BMW

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Wednesday – Cross Your Fingers

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Jeremy A 150-mile round trip to London and back today should have been enough time to get to know somebody. Sat at my desk again this evening, I still don’t feel I truly know the Cascada.

On the one hand, it looks like a pretty car, with an interior that’s roomy enough for four and very well equipped for the money. On the other, it’s heavy, soulless and with the 1.4 petrol engine under the bonnet, rather slow to get up and running.

If you are considering a Cascada – or an Audi A4 Cabriolet, BMW 3 Series etc – then for heaven’s sake, make sure you test drive the forthcoming 195bhp 2.0 biturbo diesel version because I imagine it will provide the extra grunt this Vauxhall needs.

Overtaking in the 1.4 requires a lot of ‘winding up’ first. Drop down to third, find a long, straight stretch of road and cross your fingers. It’s just not an engine suited to this car.

 

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Friday – Don’t Drive Angry

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Jeremy It’s not as a bad as beating your dog or eating a McDonald’s but I’m going to admit to road rage. Actually, it wasn’t so much road rage as ‘driveway‘ rage. I’m 50 years old and I should be over it but the Cascada got the better of me today.

Jessica and I were rushing to get on the road to Cornwall. The Cascada has a soft-top roof which folds into the boot and eats up on space when it is hidden away. For the mechanism to work, an internal boot liner has to be in place to ensure there is enough room for the roof to fit in.

This means you lose a large chunk of luggage area (100 litres out of 380 litres) but I packed what I could underneath the liner and threw the rest of our kit on the back seat. They it all went wrong when I pressed the one-touch button – and the roof refused to budge.

With my blood pressure soaring I checked the boot. Everything was in place so why wouldn’t it fold down? Then I had to find the right part of the manual to see what the problem might be. Manuals aren’t what they use to be, they are complicated and designed for the whole range of Cascadas, not just your model.

When this failed I went back to the boot and ripped all my luggage out, tossing it across the driveway. After repacked again, it worked. I still have no idea what the problem was but the effect was similar to a wasp sting.

The bigger point here is why does a folding soft-top have to fold into the boot? A folding hard-top needs the extra storage space for all that metal but if a tiny Mazda MX-5 can store a convertible top without touching boot space, why can’t a Vauxhall Cascada?

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Sunday – The Dearly Departed

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Jeremy I was taught that using the indicator was unnecessary unless another motorist was likely to benefit. Why distract yourself if no other vehicles is around? Our Outlander has a ‘lane departure warning systems‘ (or LDW in this case) which sounds an alert every time you cross or clip a white line.

It’s a safety device that has been around for years on some premium brand models. For example, my 2008 BMW 635d used an even more dramatic warning – it would make the steering wheel vibrate, which I found pretty unsettling at times!

Mitsubishi has fitted a bell chime and it’s infuriating, unless you know where to find the button to switch it off (it’s above your right knee). I’ll hold my hand up and admit that on duel carriageways and motorways, I don’t always indicate to change lanes because nobody is behind or in front of me. And yes, on some open corners I might even  clip the white line. That said, I am fully aware that I’m doing it and don’t need an alarm to put me back on the straight and narrow.

We took the Outlander to the hell that is Ikea yesterday. Now that is a place where LDW would come in very handy, especially if you are trying to walk back through the store to buy something you missed at the start.

Ikea use a system similar to kettling to funnel people through the aisles – once you are in the stream, it’s hard to get out again. Deviating off the path can cause all kinds of trouble, at the very least a shoulder barge from somebody coming the other way. If Ikea could fit customers with the Outlander’s LDW I’d definitely shop there more often…

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Tuesday – Knuckles

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Jessica Well done Peugeot for creating a hybrid diesel, it must be the way forward. The problems of battery weight and power storage are still areas where everyone is looking for answers but without getting these cars into the mainstream it will be slow progress.

The RXH is a lot of car. It even feels weighty and the steering adds to the mood as it requires more than the usual amount of effort to turn the wheel.  Furthermore, the gears seem to be very ponderous, which again is something drivers don’t expect with modern cars.

The beautiful dashboard is laid out with many buttons and safety gadgets, all offering a range of noises and alarms. There’s certainly enough here to give Volvo a run for its money!

The 508 has a sporty and well designed speedo, while a range of clearly laid out options for the transmission allowing a sense of choice  and ultimately, control.

For a family estate though which is clearly aiming to compete with the Audi estates and possibly Mercedes it is a handsome car with well designed seats, a considered external and internal aesthetic, plus a sense of presence.

And I’m not sure if it’s mothers who will potentially be driving this car but they will need to have sensible short nails! I had some awkward moments trying to open the central arm rest via a side-mounted button. In the end it became a fumbld knuckle job!

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Thursday – Think Electric

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Jeremy It doesn’t matter what you think of pure electric cars, hybrid models are popping up all over the place at the moment. There’s no escaping the rash of new models coming onto the market, nipping away at our conscious over environmental issues and offering the opportunity to save money at the filling station.

All that technology costs though and hybrid cars are more to buy than their petrol or diesel counterparts. Just one look at the price tag of the RXH for example and you know it’s not going to be a major seller for Peugeot. What is does do is highlight how far the technology has come and presents a very real alternative to some of the premium band 4×4 estates out there.

Driving the 508 today I love the fact that it looks so different to the familiar Audi, BMW and Mercedes estates on the road. It has a unique look and that in itself counts for a lot. The questions is, is it worth the premium you pay for the RXH’s hybrid power unit and will the car suffer from  poor residuals if you sell it in three years time?

It’s probably too early to answer both of those questions but on image alone, I’d say the RXH is definitely worth a look. Yes, it is a Peugeot and not a German premium brand but the quality and attention to detail in this car are quite exceptional. I’m looking forward to many hundreds of miles getting to know the RXH, seeing how the economy fares in real-life conditions – and working out what all the buttons do (I’ve not seen a car with this complicated a dashboard for a long time!).

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Thursday – Drop The Top At 75mph!

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Jeremy – Ah, the English weather… One day it’s hot, the next day there are floods – what is a wind-in-the-hair motoring enthusiast to do? Well, you could do worse than take a test drive in the new DS3 Cabrio.

Unlike other convertibles with a hood rather than a folding metal roof, the Citroen is something of a halfway house. In fact, you have to look closely to spot that it is a convertible at all because the slick shape of the standard DS3 has hardly been changed to accommodate the fabric roof.

That also means that with the hood down, the side windows and frame are still in place, with the hood stacking up neatly where the rear parcel shelf used to be. Truthfully, it’s more of a giant sunroof but make no mistake – when it’s open, the DS3 feels every inch a convertible.

I’ve been playing with the buttons this afternoon and I’ve never experienced such a smooth running roof operation. It simply glides back with the minimum of fuss. What’s more, you don’t have to stop or slow down. The roof operates at speeds of up to 75mph, leaving folding hard-top owners left on the hard shoulder.

I haven’t tried it at speed yet but every car should have a unique selling point and this is one situation where the Citroen really scores.

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Thursday – Don’t Call Me A Hairdresser

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Jeremy Why is it some people still think the MX-5 is a hairdresser’s car? I just told a male friend on the telephone that I was taking delivery of the Mazda today and his first response was ‘hairdresser’s car’. Just because he drives a butch 5 Series BMW – he’s probably never been in an MX-5 in his life.

The MX-5 is probably useless for hairstylists anyway. Drop the folding hard-top and all that coiffure is going to be blown away in an instant. I would imagine that hairdressers would much prefer a Fiat 500 cabriolet, or a Audi TT Roadster…

For me, the MX-5 is something of a legend. I owned one back in the 1990s and it just had that rare ability to always put a smile on my face. It loved being driven hard, especially around corners and along twisty backroads. It just set the benchmark for other convertibles to follow. Although nobody ever made anything quite so good for the same sort of money.

Our Roadster Coupe offers the best of both worlds. You can still buy an MX-5 with a soft top but the hard-top makes for quieter high-speed motoring and safer overnight parking.

Just what Mazda will do to improve the car when it is updated in 2014 remains to be seen. Let’s hope they don’t ruin a winning formula because this current version is still as good as it gets. More words tomorrow when I have had a proper drive…

 

 

 

 

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Monday – The Fun of Golfing

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Jessica Yesterday morning, as I drove through Stroud in my trusty 200,000-mile BMW, I passed the entrance to ‘Wheel Nuts 2013’. It’s a classic car rally where many beautifully preserved cars were trekking, with every owner happy and excited at the gate about the fun day ahead.

It got me thinking about how much we love old cars – cars that have character, cars that remind us of times and stages of our own. I think we love a design ethic to translate across the years and to find some nostalgia in a car that is available now. Somehow VW have managed this with the Golf.

If I think back many years to a pale blue Golf I had with go faster black stripes, I felt the ghost of the original as I started to drive CarCouture’s current Mark VII version. With all its modern features and no nonsense dashboard, it still has the fun, drivability and reliable feel that I remember  from my own Golf – just wrapped in a modern casing.

VW has developed the shape and embraced technological developments but the essence of this car, which has always existed in a special category of its own in terms of demographic uptake and no nonsense fun, is very much there.

It is sound on the road, corners well and the handling is excellent. So altogether, it is a  car you could take anywhere at any stage of your life and still have a little fun.
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Sunday – A Car For All Seasons

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Jeremy It’s the last day for our 6 Series Convertible and, predictably, it’s raining! The soft-top has been down for about 20 minutes in ten days. What the hell happened to spring?

Despite the climatic challenges, this is the most accomplished convertible on the market today. It is an outstanding grand tourer, eating up the miles on our trip to Le Mans, as well as coping with cobbled streets and twisty A-roads en route through Normandy.

Big convertibles can look clumsy and awkward (just consider the Mercedes E-class) but the BMW is eye-catching from every angle. A sophisticated and elegant machine, can you think of a cabriolet that ticks quite so many boxes?

Jessica The BMW is so refined that for a convertible, you wouldn’t know it was a soft-top. The rear end is much prettier than the previous version, with a much more sculpted boot line. It’s a convertible that works on every level, with so much technology, refinement and style that it more than merits the price.

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Saturday – Toys For Boys

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Jeremy It’s cold, wet and almost halfway through April. The only good news is that Lewis Hamilton is on pole for the Chinese Grand Prix. Ever wondered what a Formula 1 racing driver does when they are sat in on the grid for endless minutes before the start?

I asked ex-driver Martin Brundle the same question a few months back – he told me it was all about focus and concentration. At least when I’m stuck in a traffic jam, the 6 Series has plenty to keep me entertained.

This morning, I discovered the iDrive infotainment system can log on to the internet when the car is stationary. You can then use Google Earth information to request photographs of any destination you have keyed into the satellite navigation system. How clever is that?

The sat nav screen can be split to show a route on one side, and other information on the other – or you can have one giant screen showing the route instead.

Of all the information on tap, my favourite has to be the car status page, which uses a picture of the BMW and numbered areas around the bodywork. Select a number and you can clock through to everything from tyre pressures to the windscreen washer bottle level.

Sadly, there is nothing to adjust the miserable British weather, so the Convertible   may be collected before we can really enjoy the power hood and sunshine and report back.