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CAP Blog > CAP Blog > Martin's Blog
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Aug
4
Written by:
Martin Ward
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
This week’s manufacturer news
 ABARTH – Has announced the new 500 695 Tributo Ferrari special edition. Limited to 152 examples for the UK, the Tributo Ferrari will be priced at £29,600 and receives standard features that include automatic climate control, xenon headlamps, Blue&Me hands free infotainment, sport button and 17” alloy wheels. It will be powered by a 1.4 litre turbo petrol engine that produces 180bhp, has a 0-62mph time of 7 seconds and a top speed of 140mph. The 695 Tributo Ferrari will be available to special order only through the Abarth dealer network.
 FORD – The next generation Focus has undergone extreme testing in the Austrian Alps. Ford has been road testing the car on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, which is 48km in length and reaches a maximum altitude of 2,504 metres. The company are testing the vehicle’s engine reliability in locations with low oxygen content.
 NISSAN – Has revealed photographs of the new X-Trail. The new model receives exterior changes that include a re-designed front grille, headlights and bumper assembly. The interior design also sees some changes and transmission ratios have been revised to improve CO2 and fuel consumption. First customer deliveries are expected in October 2010. More details such as pricing and specification will follow at a later date.
SAAB – Has announced that Saab GB has relocated to new head offices. To complete the overall separation from GM Motors UK, the company are now based at Martell House in Cranfield Technology Park adjoining Cranfield University in Milton Keynes.
First impressions – BMW X3, Munich
The current X3 has been on the market since 2004 and 600,000 have been sold worldwide. It is now the oldest car in the modern BMW range and it has to be said that it is now looking a bit dated.
 The new X3 goes on sale on 20th November and is a modern day version of this popular 4x4. The new car is 79mm longer and 28mm wider so it hasn’t grown a great deal in size, but the extra room that has been acquired has been used wisely. BMW has somehow managed to create a substantial amount of extra leg room and the luggage capacity has gone from 480 litres to 550 litres. It feels like a much larger car than it really is and it’s not too dissimilar in size to the original X5. It fits neatly in-between the X1 and X5 now and does make some sense.
The X3 will be available with just one engine at launch: a 2.0d that produces 184ps, goes from 0-62mph in 8.5 seconds and has a CO2 emissions figure of 149g/km. A 3.0 litre diesel engine that produces 258ps will be available from April 2011. The range is kept simple with just one model at launch; the SE. The M Sport will follow in spring next year.
 We saw an early pre-production car at BMW’s HQ in Munich and did not have the chance to drive it. The quality certainly seems to have improved and it did seem to be more spacious. Most of the plastics were ‘soft-touch’ and this added to the premium quality of the car.
The X3 will come with a six speed manual gearbox with MSA (auto start stop) as standard. There will also be an 8 speed automatic version available with MSA.
The current X3 is still a popular choice with used car buyers and the new model should continue this trend.
Test car – Saab 95 Vector SE 2.0 TiD 160ps
 It would appear that Saab has come back from the brink of death. They were only days away from a final operational shut-down and then a miracle happened; Saab found a new owner and within 100 days were back to being a viable car maker. The Swedish company pulled out all the stops and the doomed new 95 was finally put into production at the Trollhatten plant. There was certainly a lot of insecurity as to whether a car that had been in planning for so long would ever actually see a road, but it did and I have been driving one on British roads for the past week, covering a total of almost 1,200 miles.
When I first saw the new 95 a few months ago, I was not impressed with it as the body panelling and its fitment didn’t seem to look quite right. However, on the second occasion when I saw and drove it in Sweden, it did begin to grow on me and now after a week in the car, I am now really beginning to like it. The test car we had saw a vast improvement in terms of quality when compared to the early pre-production cars we had seen.
I may be warming to it, but still can’t help thinking that it’s going to struggle in a sector dominated by the German manufacturers. Saab see the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E Class and Audi A6 as its biggest rivals, but the Jaguar XF, Lexus GS and even the Volvo S80 should also be considered as hot contenders. Saab is determined to position the new 95 up there with the big boys and the price certainly is up there with the premium manufacturers, with no discount available because it is not built in Germany. The cost of the test car (the cheapest 95 in the range) is £26,495, with prices going up to £37,795, so it’s not exactly a bargain.
 The car does however offer a lot of leg, head and shoulder room. It really is a big car and competes well with its major rivals for interior space. The rear passengers are well catered for in this car. The interior is a nice place to sit and has a certain feeling of luxury, but whether it is up to German standards is debateable. Saab will say it is, but Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz will say it isn’t. There are a lot of nice touches in the car and it has plenty of standard specification. I particularly like the simple idea of the ‘night panel’ button, which when pressed turns off all the dashboard lights except the speedometer. When used, driving at night becomes more relaxing and visibility also improves a lot. Some of the fittings and gaps on the door panels are not consistent and this does let the car down a bit. The centre console works well because it is neat and it houses all of the switchgear making everything easy to use. There was a touch-screen satellite navigation system in the test car and this was also easy to operate.
 The 2.0 litre diesel engine produces 160ps, goes from 0-62mph in 9.9 seconds and emits a reasonably low CO2 figure of 139g/km. The engine feels fairly lively but does give the impression that an old design and old technology has been used. This may not be the case, but the test car engine did seem to be fairly noisy. I suppose Saab had no other option than to use GM sourced units.
The new 95 has a firm but comfortable ride which has massively improved over the previous model. In the new car you can travel for miles and get out at the other end feeling just as fresh as when you first got in, whereas the old 95 felt a bit choppy and never really settled down on any type of road.
The new Saab 95 is a real competitor to some real market dominators. It looks good, has some sensible engines and is comfortable. All Saab need to do now is get some premium brand car drivers into their showrooms and convince them that Sweden is the new Germany.
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