Many parts in a car, so many things that can fail

A modern car (after 1980) has a couple of thousand parts, let's assume 4'000 to 7'000, not counting ingredients in the electronics section. This is a lot of parts, and any of them can fail with the car becoming older and older. You think it might be a simple problem to solve when your car doesn't start easily when the engine is warm, while starting without problem when it's cold. Well, there are at least 20 to 50 parts that could be the reason of this and maybe you have to replace all of them to really find out which one it was. With modern cars this has become even more complex. So complex that the only thing mechanics can do is to plug in a testing unit, connect the result with the car manufacturer's computers and receive instruction what to replace next. Older cars are "simpler" and therefore the mechanic is king, not the computer. What you learn during these adventures is that many parts of a car have never been built to last 30 or more years, i.e. the fuel tank, the pipes between the fuel tank and the engine, cables, wires, etc. That's why keeping a car alive is an investment too, not just buying it.

Picture of the week - Porsche 924 Carrera GT at the gas station

This is not a particularly good picture, but it's certainly one you can't take often, for three reasons: First, the Porsche 924 Carrera GT was only built 406 times in 1980, roughly 300 to 350 of these cars do still exist. Secondly, while 75 cars have been manufactured in right hand drive form for the UK (and Australia/Japan/etc.), this one is a left hand driven car with UK number plates. And thirdly, these cars are quite fuel efficient, driven on public roads. You only need to refuel the car every 700 to 900 km.
So the probability that you meet one of these cars at a gas station is really quite low, isn't it?

1400 km in a Porsche 924 Carrera GT in 1.5 days

I just came back from a 2 days trip to pick up the Porsche 924 Carrera GT. It took me 1'400 km roughly to drive it back to my home. So, as you would expect, I got an impression of this car. And, I am impressed. The car now is roughly 30 years old, but it is still a joy to drive and you feel both safe and well supported in this car. I must say, almost everything I read about this car, is true. The engine sound for example is not what you would dream of. It's a bit like the sound of the Alpine A110 1600 S, but I like the raspy note between 2'500 and 3'500 rpm. The handing feels absolutely state of the art, even today! I have mainly done highways and a few A and B roads, but the cars handles really nicely.
The performance is good, but what really makes your day is the boost when you reach 3'000+ rpm, the turbo wispers and off you are! That's really a sensation. I never liked turbo engines for daily driving, but if you drive for the driving's sake, then it's quite cool!
What stroke me though is the fuel efficiency of this car. I filled the thank (roughly 83 liters capacity) in the North of France and at home there was still some left after 880 km. I was able to get 70 liters in. So despite some fast touring the car stayed below 10 liters per 100 km, that's quite good!
Gear change isn't really perfect, but after some practicing you have it under control.
And it doesn't take you more than a tunnel trip to read the complete car operating manual. The various Volkswagen sourced buttons create no mysteries.
I can really understand why so many people loved this car and kept it for quite some time.

Comparing Mercedes SLS AMG and Peugeot RCZ

They couldn't be more different, you think, right? The supercar Mercedes SLS AMG, heavily marketed and much sought after (you are wanted to think), and the Peugeot RCZ the Audi TT competitor with its hot design and acceptable price. They clearly are different!
The SLS is 6-7 times more expensive than the RCZ but has a worse drag coefficient and of course more air resistance. It's of course heavier too. It's slightly quicker in the slalom disciplines (looking at the Auto Motor und Sport test results) and can get faster into the VDA fast lane change, but comes out slower! Everything that is about economics though, the Mercedes is much worse. Everything that is about power to weight ratio or absolute power, the SLS beats the RCZ by factor 2 (almost).
The good thing is that there's barely anybody who has to decide between these two cars. Two market segments, two cars. But both cars certainly can be great fun, because fun is not a function of budget, it's more a function of expectation and engineering.

Ferrari 599 FXX below 7 minutes around the Nurburgring

The new Ferrari 599 FXX lapped the Nurburgring in less than 7 minutes. That's quick! And it looks quite impressive too. Have a look yourself!

Picture of the week - Auto-Union C-Typ

It almost looks like an animal, or a bat mobile. The Auto-Union C-Typ. The picture was taken at the 2009 GP Suisse.
Modern race cars don't have this amazing details anymore. Too bad!

Do you want a Family-Convertible-Trackcar-Cruiser?

There's a trend to try to merge car categories these days. Convertibles and Coupés get married, designers try to squeeze four seats in a car that barely can fit two, trunk sizes need to capture multiple golf bags, trucks/4wds are merged with sportscars, etc. A good (?) example is the Ferrari California. It tries to emulate a Coupé, a Convertible and a Cruiser and to some extent a practical family car (4 seats), but is it really good in all these disciplines? Wouldn't you be better of buying let's say four cars? For example go for a track car like a BMW M3 E30 or a Lotus Exige, consider a cruiser like a Mercedes 300 SL (R107) or a Ford Mustang Convertible, choose a family car like an Audi A4 Avant and if money is left add a used Ferrari 308 GT/S if you really need a prancing horse. You would have spend less money, have less depreciation per annum, probably not much more maintenance and insurance cost (depending on the country and the condition of the cars of course) and I reckon much more fun! At least me personally I prefer to drive different cars and not always the same! Different cars also feel different and make you feel different.

What's wrong with the Mercedes SLS AMG?

It seems that Mercedes has built a great car with the Mercedes SLS AMG. Reading the latest issue of Auto Motor und Sport the car must be brilliant. It accelerates in 3.9 secs from 0 to 100 km/h, reaches a top speed of 317 km/h and is faster than a Porsche 911 GT3 in some of the handling disciplines, despite of the 1'685 kg heavy weight. The looks is okay too, most people really like the car. The price is a bit far away from reality, especially if you add a few extras. 223'006 Euros has to be given over the counter for the AMS test car (base price, unloaded, 177'310 Euros). But that's comparable to a Ferrari 458 or a Lambo, it seems to be okay.
What makes me worry is the enormous marketing and public relation push Mercedes has created. I think I have never seen so many ads and (paid) press articles for a super car before! The marketing cost per sold car must be significant I would assume. Why do you need to spend so much money if the car is that great? We will probably know in one or two years, but something is wrong here, isn't it?

Why are Car Operating Manuals so fat today?

Have you recently bought a car? Did you read the operating manual(s)? Well, if you buy a car such as the Volkswagen Passat you receive a booklet with approximately 500 pages. It's so fat that it doesn't even properly fit into the dashboard compartment. If you want to read it page by page, you probably spend more than three hours. And this is only one language! So, next time, when you rent a car, will you go through all of this? Probably not.
Well, in the past this was quite different. As you can see on the picture there are a number of car manuals displayed. The operating manual of the Renault 4 has 24 pages, the one for the Ford Granada 64 pages. That's a fraction of what the new car brings to the owner. Why this difference? This probably has a number of reasons: Cars have become more complex, things like the entertainment system need a lot of explanation. Car manufacturers have become much more risk averse. Anything I driver could do wrongly and has the potential to create a liability lawsuit needs to be documented in the manual. And, people today have much less technical understanding compared to the past. Remember, in the 50ies or 60ies you were asked technical questions for getting your driving certificate!
I am still impressed from the Renault 4 operating manual. It's so condensed, the 24 pages even include the index and the table of content. And funnily they had to add another 4 pages to add corrections to the 24 pages already printed in large numbers before.

The black art of engine sound engineering

When today's car engineers design a car, sound engineering is an important competence to include, especially when we look at sport cars. The engine note and exhaust system of an Aston Martin Vantage V8 or DB9, Ferrari California, Maserati Gran Turismo and of many others are optimized to generate a characteristics and sporty sound pattern. Some of these engineers succeed, others don't. It seems that eight and twelve cylinder engine offer the best base, but Lamborghini has proven that V10s can sound interesting as well. And what about six cylinders? Well, they usually are part of less expensive car packages and less effort is spend to make them sound great. Exceptions are BMW (with their marvelous straigh six engine, for example in the new Z4) or Volkswagen with the R engine.
In the past it was much easier. Add hot camshafts, bigger carburetors and get rid of most of the exhaust system (something that is simulated again today by adding pneumatic controls). Listen to the Porsche Carrera 6 here, unforgettable!

Replica Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California - was the movie copy good enough?

I like car movies. Many you may remember "Ferris Bueller's Day off", when the two youngsters tried to turn back the mileage clock when the car fell down and left the house through the back window. Of course we wouldn't have wanted to destroy an original Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder for this scene, right?
But, if you look at the replica car today with its Ford 289ci/4.7
V8, is it really good enough? The shape seems to be okay, if we compare it with an original car. But the detailing sort of got horrible. Light covers, windscreen and stuff like this seems to be quite wrong.
I am sure most people watching the movie didn't notice. So, we saved a great car and the movie hopefully made its budget in revenues.
But I rather don't have a 250 GT than the fake one.

What does this Mercedes /8 do in the used car dealership?

Used car dealerships often have something sad. Cars look for a buyer and many of them really are not that attractive. Today I walked by one of these "exhibitions" and spotted this Mercedes /8 classic in between. What a surprise. And, is it the right environment to sell such a car? At least price wise the Mercedes has done well. Wouldn't you rather take this Mercedes than the Fiat Stilo at the same price (roughly 5000 Euros)? Well, I must admit, the /8 is not everybody's darling, it's not a Dino or a Jaguar. It's too much of a hard worker, i.e. a cab or a company car. But it's a classic anyway.

Maserati 3200 GT - great and distinct rear light design

We loved these boomerang rear lights at the Maserati 3200 GT, didn't we? And it fitted the car so well that some people buying the 4200 GT actually changed the rear bodywork design to fit these unique lights. But it was not just the rear lights. The whole car was a beauty and quite a good design given the size and the ability to actually seat four people. And there was a lot more space for the rear seat passengers than in a Porsche 911 or a Lotus Evora for example, so no alibi seats. I tried it myself, it works! Of course the 4200 GT even had a bit more space but the 3200 GT was okay already. It drove well also, was pretty fast and had a decent handling. Most of these things the 4200 GT could do a bit better even, but as said, they removed the boomerang lights to fit the preferences of the American market. Sad! I almost bought one of the early cars and the guy offering me a test drive was a former formula one driver. He showed me what the car can do and it was impressive! From a financial point of view it was probably a good decision not to buy the car, because depreciation was hefty and maintenance cost for these cars is significant. And what all of these early cars sort of lack is the great sound engineering applied to the new GranTurismo Coupés of Maserati. Despite the same ingredients (engine) the new cars sound so much better. Other than this though the old car seems to be the more desirable one to me, as it was more nimble, more light and was available with a proper manual gear box. Will the 3200 GT ever become a true collectors' car? This is unclear and all depends on whether we will be able to maintain the complex electronics of these cars in 10 or 20 years from now (see also other previous blog entries on this topic).

Fiat Mulipla - to ugly to survive?

One of the most controversial designs of the last 10+ years probably is/was the Fiat Multipla, built between 1999 and 2004. It was quite unique with the lights just below the front screen and with the wheels basically at every corner. Also the six seat configuration was somewhat special. But it was at the same time a pretty practical cars, kids loved the middle seat in the front and the handling of the car was much better than it looked! After all the critic Fiat decided to smoothen the car in 2004 and with this destroyed the design in my eyes. The Mk2 Multipla is just an ordinary car and lacks the uniqueness of the Mk1. I almost had bought one in the early 2000s, but I didn't. I would like to see more brave designs and concepts on the street, just like the Fiat Multipla!

Picture of the week - Ferrari 512 BB Brochure show Engine Bay

This is one page of the 1980 (approx) Ferrari 512 BB sales brochure. It shows the engine of the Berlinetta Boxer from the top. What an impressive engine! It's basically half the car and so nicely presented.
What I find though even more interesting is that Ferrari presents the red car on a yellowish ground while the brochures border and background is designed in a bright orange color. Horrible, I find. The brochure itself has a bulky oversize format is probably worth quite a bit of money today. But let's not talk about the display, but rather about this amazing engine with the large number of carburetors and a 5 liter displacement.

Car Design Failures - Lancia Thesis

I have been talking about the Lancia Thesis before, and I also wrote about car design a couple of times.
This is probably one of the more interesting design experiments in car history. I really like the back of the car and specifically the design of the rear lights. In contrast the front and specifically the front lights are totally wrong and at least for me look really ugly. How is it possible that the same designer that did such a great job at the back of the car, totally failed when designing the front? Anyway, the rear light design element we can find to some extent again with the new Jaguar XJ.

What does a petrol head buy himself for birthday?

Well, as you can see, a lot of paper, that's what a petrolhead might buy himself to celebrate birthday. Actually it's about 2000 old car magazines and press documents/brochures/manuals/etc, printed between the fifties and today. Hours and hours of reading, searching, smiling and enjoying. The only problem is that I actually need this space in my garage for something else ....

New 2011 Lotus Elise with ultra low CO2 emission

Lotus has just announced that the new 2011 Lotus Elise has been awarded an outstandingly low emissions figure of 149g of CO2 / km which represents a reduction of 16% over the previous Lotus Elise S.
This figure means that the Elise has the lowest CO2 for its performance level for any gasoline sportscar in the world. Fuel consumption is ultra low too, with 5.04 litres per 100 km (extra urban). Where are the savings coming from? Aerodynamics have been improved by 4% and new super efficient, 1.6 litre 4 cylinder VVT-I engine has been installed which is not only is 200 cc smaller than the engine for the outgoing Lotus Elise S but also produces the same power. And the bottom line performance figures speak for themselves: 0-100 km/h 6.5 seconds! Who said that driving a green car can't be fun?

Toyota MR2 1986 - affordable mid engine car

There haven't been many affordable mid engine cars after 1980, one was the MG F/TF, another one was the Toyota MR2. It was a good looking car and reasonably fast. And I remember that especially in Italian the name sounded good, i.e. "emme erre due". It was of course a pure two seater and later version had a removable targa top. Some people say the design and engineering came from Lotus, but it's not quite clear. Anyway, the car was quite successful and the first generation was produced from 1984 to 1989 with engines ranging from roughly 83 to 145 hp batteling with roughly 1'000 kg of weight. Handling was good, but there were some real drastic accidents when driver lost their tail.
The following generations both were less good looking and also less pure in my eyes.
I nearly bought one of the first generation cars as I specifically liked the interior and the nimbleness of the car, but it didn't happen.

Ferrari 599 GTO - showing what is feasible today

Ferrari has announced the Ferrari 599 GTO. GTO stands for "gran turismo omologato". At least this was the case in the 60ies when Ferrari produced the century icon 250 GTO. You could buy this car, drive with it to Le Mans or the Nurburgring and compete in the next 24 hours race. Can you do this with the new car? No, of course not. Despite the hefty price tag of probably more than Euro 350k it's just an improved version of the substantially "cheaper" standard 599. Having said that, it's certainly a great evolution, the new car is very quick. It accelerates in less than 3.4 sec from 0 to 100 km/h and obviously has set the fastest lap on the Fiorano track, thanks to all the electronics on board. It looks good too. Would I buy one? Probably not, as for the money I can buy some of the greatest 60ies sportscar icons, including a Lamborghini Miura or a Porsche 904 GTS (if I am lucky to find one).

Picture of the week - Porsche 956 - Mass and Ickx

It may not be the best picture, but it's one I have taken myself when I was still quite young and it shows one of the all time best race cars ever, the Porsche 956, driven by Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx. It must have been around 1982/83 and it looks like the Nurburgring to me, but I may be mistaken. As said it has been a long time ago. There was actually a street going version of this car, built by Dauer. It's probably not something you would want to drive in city traffic or to park in a narrow garage. But it has the looks and the sound it takes to get petrolheads going ...

Lamborghini Bravo - the best Lambo design, but never produced

This weekend I discovered some old car journals in my "archive" and found a car, very few people actually do remember - the Lamborghini Bravo. It's a really impressive design by Nuccio Bertone, 1.035 meters high, shown 1974 the first time at the Salon Turin. It remained a prototype, but influenced probably a great number of other cars. Different to other prototypes this one actually could be driven, despite missing windscreen wipers or other comfort details. The basis for the Bravo was the Lamborghini Urraco and with this the V8 3 liters engine. 6 seconds for the 0-100 km/h acceleration were certainly good enough in 1974.
The journalist of the German magazine Rallye Racing at least was pleased with the performance and the wonderful noise the car generated. He summarized his article with the following words: "I am getting out of a future car, but it's future is probably already the past". Which makes sense given he wrote this in 1977 and emission, crash and noise regulations already had made a car like this impossible by then. Too bad- what a silhouette!

BMW C1-E - electrical bike that actually could make sense

It hasn't generated that much noise in the press landscape, but what BMW presented last November (2009) was actually quite convincing! They took their BMW C1 bike with roof and seat belts and replaced the dull gasoline engine with an electric motor and batteries. The result has a number of convincing attributes:
It's zero emission (if you don't include the production of the energy).
It can be parked like a motocycle - so you don't need to look for a parking space!
It can be driven without a helmet, if you want (in most countries), so less of a hardcore vehicle compared to real motocycles.
I know a number of people who loved the C1. Obviously though it didn't bring the sales figures expected and BMW stopped production after only 3 years. With the BMW C1-E we could have seen a resurrection, but obviously BMW decided to not produce this one. Big mistake in my eyes, as for marketing purposes this would be at least as convincing as the Mini-E.

Alpine Renault A110 1600 S brochure of 1972 - fascination on few pages

When have you seen a car brochure like this? It's only 8 pages and two of them are pure branding. But the other six do more to the car - Alpine Renault A110 1600 S 1972 - than many of the heavy brochures you get today.
It's all there, technical data, rallye photos, engineering views, interior shots, etc. - what more would you want? Of course it helps that the car is simple and therefore easy to explain, but that can't explain the difference between 8 pages and 56 or 64? Right? Happily this collector's item hasn't been thrown away like so many others!

Lamborghini Miura - ultimate 60ies super car

When Lamborghini presented the Lamborghini Miura in 1966 it was THE sensation. Not only was it ways ahead of the competition from Ferrari (the 275 GTB and the Daytona still had the engine mounted in the front) it was also a century design. Marcello Gandini, working for Bertone, had done a great job. The car was ultra flat and for its time also quite wide. The mid engine developed roughly 350 hp from 4 liters, enough to bring the car to almost 280 km/h for the people being brave enough to try it. In a contemporary test in Hobby people were very pleased by the handling, but 40 years later you would probably rather describe it as adventurous.
The car sold very well, 765 cars were produced and brought money to Lamborghini. Faster versions were produced, i.e. the S, the SV and the Jota.
Miuras have increased in value dramatically over the last 10 years. I remember seeing advertised cars for roughly Euro 200k, today it's rather twice that much for a good one.
It's certainly not a cheap car to own, as mechanically it's fragile and spare parts are sought after. But if you look for THE 60ies super car then this one is the one to have!
In 1986 Bertone celebrated 20 years of Lamborghini Miura at the Geneva Car Show, that's were the second picture is from.

May Spring finally come! Classic cars covered by snow

Remember my recent blog on the Porsche 911 SC, a classic car being driven as every day car? Well, here's another chapter. Recently we had some weather surprises and - again - a bit of snow, as you can see on the picture. Snow per se isn't particularly bad for an old car, but it usually comes with salt on the streets. Luckily this time the temperatures were just high enough to prevent authorities to send the salt crew. And the 911 wasn't used that day neither. Good!
But hopefully the weather will now finally get better, so that owners have more opportunities to use their classics like yesterday when I spotted a 50ies Maserati Barchetta race car on the street, a Porsche 356, a Jensen Healey and many other rare cars!

Performance is relative - Opel Kadett vs Ford 12M vs NSU Sport Prinz vs Fiat 850 Coupé vs Renault Caravelle vs Sima 1000 Coupé vs Karmann Ghia

Sportcars are expected to run faster than the everyday saloon car an average citizen drives. Today you expect 0-100 km/h in less than 7 seconds, a top speed of at least 250 km/h and premium cornering abilities. In the mid sixties this wasn't that different except that the expectations were much lower. What you see illustrated here is a comparison test of small (and affordable) sportscars - Ford 12 M TS Coupé, Opel Kadett Coupé, NSU Sport Prinz, Fiat 850 Coupé, Simca 1000 Coupé, Renault Caravelle S and Karmann Ghia 1300. The bi-weekly published journal Hobby measured 16.1 seconds for the fastest car - Ford 12 M TS Coupé - for the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h. The slowest cars were the NSU Sport Prinz and the Karmann Ghia 1300 with 26 seconds. Today, you will barely find a car that is taking more than 20 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h at all. But in the sixties the best sold car in our geography was the Volkswagen Beetle and this one took 30 to 40 seconds to get to 100 km/h and the top speed was about 120 km/h. So in comparison the Ford was quite quick and with a top speed of 150 km/h a benchmark! It remains to be said that these cars too between 45 and 55 meters to break down from 100 km/h comparable to 32 to 38 meters today.
Gladly enough a number of these cars have survived until today, you can still see the Fiat 850 Coupé being used in daily traffic today for example. And if you ever have the opportunity to drive one of these you will see that they feel much faster than they are. As said, performance is relative!

Porsche 924 Carrera GT versus BMW M3 (E30) - which one to choose?

In first sight the Porsche 924 Carrera GT and the BMW M3 (E30) seem to be difficult to compare. But when you look closer there are actually many similarities.
Both cars have been designed and built with homologation rules (FIA) in mind, so both cars are Evolution Specials. Both cars are based on a mass production everyday car, the Porsche is based on the not too popular but still well sold 924 (with Audi engine), the BMW on the very popular 3 series.
Performance of the two cars is pretty similar, despite the 7-10 years of difference in age. They accelerate in roughly 7 seconds from 0-100 km/h and reach a top speed around 240 km/h. Both cars are equipped with 4 cylinder engines. And in both cases the car manufacturers decided for more or less traditional tuning options to make the cars faster and better looking, i.e. body kits, aerodynamics improvements, engine tuning, weight saving, etc.. In both cases the result is absolutely convincing! And this is appreciated by people owning and buying these cars. Both cars hold their value much much better than their mass production sister. A well maintained M3 (E30) from 1987 to 1990 will fetch prices around Euro 15'000 to 25'000, the Porsche 924 Carrera GT typically trades between Euro 25'000 to 35'000 for examples in good condition. And, yes, both are fairly practical cars, can seat 4 people and take some luggage too. And both cars are astonishingly economical in terms of fuel consumption, at least if you believe the ECE/DIN average consumption levels.

But let's get to the differences between these cars! The Porsche 924 Carrera GT is 30 years now almost, so basically can be called an oldtimer, while the M3 still needs to wait for another 8-10 years for this "honor". While the Porsche has a turbo engine with more then 100 hp/liter, the BMW uses a high revving 4 cylinder racing oriented 4 cylinder without turbo or compressor.
The Porsche has been built 406 times and probably 90% of these cars are still around. The M3 in comparison has been produced about 17'000 times, so in terms of rarity there's quite a difference! Interestingly this doesn't impact the value too much!

If you want to buy one, then color choice will not be of great concern as the Porsche only was delivered in three colors (red, silver, black) and the M3 in only few mores (e.g. white). Condition and history are critical, as maintenance bills can become quite significant for both cars!

I have been writing about these two cars before, so if you want to read more about them, have a look here and here.

Remote control your car - the DIY approach

Have you ever thought it would be good to not have to leave your house to park your car or to move it into the garage? Have you ever thought it would be good to actually standing outside when trying to fit the car into a narrow parking space? Well, it's easier than you think. Thanks to the electronics in modern car and the drive-by-wire approach most car manufacturers choose to control engine, brakes and even steering, with a few electronic building blocks you can actually remote control your car just like you steer an RC model car from Tamiya. Just plug the controlling unit into the CAN bus of your car and an interface kit into a standard remote control with steering and throttle/break controls and you are done!
The parts can be purchased here.
It doesn't take an engineer to fit them to your car and instantly you can start, control and stop your car with the remote control. Impress your friends and make your life easier! It feels a bit like playing James Bond (remember the 7 series he controlled with a mobile phone?), but it's much easier with the controller shown here. And of course you can also do it from the back of your car, because having visual access is crucial! You should't hand over the controller to your kids also, as you can imagine.
If you have any doubts then look at the testimonials of people having already done it!