Highlight of my week – and that of fellow just-auto colleagues – was Thursday’s annual SMMT Test Day, an event which, when described to our counterparts abroad, usually attracts great vibes of envy. It goes like this: the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders block-books most of Millbrook, the proving ground Vauxhall built in the late 1960s, lays on an excellent bacon bap breakfast, two-course lunch and afternoon tea, and invites the automakers and importers to each bring six cars and assorted PRs for lucky invite-only hacks to sample on whatever combination of hill route (representative of many inclines and corner cambers you’re likely to encounter in Europe), high-speed bowl (five anti-clockwise lanes around a two-mile circumference, speed limited in our case to 100mph/160km/h), a stop ‘n’ start city route, two off-road courses and an off-the-premises real-world road route through leafy Bedfordshire. You can see the whole place on Google Maps or Earth. Then you’ll understand why invitations are prized.
Hacks various approach the day in a variety of ways – drive, network, interview or any combination of the above. Product and technology nut here gets in as many cars as possible – once round the hill route, once round the bowl (twice if it’s a Jag XJ), return car, thank-you, and on to the next, in a form of automotive speed dating. I aim to try as much new tech as poss – engines, transmissions, control systems like BMW’s iDrive, audio, navigators, convertible roofs, etc.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Purely in the interest of research, you understand, early day driving began with convertibles (a sound move as the rain showers became more frequent later in the day) including the redesigned BMW640, still with a cloth roof and that dinky drop-down rear window, and the updated Volkswagen Eos with its clever split-fold glass and metal roof and six-speed twin clutch DSG automatic gearbox. I’ve heard there have been some reliability issues with these, after a few years’ use, but am fast warming to the quick, smooth shifts. I also tried a seven-speeder in a 1.6-litre diesel Seat Leon Copa hatchback dripping with equipment including dual-zone climate control, automatic lights ‘n’ wipers and MP3/iPod-compatible audio. It wasn’t that long ago that a cassette player and a/c were considered luxuries.
I also tried the torque converter CVT transmissions in Toyota’s new Verso S and Honda’s Civic hybrid; these ‘boxes can make the engines rev a bit but the low-speed and traffic queue crawl characteristics are much improved over earlier efforts that involved complex automated clutches or electromagnets. And then there were the all-electrics – Mitsubishi’s i MiEV (tried with a Citroen badge) and Nissan Leaf – which were both impressive on the stop-start city route but, until there’s a 300-mile battery pack underneath, won’t deal with my range anxiety. Even if, after careful use of regenerative braking, I managed to sneak the C-Zero back with the same range miles showing (27) as when I borrowed it.
The award envelopes, please: best real-world drive of the day, that Seat Leon hatch; most lotto-cheque-brandishing appeal, Bentley Continental GT (again); best hi-fi, Infiniti’s Bose systems with speakers built into the seats; best use of British wood ‘n’ leather craft skills, joint first to Bentley and Jaguar (in the XJ).
We’ve had some good news today, what with a healthy profit at Jaguar Land Rover and production resumption at Saab (whose new 9-5 was another memorable Test Day drive).
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataAs long expected, parent Tata Motors has begun Land Rover assembly in India, with Jags to follow.
Away from emerging markets, Toyota received some friendly advice and Chrysler repaid both Uncle Sam and those nice men with the piggy bank across the border. Anyone else remember the legendary Lee Iacocca making a big deal of repaying another government loan on his Chrysler watch?
Here in the UK, yet another bank holiday looms and we’re all looking forward to our last long weekend till August.
See you Tuesday.
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com
