THE PREMIER PAPER FOR BUYING AND SELLING IN THE RIBBLE VALLEY
Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, June 8th, 2000 30
By JONATHAN CROUCH __________________________________________
own personality. Designer Walter da Silva has pro
Soing for an Italian LIK13 the people who will probably
buy it, Alfa Romeo’s new 166 has its
four-cylinder 2.0-litre Twin Spark, plus 2.5-litre and 3.0-litre 24v V6s-and all sound glorious.
duced a shape that will stand apart in the executive car park without alienat ing conservative British buyers. As for (piality - well, the doors kerchunk behind you, the body panel gaps are tight and consistent and, on the move, nothing shakes, nothing rattles and everything works time after time after time. Three power plants are available - a
C19,976 2.0-litre Twin Spark is engaging enough to make you want to seek out some challenging roads. Keep it on the
Even the entry-level 155 b.h.p.
IN theory, Volkswagen’s diesel engines are a generation behind the common rail units now being offered by some rivals. In practice, however, its cars
electronically-controlled automatic gear box. Nor does the technology stop there. A glance at the technical specification reveals a positive forest of acronyms: Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), Traction Control System (TCS), Anti- Slip Regulation (ASR) and, of course, the latest four-channel Bosch ABS.
boil and you would probably stay within sight of the 226 b.h.p. £25,075 3.0 V6 on the twisty stuff. All models benefit from clever, patented multi-link rear suspen sion, which sets new class standards, not only for handling but also in terms of ride. This car also has a newly-developed,
its maker’s traditions without following them blindly. Many owners of rival mod els are in for a shock if they can be per suaded behind the wheel.
The 166 is a saloon that stays true to
remain among the class leaders. Take the Golf hatchback featured here. There are no fewer than three different diesels to
m.p.h. with rest to 60 in less than 10 seconds, yet at the same time, Golf PD users should record an average fuel figure which varies between 40 and 45 m.p.g. That sounds impressive on paper, but on the road, if anything, it feels even better. Because of a massive 2101b ft of torque, the pulling power is simply amazing, making overtaking even easier than it is in an equivalent 2.0-litre petrol GTi. Small wonder
choose from - a 68 b.h.p. SDI, a 90 b.h.p. TDI and the most recent addition to the range, a turbo diesel PD unit developing some 115 b.h.p. This engine is shared with the larger, and much heavier, Passat and Sharan MPV models, so you can imagine that it makes the Golf feel pretty swift. Flat out, it is good for 122
that VW felt it necessary to provide traction control for this car. This engine comes only in sporty-Iooking GT form in the hatchback, but there is a choice of cheap S or plusher SE guises in the estate model. Drawbacks? Well, if you
you would not know you were in a diesel at all once out on the open road. It is only at idling speeds that VW still has a little more work to do.
- and most dealers should - then the only real problem is the noise. To be fair, there is no t that much of it. Indeed,
discount the high-ish prices (£16,510 to £17,595 for the 115 b.h.p. PD diesel models)
A real convertible asset
much the last major piece of the 3-series jigsaw to be fitted as snugly into place in the range as the fit of its new folding hood. As before, no fixed roll
a :PART from a new compact, Vthe convertible is pretty
over hoop or bulky tonneau cover disturbs the lines of the convertible. However, should the standard automatic trac tion control and stability sys tems included as standard not be enough to prevent the car
flipping over, strong steel beams instantly shoot out from behind the rear head restraints to protect the occu pants' skulls. When folded, the hood sits neatly under a metal cover and now has a padded lining to reduce wind noise. And there is a proper glass rear window, with demister, in place of the old, easily scratched plastic pane.
BMW engineers have also
come up with a clever new hood stowage system. The
whole convertible roof is now contained in a cartridge. When the roof is up, you can fold the container out of the way, where it extends into the boot to gain 30 per cent more space than in the old model. Roof down, and with optional hard top to hand, the folded soft top can be removed for the winter as a single unit.
The first customers for the
latest 3-series Convertible have just the one engine
B B
choice: the £28,995 323Ci - a I/O b.h.p., 2.5-litre straight six which can take you to 60 m.p.h. in eight seconds and on to a top speed of 145 m.p.h. Compared with the previous 328i drop-top, there is also substantially more mid-range torque.
This car flatters your dri
ving, thanks to two clever features - automatic stability control plus traction (ASC+T) and cornering brake control (CBC).
that this is a legacy of the VW Group decision we men tioned earlier - to delay its switch to common rail tech nology until the second gen eration of those engines appear in a few years time. The older approach is sup posed to be noisier, al though
It would be easy to say
to be fair, none of the com mon rail units I have tried have been much quieter than those in the Golf.
technicalities, all three Golf diesel engines work on the basis of so-called direct injection, a system intended to make better use of every drop of diesel. The injectors on all four cylinders are con trolled by a single powerful electronic control unit (ECU) which carefully con trols the amount and mix
If you are interested in the
ture of fuel passing through into the head of each cylin der. For engineers, the obvi ous next step is for each cylinder to have its own ECU unit; the fuel amount and mixture can then be even more carefully moni tored and even greater effi ciency achieved. This is the basic concept behind the new second generation of so- called common rail diesels - and the one VW says it’s developing in its own time.
Diesel prices start at
£12,545 for the SDI and £15,160 for the TDI and ; there is the usual choice of ! three or five-door hatch or ; estate.
diesel Golfs prove that Volk swagen knows a thing or two about engines of this kind, j As indeed it does about ! building quality family ; hatchbacks. Small wonder ' that its Golf line-up is so ; sought after by buyers seek ing quality with a frugal flavour
In summary, these latest' \
Golf diesel gives fuel for thought
r , ' i # \ I
' / w > , !.
' - '< ’
■ ‘ * 7* • „ - a
- n - f a j &J3‘r »• v T ^ F 7
- *' , ' x>u ,-r <f/ I*; t k , v/: ^ •> , ’ DEPOSIT AND ONLY PER MONTH FOR THE FIRST 12 MONTHS
www.walkerfarrimond.co.uk
STOP PRESS-STOP PRESS... You don’t need to go to
a back street garage or travel to Europe. Choose Walker Farrimond for Great Value for Money now!
Walker Farrimond Nelson
01282 606606 Lomeshaye Motor Park Nelson, June 12 M65
—j j j M o n t t i l
Walker Farrimond Blackburn
01254 52981 King Street Blackburn
r PiminU ot ES. W 4 « M S Iom ontfthr PiinraU ol ES Ptr M orn Aount Hjibli £19J9 IntM ocaranmlon Fm pijible Hitt IM lint int lilt pijntnti, A18.6%.*C H onth, T m ng O PR oit mu rente* to m anulicturen M price. , - ■'tJf't, /|» r * CD r\ C ( & » v7,'AA ,
orDRIVEAW FOR ONLY
AY
A
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
