The three cars he’s itching to drive
MONDAY
The months I’ve spent driving big cars have come to an end. Last September, as the luckiest of the lucky, I took possession of a long-wheelbase Mercedes S500 AMG hybrid, which I swapped at Christmas with Andrew Frankel for his BMW 740Ld. Now that’s heading for a new owner, too. We’ve already published a few of my observations about how the pair compare – and Andrew’s views are imminent – but what fills me with pleasure is that such a competitive pair can be so good yet very different.
The car market is so cut-throat, and buyers in the big saloon market are so conservative, that you might worry these cars would converge too much, yet they have not. An even greater pleasure is that the pair are entirely true to their traditional marque values. The Merc still has some aspects of similarity to a 1961 220SE ‘fintail’ I bought in my early twenties, while the Beemer goes ditto for the first BMW I ever drove, a firstgen 520i in mid-’70s Australia. I’ve no idea how the German marques manage such consistency, but I’m awfully glad they do.
TUESDAY
Weird what floats your boat. In our business, friends often want to know if you’ve “been driving anything special lately”, because they’re aware you sometimes drive extraordinary cars and want to hear about it. This happened today, and I gabbled something about a luxo-suv that briefly came my way a few days ago. But deep down in my soul, I was listing the three entirely different experiences I’m looking forward; the sort of desires that can only be revealed to those like you, who understand that merit in cars isn’t geared to rarity, prestige or cost.
First, I’m looking forward to my next drive in a Suzuki Jimny (a car with more star quality than plenty costing six figures). Second, I’m impatient to drive another Tesla, any Tesla, because I’ve done recent miles in I-paces and Kona Electrics, and I’m keen to know how they compare. Finally, I’m absolutely busting to try the strongerengined 2019 Mazda MX-5 2.0-litre, to discover whether its extra 15% power (now 181bhp) and exalted 7500rpm rev limit (formerly 6800rpm) make it materially different from my own 157bhp edition. Peak torque climbs only 4lb ft, so I reckon the decision could go either way.
The pair are true to their traditional marque values
WEDNESDAY
Just back from a trip to Magna Steyr, the unique and long-lived Austrian-based ‘contract’ manufacturer, to investigate how its most attention-grabbing product of the moment, Jaguar I-pace, is made and distributed: we’ll have that story next week.
There was a faint familiarity about the place. I visited it years ago to see early Aston Martin Rapides in build. An autobahn sign pointed out ‘Puch-werke’, which reminded me that back in the 1960s Graz produced a line of quicker, widewheeled Fiat 500 that bore the Steyr-puch badge. For this car, the fondly remembered Autocar feature writer and wit Ronald ‘Steady’ Barker coined a wondrous headline: “You only have to Steyr, you don’t have to Puch”.
THURSDAY
I’ve been having trouble with the Steering Committee over ambient light in cars. When we recently took over the big Beemer from Mr Frankel, its dashboard and surroundings emitted a ghostly chrome-blue hue I thought was okay, but which my life’s companion found deeply disconcerting. As a result the light is now white, and about a third as intense. But I do wonder where this fashion for ‘designed’ ambient light came from. Can’t believe any punter asked for it.