In a couple of weeks, Suzuki will present the latest generation of their enduring and hard-working Jimny family. As we eagerly await the new arrival, we look at one of the odder twigs on the extended family tree.
Image; Farm Trader NZ
The subject’s identity crisis is manifestly obvious. It’s sold as a Suzuki, yet there’s a Maruti badge in the centre of the grille. The Japanese masters were content to sell it to New Zealand farmers as one of their own, but it’s an Indian-built Maruti Gipsy, in 4WD, 1300cc petrol specification, and therefore based on the 1982 SJ410 in all its live-axled, leaf-sprung primitiveness. Continue reading “Far From the Mainstream: Suzuki Farmworker”
As regular readers will know, DTW is quietly supportive of Suzuki. But friends also need to be politely critical sometimes.
Unpretentious – Baleno by Suzuki (2017)
Part of me likes the 2017 Baleno for its unpretentious grasp of the vernacular. The car has no clear trope to express. Then it has a few bright bits here and there and nods towards the Swift. I’ll have to consult Wikipedia or Suzuki for dimensions. Yet I want to Continue reading “Say Hi To The Sailing Moon”
Automotive News alarmed me with this item, below, about the BMW i3.
Source: Automotive News
(Also, I have learned how to make screenshots on my iPhone). The headline suggests a whole new design, something low and slippery. The car shown is, to the layman, the exact same. Anyone who didn’t love the i3 before will still not love it now. This redesign (if it is one) “counters” Tesla like sending a yoga teacher to fight the Visigoths. Continue reading “Written On the Edge”
So, Lancia Delta, what are you like to drive? Driven To Write continues its quest to test every Lancia available.
2008 Lancia Delta 1.6 Oro
The Lancia Delta appeared under the banner of spearheading a rebirth at Lancia. The background to the Delta looked like this: a replacement for the Lybra saloon and estate and also a vehicle to cover a market the Bravo didn’t reach. As such, the Delta had to be luxury and estatey-wagony. Thus Lancia based it on the Fiat Bravo but with a longer floor-pan and a half-hatch, half-estate profile. Lancia sold the car with a quite broad engine range.
A commercial hit for Mercedes-Benz at launch, but Father Time has not been kind to the 1997 CLK.
Image: carinpicture
We didn’t know it at the time, but when Mercedes-Benz ceased production of the C124 coupé line in 1996, its terminus would be more than a stylistic one. If not quite the final example of the legendary ‘Vertical Affinity, Horizontal Homogeneity’ design ethos overseen by Bruno Sacco, the C124 would prove to be the last mid-sized Mercedes coupe built upon its saloon counterpart’s platform for another two generations. Continue reading “Fleeting Star”
Two items about off-roaders and one half-thought about car interiors comprise this small collection of notes. Plus a bonus about rear centre arm-rests.
2018 Suzuki Jimny exterior: Autocar
A leaked set of images blew the gaffe on Suzuki’s new Jimny. Readers will remember we ran an item about this car earlier in the summer. The current Jimny is small, robust and a bit cute. It provides inexpensive off-road capability thanks to its body-on-frame chassis, light weight and short over hangs. Designed with practicality in mind, I feel it satisfies quite well the brief once met by Fiat’s first-generation Panda 4×4.
For the new car, Suzuki have decided to go retro: the car shown looks like something from 1985. The panels are flat and the mien is rather butch. This design is one which could Continue reading “A Ragbag For Sunday”
Driven To Write’s Classic Vehicles Editorial Assistant is Myles Gorfe. Here he reports on life with his trusty Granada 2.0 L . Miles driven: 2.3. Costs to date: bill pending.
1975 Ford Granada 2.0 L
It has been very busy on the Granada front this last month. After a bit of a spell where suppliers played merry hell with deliveries (bootlid badges, gear lever, steering column shroud, headliner, sill kick plates and a grommet for the fuel system) and the mechanic had to recover from a slipped disc, things have finally moved on.
Frankie J., who has done most of the work on the car since March, put his back out big style trying to lift the engine out for a spot of routine maintenance. He started late on a Friday evening after everyone had gone home. The engine suffered no damage but Frankie spent the weekend in the workshop unable to Continue reading “Our Cars: 1975 Ford Granada 2.0 L”
Today, Driven to Write gets its barnet in curlers over the latest offering from Maranello. Time for a haircut?
Just get in the sodding chair! Image: auto-ferrari
Even hairdressers must have off days. After all, imagine if you will the ceaseless drudgery of it all. The incessant banality of polite conversation, the helicopter view of thinning scalps and receding hairlines, the clippings that get everywhere, the disappointment of customers who Continue reading “Hair, By Sergio”
Luxury isn’t what it used to be. Jean Pierre-Ploué had a good go at imbuing the 2005 Citroen C6 with some high-quality touches. However…
Citroen C6 front passenger ashtray
… all the money was spent on exotic wood and the world’s biggest plastic rear bumper. By the time he worked his way around to the upper doors there remained only enough resources for a remarkably tiny door-mounted tray. It’s not chromed either. This one is unusual in that it is not in the centre console. I had to check it was the front: it seemed so natural to have a rear passenger ashtray on the door. Presumably the same assembly works in the back too. Continue reading “Ashtrays: 2005 Citroen C6”
This is a peculiar one. There is a very large cubby inside which are two cupholders. One of them can hold an ash-cup.
That reminds me of a perfume package.
Much about the 2002 Espace impresses, especially in the top Initiale trim. The interior is coated in leather with contrasting stitching. It creates an air of luxury that is not flouncy or over-wrought. Renault went to a fair amount of trouble to make use of the dashboard volume. Not one but two large glove boxes lurk under the dashtop. The main masses and details hang together very well indeed too. The same goes for the back seats as well. One can see that Renault put on their thinking caps when trying to provide an alternative to the big, family saloon. Yet the car is only 4.6 metres long. Continue reading “Ashtrays: 2002-2014 Renault Espace”
One model has defined Volvo’s rebirth, but its backer deserves some of the credit as well.
‘Ford Gives You More’ – Volvo XC60. Image: Car and Driver
It’s customary for a new car line to hit its sales-stride within the second full year of production, before plateauing and gradually ebbing downwards. This fall is normally arrested by a mid-term facelift, before once again, the graph pitches inexorably Southwards as the model is run out and ultimately replaced. While I wouldn’t necessarily Continue reading “Henry’s Bequest”
It seems like only about six months since the last one closed and, dear, oh, dear, here is another one. I went to Autocropley to have a gander at their list of launches and unveilingments. I can’t say much of it tickled my fancy. The Audi A7 is top of the list for alphabetical reasons and, if it is anything like the new A8, it’ll be a bit much on a too small plate.
The A7 is one of the nicest looking cars in production and the new A7 is not going down that path – as with all launches of replacement models and many new ones, the dial is being turned up to 11, especially in the grille department. The A8’s could be from an articulated truck apart from the quite astonishing amount of brightwork. The first A8 set a standard Audi have failed to Continue reading “A Camel Drowns By The Oasis”
“I’m Not Going to Take this Any More.” Image: BMW UK
BMW have released photos and a rather toe-curling video for their new concept Z4, said to provide broad clues as to how next year’s production Z4 will look. Good grief, it’s an angry looking thing, isn’t it?
Here are some words. They’re lifted from BMW’s website, (verbatim) so I take no responsibility. Apart from the annotated comments of course, which are mine. Continue reading “Anger Is an Energy”
This post is something of a ragbag and it’s missing one photo.
Aston Martin Rapide
A Maserati Ghibli pulled up next to me at traffic lights yesterday. As ever, I checked out the brightwork around the sideglass. Much to my amazement, Maserati opted for two pieces, instead of one, around the rearmost pane. For the kind of money Maserati want, I’d expect one single part. Opel and Kia can do it.
We conclude our 50th anniversary ruminations on Ferrari’s Dino by tracing its stylistic forebears.
1965 Dino 166P. Image: Ferrari.com
In December 1964 the press convened at Modena’s Hotel Real-Fini, where Enzo Ferrari would conduct his annual sermon on the mount. As the gathered press corps waited breathlessly as the ‘Pope of the North’ held forth regarding the Scuderia’s programme for coming season, the commendatore dropped a surprise, telling journalists Ferrari’s race engineers were advanced on a new ‘168 Dino GT’ to be campaigned the following season.
Today we have another chance to document the ordinary but now rare E80 Corolla.
The grille is similar to the contemporary Carina.
To be precise it’s the EE80 three door hatchback, 1985 to 1987.
We’ve documented the saloon here and I argued that it’s a collection of near-neutralities. The hatch has the same basic simplicity (the surfaces have the least possible curvature) yet there is a hint more expression noticeable. It’s in the rake of Continue reading “Holy Moley Cannoli”
The car with which Alfredo Ferrari’s name would become synonymous did not carry the famous Cavallino Rampante emblem but is perhaps the most significant (and beautiful) Ferrari of all.
Enzo Ferrari preferred to be addressed as ‘ingegnere’, which was something of an irony, given his somewhat reactionary views on the subject. A staunch traditionalist, his principles were firmly rooted in the pre-war era, pivoting around the notion of a powerful, high revving power unit combined with a driver of sufficient bravery and skill to Continue reading “In the Name of the Son”
FCA’s Sergio Marchionne appears to be saying no to a new-generation Ferrari ‘Dino’. Well he was last week anyway…
About as much Dino as you’re likely to get. Image: pinstake
Much like the current resident of the American White House, FCA’s Chief Knitwear Officer appears to think nothing of holding entirely bipolar positions on policy, seemingly at will. Over the years, the Turin binman has led us a merry polka and yet here we are, akin to the beleaguered Washington press corps, Pavlovian to our slavering chops. Because one thing of which we can be certain is that whatever either the leader of the free World or the Italian-Canadian yarnmiester pronounces upon will be slavishly reported upon, disseminated and pored over, which is of course the point of the exercise. Continue reading “Dino Denied”
In picturesque Freiburg, there’s a luxury hotel that houses a small display case that has an awful lot to tell about the Bundesrepublik of yore – and a certain German car manufacturer.
We all have a theoretical garage of, say, ten cars. What are readers’ criteria for such a thing. You are asked for six criteria to select these cars and not the cars themselves.
I have done some desk-work and put together a few assumptions to see how self-driving transport adds up. What are the problems with self-driving cars or the idea behind them?
Without leaving the kitchen table, I was able to identify some conceptual problems with self-driving cars and ways to improve the efficiency of car use.
If a car drives on average 12,000 miles per year and does an average of 60 miles per hour then that means 200 hours of driving per year. (Cars are spent after just 1400 to 2000 hours of use).
The occupancy rate in relation to hours per year is very low. There are 8760 hours in year. Cars are driven for 200 hours a year, typically. For 8560 hours a year a car is unused. Thus there are 43.8 times more hours of use available than are used each year. If you drove all year, you would still Continue reading “17.5 Billion Hours a Year”
Twin approaches to a modernised ur-Mini, but while one is shamelessly drenched in nostalgia, the other speaks of a possible future.
What would Alec think? David Brown Mini Remastered. Image: dailyherald
Nostalgia is big business. Take the music industry where bands reform to play their best-loved material, while record companies re-master and repackage classic albums. So if the running order gets messed with, original tracks deleted and a bunch of questionable out-takes (which didn’t make the original cut for good reason) are added, who cares? Completists, (mostly middle-aged men if we’re honest) will Continue reading “Remake, Remodel, Remaster, Recharge?”
It all began with a casual conversation at a motor show, which touched on the Ro80 and its stylist, Claus Luthe. An acquaintance, with an extraordinary nose for the rarely trodden byways of automotive history said “You do know that Luthe probably didn’t design the Ro80?” I confessed I didn’t, but I was keen to know more.
“It’s in an old copy of CAR”, I was told. I asked if there was a possibility of a scanned copy of the article. “I’ll do better than that”, I was told; “I’ll send you the magazine”. Continue reading “A Question of Attribution”
Not a lot of information exists on this car. I think it’s a 2007.
It is a Microcar MC-2 and appears to be a peculiar blend of the Renault Avantime and Audi A2. It’s one of three microcars I’ve spotted recently. More can be read here. One sees a lot of them in Germany and none in Ireland or Denmark. Continue reading “Under the Upside”
Since its post-war reconstitution under semi-state ownership, Alfa Romeo was forced to cut its cloth in ever more inventive ways. Budgets were tight and new model programmes hard-won. Expensive unitary body architectures needed to be well and truly amortised, which led to production runs that in retrospect probably lasted too long. Continue reading “Six Degrees of 116”
Disappointingly uneven, despite occasional flashes of brilliance, the 1977 Giulietta personifies Alfa Romeo’s 1970’s wilderness years.
Image: wheelsage
The much-loved 105-Series Giulia was the model line that put Alfa Romeo back on a World stage. This compact sporting saloon was a concentrated blend of Portello engineering knowhow wrapped in a highly aerodynamic, if superficially four-square package. Belying it’s ‘boxy’ appearance however, the 105 drove beautifully becoming a firm favourite from its 1962 inception until its ultimate demise 15-years on.
Marking the Saab 99’s 50th anniversary, we revisit legendary motoring writer Archie Vicar’s impressions of one of the top-ten great Saabs. (First published Nov 7, 2014.)
Library photo
There can be little doubt that in the annals of automotive journalism, the voice of Archie Vicar was unique. At a time when most road test texts were couched in the most circuitous language; where opinion or indeed outright criticism required from the reader a keen appreciation of the science of forensics, Vicar stood apart.
A little like the cars of Trollhätten, if we can make that analogy. The Swedish carmaker, by the latter 1960s, had made itself a name for finely crafted, durable motor cars, but more so, for going about their business to a drumbeat very much their own.
1967’s 99 model marked the point where Saab began to be taken seriously. A car which in its various forms would serve the carmaker loyally for more than two decades, it was perhaps the most ideally realised of Saab’s production designs, being at the very least, closest to the vision which inspired it.
Today’s reissue, sees the esteemed motor-noter essaying forth to Sweden to sample the 99 on home territory and proffer his wildly opinionated generalisations both on the car itself and on the subject of national stereotypes. (Although one never quite knew how far Vicar’s tongue was in his cheek as he did so…) His fine (and inimitable) review can be found by clicking upon this link, right here.
For more of Archie Vicar’s renowned period car reviews, click here
Daihatsu’s concept cars have been many, varied and in a good many cases, quite bonkers. Which is not to denigrate either them or the company which inspired them. Ideas they had aplenty, the real shame was that owing as much to their straitened circumstances as a lack of corporate nerve (perhaps), much of the invention and wildly creative thinking never particularly manifested itself in production form. Continue reading “‘Harmony With Nature’ – 2006 Daihatsu D-Compact X-Over”
German news magazine, Der Spiegel, didn’t have to look very hard to find the right image to accompany its cover story on the alleged German car manufacturers’ cartel
Driven to Write has a thing about brightwork. We also have a thing about quality.
1994 Lexus LS400
The 1990 Lexus LS400 famously had nitrogen-filled tyres because mere air caused a resonance. Despite the car’s astonishingly careful conception, these aren’t much loved and few are they now in number. It’s successor (above) is a crouton in the same soup bowl.
The XJ and F-Type represent the rearguard of traditional Jaguar formats, but while one continues its slide, the other appears to be holding firm.
Image: andoniscars
With Jaguar’s original E-Type latterly attaining the status of holy relic and given several prior attempts at reinvention, the onus on Jaguar to recreate it brooked no denial. So from its inception, F-type was intended both as an unabashed recasting, but moreover, the closest production approximation yet to Porsche’s all-conquering 911 in positioning and purpose. Continue reading “Consistent Cat”
… it’s full from the middle up. We’re talking of the 1986 Cadillac Sedan de Ville, naturally.
1986-1993 Cadillac Sedan De Ville
That’s what the photos show. However, more newsworthy is the announcement** that Joel P. is leaving his position as Ford’s European design chief to make way for Amko Leenarts, an RCA alumnus. Previously he oversaw Ford/Lincoln interiors at Dearborn. Joel P. goes back to Dearborn after a few short years to a newly created (read: not very powerful) position. That’s probably because he a) Continue reading “The bottom half of the glass is empty”
Driven To Write 