On one hand:
I’ve never driven it. Well not yet. I’ve sat in this shape Legacy and I’ve driven the new Legacy which has exactly the same Boxer diesel engine. The petrol engines were revised for the new Legacy but apparently due to it being released in 2008, the diesel was left unchanged. More on that later…
The point is I have extrapolated (which I am good at) what the car is like and I like it. As CAR UK says about this Legacy in their GBU section: “Quirky Japanese 3-series”. And indeed that is the feeling. The interior quality is about 95% (at this spec) which will have to do. The interior feel is somewhere between e46 and e90, i.e. nearly perfect. The driving position is slightly more Japanese, reminiscent of a Honda, and slightly better than any 3-series.
The feel, at least of the new Legacy I drove, ONCE ON THE MOVE is completely different to a 3-series. It feels Japanese, light and easy on the controls. Not worse, just different. And it corners with the same accuracy as the 3-series (at lower speeds in any case, had no opportunity to test the high speed precision that separates my 320i from anything else I have ever driven.) Much of the cockpit reminds me of a 3 and this is all good. Even down the to the BMW-style economy gauge. (Something I think has a positive effect on ones driving, more so then merely having an instantaneous readout on the trip computer.)
As for the diesel bit? Well it is the Legacy the makes the most sense to buy, even here, even for me. Of course that would never be enough for me otherwise, indeed that “diesel is the only reasonable choice” affliction is enough to prevent me buying many other cars in this cars. (the C5 and Mondeo being prime examples)
BUT I LIKE this diesel. I’ve now driven 6 modern diesel cars, each with a different engine (A4 1.9 TDI, A4 2.0TDI, A3 1.9TDI, Focus TDCi, 520d and the Legacy) and this is a first one I actually like. The engine is nice. It’s not just awesomely torquey it also has a nice character. And I like the ridiculous induction noise threw the bonnet scoop. Pity about the 4500rpm redline, I hope I won’t come to hate that.
On the other hand:
I want a more exciting car. I want to feel more like I am on an episode of Top Gear. You car is more like that…faintly ridiculous and certainly flawed…but it sounds like it has the feel good factor.
My 320i is more the kind of car I usually try to buy: perfectly balanced, an excellent car, but hardly a barrel of laughs. It’s rather serious, isn’t it? There nothing wrong with it, no design flaws, no irritating features, no glaring omissions but nothing outrageous either. Most of what is good about it (the quality, the service, the handling, the high end of the rev-range) requires work and effort and time to appreciate. This is all very good…but not out rightly fun, no instant gratification. It’s a car that gives me a self-satisfied smile, but it doesn’t make me burst out laughing. (except for a bit in Norway.)
It’s for this reason that things like the Sicrocco, GTi and fast Meganes have started to tempt me. Smaller, nippier…worse…but more fun, more instant useable fun.
So what am I going to do about it? Maybe I’m going to buy a 4WD Japanese business man’s diesel saloon.* Oh dear. It’s even called a “Business”.
You must be right, deep down I am very boring.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Thursday, 3 September 2009
That 405
Have now done almost exactly 18000kms in the 9 months since I bought the 405. I have been rather surprised at the lack of trouble.
An indicator cover fell off. Seems to fix this you have to buy a new indicator unit. So I did, it was cheap, easy to find and even easier to fit.
So not many problems...
The 405 also uses far less petrol than I would have thought possible. Certainly very much less than the SAAB 900i it replaced, but amazingly also slightly less than my 320i. So much for 20 years of advancement...ok, to be fair I tend to drive the BMW differently.
It got faster too. Seemed the engine just needed to be loosened up little. It is actually a very nice engine that, typically peaky like all SOHC 8 valvers of the time, but relatively smooth and pretty eager. I like it. It is however about the only eager thing about this car which I must admit is otherwise rather boring.
This may come as no surprise to the reader.
I of course grew up in a land denied cars like this and so can never quite shake the idea that this is an exotic car. I feel like this about most Peugeots and Citroens. (and '80s Renaults for that matter.) Yes, I know it is silly. There is nothing exotic about the 405. It doesnt even have the traditional French flair, or insanity for that matter. So far its been laughably simple to work on.
What a surprise eh? A simple, honest, straightforward, get you from A-to-B sedan. With a nice engine and slightly more power than its handling can cope with.
So I'm selling it...
An indicator cover fell off. Seems to fix this you have to buy a new indicator unit. So I did, it was cheap, easy to find and even easier to fit.
So not many problems...
The 405 also uses far less petrol than I would have thought possible. Certainly very much less than the SAAB 900i it replaced, but amazingly also slightly less than my 320i. So much for 20 years of advancement...ok, to be fair I tend to drive the BMW differently.
It got faster too. Seemed the engine just needed to be loosened up little. It is actually a very nice engine that, typically peaky like all SOHC 8 valvers of the time, but relatively smooth and pretty eager. I like it. It is however about the only eager thing about this car which I must admit is otherwise rather boring.
This may come as no surprise to the reader.
I of course grew up in a land denied cars like this and so can never quite shake the idea that this is an exotic car. I feel like this about most Peugeots and Citroens. (and '80s Renaults for that matter.) Yes, I know it is silly. There is nothing exotic about the 405. It doesnt even have the traditional French flair, or insanity for that matter. So far its been laughably simple to work on.
What a surprise eh? A simple, honest, straightforward, get you from A-to-B sedan. With a nice engine and slightly more power than its handling can cope with.
So I'm selling it...
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Aygo
I had been planning to buy an Aygo as my 2nd ”commuter” car, when the falling petrol price and unwillingness to take out further loans in the face of the ”financial crisis” decided me to buy something old and cheap instead.
Hence the 1991 Peugeot 405, bought for less than the deposit on a typical 2 year old Aygo+.
The 405 is far better than expected, but time will tell how cheap it actually is to run compared to an Aygo. Needless to say it also needs more money spent on it (as always with a car like this). A decent radio, new brake discs, a cambelt change soon, with new shocks and new tyres coming up. Sigh…
Anyhow, all this nonsense made me miss out on trying out an Aygo, so, on leave and bored last week I decided go and see some small cars.
I took a look at a Picanto at my dad’s insistence, but it even he had to agree it seems obsolete now, as well as cramped and tinny after the new Ford Ka. Albeit less tinny than the Aygo…
The Ford Ka is very pretty, and quite comfortable inside for such a car. While it feels rubbish compared to the new Fiesta (or any car I currently use) it is leagues ahead of the Picanto or Aygo. However, like the Picanto, they didn’t want us to test drive one as the weather was lousy and a snow storm was about to start.
We skipped Hyundai as the i10 was bound to be much like the Picanto, and went to Toyota. After getting over their puzzlement that we didn’t want to see the new Avensis, they hauled out a Aygo+ 5dr, into the snow and muck and said “Why sit a showroom model, drive this one”.
(Before you ask about the Twingo2, there is no Renault dealer in my little town in Sweden.)
So it began…
Initially the Aygo was disappointing. Even tinnier than the Picanto it seemed a massive come-down after the Ka.
Then we started it. Very few new small cars sound like anything these days, unless they are pushed hard, then they sound horrid. This sounded interesting. The unpleasant Toyota/Daihatsu VVT whine so prevalent in the Sirion/Yaris 4-pot is completely overshadowed by the off-beat 3cyl thrum. The difference in sound is far more obvious than I would have believed!
Then off we went. Obviously it is not fast…but it feels quick around town. The willingness of the little engine makes up for a lot, although the gearshift is, like on the Sirion, awful. The electric power steering is lifeless, but unlike the Sirion, the car is so small and easy to “read” and place that it doesn’t seem to matter.
I then had the very interesting experience of taking it down the windy Åkersberga-Waxholm road. Full on snow now and there I was roaring along at great speed. (ok, I got to just over 70…that doesn’t sound like a lot [unless you are Swedish, they drive like sissies], but that speed on that road in my 405 would have had me in a ditch fast. I know…I have tried this road in the 405 a few times.)
The handling of Aygo is amazing. Simplicity and lightness and all that, well we knew Chapman was right, this just confirms it.
I have driven few cars more enjoyable and few cars better in the snow, which was the real surprise!
The newly fitted ESP system is also excellent. I have to say I have never driven anything in such bad weather and snow/slush like I drove that Aygo. Sliding all over the place to be sure, but controllable and damned fun. Amazing. The 405 requires great care in winter, my old 900 was equally clumsy in all conditions (in this case that’s a compliment), and snow/ice can cause some white knuckle moments in the 320i (admittedly due to it being a far faster car), but this was just crazy gratuitous abandon.
What a car, I love it!
(Remains to be seen if it is as much fun in the dry/summer. Perhaps then its lack of power would be a bigger issue…)
Hence the 1991 Peugeot 405, bought for less than the deposit on a typical 2 year old Aygo+.
The 405 is far better than expected, but time will tell how cheap it actually is to run compared to an Aygo. Needless to say it also needs more money spent on it (as always with a car like this). A decent radio, new brake discs, a cambelt change soon, with new shocks and new tyres coming up. Sigh…
Anyhow, all this nonsense made me miss out on trying out an Aygo, so, on leave and bored last week I decided go and see some small cars.
I took a look at a Picanto at my dad’s insistence, but it even he had to agree it seems obsolete now, as well as cramped and tinny after the new Ford Ka. Albeit less tinny than the Aygo…
The Ford Ka is very pretty, and quite comfortable inside for such a car. While it feels rubbish compared to the new Fiesta (or any car I currently use) it is leagues ahead of the Picanto or Aygo. However, like the Picanto, they didn’t want us to test drive one as the weather was lousy and a snow storm was about to start.
We skipped Hyundai as the i10 was bound to be much like the Picanto, and went to Toyota. After getting over their puzzlement that we didn’t want to see the new Avensis, they hauled out a Aygo+ 5dr, into the snow and muck and said “Why sit a showroom model, drive this one”.
(Before you ask about the Twingo2, there is no Renault dealer in my little town in Sweden.)
So it began…
Initially the Aygo was disappointing. Even tinnier than the Picanto it seemed a massive come-down after the Ka.
Then we started it. Very few new small cars sound like anything these days, unless they are pushed hard, then they sound horrid. This sounded interesting. The unpleasant Toyota/Daihatsu VVT whine so prevalent in the Sirion/Yaris 4-pot is completely overshadowed by the off-beat 3cyl thrum. The difference in sound is far more obvious than I would have believed!
Then off we went. Obviously it is not fast…but it feels quick around town. The willingness of the little engine makes up for a lot, although the gearshift is, like on the Sirion, awful. The electric power steering is lifeless, but unlike the Sirion, the car is so small and easy to “read” and place that it doesn’t seem to matter.
I then had the very interesting experience of taking it down the windy Åkersberga-Waxholm road. Full on snow now and there I was roaring along at great speed. (ok, I got to just over 70…that doesn’t sound like a lot [unless you are Swedish, they drive like sissies], but that speed on that road in my 405 would have had me in a ditch fast. I know…I have tried this road in the 405 a few times.)
The handling of Aygo is amazing. Simplicity and lightness and all that, well we knew Chapman was right, this just confirms it.
I have driven few cars more enjoyable and few cars better in the snow, which was the real surprise!
The newly fitted ESP system is also excellent. I have to say I have never driven anything in such bad weather and snow/slush like I drove that Aygo. Sliding all over the place to be sure, but controllable and damned fun. Amazing. The 405 requires great care in winter, my old 900 was equally clumsy in all conditions (in this case that’s a compliment), and snow/ice can cause some white knuckle moments in the 320i (admittedly due to it being a far faster car), but this was just crazy gratuitous abandon.
What a car, I love it!
(Remains to be seen if it is as much fun in the dry/summer. Perhaps then its lack of power would be a bigger issue…)
SAAB 99 Turbo, why there should be a new one!
From CAR UK's website:
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Help CAR find the best hot hatch of all time
By Tim Pollard
19 January 2009 15:09
You've been voting over the past fortnight for your greatest hot hatch of all time – and there are still two weeks left to influence our poll. At the time of writing, the top ten is led (perhaps curiously!) by the Saab 99 Turbo, followed by the Lancia Delta Integrale, VW Golf GTi Mk1 and Peugeot 205 GTI. Have you voted yet? If not, scroll down to the poll at the foot of this page and click on your favourite pocket rocket. Voting closes on 1 February 2009, so spread the word and get your mates to vote too.
----
I don’t know if putting the SAAB 99 in was really in the spirit of the thing…but then again is the Delta Integrale?
My vote goes to the 205 GTi.
Honorable mentions should go to the Golf I GTI (for inventing the genre), the Golf 5 GTI (for making GTIs and Golfs cool again) and the Honda Civic VTI (flat one, just after the pop-up headlights, don’t even think it was on the list.)
This does however prove that lots of people liked the 99 Turbo, which to me atleast means that SAAB should be making a car in this class, yet they don’t! And havnt since the early 80s.
OOOOOPS.
Give the people what they want!
SAAB needs to make a Golf sized car, and it needs to be available in a turbocharged version 3-dr version.
The stupid thing is (stupid considering SAAB hasn’t don’t it) is that it would be easier to recreate the 99 Turbo than any other car on this list.
The day for things like the Golf 1 GTi and Pug 205 GTi is, lamentably, over. Maybe a turbocharged Aygo, but otherwise everything they try (207 GTi anyone? Polo GTi?) just winds up being boring or daft or both.
BUT we are currently firmly back in a turbocharged era, and the mainstream C-segment cars are now the size that the 99 was.
Everyone is already making powerful C-segment turbocharged cars…but only SAAB can do it with some pedigree and heritage.
Everyone makes a Golf sized FWD turbocharged 100kw+ hatch back now, how many can say they were doing it in the ‘70s? (No really, who?)
SAAB is in the unique position were they can shamelessly pawn their heritage (as everyone else has done: Beetle, PT Cruiser, Thunderbird etc), hark back to former glories (as many other keep trying: Polo GTi, 207 GTi etc) while still making a contemporary car!
A new 99 Turbo would be sellable purely on merit as a GTi competitor (they all sell, even the so-so ones) and as a retro mobile for those who miss and love the 99.
----
Help CAR find the best hot hatch of all time
By Tim Pollard
19 January 2009 15:09
You've been voting over the past fortnight for your greatest hot hatch of all time – and there are still two weeks left to influence our poll. At the time of writing, the top ten is led (perhaps curiously!) by the Saab 99 Turbo, followed by the Lancia Delta Integrale, VW Golf GTi Mk1 and Peugeot 205 GTI. Have you voted yet? If not, scroll down to the poll at the foot of this page and click on your favourite pocket rocket. Voting closes on 1 February 2009, so spread the word and get your mates to vote too.
----
I don’t know if putting the SAAB 99 in was really in the spirit of the thing…but then again is the Delta Integrale?
My vote goes to the 205 GTi.
Honorable mentions should go to the Golf I GTI (for inventing the genre), the Golf 5 GTI (for making GTIs and Golfs cool again) and the Honda Civic VTI (flat one, just after the pop-up headlights, don’t even think it was on the list.)
This does however prove that lots of people liked the 99 Turbo, which to me atleast means that SAAB should be making a car in this class, yet they don’t! And havnt since the early 80s.
OOOOOPS.
Give the people what they want!
SAAB needs to make a Golf sized car, and it needs to be available in a turbocharged version 3-dr version.
The stupid thing is (stupid considering SAAB hasn’t don’t it) is that it would be easier to recreate the 99 Turbo than any other car on this list.
The day for things like the Golf 1 GTi and Pug 205 GTi is, lamentably, over. Maybe a turbocharged Aygo, but otherwise everything they try (207 GTi anyone? Polo GTi?) just winds up being boring or daft or both.
BUT we are currently firmly back in a turbocharged era, and the mainstream C-segment cars are now the size that the 99 was.
Everyone is already making powerful C-segment turbocharged cars…but only SAAB can do it with some pedigree and heritage.
Everyone makes a Golf sized FWD turbocharged 100kw+ hatch back now, how many can say they were doing it in the ‘70s? (No really, who?)
SAAB is in the unique position were they can shamelessly pawn their heritage (as everyone else has done: Beetle, PT Cruiser, Thunderbird etc), hark back to former glories (as many other keep trying: Polo GTi, 207 GTi etc) while still making a contemporary car!
A new 99 Turbo would be sellable purely on merit as a GTi competitor (they all sell, even the so-so ones) and as a retro mobile for those who miss and love the 99.
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