Spring Clean Motoring Part 3: The Future's Bright With Tesla Lighting The Way

It’s not long to go until the EVOLUTION Motor Show charges once more to Ingliston, whisking countless delighted patrons around the Royal Highland Centre’s on-site test track in all manner of eco-themed vehicles. One of this year’s most exciting cars on display comes from a company that, up until 8 years ago, didn’t even build cars.

Tesla have just taken over 325,000 pre-orders for their newest offering, even though right now it’s little more than a concept. The Model 3 aims to bring technology from Tesla’s current lineup of uber-futuristic swish-mobiles, which includes the Model S and the soon-to-hit-UK-roads Model X SUV, and deliver on a platform closer in size to a BMW 3-series.

The Model 3 brings high-end leccy-tech to a wider market

That’s dangerous territory. The 3-series has been the undisputed king of its segment for 41 years, pretty much carving the template for all mid-size sports saloons since. Buoyed along by the public’s near-absolute trust of German build quality and virtually unwavering brand loyalty, how will the Tesla fare when put up against the distilled and refined Ultimate Driving Machine?

To get a feel for where the company was at just before it’s biggest launch to date, I dropped in to Tesla’s new showroom on Multrees Walk in Edinburgh. Appearing right at home nestled amongst the fashion boutiques and single-brand jewellery stores either side of it, Tesla have shirked the traditional car dealership model of out-of-town industrial estates, instead opting for eyes-on visibility, building a brand in a similar way to Apple, where product exposure is everything.

New approach: Tesla's dealership looks like it might sell shoes

Taking pride of place in the showroom is a bare-bones chassis from the Model S, showing off the innovative, twin-motor drivetrain and battery packs, all very low to the floor. With Elon Musk having declared Tesla’s technology free to the world to use and learn from, secrecy is not an issue here. Also on display are the car’s mighty adaptive air suspension arms,, which help maintain a level ride and pitch the car into corners, or lift the nose – not quite west coast rapper style – to clear bumps.

Seated behind the wheel (of a fully dressed car) the Model S feels like it was designed from the ground-up as a product seated firmly for the 21^st century – and I suppose it was. From little details like the door handles doubling as a pocket for your mobile phone, to the giant, iPad-dwarfing central control screen, incorporating clever sat-nav to help you navigate the car's useful 250 mile range between charges on longer journeys, the interface for which mimics the ease of use of modern smartphones. This car has the future in its sights – and that's all besides the sheer connectivity of the thing.  

 

Tesla have nothing to hide, flaunting their twin-motor setup

Another feature shared by the Model S and today’s raft of super-sleek smartphones is the ability to receive updates and fixes over the air. Using it’s own internet connection, the car feeds data back to Tesla HQ in California, where information from cars all round the world is compiled to see how the various systems, including the car’s auto-pilot mega-brain – more on that later - are coping in real world conditions. From here, system updates can be released, which the car will download and install entirely by itself.

On the road, the mighty tesla feels ethereal.  I’ve felt smoothness in big, executive Jags, Mercs, Audis and BMWs before, but nothing comes close to the way the Tesla glides from place to place. The self-levelling suspension adds an air of floating, untroubled by ancient constructs like the ground. In fact, the only thing that demonstrated the limits of the air suspension’s capabilities on my passenger run in a full-fat P90D was the car’s incredible surge of power, as the combined 762bhp output from the twin-motor set up silently bullys the horizon closer.

It’s not so much the power itself that surprises, rather the delivery – the way it erupts all of a sudden, without noise or any of that calamity. It simply goes. One minute you’re quietly cruising along, the next you’re bending physics. 0-62mph in 2.7 seconds surprises in a car that makes next to no noise at all. You could buy a P90D and offer a sideline as a chiropractor, using the G-forces this car develops off the mark to realign your passengers spine.

 

Sleek lines hint at the Model S's sporting prowess

Power is split between the front and rear electric motors – the front 259bhp for efficiency through the front wheels, with the 503bhp rear motor focused more towards high performance. This gives a rear power bias, the two motors working together to give the Model S astounding levels of grip whilst still handling in a sporty manner.

By no stretch of the imagination is the Model S a stripped-out sports car. Its weight is masked well by the suspension trickery, but it still tips the scales at 2,200kg. Most of this weight is down to the battery pack, an issue faced by all electric cars. Tesla do well to pack the batteries into the floor, keeping the centre of gravity as low as possible, but all that weight is still there, and centrifugal force is a harsh mistress.

Another two tricks up the Tesla's sleeve are it's hidden extra row
of seats in the boot - passengers' noses will take a bashing

That being said, you’d be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive car package than a well-specced Model S P90D. All at once it manages to be, a supercar, a sports saloon, a comfortable limousine, a tablet computer, a fashion item, a 7-seat people mover, a twin-booted grand tourer, a personal chauffeur - all whilst still saving the world, one charge at a time.

With the lack of any kind of noise, it would be easy to rest ones foot on the throttle and not register the car gently accelerating until you arrive at a traffic light doing 155mph, but that’s where features like Tesla’s auto-pilot system come in. This combines radar-guided cruise control with lane recognition technology, aided by a whole host of sensors and processors, to effectively allow the car to drive itself. The driver becomes accessory as the computers take over to gently guide you to your destination.

The Model S's giant centre screen serves all manner of purposes

Initial doubts about trusting the system fall by the wayside when you actually try it, as if the sensors latch on to a manual car, the system is so precise that you can feel every little gear change from the leading driver. Of course, the option is always there to take the helm and breeze along some B-roads, but for everyday trips and the tedium of creeping through traffic, the Tesla can pick up the slack.

  

The Model S is the only model Tesla currently sell in the UK, with the Model X joining it later this year. Tesla are bringing it along to the Royal Highland Centre this weekend, where car fans will be able to get up close with this high-end embodiment of what an electric car can be. It’s fascinating to think that, if Tesla sticks to it’s current trajectory, within the decade we could be seeing similar levels of connectivity and electric drivetrain technology in B- and C-segment cars.

The Model 3 is nothing if not a clear statement of intent from Tesla to make this technology more and more available in mass-produced cars. Whilst BMW won't quite be shaking in it's boots yet, Tesla have definitely given them something to think seriously about over the next few years.

It's popularity proves, as Elon Musk elucidates here, that Tesla's business model is working and it's only a matter of time before we're all quietly swooshing around, being excellently productive as our dashboard butlers find and navigate the best route through rush hour traffic, all whilst producing no emissions whatsoever. Come and discover the future of electric car tech at the Evolution motor show, on Saturday 16^th April at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston.

The Model S - showing there can be a bright, green future
in electric motoring that doesn't have to mean comprimise

Maximum Car For Your Cash - Dacia Logan 0.9 TCe MCV Review

I've always had a fondness for estate cars. The inherent functionality that comes with all that extra space, to me, embodies a huge bonus of car ownership - I can transport not only myself, but also others with me, and, if we feel like it, some things. For several years I ran my own bargain load-lugger - a Ford Focus estate - which I inherited from my parents following the disintegration of my first car, a teeny, first-gen Vauxhall Corsa. 

The 'big car', now on to pastures new

Not the most fashionable motor for a 20-year-old lad with less street cred than a botched pothole repair by the council? Perhaps. Yet I loved my big bus. Throughout my formative years it ferried me, my friends and an enormous amount of stuff to camping trips and music festivals; with the seats folded down, it became a discreet camper van, a secure place to sleep if I was feeling insociable or simply forgot to bring a tent. It travelled the length and breadth of the country, most of the time simply for the sake of driving. The 1.6 petrol Zetec motor may have seen far better times before it fell into my possession, but the chassis retained the fully independent control blade rear suspension setup, and with it the handling prowess that thrust the original Focus to the top of it's class, become the darling front-drive car of motoring journos the world over.

Being a Scot, I follow the stereotype that I'm an absolute sucker for a bargain. Consider all of this and it was only a matter of time before I was drawn to a Dacia Logan MCV. With prices starting from £6,995, it's the cheapest estate car that can be bought new in Britain, and at first glance it represents terrific value. 

The Logan, badged 'Maximum Capacity Vehicle', as if you couldn't tell

The base 'Access' model comes with a 1.2 petrol motor putting out around 75bhp, steel wheels, fabric interior and black plastic body mouldings, and not a lot else. As a box for moving things and people -the essence of an estate car - it ticks the, ahem, boxes. As a long term family car, not so much.

Fear not, as not much further up the range, Logans come with toys like cruise control, Bluetooth and USB connectivity and a multi-function trip computer. It wasn’t so long ago that speccing a B-cum -C-segment estate car with gadgets like these even at the lower end of the range would see the price creep ever-closer to the £20k mark. Dacia are now doing all this for pretty much half that – a diesel, top-spec ‘Laureate’ with all of the above plus sat-nav and rear parking sensors still comes in at just £11,345. Lets not forget, this is a brand new car with a three year/60,000 mile warranty to boot - an equivalent spec in a Volkswagen Polo would be almost £17,000 – and that’s before you buy a roof rack to make up all that extra load space that comes for free with the Logan.

Equipment levels are excellent for
the price; buttons basic yet functional

Admittedly the interior isn’t quite up to the German car’s standard, but it’s not as bad as you might think. Yes, there are hard plastics here and there – those savings to come from somewhere – but the interior of car I drove had been dressed fairly well, with chrome surrounds on the stereo and air-vents and smooth plastic door handle inserts. Since these are the bits that will actually be touched and fiddled with day-to-day (I am making the assumption here that most people don’t spend their time stroking and fondling every inch of their cars dash) the addition of these little details manages to keep the experience from feeling cheap.

The seats, at first glance, appear incredibly skinny, as if they’ve got about as much support to offer as the foundations of the Lamington viaduct. Once seated, they're pleasantly - not to mention surprisingly - comfortable. They're no feather mattress, but long journeys wouldn't be too much of a chore for the buttocks.

I suspect the reasoning behind Dacia’s decision to pare down the car's posterior plinths is as much for cost saving as it is for fitting people in the back. Lo and behold, even with my relatively laid back driving position (car writer trope alert) I managed to fit in behind myself. Now, I’m hardly the lankiest of gents, but in the Dacia there were a good few inches between my knees and the driver’s seat in front – and a good bit more than in my old Focus. This bodes well, as many Logans are likely destined to become minicabs for their first 6 figures of mileage.

Little details help the Laureate spec cars cabin feel un-cheap

Don’t expect any miracles in the driving department. It’s not bad, but Dacia know their target market for this car. People buying this care aren't going to be taking to YouTube to check up its Nürburgring lap GoPro footage. The Clio underpinnings that this car is based on don’t do too bad considering the extra bulk (it’s worth remembering that that car was also offered as a B-segment estate). It’s relatively unflappable in the sort of situ where 99% of this cars journeys will be made – around town with a bit of motorway and A road work thrown in to the mix. There was a bit of body roll on roundabouts – it’s not a Clio Cup chassis. 

Partly, this is down to the slightly raised ride height, which should more than earn it’s keep over slightly tricky terrain like rutted farm tracks. Dacia have designed tand built this car to tackle a variety of terrain, in both developed and developing markets. As such, you can expect the suspension and the chassis to take a bit of a beating before it starts to feel worn and tired, which bodes well, considering the state of many of Scotland's A and B roads, not to mention some absolute craters popping up here and there on the motorway network.

The 0.9 litre petrol engine in the car I drove took a bit of getting used to, this being my first experience of a block of this size backed up by turbo-charging. It’s worth noting at this point that this car can be pretty unforgiving of laziness with the gear lever. At junctions and low speeds, unless you're in exactly the right gear and on revs, the car tends to stutter before doing its very best to stall itself. 
 

It's not sleek, but it does the job.
Fog lights add to the mildly premium feel

The payoff for this extra gear change concentration? Economy, and bundles of it. Be careful with the throttle and pay the gearstick a bit of extra attention and Dacia say you should see economy approaching 56 mpg.  

That's not to say the 0.9 is entirely gutless. Work with the car and you'll find it really quite spritely in traffic, and the 88bhp and 100lb/ft is perfectly ample for town driving and batting along the motorway. Overtaking on country roads will require conscious effort from the driver to lean on that engine but, hey, isn't that kind of why the car has a driver in the first place?

In the Logan though I’d be inclined to opt for the 1.5 litre 90hp diesel. It’s a much torqueier motor than the miniscule petrol, handy if you’ll be carrying large loads on a regular basis. It should also be easier with the diesel to get close to its quoted mpg figure – a far from unimpressive 74mpg. The initial outlay is a little higher outlay for the diesel, but combine that economy with the fact that you’re paying no road tax at all on it and the savings soon mount up. I'd probably avoid the 1.2 petrol unless on a very strict budget - it lags behind the other two units on power and doesn't get near their economy figures.

Just think of how big a dog or sofa you take everywhere with you

The engines themselves are products of the Renault / Nissan alliance, and so should prove reliable and efficient. Plus, if anything does go pop, availability of parts shouldn’t be an issue since these motors have been used across both brands ranges for years.

All in all, if you’re considering something that can take 5-people-plus-dog, the Logan is definitely worth a look. For the price, the only alternatives are in the second hand market – Qashqais, Golfs, that sort of thing – but they don’t come with the peace of mind of the Dacia’s 3 year/60,000 miles warranty, which can be easily extended. There are some quirks - I smiled when I discovered the boot is opened by a small lever in the drivers-side carpet, akin to bonnet catch releases of old, and the headlight switch knob is hidden away far below the dash. These are small details, and it won't take owners long to commit them to muscle memory. The Logan, in Laureate spec, does everything many other new cars offer for a huge discount.

Spring Clean Motoring Part 2: A Slippery, Frugal Cat

It's little over a month to go until the Evolution Motor Show silently whooshes once more along to the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston. Amongst the cars on show this year, the one you'll hear coming above the low hum of futuristic electricity is the new Jaguar XE, which will showcase the company's latest green tech.

Sleek lines for both form and function - muscular body work is sleekest Jag ever

Sticking to a more traditional format for a small executive saloon car, the XEs currently on the market are powered by a selection of all-aluminium petrol and diesel units, each of which aim to squeeze as much out of every single drop of fuel as possible. At the sharper end of the range is the supercharged 3.0 V6 from the base F-Type, sure to give XE blistering performance, but return less of a saving at the pumps.

The headline economy figures come with Jaguar's Ingenium diesel engines, which are likely to be the most popular on UK roads. Utilising variable exhaust valve timing alongside aftertreatments for the gases emitted, the 2.0-litre turbodiesel unit manages to give 160 horsepower and 280lb-ft of torque whilst producing only 99g/km of CO2, putting it in the lowest UK tax band with a cost of precisely zero pounds per year. If you fancy a bit more grunt and can stomach handing over 20 of your pounds to the government each year, there's a more powerful 177hp Ingenium diesel, which, despite the power upgrade, still produces just 109g/km.

Jaguar haven't just focused their quest for efficiency on the engines; the whole car has been considered, examined and worked on to make the whole package as clean and green as possible. The bodywork is as sleek as can be, making the XE the most aerodynamic Jaguar ever, with a drag coefficient of just 0.26. On the Ingenium diesels, there's the option of a six-speed manual running with low-viscosity oil and pseudo dry-sump lubrication to assist in putting the power to the rear wheels. Part-time all-wheel-drive is available on the more powerful diesel, but only with the 8-speed ZF box. This improves traction but adds weight and lessens economy, but makes perfect sense for those in colder climes.

In no way does this efficiency come at the expense of performance in the XE - Jaguar would never allow that. The smallest Jaguar is also the lightest and the stiffest, showing that the petrol V6 is not the only thing carried over from the F-Type sports car. The XE showcases more of Jaguar's aluminium monocoque technology, and they claim that this is the first time such a thing has been seen in the mid-size segment. 

The XE surrounds the driver with technology

Inside, the XE draws upon the design of its flagship big brother, the XJ, with a subtle wraparound dash that aligns along the door line giving a very secure feel. Jaguar's new InControl infotainment system dominates the centre of the dash, which should be a welcome improvement over the previous unit, which felt sluggish in a world dominated by smartphones and i-things. 

The XE - incredibly efficient, drives like a Jag should

An expected above-70mpg fuel economy combines with vast service intervals of 21,000 miles makes the Jaguar a strong contender for the ideal mid-size saloon fleet car. On paper alone it appears to dethrone the mighty 3-series in many ways. The proof is in the punch, so to see for yourself if the XE truly is the king of its class, head along to the Evolution Motor Show at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston on the 16th April 2016.

Some Things To Be Excited About At Geneva 2016 If You Can't Afford A Bugatti Chiron

If you haven't already heard about it, the new Bugatti Chiron has been unveiled ahead of it's official launch at the Geneva Motor Show this week. Its astronomical power figure of 1,478 horsepower is surpassed only by the £1.9 million price tag, and that's all just fine.

If you can afford to buy the Chiron you probably already have access to somewhere with enough room to enjoy all of that power, and maybe even get it up to it's top speed which is claimed to be around 261mph. But what about the rest of us mere mortals? What is there for us to enjoy?

The Opel GT Concept, with its boss.

Oddly, the first thing that caught my eye at Geneva was Vauxhall / Opel's GT Concept. This tiny coupe may not have reached the realms of reality yet, but fingers crossed some of the ideas will trickle through from the matrix to our dimension. The concept, a two-seater could see production as a front-drive car with a 1 litre, 3-cylinder engine putting out around 143bhp. This should keep running costs nice and low, whilst also delivering punchy performance. It's early days yet, but this fairly un-Vauxhall car could put the company into competition with sports car stalwarts like the Mazda MX-5, which is very dangerous territory indeed.

Bedroom walls across the land should be sorted, with Lamborghini unveiling their bonkers new Centenario LP770-4 poster child. Produced as a 100th birthday present to honour the company's late founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, the Centenario will see very limited production at just 20 coupes and 20 roadsters. At the heart of it's carbon fibre body sits a higher-revving version of Lambo's legendary V12 engine, with power output upped to 759bhp. It runs the Bugatti very close for price, but this car is built as much to dwell in the imagination of children, spitting flames and spinning wheels in a very exciting manner, as it is to hide under covers in the ultra-secure garages of the super rich.

Interesting headlamp arrangement adds to asymmetry and alliteration.

At a very different end of the spectrum, Morgan will be bringing along their EV3, showcasing a 'pre-production phase' of their take on what an electric vehicle should be. Sticking to form, the EV3 is a super light three-wheeled two-seat roadster, using a combination of carbon fibre and aluminium body panels built around an ash frame to give a weight of less than 500kg. Up front, the 1983cc V-Twin of the current car is replaced with cooling fins for the 20KWh lithium battery, which combine with a liquid-cooled 46kW electric motor to zip the whole thing from 0-60 in under 9 seconds. The range, thanks no doubt in part to the car's tiny weight, is slated to be up to 150 miles.

Pininfarina have also brought their idea for a performance car with a progressive drivetrain: the H2 Speed utilises hydrogen fuel cell technology which has been track-tested by GreenGT, a company focussed on bringing hydrogen fuel tech to motorsport. The H2 produces 503 horsepower and is capable of 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, and with the only exhaust being water vapour, this makes it the world's fastest steam cleaner. Having been draped in Pininfarina magic, the H2 Speed is also the world's prettiest steam cleaner, with sleek lines and a paintjob that harks back to the 1969 Ferrari Sigma Formula One show car, presented to the public by the Italian design house at the Geneva show that year. If this is a showcase of what a hydrogen powered sports car could be, then I for one can't wait for a Formula H racing series.

Speaking of sleek lines, how could we ignore the new Aston Martin DB11, which sneaked its way into the public eye at the start of the week. The successor to the DB9 shows off heavy styling influence from the bespoke DB10, wielded by James Bond in Spectre, with added aggression from the limited-run One-77. The aluminium body incorporates aerodynamic elements, including a special AeroBlade system, consisting of cleverly hidden ducts beneath the C-pillars which channel air over the back end, helping to reduce rear lift. Under the bonnet sits a new 5.2 litre, twin-turbo V12 pushing out 600bhp. Whilst the Aston may not be within most peoples budget (including mine!), it'll certainly drop a few jaws as it barrels along the motorway.

Thought I'd treat you to a nice big picture of the DB11, for obvious reasons.