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CAP Blog > CAP Blog > Martin's Blog
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Jul
28
Written by:
Martin Ward
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
This week's manufacturer news
 AUDI – The new A7 sportback model will open for ordering in the UK on 16th August, with first deliveries expected on 1st November. There will be four engines available at launch: a 2.8 litre FSI 204ps petrol, a 3.0 litre T 300ps petrol, a 3.0 TDI 204ps diesel and a 3.0 TDI 245ps diesel. All engines will feature the Quattro four wheel drive system and S-Tronic transmission as standard, except the 204ps diesel, which will have a Multitronic gearbox and 2WD drive train. The range will offer two trim levels: SE and S Line, and pricing will start at £42,925 on the road (rising to £43,745 in January with the forthcoming 20% VAT rate).
PORSCHE – Has developed three Boxster models with all-electric drive to be used specifically for research into future electric drive components and battery systems. The cars will also be used to provide further findings on the infrastructure needed to sustain electric vehicles, user behaviour and future product demand. Tests are due to commence in early 2011.
 SUZUKI – Has revealed further images of the new Swift. It is due on sale in the autumn, with pricing/specification details expected to be announced later in the summer.
 VAUXHALL – Has announced pricing for the Vauxhall Astra sport tourer is to start at £16,575, which is over £500 less than the current Astra estate. Vauxhall expect the sport tourer to account for approximately10% of all sales. It is due on sale in October 2010.
First driving impressions – Nissan Leaf, Nissan R&D facility, Cranfield, UK
The electric car: 'never before in the history of the motor car have so many been involved to sell so few'.
If you had a fleet of these, would it be a fleet of leafs or leaves?
It is true to say that electric vehicles have dominated most conversations this year when anyone talks about cars. This topic frequently crops up, but the subject is in regards to just a few thousand cars sold annually in the UK, compared to the total market which is now approaching 2 million. So in reality, they will account for a very small percentage of new cars on the road. The £5,000 government subsidy – which has now been approved, applying to any vehicle registered after January 2011 and to be reviewed again early 2012 – will help sell early models into the market.
 After months of talking about the Nissan Leaf, we finally managed to drive it. It was the only Leaf in Europe, as it had been flown over from Japan for a few select people to drive and is currently doing a European tour. I drove it on the roads around Nissan's R&D facility in Cranfield, near Milton Keynes.
I have now driven the majority of electric vehicles that are due to arrive in the UK. These include the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Peugeot iOn and Citroen C-Zero. I have also driven others that are part electric and part petrol/diesel powered such as the Vauxhall Ampera, Toyota Prius, Toyota Prius Plug-In and the Toyota Auris HSD. For a car to have a hybrid badge on it, it should in my opinion be able to run purely on electric power alone for a number of miles. Any car that can't do this is not worthy of the badge.
So is the Leaf as good as Nissan have been telling us for what seems an age? Basically, yes it is – in fact it is probably better than what my initial expectations were. It is a very quiet car (which was as expected), with hardly any noise from the electric motors. The cabin is a very peaceful place, aside from a warning sound which alerts pedestrians and cyclists when the car is travelling at low speeds, but I found this difficult to hear.
The acceleration is superb, being every bit as quick as a regular 1.6 litre petrol or diesel car and it easily cruised at 70mph. It really isn't lacking in the power department and was surprisingly quick off the mark. Nissan say it has a top speed of 90mph.
The Leaf is a five seat, five door hatchback and whilst the passenger compartment is certainly C sector size, the boot is more B sector, as some of the luggage area is taken up with the batteries. It has an all new dedicated EV platform and shares hardly any parts or design features with any other model. Production of the car will start later this year at Nissan's plant in Oppama, Japan, and will eventually be built in the UK in Sunderland around early 2013. Initial production will be 50,000 rising to 60,000. The lithium-ion batteries will also be produced at the UK plant, with over £420 million invested in the north east for this new venture.
 All five seats are comfortable and provide enough leg, head and shoulder room. The interior colour of the early pre-production car was a light grey and not very practical for everyday use, so I hope Nissan plan to offer more hard-wearing, durable colours.
To start the car you simply press the starter button and the lights on the dashboard light up. After a few seconds it tells you that the car can be driven and you put the small gearshift lever into 'drive' or 'reverse'. You then release the electronic parking brake and it moves away just like any other automatic vehicle. It is powered by an 80KW motor and can be quick-charged (not recommended to be done too often) in 30 minutes or put on a slow charge from empty to full in around 6 hours. It will cover around 160km (100miles) on a full charge, although the gauge on the dash was often a bit misleading, as it kept changing the amount of kilometres left to go at an alarming rate. It would change from 100 to 80 to 56 to 52 to 88 in a matter of a few seconds. Nissan need to sort out this glitch before it goes on sale because it could damage customer confidence in the car, as you really don't know from one minute to the next how much battery power you have left.
 The cost of the Leaf is expected be around £28,350 on the road which includes the price of the battery and this should drop to £23,350 for the customer when you factor in the £5,000 government grant. For the money you get a car that is fully loaded with standard features including air conditioning, satellite navigation and parking sensors. However, it is the cost to run an electric vehicle that will make it desirable to some customers and they will be prepared to pay the high initial price. The Leaf will cost just a matter of pence to run per mile, and servicing costs will also be minimal.
I was asked to take great care with this early model, as Nissan did not want me to 'turn over a new Leaf'.
First driving impressions – Volvo S60, UK press event, Aberdeen
Scotland at this time of year should be glorious; the sun should be shining on the magnificent hills and wonderful landscape. But unfortunately this week it was dull, gloomy and not at all as it should be. Whatever happened to global warming? I was just hoping the new S60 was going to be better than the weather.
Volvo saloon cars have never really caught the imagination of the British public. A large Volvo saloon is remembered as the 740 model in the mid 1980s and later the 850; neither of which were particularly popular. However, the estate models have been Volvo's trademark for many years and it can be argued that the XC60 and XC90, which has been on the market for over seven years, are the modern day versions of the 240 and 245 estates.
 The previous S60 kept the tradition of every other four door Volvo and didn't sell in the numbers the company had originally expected. It didn't really fit neatly into any sector and many couldn't decide if it was a D sector or E sector competitor, or if it was going head-to-head with the BMW 3 Series or 5 Series. The new model has been aimed fair-and-square at the Audi in terms of size and Volvo make no apologies for making this decision. The new S60 measures 4,626mm in length so it sits firmly in the premium saloon territory alongside the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C Class, Lexus IS and Audi A4.
There will be three models available: ES, SE and SE Lux, all with high levels of standard equipment. The cheapest model, the ES, has standard features such as city safety (Volvo's low speed collision avoidance system), ECC, information centre, 5" colour screen, performance audio sound system, steering wheel audio controls and 16" alloy wheels. Prices start from £23,295 and go up to £36,745.
 The engine badges seem to be a bit confusing to me. At launch there will be a choice of three engines: a D3 2.0 litre diesel, (producing 163ps with a CO2 of 138g/km), a D5 2.4 litre diesel (producing 205ps with a CO2 of 139g/km) and a T6 3.0 litre petrol (producing 304ps with a CO2 236g/km). It seems strange to me that both the D3 and D5 have the same CO2 figure and even stranger that a 2.0 litre engine has an identical combined fuel figure (53.3 MPG) as a 2.4 litre. According to the on-board computer we achieved an average of 26.3 MPG on the test route, but this figure is slightly unfair as we were driving it up and down the Scottish hills and this was not a typical journey.
 There is a satisfactory amount of room in the cabin, with all seats being very comfortable and supportive. Rear leg room is also adequate and head room is plentiful for the tallest of passengers. The whole of the interior is high in quality and you can see that a lot of effort has been made into making it look and feel special. Fit, finish and all materials used are up to German standards.
The new S60 looks great from every angle and is a very stylish car. The designers have done a great job on producing such an attractive saloon and the engineers and assembly workers have also done the company proud. The real test is to see if the buying public, whether fleet or retail, can be persuaded to go Swedish instead of German. Despite the S60 being as good as it is, this could be an uphill battle.
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