Letters: green guilt and Ferrari F40s
Put a socket in it
Time to stop heaping praise on cars like the Honda E and Mini Electric that won’t even do 100 miles and start putting pressure on car makers to do a lot better at an affordable price. Most people in cities don’t have workplace or home charging and from your own experience the public charging infrastructure is poor at best.
I drive around 10,000 miles per year and although I don’t do many really short trips, most journeys are less than 100 miles. I’ve recently changed from a series of BMW 320d diesels – average range on a tank 550-600 miles – to a 320i – average range 450-475 miles. Although a fuel stop is only around five minutes I’m already finding the necessity to refuel more often a pain. Electric cars need a year-round range of at least 450 miles, and should be similar in cost to fossil-fuel cars.
Widen the discussion on fuel cells and stop jumping on the bandwagon. Anthony Etherington
The likes of BMW would love to o er a 450-mile EV for the same money as your 320i. But it’s impossible. BM
Legends
I loved reading issue 700 as it brought back memories of your great contributors over the years. LJK Setright and his love of Hondas and explanations of vehicle engineering. Russell Bulgin and his hatred for the 911. George Bishop and his many columns on the lunches provided by car manufacturers while forgetting to tell you about the car.
The biggest irony is your favourite car of all time, the Ferrari F40, was dismissed as a terrible car in 1989. Glad you’ve seen the light! Here’s to another 700 issues of the best car magazine. Paul Spencer
It’s also useful for us to be reminded how good those writers were – and how good we need to be to honour their memory. CO
There’s a 6.30am?
Fed up with silly antics on TV motoring shows, I found Auto Mundial on ITV
4 at 6.30 Sunday morning. Sensible comparison tests of cars and 4x4s .No stupid tricks just thorough, interesting articles. Too early to get up, I set it to record on series link.
Trevor Jackson
A bit rich
As a lifelong motorsport enthusiast I enjoy cheering on Lewis and am happy for him. That said, Mark Walton is spoton in his critique (column, November). Lewis’s profession is completely at odds with Lewis’s emotional-based beliefs.
Passions in life are fine but a world without logic and practicality could not produce the magnificent machines with which Hamilton earns his spectacular living. Rare talents like Lewis can afford
their own brand of liberalism but most fans who thrill at his abilities simply cannot.
Andy Evans
Heavy going
Gavin Green’s obsession with Gordon Murray and his obsession with lack of weight is becoming tedious. Reading his column in the November issue I immediately knew how it would end. Yes, Mr Murray’s new, as yet undriven, T.50 may be the best driver’s car ever made. At £2.36m you would be entitled to a good drive. At least he didn’t mention the Renault 4.
Obsessive? Me? I’m getting there. Greg Foster
Renault 4, you say? Sixtieth anniversary this year. Reckon we should get Gavin to do a special 100-page celebration. CO
The world in flames
I was amazed to read in your SUV giant test (Aston vs Bentley vs Lamborghini) in the December issue that the Bentayga was £181k new and £109k after 8000 miles. Doing the simple maths that’s £9 in depreciation per mile driven plus 25p per mile for fuel, plus servicing and tyres. That must be in excess of £10 to drop out of the window for every mile driven.
Steve Middleton
The depreciation is a matter between you and your bank balance, but the low mpg and high CO2 look increasingly hard to justify. CO
Want to get ahead? Get a boot
Frustratingly unreliable Alfas had sent me in the direction of the previous Mazda 3 in Sport Nav 165PS form and I had no intention of a change before I became old enough for ‘something electric’. However I was unwise enough to have a look at the new model and became ensnared by the new interior, increased refinement and economy of a Skyactiv-X GT Sport, and in particular the saloon version which was lying in wait in the showroom.
In response to Jake Groves’ comments (Our Cars, December 2020) I would suggest the saloon has a better, less bulbous, rear end, which comes complete with room for a spare, together with added refinement.
The other thing I struggle with in his report is his 36.4mpg average. I am currently running in the mid-50s, with one day in particular showing 60-plus, which was a bit of a surprise.
Perhaps the boot is more ecient aerodynamically…
John Wilcox
Keep this frequency clear
I’m moved to humbly disagree with Damon Hill (Insider, December 2020) when he advocates the banning of radios in F1. For millions of TV viewers these snippets of radio comms add so much interest. A sense of driver mood, team strategy, the relationships between drivers and between driver and engineer, all aided by some excellent commentary, gives the viewer a richness of experience that would be absent without this dimension.
The use of radio does not appear to diminish driver skill to any great extent, evidenced recently at Istanbul when just keeping the machine on the black stuff was beyond the skill of some of the best drivers in the world!
George Cox
I couldn’t agree more. Angsty Lewis, jumpy/bossy Sebastian second-guessing his own team’s strategy – it’s all gold. BM
Not guilty
In the December issue, letter writer Christopher Waite says he sold his ‘beloved Porsche’ as he ‘felt guilty’ about being seen in it; too glitzy and ostentatious. Sir David Attenborough and climate change are thrown in for good measure.
Yet you can go and buy a Porsche for under £5k, so it’s hardly ostentatious.
I take the climate change issue seriously. I buy locally produced produce where I can and have green energy to power my home, but we have to have balance in our lives or ⊲
we will all be driving MGs.
Editor Miller’s comments supporting Mr Waite’s view on ostentation and displaying wealth sit uncomfortably with his Welcome page concerning the Bentley Continental GT Pikes Peak, which he writes glowingly about. That could be described as a tad glitzy and ostentatious. In the same issue, the Ferrari 812 GTS driven to Scotland just to write a road test (which I thoroughly enjoyed) is hardly climate friendly.
Please do not stop writing about these pariahs as any true petrolhead wouldn’t miss the opportunity to buy one if they had the funds.
Phil Taylor
Cuba route
Have we seen the golden age of motoring and everything is downhill from here? Intrusive legislation, tech-heavy cars answering questions that nobody asked, everything on touchscreens or touch pads that are fine in theory but a bugger to use in practice (left handed, in a moving car?), digital instruments with 1001 variations that you spend the first couple of days playing with and then set to your comfortable favourite and then leave it like that, and when/if you get the urge to change it you can’t remember what you have to do…
And now forcing us into electric cars on an ambitious timescale with little thought to the practicalities for the majority like remote parking and multi-car households.
I can see petrol and diesel cars starting to appreciate in value as the supply is cut off. Maybe we’ll end up like Cuba with a parade of old fossil-fuelled cars being kept running long after their sell by date?
Richard Gilbert
More fun, more of the time
I find myself in total accord with Gavin Green (column, December). He says the Series 1 Elise he drove at Goodwood was more fun than either the McLaren 765LT or the Porsche Taycan; and isn’t fun the whole point of a sports car? It reminds me of a time in 1996, when I had just got my Elise and a friend brought his Ferrari 355 round, so we could give both a spin. Although the Ferrari was impressive, we concluded that the Elise was more fun, more of the time than the Ferrari.
Patrick Limming
An informed choice
Working as a BMW salesperson for many years, I had the chance to drive everything from a BMW M1 and E30 M3 to the latest M5. I also drove many cars that were part-exchanged such as 911 Turbos, Boxsters, Caymans, Astons and the occasional Ferrari.
I retired in early 2019. On 10 March I took delivery of a new car and thank goodness I did. I had little chance to drive it in the first few months but from that point onwards it has given me so much pleasure, especially on the few sunny days we had in autumn.
With the heavy trac and speed cameras everywhere it has made me realise how utterly pointless these monsters with 400-600bhp are. The last time I had an M3 for the weekend I was almost glad to give it back. It was so quick I worried that within a week I would have a ban. I was also very nervous about where I left it parked
What did I buy? Well it revs to 7500rpm and does 0-60mph in 6.5 seconds, which I find is more than quick enough, and it has more than enough torque. It averages 40mpg. It has leather upholstery and heated seats for top-down driving and a Bose sound system which has perfect clarity despite the wind noise. It also has, to my eyes, wonderful styling.
The car is a Mazda MX-5 2.0-litre Sport Tech convertible. If I could afford a 600bhp supercar for five times the money I don’t think I would have even twice the fun.
James Brock
Not a universally popular view around these parts, but I couldn’t agree more about the joys of Mazda’s MX-5. CO
Earplugs ahoy
Before my letter about the Ferrari Roma was published in your December issue, I received an invitation from the great guys at Carrs of Exeter to try a Roma. Having driven it, I think you are 180º wrong on the Roma. The last thing the car needs is louder exhausts. The whole purpose of the car is as a GT.
I have a 2004 575M, which is a ‘proper’ GT car, and we’ve done 20,000 miles touring all over Europe in it in the last six years. It’s fast, smooth and quiet-ish on the autobahns and brilliant to chuck around going up and down the Alpine passes. It also has a fabulous V12, which the Roma sadly hasn’t.
The Roma could never replace the
575M. It is so tiresomely noisy that it fails the GT test at the first hurdle. Christopher H Sheldrake
I think we’re actually in agreement Christopher. I wrote: ‘The seats and driving position are all-day comfortable but exhaust noise is ever present, grating after a while on less interesting roads. And while there’s less road noise than you’d expect given the amount of rubber the car holds to the road, NVH levels are still high for a true GT – a Bentley is far quieter.’ Please send us a picture of the 575M! BM
Daylight rubbery
I have noticed that wheel/tyre combinations have got larger and larger over the last few years as cars have become more powerful. Particularly the more expensive ones!
They are clearly designed to cope with ever more traction problems and give a more pleasing visual effect. Look at any car older than 20 years and see what I mean. Dry roadholding has increased to a level that mere mortals can’t hope to exploit but ride is affected badly, especially on our potholed roads.
In addition standing water has now become a huge problem. Aquaplaning at high speed is a big issue – I had an incident in my old Cayenne GTS a few years ago on the M20 at around 80mph. The car suddenly snapped 45º sideways and veered towards the centre lane. I was able to regain control, more by luck than anything else, after fishtailing along for quite a while.
Cup tyres, now fitted to some cars, are useless until heated up, and in a very cold winter spell they never do.
These problem should be highlighted to keep accidents to a minimum.
Jon Harding
True enough, Jon. I’m insured on an i10 now, as I help our youngest learn to drive, and its wafer-thin tyres are nd entirely unperturbed by standing water! Cup tyres are what they are – a specialised tyre for a job. BM