this case very well executed. The materials on the review car’s dash and trim were excellent, and I was glad to see no trace of wood-effect in this Comfortline version. VW does not do wood well.

I mentioned roominess earlier. If there was only to be one reference made between this car and its predecessor Bora, it would have to be the extra room for the rear passengers. This is what really makes this one a contender against the best of its competition.

From a driver’s accommodation perspective, I have to highlight the footwell. A strange thing? Not really, because too many cars still cramp things in this area. Not only is there ample room for a wide size 10 across the pedals line, and a good rest for the left foot when not in use, but there’s also an equally good rest for the right foot. Which proved a real boon when using the cruise control that is part of the Comfortline package.

The leather multifunction steering wheel was an extra, as were the 16-inch alloys which did enhance the exterior looks. The steering wheel is worth whatever it costs, feels good and the buttons for entertainment and communication are in the right places and easy to use.

The review car came with a manual six-speed, as neat a shifter as I’ve ever come across.

And why the six? Well, that’s part of the package with the 1.4 litre engine. Not your ordinary 1.4, but the lesser-power version of the Twincharger unit about which I was recently so positive in the Golf GT. That latter was 170hp, this one is 140hp.

Think about it; a car I owned not too many years ago had a 2.0 litre engine and a creditable output of 120hp. Now VW is getting up to 170hp -- and will get more -- from a 1.4 four?

This is VW’s take on how to reduce fuel consumption and emissions: use proven technology to make small engines with very high output. In this case, the engineers took the mechanical supercharger and exhaust powered turbocharger concepts and married them to the same engine in ways where they most suited.

Superchargers provide instant extra punch at low revs but draw too much power from the system at high revs. Turbochargers, on the other hand, need to be wound up a bit to work well. So the Twincharger combination uses the supercharger at low revs, then declutches it in favour of the turbocharger when the engine is spinning fast enough.

I liked its 170hp variant very much. But maybe I like this 140hp unit even better. It feels as smooth as a six-cylinder engine in operation, and in the Jetta its 220Nm of torque gives an extraordinarily smooth application of acceleration, even from as low as 1,200rpm in top gear. That’s diesel-like pulling power. It means that not a lot of rowing that six-speed is necessary.

Yet, with the ability to run up to 7,000rpm, and provide a cracking good sound in the process, it can be as sporty as you like and as conditions allow.

The 1.4 TSI engine is the one to go for in the Jetta range, especially when you consider that it sips fuel at 20 percent less than an ‘ordinary’ 2.3 litre engine of similar power. And despite all the extra pressure on the power unit, they’ve tested it to 300,000 kilometres of endurance.

I’m certainly sold. This is one of the best cars in its class that I’ve driven in the last twelve months. BB.

The Travelling Gourmet

For a man who single handedly turned cooking into entertainment Keith Floyd is remarkably modest about his influence on modern TV food programmes. He has published over 22 books in his career and presented 19 TV series, which are still being televised in 40 countries around the world.

When I mention his incredible inspiration he modestly shrugs it off with the charisma that made his television programmes such captivating watching since he first took cooking out of the studio with Floyd on Fish in 1985. His life changing decision to become a cook came more or less by chance.

“I had this remarkable experience when I was 16 or 17,” he tells me. “I was working as a young cub reporter on a newspaper in Bristol and the editor decided to hire me as his kind of dog’s body — secretary would be too grand a word. And sometimes we had to go to meetings with politicians. I can’t remember who they were I was too young then.

"He took me one day to a then very famous restaurant in Bath called The Hole in the Wall. For the first time in my life, despite the wonderful food we had had at home which was ordinary food, there, suddenly, was French Country Terrines, Partridge Braised in White Wine, Coq au Van and all that kind of stuff. And I thought: Wow, this is amazing!”

This revelation at a time when a quiet revolution was taking place in English kitchens made a deep impression on the 17 year-old. “I eventually decided to become a cook and I got myself a job washing up in a hotel kitchen and started watching what people were doing and stuff like that. Then they promoted me to the veg and while I was preparing the veg I was watching what the grill chef was doing. And I cheated a lot because I would leave that job and go to the next one saying I was a grill chef, because I was watching, because I was interested.

"And I did every kind of job; washing up, waiting, cooking, even in omelette bars, sandwich bars, in pubs, in restaurants. I put myself through an enforced apprenticeship for about four years. And all the time any spare money I had I was spending on cookery books and food.”

Keith Floyd grew up in Somerset and in his new book A Splash and a Dash he fondly remembers the joys of his mother’s cooking especially on a cold Wednesday in winter after a game of rugby.

“Wednesday was particularly special because when I, probably black-eyed, bloodied and bruised, cycled back to Wivelliscombe, I knew that supper would be faggots and peas dished up in a rich, rich gravy. My mother, Wynn, was an amazing cook and except when she was baking her bread (which she continued to do until she was 85), or preparing her Christmas puddings and Christmas cakes in early autumn, she never weighed, measured, calculated, timed or bothered much about oven temperatures at all.

"She was an inspirational cook, but moulded by financial circumstances that were not plentiful, and therefore the cottage garden and a degree of hunter-gathering were essential to her culinary plans.”

A Splash and a Dash is an effort to get away from slavishly following recipes designed to ensure that every item is scientifically calculated to produce a perfect dish each time. Keith wants us to enjoy our cooking and get involved in the whole process again. He has little time for the technical approach laughingly saying, "that’s the curse you see, those rules are invented by people called food editors — very powerful people who should be put down at birth.

"You see it on television programmes, these studio based programmes. There’s some earnest young cook there cooking away, saying ‘I’m doing venison today’ and the blasted presenter of the programme says ‘well what if you haven’t got any venison, what can you use instead?’. And then these food editors say ‘yes but how long does it take in the oven’.

"Well how long is a piece of string? I’ve got two ovens, one in my wife’s house in England which is electric and my other cooker is in my house in France which is gas, and I bet you if we set them at what we thought were identical temperatures and then put a thermometer into each of them there’d be a big difference.

"What I’m saying to people is ‘I think’ it goes into the oven for ‘about’ an hour and a half at ‘probably’ 200 degrees. People must get involved.”

Though his television career began after a chance meeting with a television producer in a Bristol Bistro he has little time for the slavery to marketing that drives much of today’s output.

“You see, as bad as food editors for books, you’ve also got things called producers on television, and they decide what goes on. They think ‘help, it’s Halloween; let’s make the whole cooking programmes around pumpkins’. Bullshit! Let’s just carry on cooking as normal!”

He rarely watches cookery on television these days though when pushed he admits to liking Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

“My wife watches every cooking programme there is,” he says, “and she did persuade me to watch Hugh, and I think he’s great. Of course I don’t believe him at all, it’s television land, but that doesn’t matter! He is, if you like, doing exactly what my parents did and my grandparents did and he’s full on and very very proper.”

As well as writing A Splash and Dash, a godsend to those wanting to experiment in the kitchen, Keith has also recently published Keith Floyd’s Thai Food which neatly coincided with the opening of his new restaurant in Phuket, Thailand last December.

He is also opening a new cookery theatre this year which is already getting booked up. He will be demonstrating varieties of his culinary world; including French Provincial Cooking; Fish and Shellfish; Back to British; and Mediterranean Cooking. He is taking this cookery theatre very seriously and has done a lot of research on other celebrity cookery schools.

“With a lot of these cookery schools, very seldom are the named chefs actually there. They set them up and put in good cooks who act as teachers. But in my cookery school I will be there for every single lesson. There won’t be that many, but I will be there fully hands-on. I’ll be there from the time they arrive to the time they stagger out the door. I’m not going into this lightly, it’s going to be the best, I can assure you.”

If you would like to attend one of his flamboyant cookery theatre events, which includes an overnight stay at the Linthwaite House Hotel in Cumbria visit www.linthwaite.com/floyd.

A Splash and a Dash is published by Cassell Illustrated, ISBN: 1844034461 and Keith Floyd’s Thai Food is published by HarperCollins ISBN: 0007213492.

Fergus Byrne.

A short affair with a sporty Clio

Vincent O'Rourke, dealer principal of Renault Citygate Dun Laoghaire, had first seen the gorgeous Renaultsport Clio III on display in the Renault showrooms on the Champs Elyssee. He decided there and then to buy one for himself. And recently he suggested that I should try one too.



I'd driven the new Clio at its international launch in Sardinia some time back and had been mightily impressed with the basic car. Since then it had gone on to win the International Car of the Year 2006, a huge accolade awarded each year by a team of 58 international motoring journalists. So you know you're in good territory.

Prepare to be seduced by its chic French style — those curves, sweeping lines and squat stance.

It was hard to wipe the grin off my face as I drove away from Vincent O'Rourke's busy dealership on Rochestown Avenue in a sporty red version — which would be my choice of colour. But this was more than sporty in colour. It was exactly the same in spec as Vincent's own car.

Motoring back to the M50, the fabulous engine sound was all I wanted to hear. Not the radio presenter who had now became an unwanted distraction. I just wanted to concentrate on the car and the sound which you'd pay to have bottled! You simply know that you've got 197 hp to play with.

But be warned, you'd drive out of road very fast in this one. It almost takes off with you. That's where cruise control comes in to manage you through the penalty points zone. There again, with all the energy on tap, my Clio Sport was as docile and obedient as you'd want while driving in heavy traffic.

But there was a lot more to take in. The sportiness of the cabin for instance, the interesting dash, and those lovely instrument dials. Two big circles encased in deep silver bands. White numbers on black with red wands. The decorative leather steering wheel with the bright red strip at the top. Those sporty aluminium pedals. Even the radio buttons were a manageable size. And I saw it was MP3 compatible.

Stylish sports seats are comfy while also offering good support so you don't feel the least bit tired even after a long journey. It's also easy to get a nice driving position. All controls are easily reachable.

But it was out on the country roads where I really got to really put this car through its paces. Along twisty, narrow routes where the car showed off its taut, precise but stable handling. Very tight and firm on the corners in terms of ride, but without being hard or uncomfortable at all.

And when I pushed it even further along straight uninhabited stretches of road, it proved truly awesome! I just wanted to keep on going forever. And again, that lovely engine song as you moved up the gears.

The grin was becoming a permanent fixture.

This high-performance hatch is based on the Clio supermini. Always a powerful car, the engine has remained the same since the first Clio RS, a 2.0 litre with a three-door body style. With more horsepower than the Mini Cooper S, the SEAT Ibiza FR and the SEAT Ibiza Cupra R. And that's saying something as these are often given as the benchmarks for the genre. Similar even to the Honda Civic Type-R hot hatch and the Volkswagen Polo GTI. So now you know what kind of company you're keeping.

The Renaultsport Clio draws technology from Formula One, including a rear diffuser and brake cooling side vents. Heavier than its predecessor, the acceleration figures are nevertheless faster because of the new six-speed gearbox with shorter gearing.

It does the 0-100 km/h dash in just 6.9 seconds and has a top speed of 216 km/h. You'll get around 8.41 L/100 km depending on how you drive it; C02 emissions are 209g/Km.

Like eight of its stable siblings, Clio III has been awarded a maximum 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating.

Standard safety and security features include Brake Assist, ESP (with disconnection function), a full complement of airbags. Comfort ones include six-speaker RDS radio and single MP3 CD, the leather steering wheel with the stitched red centre band, and 17-inch Renaultsport alloys.

The list also includes air conditioning, dedicated cornering lights, front fogs, Renault's Anti-Intruder Device, and anti-drill door locks.

This car is all about selfishness. You won't want to share it with anyone.

So just use the good space for three people in the back for your own personal belongings. Forget the ISOFIX fittings, throw your jacket, laptop and bag on to the back seat, your case in the good sized boot, and away you go.

Priced from 31,500 euros excluding delivery and related charges. TW.

Editors' Note

Now that we've launched our expanded title on our main site, we'll be backfilling this one and adding new content from issues in the future.

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