Automatic economy from Peugeot

Traditionally, buying an automatic version of a car meant that one would have to sacrifice a chunk of fuel economy.



That's no longer the case all the time. With the evolution of the automated manual from their original clunky versions to pretty smooth operators, going the auto route has actually reversed the process.

That is no better exemplified than with the new Peugeot 308 Ecomatique. Powered by a 1.6 diesel, this version has an automated version of the standard six-speed gearbox, and it is acyually more frugal than the manual.

To the point that the auto version is a Band A car in CO2 terms, against Band B for the normal manual.



I'm strongly of the opinion that the 308 is one of the nicest of its class in its styling. Very much in the Peugeot family look, it has curves, sculpting, and a wedge shape that is as coherent a design as you might ever want.

Inside, balance is the first thought. A dashboard which is deceptively simple in execution is just one aspect of this. Fitting in with the low scuttle line that helps even short drivers have a very good forward visibility.

The instrumentation comprises a dual set of speed and revs dials, with two smaller ones for the engine temperatire and fuel. All four are quite stunning black on white classic instruments which some competitor makers could profitably copy. The centre stack and its entertainment/climate controls are equally both stylish and easily useable.

The three-spoke steering wheel is well designed to accomodate whatever is your preferred hold, either quarter-to-three or ten-to-two or even a time in between. Five dashboard air vents provide a good range of options to make the best of the aircon and ventilation system.



Seats in this Peugeot are quite up to the mark, a matter which for me in recent weeks has been important as I'm recovering from the after-effects of a fall on ice, and am still feeling a bit tender.

It's a wide car so there's no shortage of elbow room. And the wedge style rather than the coupe kind favoured by some others in the segment means there's quite adequate headroom in the rear.

The 1.6 diesel is familiar from a number of PSA and Ford applications, and in this 308 is exceptionally quiet even at startup.



The combination with the automated manual is a nice and punchy experience with no real lag on urgent downshifts. Moving up through the gears can be virtually seamless with a little judicious shuffling of the accellerator pedal.

It might not be the cheapest 308 on the list, but for the extra frugality and the real comfort of the automatic shifting, it isn't overly expensive at €24,256.

If you are one o the 2009 rare breed who is actually considering a new compact car, don't leave this one out of your considerations. Brian Byrne.

RS stirs pangs of lust

There's an exoticism about the likes of Porsche, or Ferrari, or even the humbler Lotus and Morgan cars, which attracts owners who want to make a statement as much about their financial status as of their driving preferences.



But there's something quite different about those who buy, or lust after, RS Fords. You don't put them into any financial slot, because they come from all sizes of bank balance. You don't consider them to be elite, because if they were they wouldn't be interested in being behind a Ford badge, even one which can whip Porsches and Ferraris betimes. In fact, you don't consider them special at all.

They're just what they consider themselves to be. Enthusiasts. Enthusiasts for one pair of automotive letters, granted, but just Ford motorheads, really. Even in my own small circle of friends and acquaintances, I know a doctor who used to own one; a musician too, who has a day job as a solicitor to allow him the luxury of playing music; a former banker, who got out of that business before it became synonymous with villainy; and a motor mechanic, the kind who still can get his hands dirty in an engine sump.



All of them will fondly remember their RSs, whether Escorts, Sierras, or whatever. All of them will tell you stories about them, except that, unlike golfers or horse-racing enthusiasts, they won't bore you with shot by shot or jump by jump detail. They won't tell you about their former loves at all unless they know you're interested.

That's probably because owning and driving an RS is both a kind of private pleasure and an everyday one. RS Fords have never been 'extra' cars, used only on weekends while something more prosaic did the daily commuting duty. An RS had to be a car for all days, for all seasons, for all reasons.

There have been 22 Ford models with the RS badge. And for some time, Ford has been working on the latest, knowing there's a pent-up demand not satisfied with the ST variant of the current Focus.



Well, it'll be here in a few weeks. Focus RS as I saw and drove it a while back will certainly satisfy the lusts and expectations of those fans I've just mentioned. Those with the wish and the will to spend around €43,000 on the second Focus to carry their favourite badge will get something that first and foremost looks the part.

A substantially more muscular styling front, side and rear sets the car off well from the ordinary car. But it's style that is useful, not merely for the look.

For reasons of stability, among others, the new RS has a wider track, and the sheetmetal had to accommodate that. The new apron incorporates both a required larger air intake and the aerodynamic elements to help keep the nose down at speed.



The double wing over the rear window will make a boy-racer's heart race, but when a car has the performance indicated by a 0-100 km/h sprint of 5.6 seconds it is also a real necessity to pin the car to the road.

No sports hatch is properly finished without the sound, and the Focus RS's engineers have tuned the car's exhaust system to provide an invigorating crackle when the loud pedal is pushed with brio. Just in case the car behind doesn't know where this is coming from, the RS sports a brace of very visible large exhaust pipes.

There's real power behind that crackle. The latest Focus RS is the fastest production Ford ever built in Europe, a performance punched along by 305hp from the 2.5 5-cylinder engine. A hefty variant of this Volvo-sourced powerhouse is already familiar in the Focus ST, but in this application it has been very substantially modified indeed.

Metal-sprayed bores in the aluminium block, and a more powerful turbocharger, capable of up to 1.8 bar instead of the ST’s 130 bar, are a couple of the changes. The 6-speed gearbox was also toughened up, and the suspension stiffened.

Getting all that power to the ground in an FWD car posed special problems. Traditionally, to avoid very troublesome torque steer, a carmaker would go AWD. Ford say they considered it to the level of actually building a prototype AWD, but for cost and weight reasons, decided not to go the route.

The guys on the WRC desk in Ford Performance Vehicles Division had been working up a brand new idea aimed at dealing with just that problem. So the RS team adapted it for their baby, and it works a treat. Patented, and branded as the RevoKnuckle, the system separates the power and steering forces, offering a driving feel that retains the edginess of FWD without the disruptive torque steer.

To drive in the hills at the back of Nice, the new car showed a very sporting and punchy personality when pushed to show what it can do, especially by a co-driver with rally experience and an ability far beyond mine. On the other hand, as real owners of RS Fords require, it was well suited to the city commute, if a little wasted on it.

I'll be driving one in Irish conditions soon, and will see if the very evident fun factor from Nice can be replicated here. I have a couple of routes in mind, but for obvious reasons I'm not saying where.

Meanwhile, maybe 50 or so will roll out onto Irish roads this year, if the optimists in Ford Ireland are proved correct. The fact that the first dozen allocated were sold out well before launch here is a good indicator.

RS lives again. I know a doctor, a lawyer, a former banker, and a mechanic with oily fingernails who are already feeling nostalgic pangs of lust. Brian Byrne.

Mini: new taste from an old recipe

There's a folklore out there that the original Mini was a cheap and cheerful car, and that when BMW brought out their version it became a much more expensive one.



True, but not true. When first launched, the Austin Mini was actually more expensive than its competitors of the time, and smaller than them too. But it was so different, everybody wanted one. Especially when it was picked up by the 'beautiful people' of that swinging Carnaby Street time.

(Masters of the Universe born since that time, Google 'Carnaby'.)

My mum, though beautiful herself, wasn't one of those. But she bought a Mini anyhow, and having access to it helped me to drive myself out of my teens and into my next important decade.

So, for my generation, Mini has fond associations. And some not so fond. Like the howling breeze that would come through the side windows, sliding affairs rather than wind-up. And the heater that didn't much. And, until Hydrolastic suspension came along, the thumping underpinnings on poor Kildare roads. Rust caused depradations too, but did so on every car of the time.

Still, even the lowliest basic Minis had a verve about them. They were fun cars, felt sporty even if they weren't because they sat so low to the road. And they oozed youth. I bet, though, that not even designer Alec Issigonis expected they'd still be coming down the assembly lines four decades after launch, hardly changed.

Enter then the New Mini, a BMW creation using many of the original cues but bigger, more comfortable, and incorporating the best of the Munich company's engineering expertise. Many doubted, but it turned out to be a runaway success. It's hard to believe that we're already well into the second generation of this incarnation of a 60s icon.



But we are. Nearly three years, even. And now there are more choices, with the Clubman 'estate' variant, and a new generation of the Cabriolet launching in March. There's even an 'Urban SUV' one in the planning, though they'll probably call it a crossover if it gets to production.

They didn't do many obvious changes in the Mini One (Mk II). Some slight exaggeration of the more important style cues, a bit of fiddling with the detail of the interior, and that was about it. But it's a BMW thing that they must keep trying to improve, even on excellence. So in terms of driving dynamics, and handling, it got better. New suspension ideas, and improved steering feel. Most important, though, the engines were changed.

A brand new aluminium 1.6 petrol unit introduced in the Cooper variant would have been enough in itself, but a 1.4 derivative of this became the entry level in the new Mini One. Although, at 95hp only 5hp more powerful than the first BMW Mini's Chrysler built 1.4, it is torquier, 15 percent more frugal and a lot cleaner than that one.

A completely new 1.6 diesel also came along with the new lineup, outputting 110hp and with a grunty 240Nm of pulling power, which can be overboosted by a further 20Nm for a limited time. Both engines have a six-speed manual gearbox as standard. The top ratio is a tall one, contributing significantly to motorway economy.

All the current engines have been developed with PSA Peugeot-Citroen.

It's fair to say that anyone who doesn't know the cheerful exterior look of the BMW Mini hasn't been on the planet for most of this Millenium. Those who don't know the interior can be forgiven, for it is not everyone who's been inside one.



It is bright, brash, and ... well, quite blatantly plastic. There's no trying to disguise trim and buttons as being anything else, even to the point of it sometimes seems as if the car is from Toys 'R Us. The massive speedometer is centrally mounted, true to the original concept but a wild exaggeration. The little rev-counter pod mounted on the steering column incorporates a handy digital repeat of the speed, so turning to look at that last isn't necessary. The switchgear for the entertainment and climate needs to be learned, but then is easy.

A toy this car is not, though. If the original Mini had the sense of solid build that this one has, they'd still be making them. In creature comforts it arguably eclipses even standard BMW offerings. A snow-weather very long drive to Dublin, with the remaining lower back symptoms from a previous fall on ice still causing discomfort, proved just how comfortable the front seats are.

(Comfort in the rear is dependent on how big those in front are. This is, after all, a supermini sized car.)

I've driven most versions by now, including the John Cooper Works (JCW) that's a real ball of frantic fun. The Clubman estate variant is an acquired taste in visual terms, but retains all the underpinning elements that make the modern Mini such an outstanding car. My favourite is the Cooper D. I'm generally not in favour of ponying up extra cash for a diesel in a supermini sized car, but in this case I'd recommend spending the extra three and a half grand.

It is a credit to BMW that they managed to give a really old icon such a resurrection. Others have tried, like VW with their own Beetle, Fiat more recently with their new 500. The former, a Golf in drag, has had moderate but extended success. The latter, a legend shapeshifted onto understuff from both Panda and Punto, may well be eclipsed by the much more contemporary Ka which is built for Ford on the same assembly line.

With Mini, BMW has won a significant automotive achievement. Not by trying to keep an old model going, nor by trying to graft nostalgia onto one of their existing platforms. They took the name, the concept, the style DNA and the ethos. And from it built a whole new car. That it has already moved through to its own second generation is the proof that they not only got the recipe right, but they cooked it correctly too. Brian Byrne.

VITAL STATISTICS

Model: Mini Cooper D by BMW.
Acceleration: 0-100 km/h - 9.9 secs
Top Speed: 195 km/h
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Economy: 4.4 l/100km (64.2mpg)
Price: From €23,705 (1.4 petrol €20,346)
CO2 Emissions: 118 g/km