Occasional Observations

Backdated post from Sept 4th: It?s hard to be green ? our Peugeot is a good example of that. It?s such a lemon it should be yellow, and it?s definitely not green.

The car is just three years old and has covered a paltry 50,000km. Back in ?04, when we were changing cars, the first diesel cars with particle filters (FAP) were on the market. Being aware of the clouds of soot that diesels can produce, we chose the Peugeot 807 partly because of its FAP.

Mistake. The technology was still in its infancy and, frankly, wasn?t ready for prime time. We?ve had no end of problems with the system ? with the dreaded ?exhaust anomaly? message usually flashing up when we?re on, or trying to go on holiday.

Here?s a brief recap of the most memorable times when:

• March 2005: a day before we planned to head over to the UK. We eventually went in a rental car paid for by Peugeot (a Ford, if you wondered)
• June 2005: on the way to Italy. We eventually went in a rental car paid for by Peugeot (a VW this time)
• April 2007: on the way back from Heidelberg.
• September 2007: in the Abruzzo region of Italy

We?ve wised up to the fix by now ? forget expensive diagnostics, and big garage bills in trying to fix the problem (the car got its second turbocharger as a one-year-old birthday present; thankfully Peugeot paid this under warranty). Instead, the solution is to reset the over-complex electronics by disconnecting the battery for a short spell. This resets the car?s memory and it forgets all about the phantom problem ? until the next time.

What else? Here?s some reasons NOT to buy an 807:

• The handbrake is not strong enough ? and the cable?s exposed, so if you live in an area where the temperature regularly falls below zero, the handbrake will be frozen on
• The windscreen area is too big for the demister to cope with
• The electronics are, frankly, rubbish. Press the horn and it takes a second before the signal works its way through the computer and the horn actually sounds. Same applies to flashing the lights. And these are functions where a second is a long time?

At least this time we?ve got rid of the phantom squeaking ? around a year ago this was so bad that we had to replace all the brake disks, at least this was what the garage did in trying to finally solve the perennial problem. In the last 12 months that problem has at least been held at bay ? there?s still some squeaks when cornering.

It all adds up to a real litany of shame, which is a real pity because the car, on paper, is so good ? it?s a driver?s car regarding the handling, it feels smaller than it is, the 2.2-liter diesel is just about pokey enough, and the rear sliding doors are really practical.

Labels: dieselhead, petrolhead, rant

As I reluctantly ponder on a replacement for my 250,000km diesel BMW 525, today's issue of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport does a petrol vs diesel test on six otherwise or near-identical models, including something I can't remember from Kia, the VW Polo, the Ford S-Max, BMW 525, Mercedes E class and Audi Q7.

Apart from the Kia, the diesels easily come out on top for price/performance. For the BM, from 5000km per year, for the Audi and Benz, from 0km. For the Kia, from 30k per year - which sounds like torture in a Kia, period.

What's most fascinating for me (here's the old motoring journalist coming through) is the in-gear acceleration times. AM&S has quoted from 80km to 120km/h. I'd have liked to also see 120-170km/h, since these are (German) real-world speeds, and a bracket in which my automatic BM simply flies (once the engine is warm) without kickdown. These are *the* numbers to look at. I'll have to grab the mag at this point, hold on:

Ok, I have to hurry as Jarim is busy learning by heart the new issue (he's the subscriber, not me):

VW Polo 1.4 16V petrol Vs 1.4 TDi / 80-120 in seconds in 4th/5th gears: 11.9/18.0 (petrol); 9.2/12.7 (diesel)

BMW 525 petrol/diesel: 11.4/11.2; 7.0/9.5

Ford S-Max 2-liter petrol/diesel: 13.4/18.7; 7.6/10.6

They didn't test the elasticity of the Mercedes or Audi since both were automatics, but the running costs over 30k per year were EUR1710/EUR1465 for the Mercedes and EUR1329/1144 for the Q7.

Casting my mind back to 1990, and the excited call from a Citroen press officer - they'd nudged the magic mark of 10 percent of UK sales being diesels. Peugeot-Citroen was an early leader in new diesel technology although it seems that VW caught up in the mid-90s, then BMW and Mercedes overtook.

As I'm considering a new car, petrol models haven't really come into the equation. I just love the torque, and since the performance figures are about equal to the petrol models, plus the better economy, plus the in-gear acceleration, diesel is the early leader in the 21st century fuel stakes. Today, alternative fuel technologies are where diesel was in around 1985 - bought by the hardcore, pre-early adopter. Let's hope that by by 2025, hydrogen technologies are putting diesel performance figures to shame in standard production cars.

It just makes me wonder: with no environmental "issues" around hydrogen-powered cars, will speed limits for "environmental reasons" be sustainable any longer?

Labels: dieselhead, petrolhead