Porsche going back to four cylinders?
Porsche is in trouble. After failing to
take control of VW, after taking out loans to finance the
hoped-for purchase, it is now attempting to win the green
vote by adopting a four-cylinder engine that could bring
lower fuel economy and emissions for the Porsche Boxster and
its hard-top sibling, the Cayman.
Porsche
Boxster
This engine would be sourced from VW, and though not
officially confirmed, it has not been officially denied.
Leaked information suggests it is more than likely, backing
up comments from a Porsche board member.
Speaking at the launch of the Panorama - their four-door
coupe that gives Porsche the biggest, most expansive (and
expensive) model range ever - board member Klaus Berning
hinted that more economical versions of the Boxster and
Cayman were on the way.
“Clearly there is a trend to downsizing,” he said. “We have
to do everything possible within the brand limits to lower
CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. A four-cylinder brings a lot
of efficiency, so I will not exclude that, but if you ask me
did we already decide one, no.” However, when further
pushed, he said, “Never say never.”
This is the company which flatly denied it would ever bring
out a diesel, but this year released an oil-burning diesel
Cayenne, the most ridiculous SUV ever made.
That Porsche should fit a VW four cylinder is nothing new,
with the early 356 and 912 series having VW fours. Later the
914, 924, 944 and 968 had four cylinder engines as well.
Berning admitted the engine could be one shared with another
brand, likely one sourced from the Volkswagen Group with
which it has a technical collaboration. It would likely use
a turbocharger as used on the Volkswagen Golf GTI and other
vehicles from the Volkswagen/Audi family.
The move would reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide
emissions in line with Porsche’s push to reduce its
environmental footprint. But do tree huggers buy Porsche’s,
that’s the question left unanswered.
Chevrolet Cruze -
coming to/from Thailand?
The new Chevrolet Cruze may just work out to be
GM’s answer in the current crisis. Built on the German
Opel-designed Delta II front-wheel drive architecture it is
generally thought of as a Korean vehicle, just like the
Chevrolet Captiva.
Chevrolet
Cruze
The car is almost 4.6 meters long, 1.8 m wide and 1.48 m
tall, and has a 2685 mm wheelbase. It is not a small car,
but best described as mid-sized.
Those who have seen this vehicle all say that the styling is
a little different, but it grows on you, and the interior is
excellent.
The body shell features triple-layered door seals, felt
window inserts, extensive use of dampening material, and
single-unit upper body structure and frame. The dashboard
design is attractive, functional and well made.
Recessed inside a chrome-trimmed binnacle is a set of
instruments that are both smartly scripted (in cool Speed
Racer-style font) and incredibly easy to read. They enclose
a duo of dials (fuel and temperature) as well as an LED
display for the odometer and trip computer readouts. They
are all illuminated in a cool jade green.
All the switches and controls on the dash and steering wheel
are clearly marked, large enough to use without being an
eyes-off-the-road distraction, and tactile in feel. The
finish is just fantastic.
There is class-competitive leg, knee and shoulder space for
outboard occupants, door and front seatback map pockets,
overhead grab handles, and a wide centre armrest with cup
holders.
Offering 400 liters, the boot is usefully large and
adequately deep despite the existence of a full-sized
(steel) spare wheel below a pitifully flimsy floor. It is
also easy to load and unload thanks to a low lip and large
aperture, and the 60/40 split fold seats lay flush with the
boot floor for the benefit of longer items.
The top of the line model includes six airbags, stability
control, anti-lock brakes, Electronic Brake-force
Distribution, traction control, collapsible pedals, cruise
control, steering-wheel mounted audio controls,
air-conditioning, power windows, remote central locking,
auto-on headlights, six-speaker CD/MP3 audio, a trip
computer, heated exterior mirrors and body colored exterior
trim.
The overseas testers are all suggesting the diesel version
is the way to go, rather than the somewhat long in the tooth
four cylinder 1.8 liter petrol.
It packs a considerable 110 kW/320 Nm 2.0 liter turbo-diesel
that is capable of delivering 6.8 L/100 km in six-speed auto
guise.
The thing is, though, the Cruze’s price tag does not come
within a cooee of this sort of competition when you factor
in feature for feature. Basically, you’re paying at least 10
percent more than some, and even the costlier CD Diesel
version often manages to undercut several petrol rivals.
The Australian version of the Cruze is apparently being
directly sourced from Korea, but it would make more sense,
with the Free Trade Agreement, to assemble them here. I am
sure there would also be a domestic market for the Cruze in
Thailand. After all, the sales of one tonne pick-ups and
SUVs are depressed much more than smaller sedans. How about
it GM, out there on the Eastern Seaboard? And you will be
making the diesel engines there as well.
Just what is happening
in F1?
Here is my take on the controversy, and why
it happened. F1 is a peculiar sport in the fact that it
is quite fragmented. The FIA has been setting the rules,
and polices them under the direction of one man (Max
Mosley). The commercial rights are owned by one man
(Bernie the greedy garden gnome Ecclestone) and the
teams have to toe the line to get money from the holder
of the commercial rights income. To attempt to redress
this nexus, the 10 teams banded together in September
2008 to provide one voice under the umbrella of FOTA
(Formula One Teams Association).
Bernie
and Max
Simmering with discontent at their slice of the financial
pie, FOTA began to put pressure on the FIA and the
commercial rights holder and battle lines were drawn.
Under the general heading of cost cutting, the FIA (read
Mosley) unilaterally stated that the 2010 rules would
introduce measures to cap the costs, and that teams which
agreed to a cost cap of 40 million Sterling would have
greater technical freedoms than those who did not agree.
This would include unlimited engines, aerodynamic freedoms
and testing. Those who did not agree to the cost cap would
get no testing during the year and other restrictions. These
proposals would of course produce a two tier championship -
the cost capped and the free spenders.
FOTA immediately objected saying how could there be the
pinnacle of motor sport with two groups/tiers? The FIA
returned by telling the teams they had to enter by June 12,
or they were out of the championship anyway. However, the
FIA (Mosley) did say, that if the teams did enter, agreeing
to the new rules, then changes to those rules could be
agreed upon later. This is similar to the Big Bad Wolf
suggesting that Little Red Riding Hood come into the kitchen
to confer on the dinner menu, as for there to be any
changes, ALL teams have to agree. Can you see that happening
afterwards? No, neither could I. Neither could the teams, so
they provided a ‘conditional’ entry, subject to 2010 running
under the same rules as 2009.
Returning to the cost capping, a footballer just changed
teams for 80 million Sterling, and the FIA suggested that
you could run a team on half that! In addition, whilst there
were technological freedoms, it would cost much more than 40
million Sterling to design and test these freedoms. So cost
capped teams were really getting very little.
With governments world-wide promoting spending and injecting
money to stimulate the economy, the very concept of
restraining the teams’ spending would also not achieve much,
other than putting many workers out of a job. Hardly
stimulating the economy. And just by being a big spender
does not automatically mean the race team becomes the big
winner. Honda and Toyota are yet to win a championship,
despite their big budgets.
And so the argument went down to the wire, with a new date
imposed by the FIA of June 26. FOTA did not budge, so an
impasse was reached, resulting in a press release from the
teams stating, “The teams cannot continue to compromise on
the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to
alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World
Championship.”
“These teams therefore have no alternative other than to
commence the preparation for a new Championship which
reflects the values of its participants and partners. This
series will have transparent governance, one set of
regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the
wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for
spectators worldwide, partners and other important
stakeholders.” We all cheered!
But the next step was the World Motor Sports Council (WMSC)
meeting which thrashed out a compromise between the FIA
(Mosley), Ecclestone and FOTA. However, remember that a
compromise can never live long. A donkey is an entity, a
mule is a compromise.
Within 24 hours of Mosley saying he would retire and not
seek re-election and FOTA saying they would then stay within
the FIA, it was gloves off again and there are mutterings of
a breakaway series yet again.
Quite frankly, your guess is as good as mine at this
juncture, but I expect that by the time we have come to the
German GP in one week’s time, FOTA will have given up their
alternate championship, which will be a shame. The ‘good’
circuits such as Silverstone have to be maintained (300,000
spectators over the race weekend) whilst the ‘bad’ circuits
such as the dreadfully boring Valencia should be dropped.
Stay tuned.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked what did the first
Cooper 500 have to do with Fiat Topolino’s? I also said this
was the start of the rear engine revolution. The gearbox, by
the way, was a Triumph 500 cc motorcycle unit. Of course
there were rear-engined racing cars before the Cooper, such
as the Auto Unions pre war, but these were purely factory
cars; you couldn’t buy one. The Cooper 500 you could. The
engine for the first one was a speedway JAP, but the front
and rear suspensions were made from the Topolino front
suspensions. That was the connection.
So to this week. A 24 liter 12 cylinder engine was used to
garner several world speed records, with the cylinders
arranged in three banks of four, known as a ‘broad arrow’
configuration. I want to know the engine, the car it was in,
and the driver.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
