More on the Motor Show
Silly
Pretties
If you are thinking of going up to Bangkok to see the
32nd International Motor Show this weekend, don’t go. It finished on April
6. However, I have some notes on the cars and printed some in last week’s
Automania column, and here are some more…
Let’s get the “pretties” out of the way first.
Unfortunately these have become an integral part of motor shows (not just
here). Every stand has half a dozen young women decked out in some
ridiculous costume, some with even more ridiculous hats.
Learning specifications parrot fashion, you get a brief
description of the car, from someone who wouldn’t know a camshaft from a
carburetor. A complete waste of time and money, in my book. If I want to
take photos of some girl’s legs I can do that easily on Walking Street and
that’s just the start of the relationship! No, let’s have an engineer on the
stand, able to speak with authority on the vehicles. Wiesmann, for example,
had a multi-lingual engineer, able to discuss the concept behind the cars
and the mechanical specifications. Such a refreshing change.
The
‘Retro’ Wiesmann MF5
Probably the most noteworthy vehicle was the new Honda
eco-car which impressed me with the room inside. Even with the driver’s seat
racked right back, there was still knee-room for an adult expat in the rear.
The interior was simple, but easy to understand. Rotary knobs/dials are so
much better than repetitively pushing electronic buttons (and let’s not get
into the dreadful BMW iDrive). It is up against the Nissan March, and is
marginally more expensive, but many people will like the corporate “Honda”
face, rather than the Nissan’s ‘bubble car’ look, last seen on the Mazda 131
of around 15 years ago.
Honda
Brio
While on the eco-cars, Mitsubishi displayed their Concept
Global Small vehicle, the one on display being the concept car previously
displayed in Geneva. Despite looking very similar to the Ford Festiva, this
is an interesting vehicle, but unfortunately will not be available in any
numbers until 2012. It will be produced locally at the Nissan Laem Chabang
facility.
Every year I have to mention Wuling. Cheap and from
China, but you can have a new one in your driveway for peanuts. There was a
new, funky, electric car from Wuling as well and priced at 280,000 baht. A
bit like a tarted up golf cart, but a very inexpensive way to show you are a
‘greenie’ at heart.
Lexus has really lost the plot. The new CT 200H can only
be described as ugly. The rear is pure Nissan Tiida, which would never win a
beauty contest, and the front plain. For a ‘brand’ that was supposed to be
the showcase of Toyota’s excellence, it is now failing miserably. Toyota has
lost the ‘exclusivity’ it has tried to produce with the Lexus name and it
has descended into being a rebodied Toyota, I am afraid.
Concept
Global Small
One of the smoothest looking cars at the show was the VW
Scirocco. About 2.6 million baht is the only drawback, but it is a much
nicer car (and cheaper) than the BMW 1 Series or any of the Mini variants,
but more expensive than the Volvo C30 at 1.9 million.
Electric Wuling
The other Chinese brand was Chery, who showed a mid-sized
cross-over for around 850,000 baht, which looked to be well engineered and
not too ‘plasticky’ in the interior. The Chery QQ appeared to have had a
face-lift, but remains the inexpensive four door cheapy made from discarded
soft drink cans.
Porsche had a 911 Carrera S on their stand, yours for
15.6 million baht. I am totally unable to justify the price, but having
owned a 911 and raced a couple of Carrera’s I would shell out for one, if I
had the readies, which I don’t. Also on the Porsche stand was the Panamera,
which still looks like a fat pig, even though it is a well engineered
Porsche with four doors.
VW
Scirocco
F1 scrutineering - the ‘real’
situation
Following the exclusion of the two Sauber cars at the
Australian GP for wing irregularities, I asked a Formula 1 scrutineer just what
was the procedure at race meetings. The answer which I have placed here is very
interesting.
“Not all cars are checked at the track before they race. The
weigh station (which also has the templates for height width and wing
measurements, etc,) is open for the teams to use at all times.
“During Practice there is no real scrutiny but that changes
at the start of qualifying. All vehicles are then considered to be in Parc Ferme
and in race condition. From here though, the testing is ad hoc and at the whim
of the FIA officials. After each qualifying session, various cars are selected
for testing and have the templates run over them. At the end of qualifying all
of the top 10 cars are tested with several getting the royal treatment.
“After the race the top three get the serious treatment and
then the rest of the point winners get a less serious going over but a going
over all the same. From there all of the remaining cars running get a run over
the station and this is where illegalities (height, width, weight, etc.) should
show up as the cars can’t be touched after the race until released by the FIA.
“The scrutineers jobs are mainly to look after the vehicles
during Parc Ferme (this also means going out on the start line with the cars) to
ensure no parts are changed or adjustments are made that are not on the ‘allowed
list’ during the Parc Ferme period.”
The factor that stands out for me is the fact that the really serious testing
is done ‘after’ the race. Surely it would be better to have this done ‘before’
the race, and stop similar situations like the Sauber one.
