Matthew Tumbridge & James Ruppert compare cars from the past with today.
Governments and councils love to tax you and the police and various wardens love to fine you. The media – especially at the moment – love to goad you. The car and the motorist are soft targets subjected to such a barrage of pressure that even 4 star petrol-heads have moments of guilt.
The SMMT recently released its annual UK Automotive Sustainability Report which shows just how far cars have come. We motorists are not as bad as we imagine. Thanks to all the manufacturer’s clever engineering, our taller, longer, wider more gadget-laden cars are doing less damage to the environment.
- It takes 76 modern Fiestas to emit the same amount of Nox exhaust gas as one 1976 equivalent; 71 would produce the same quantity of hydrocarbons.
- A modern VW Golf 1.9 litre diesel engine emits 78 per cent fewer diesel particles than a 20-year-old equivalent 1.6 litre diesel.
- CO2 per vehicle produced came down from a high of 1.3 tonnes in 2001 to 0.7 tonnes in 2006.
But that is not the only way that cars have improved. I spent last Tuesday pitching automotive geriatrics against today’s prime athlete’s. What I discovered is fascinating for anyone thinking about buying a car on a budget.
Mercedes-Benz 190 E (1989) vs Mercedes-Benz C200 Kompressor (2007)
My memory of the 190E had me expecting a tank-like build quality and no optional extras. I was right on the optional extras but the build quality wasn’t what I remembered. True, every piece of cloth and plastic looked good for its age and all the stalks and knobs worked despite twenty years of normal use. But modern plastics, controls and seats are now so good, even in cheap cars, that the top 1980s standard feels basic and bare.
Getting behind the wheel brought a new meaning to the phrase, ‘involving drive.’ I balanced my buttocks on the seats, trying not to overload any of the springs that it felt like I was directly connected to. I found that all the pedals were a slightly different distance from the front of the seat. The clutch had massive travel; the throttle hardly any. I had sensory overload just pulling away from the kerb.
On the move, it had that quiet purring engine I remembered and a ride that was ahead of its time in the 80s. But it was the sheeting rain that gifted the Merc a chance to show what it stood for. This will sound anoraky at best, anal at worst. But turning on the wipers demonstrated just how brilliant the central Mercedes-Benz mechanism and single wiper were at smoothly and quietly cleaning the maximum screen area. Also, despite three men on board the car didn’t even come close to steaming up. The significance of this will become evident to the readers tenacious enough to read this article’s end.
A 1980s Mercedes-Benz was about doing the fundamentals really well. It was about delivering perfect function.
Longer, taller, wider, and heavier but 17% more fuel efficient than the 190 E, the Mercedes-Benz C200 is a different beast. Excellent build quality and purring engines are still there but doing fundamental things brilliantly is no longer what sells cars.
This car costs the same as the 190E did twenty years ago and offers a colossal amount more for what is, when adjusted for inflation, less than a fifth of the price. It is not that the basics have been compromised with the padding out, it’s just harder to see them.
BMW 635M (1989) vs BMW 635d (2007)
Fellow columnist James Ruppert used to sell BMW 635Ms from the Park Lane showroom to the original 80’s big swinging dicks. As we hurtled up Park Lane in the 635 last week and James picked his third fight of the day with a dumper truck on Hyde Park corner, I asked him if taking customers on test drives used to be nightmare.
He told me that with these cars, you could sell on arrogance. James would ask, “Surely you don’t need to test drive do you Sir?”
You can feel all that 80s money and swagger in this car. It has electric seats, air conditioning and onboard computers at a time when Orions and Belmonts with wind-up windows were the average motorist’s tools. But it didn’t feel luxurious. It felt like an animal with oodles of growling power. The steering is straight from a racing car; really direct and firm. I would have loved to let this car stretch its legs. Instead we raced some ducks over the Serpentine bridge and then the test route demanded we head back into traffic.
Like the Mercedes this car has a singleness of purpose. It drives like a car. It draws you into a driving experience.
As much as the new BMW impressed me with its perfect build, styling and impressive stats, I do miss the opportunity for real driving. Not every day in the rain and traffic, you understand. The new car is much better for that. And for cross-continent cruising too. The 635 we tested, thanks to its diesel engine, manages 40 mpg with a range of 629 per tank as opposed to the 18 mpg-ish of the 1980s monster.
The new BMW 635d does not sound or drive like a diesel. It is the most effective GT car of its time. It will handle and perform all the way from London to Inverness on one tank of gas, whilst carrying two or even four people and their luggage in comfort.
Jaguar XJ6 (1989) vs Jaguar XJ Sovereign (2007)
Neil McPherson brought down a XJ6 from the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Museum. At first I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t finished in the yellow made famous by Arthur Daley. But I soon forgot about that when I saw the ‘onboard computer.’ I genuinely thought it was a taximeter until Ruppert corrected me.
Everything about the ‘Jag’ makes me feel nostalgic and soppy. It’s ride is still, surprisingly, lovely. It doesn’t feel like a heavy cough will bounce the car into a lane change, but bumps and ruts on the road just ceased to exist as far as I was concerned.
James drove first and with three of us onboard it quickly steamed up to a zero-visibility situation. So Neil cranked the heater up. As we got hotter, there was an overwhelming smell of petrol but the windows didn’t particularly de-mist. But James didn’t hit anything because everyone makes way for a Jag of this vintage. It commands respect.
Old Jags, like old Alfas, had their flaws but I still love them you see. New Jags, like the current XJ Sovereign is not the same. I was fully expecting the new Jag to carry on the first part of this tradition, but wasn’t sure I would love it. I was wrong.
Like the Mercedes and BMW it is bigger, very significantly better built and better for trees too. The diesel we tested delivers 35mpg, rather than 18mpg and was just as refined. It felt a bit like a German or Japanese car as a result of its technical competence. In spite of this I still loved it. Predominantly because it has clung to fine English traditions of walnut dash and fag ash receptacles. It may have had cup holders in this car, but I never checked because I was too busy counting the number of ashtrays. It must have the highest cubic capacity for fag ash of any modern car. Perfect for those of you that like to puff a pipe as you sit in the inner city queues.
Toyota Corona (1966) vs. Toyota Prius (2007)
The starship Prius is a technical and economic marvel. It sits in queues and creeps forward as required, in silence, emitting nothing damaging. LCD graphics tell me when my right foot is being naughty and requiring the combustion engine rather than battery power (which was all the time in my case).
The1966 Corona is quite a contrast. The air-con was a little flappy window at the front. This reduced steaming up. But not much, so we used a sponge. The indicator stalk is made of tinfoil. It has a one-speed wiper.
I lurched forward with a lovely metallic vibration coming through the bulkhead to start the test. It is all very well me adjusting my stopping distances (the maths is simple, substitute meters for miles). But how do I convince west London pedestrians to adjust their confidence in stepping out? Most urbanites seem to have developed a confidence that a car can stop at short notice and, probably correctly, a cynicism that the driver won’t stop unless he has to.
The Coronna brake pedal was high, hard and connected to drums not discs. I had forgotten what it felt like to think you might not stop.
Cars have indeed come a long way. They are no longer about the basics: starting, stopping, cornering poise and driver feedback.
Today’s cars are about greener, safer, quieter and easier… traffic jams. So if you want your future to involve driving, you should consider buying something from the 80s or before. But if you have queuing to do, you want something from today.