MAZDA 3 - PARADIGM SHIFTER?

Australians were introduced to the ‘family car’ with the Holden in 1948, launched by none other than Australia’s Prime Minister at the time Ben Chifley.

The Holden 48-215 was 4370mm (172in) long, and pretty much established the yardstick for traditional Australian family cars between 1948 and the mid 1980s.
Another interesting sidelight to the size of the regular Australian family car, was that in the 50s and 60s it was commonplace for families to go on vacation, towing a caravan. As leisure pursuits matured there was less need for families to buy 'big' 6 cylinder cars.

However, a focus on fuel economy and cost forced families to rethink the overall size of the ‘family car’ and by the year 2000 there began a major shift to smaller cars, like the Toyota Corolla.

As of this year, the top three family cars in Australia are now the Hyundai i30, Toyota Corolla and the Mazda 3. It’s the success of this size car which spelled the deathnell for the larger Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon (which had grown to 5m long (198in), and thus the cessation of manufacturing complete cars in Australia.

However, not only is the passenger battle being fought out vigorously by two Japanese and one Korean company; but passenger cars themselves are also the victim of changing dynamics in the family car sector.

In most developed global markets, the family car is now as likely to be a compact, or hulking big SUV! But, all three makers I’ve mentioned are covering bases in that sector as well, with very competent and competitive vehicles.

But, back to the Australian passenger car segment, and in the battle for sales honours Corolla keeps recording big numbers thanks to its product and brand identity having been established for 50 years. Hyundai is the Toyota’s closest competitor, thanks to the European-designed i30, which is really hauling in the customers with a great value proposition, and a 5 Year warranty.

That just leaves Mazda, solidly holding on to third place, whilst the two top brands swap positions month by month. In the seven months to July 2016, the results were Hyundai i30 (25,073); Toyota Corolla (23,971) and Mazda 3 (21,589).

However, I think the recently updated and just released Mazda 3 is a game changer, in two ways. First, it’s such a refined package, and combined with a price drop the Mazda 3 could seriously challenge Hyundai and Toyota for leadership. But, even more interesting, local Mazda dealers tell me they have been trading compact and mid-size SUVs on the new Mazda 3! 

That’s what I mean by a paradigm shifter. Not only is the new Mazda 3 setting new standards in its sector, but it may also be the reason for a swing away from SUVs back to passenger cars.

It is a seriously good car. I go so far as to say, it’s brilliant. The facelift (original launched in 2014) has been improved in every single area. Despite the familiarity of its looks, it is a ‘new’ car.

In fact, even after driving it for around 300km, I don’t have to write much about it in any detail. Because, in my humble opinion the automotive press has already said it all!

The most talked-about feature of the new car is G-Vectoring Control, which Mazda says is its new vehicle dynamics technology.

For the uninitiated lets start with what is a Vector?

Among other areas, such as aviation, mathematics, navigation, pathology and genetics, a Vector is also described as any behavioral influence, force or drive – and it’s in this context Mazda describes its new technology.

In simple terms G-Vectoring Control uses the engine to influence the handling of the vehicles!

I will quote Mazda’s explanation directly from its excellent press kit booklet:

This development is based on the revolutionary idea of using the engine to enhance chassis performance. This results in smoother transitions between G-forces.

Traditionally, lateral and longitudinal acceleration (G) forces have been controlled separately. GVC is the world’s first technology to adjust engine torque in response to steering inputs in order to control these forces in a uniform manner. This is intended to optimize the vertical loading of each tyre to give smoother vehicle behavior.

I’m here to tell you that it ain’t mumbo-jumbo – in two words – 

it works!

The Mazda 3 turns in beautifully, and at high speed in closing radius corners, the control, feedback and precision of the handling is remarkable.

The car responds more directly to just the required amount of input, and lessens the need for constant steering corrections.

If Mazda had included nothing else into the new model, GVC by itself is a great added value.

The range begins with the price-leading Neo version, and it’s just that – a stripper! Forget it. The Mazda 3 range really begins with the car I’ve been driving, the Maxx auto, which starts at AUD$24, 890.

From this model onwards you get the Mazda Connectivity offerings - Bluetooth, SatNav, and when connected to your smartphone’s data connection, you can stream services like Pandora music.

You also get the Commander module, which is suspiciously similar to Audi’s master control centre, but whatever, it’s simple and it works.

Small note of appreciation to the design team: "I LOVE the shape of the steering wheel. It is so good to hold."

Not much else to say. The new Mazda 3 is a delightful touring car, handles and rides brilliantly, gets good fuel economy (but not anything startling), and delivers probably the most refined dynamics in its class – end of story.

CVT TRANSMISSIONS - MAYBE THEIR TIME HAS COME?

On the basis there’s nothing new under the sun, a look back at the birth of the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) tells us we should never stop celebrating clever people.

In my review of the Subaru Levorg, with its excellent and refined CVT, I highlighted the fact that the original principle was first sketched by Leonardo da Vinci in 1490; and that Daimler-Benz acquired a patent in 1886.

But wait, there’s more! The first car to use the idea was created in Britain in 1925 by cousins Frank and Ailwyn Smith. The boys made excellent motorcycles with CVT transmissions, and in 1927 launched their first car, the CLYNO, with their own 1.5 litre engine and CVT gearbox.

Between 1910 and 1929 they produced 36,000 cars – and were Britain’s third largest manufacturer after Austin and Morris.

Sadly, the boys were hit by a double whammy. The company was grossly undercapitalized, and they won their sales crown by always being about 25% cheaper to buy than their competitors (despite high manufacturing costs). As they had to keep innovating to stay in the game, it all went tits-up in 1930 and CLYNO disappeared.

Then in 1952, Dutchman Hub van Dorne resurrected the idea, using rubber belts and pulleys, and calling it the Variomatic.

He formed his own car company, DAF, and produced the DAF 600 in 1958. The company was renamed VDT, and sold to Volvo in 1975; but the patents were transferred to Robert Bosch AG in 1995 when the company was acquired by the German giant.

However, from that time the CVT idea has been almost universally embraced by a variety of manufacturers, mostly Japanese – Subaru, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Toyota.

Clearly the cost of paying Bosch to use the patented system doesn’t amount to much, but no doubt Bosch is picking up a handy royalty cheque every month as the idea becomes more popular.

Originally most of VDT’s income came from producing the refined metal-link belts for transmissions used by other car companies, and at times the growing popularity of CVTs stretched the company's production capacity.

Okay, you say, what’s the downside?

CVTs traditionally were only 88% efficient than a regular torque-converter gearbox (which themselves are only 95% efficient), but advances over the past decades has seen CVTs become not only more efficient, but also great at helping to maintain low fuel economy.

A CVT enables the engine to run at its most efficient speed for a range of output speeds. When power is more important than economy, the ratio of the CVT can be changed to allow the engine to turn at the RPM at which it produces greatest power. This is typically higher than the RPM that achieves peak efficiency. In low-mass low-torque applications a belt driven CVT also offers ease of use and mechanical simplicity. CVTs are also cheaper to produce than conventional automatics, however, should they need repair, they are much more expensive.

That’s not something that should put anyone off choosing a car with a CVT, because all of the companies now using CVTs will tell you that recent improvements in both design and manufacturing techniques have ensured that CVTs will be as long-lasting as conventional automatics.

I remember driving both the DAF and the original Volvo 340 and thinking how bad the transmission was. They were slow to change, awkward and noisy. They also gave the impression of sapping engine power, and thus being very inefficient.

But,here I must salute Subaru and its current Lineartronic CVT.

I recently returned the Levorg test car, driving the 75km from the Gold Coast to Brisbane, which is 100% freeway. Now, most of us agree, freeway driving tells you very little about a car, but this drive was different.

I found that in mild, and heavy traffic, with a range of speeds – from cruising at 110km/h, down to crawling in a traffic jam, then speeding up for a spell at 100km/h, then dealing with Brisbane’s inner city bottlenecks, the Levorg performed magnificently.

I paid particular attention to how much accelerator movement there was in the varying traffic conditions and road speeds, and the CVT always delivered power when I needed it.

The performance of the Subaru Lineartronic would definitely sway my consideration in choosing a Subaru as a new car.

And, after a week of very fast test drives in the Hinterland, lots of slow traffic, using the aircon continuously, and freeway driving, the overall fuel economy came back at 6.0 l/100km.

So, will we see the CVT employed by more car companies? We already are, because the transmission is ideal for hybrids, and just the contribution to ease of driving and keeping fuel consumption down is definitely appealing.

SUBARU LEVORG - No Ordinary Wagon

Just right for farm duties? No, I don't think so. This one's probably best-suited to a revhead!

More like Rex meets Roadie.

It's my opinion Subaru resembles Honda and Mazda in the way that much of the product spec is envisioned, generated and refined by the engineers more than the marketers.

However, Levorg is a good example where the two groups can get their heads together on a winning recipe.

Take the platform of Subaru’s outrageously-successful high performance car, the WRX Sti; marry it to a utilitarian station wagon body; tune the suspension to grip like glue and turn tight corners with aplomb; then stick in all the creature comforts and a CVT transmission. Sounds like a mish-mash soup, right?

Subaru Liberty GT wagon

Maybe. But it works. For all those lovers of the Liberty GT station wagon, this one’s for you. The Liberty GT wagon was discontinued a couple of years ago, but despite the moaning from the marketplace, Subaru had a combo up its corporate sleeve which it revealed at the Geneva Salon last year.

The Levorg is not what you’d call a true high performance machine, it's no WRX STi, but it does just about everything right, when you call on its skills. The outright performance from the 137kW 2.0L boxer engine is more than adequate to put you within reach of mucho speeding fines from the roadside cameras, ride is excellent, and grip from the Dunlop Super MAXX tyres very comforting and confidence boosting.

Mind you, in this instance I’m referring to the Levorg GT. The model comes in three specifications, with the GT, priced at AUD$42,990. However, it’s not quite the performance package I’d recommend. The standard suspension struggles to keep its feet firmly planted when you’re pushing hard through undulating and bumpy curves.

However, driven sanely round town or on a comfortably fast interstate trip, the Levorg GT is at its best. The car is comfortable, quick and well-mannered. It’s well-equipped, and despite my concerns over the performance of the Lineatronic CVT transmission, this is one competent component.

Slip the transmission lever across to ‘Manual’ and control the gearbox with the steering wheel paddles, and you can have a whole lotta fun on a twisty open road. 

However, while researching CVT transmissions, I discovered that the concept goes back a very L-O-N-G way.

It was first sketched by Leonardo da Vinci back in 1490! 

Leonardo's doodling, circa 1490!

DAF-Volvo CVT

Daimler-Benz took a patent on the idea in 1886; but many car companies – including DAF, Volvo, Nissan, Subaru and others have developed their own take on the concept.

Thankfully, the latest Subaru version is very snappy, and reliable, thanks to its proprietary chain metal-link belt drive. The up and down changes in manual are sweet as.

For the serious nerds who want a performance car with practicality, the Levorg is not only smaller externally than the Liberty GT wagon, but thanks to clever packaging design it actually boasts more interior space!

I can’t fault this car, and for Subi fans who are wedded to the Starship Constellation Logo, they’ll love it.

Next, I think I’ll try the Levorg GTS, and with uprated suspension, including Bilstein shocks, this could be the car for me.

LONDON-SYDNEY RALLY - Missing Pix

After a deep dive, and I mean a d-e-e-p scrummage in some old photo boxes I have unearthed a couple of memorable shots from the 1977 London to Sydney Car Rally.

Remember, it was supposed to be 30,000km through 30 countries in 30 days. Turned out it was more like 45,000km, through 31 countries in almost 40 days. There were times it was a tough grind, and others when we marvelled at the places we were visiting, not knowing that world events over the ensuing 30 years would preclude such an event ever being run again.

My dear friend, the late Wylton Dickson who organized the Rally on behalf of his sponsors Singapore Airlines worked just as hard as the competitors to organize it; run it; worry about it; find the money for bribes, and many utterly frivolous extra charges - and then to see it finish on time at the Sydney Opera House.

This post was initiated due to some photos taken by other parties turning up in the shoe box marked 'Miscellaneous Photos'.

Like the shot taken by Australian motoring writer, the late Mike Kable, as the Moke was preparing to leave Athens.

The competitors had been promised an 11-hour stop in Athens; so Hans Tholstrup and I commandeered poor old Mike Kable's room at the 5-star Grande Bretagne Hotel; only to be woken four hours later by Mike pounding on the door yelling: "The organisers have moved the start time, you're due at the Olympic Stadium, now!"

All this after a frantic search on our arrival in Athens the night before, to locate the BMC dealer, and acquire some spare parts, which then had to be fitted on the start line at the Stadium. The officials from the Athens Motor Sports Club kindly hung around, waiting for us to finish repairs, so they could stamp our Rally Book, allow us to leave; then close up the Control Point, go home and have breakfast!

Some thirty years later during a Mediterannean Cruise we left the ship, so I could take a nostalgic visit to the scene of all the fuss!

Then when we were stopped in the desert between Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Alice Springs with a broken front suspension, one of the other competitors took this shot of me flagging down our Range Rover support team.

They had been waiting 30km down the road for the Moke, and decided they better come and look for us!

However, the most touching photo for me is one taken by a neighbour of my mother's, who drove her to the Sydney Opera House, to join my long-suffering wife and our two small sons who were seeing me for the first time since June 1977, when I left Sydney to fly to London.

A PEEP AT THE PERAK PALACE

(More trawling through unfiled photographs)
As the 1977 Singapore Airlines London to Sydney Car Rally wound its way down the Malay Peninsular, we ended up on a special competitive stage in the Taiping Rubber Plantation,

Hans Tholstrup in the Taiping Rubber Plantation

which was pretty confusing as none of the roads in the plantation had names, and the Malaysian Motor Sports Club had not mapped the turns, distances and locations very accurately.

I think we found our way through the maze by good luck and dead reckoning.

After that we arrived at the Palace of Perak, home of the Sultan of Perak, one of Malaysia's wealthiest sultans, and owner of the vast Taiping Plantation.

The Sultan and his 21 year old son were complete car buffs, and demanded that the MMSC set up a 'Control Point' in the palace grounds.

This did not fit with the rules, but who argues with the local potentate? So, the entire rally field had to be guided through the palace gates, and when the Sultan saw more than 70 vehicles crowding the lawns, the Sultan's staff moved to Plan B.

The Sultan's ADC invited a select few competitors to a guided tour of the palace and a small luncheon. 

Hans Tholstrup and I were invited because the Sultan thought our Mini Moke was; quote: "Quite cute. And you drove this all the way from London? Well done boys!"

The tour and luncheon only lasted 20 minutes, because the stop at the Palace wasn't included in the timing for the next two stages to Johor Bahru. Needless to say, we all had to drive like maniacs to make up time.

The Sultan's son at the time, Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah, is now the 35th Sultan of Perak, and as this official photo shows, he has done his bit for the royal line by producing a son and heir! But when we met him at 21 he already owned several BMW's and Porsches, and competed in amateur rallies.

It's amazing what you can get away with when you're a Prince!