How to create the perfect car
Category: Today's thought
Category: Today's thought
From todays autocar blog.Remember 'Men Behaving Badly'? Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes sat on a sofa, discussing the perfect woman: Kylie's bum, Steffi Graf's legs etc. Well there I was in the shower this morning, thinking not about Kylie's bum, but the automotive equivalent: who would you task to make the perfect car?
Engine? Honda, please. Ride and handling? Perhaps Porsche, but probably Lotus. Build quality? Toyota, with NVH by Lexus. BMW or Volvo can handle the ergonomics, with seats by Recaro. My ideal car has a front mounted engine with rear-drive, and a it's coupe; 2+2s are usually a bit pointless so let's make it a two-seater with a bit of luggage space behind the rear seats, and a hatch.
Interior styling by TVR I think, and as for options, I only need a few - a kick-ass stereo with single-disc CD player (I'm not audiophile enough to know whether Bose, Harmon Kardon, Mark Levinson or other is best on this score), air-con by any of Ford/Volvo/Land Rover, electric windows, ABS and four airbags. I guess Renault could take care of passive safety.
Construction? Aluminium chassis, bonded, and ally bodywork, hand beaten, so it's probably off to Aston Martin for that. Engine mounted as far back as possible, and a transaxle for better weight distribution. Gearbox: manual, six-speed, with the shift by anyone who can make it feel like the Ford Puma’s or Mazda MX-5's.
My ideal coupe is small, comfortably under four metres long, and with its low kerbweight (1000-1100kg), a 3.5-litre V6 with about 300bhp and 250lb.ft would do. And go easy on the i-VTEC shove: a progressive powerband instead, and a redline at about 7000rpm.
Which just about covers everything. Except, of course, the million dollar question: who styles the exterior? No time travel allowed, so I can't just adopt an Italian styling house from forty years ago, tempting as it would be. Maybe I'd just need to put a brief out to Aston, Alfa, Pininfarina and Lotus. Then, just sit back and wait for the results.
And the invoice. Which, I think, should come from Kia.