Benang Cropley pada kereta: kebahagiaan daripada ' seimbang ' kawalan

Kami memandu melalui trafik luar london biasa, di jalan-jalan london yang berminyak dan bergegas keluar London, dengan MG meneruskan dalam kereta cara yang kemas pantas sentiasa dilakukan apabila anda suka mereka, dan sangat akrab dengan cara mereka bekerja.
Apa yang membuatkan 6 istimewa itu, saya memutuskan, adalah usaha kawalan yang manis seimbang. Tiada seorang pun daripada pemandu Big Three - stereng, gearchange dan tindak balas pendikit - adalah kelas-terkemuka dalam haknya sendiri, tetapi kombo itu teladan. Mengimbangi usaha kawalan bukanlah perkara baru. Selagi tahun 1920-an kebijaksanaan pemerintah adalah bahawa lebih banyak prestasi kereta mempunyai, lebih banyak kekuatan pemandu yang diperlukan untuk membuat ia pergi.
Yang membawa generasi postwar kereta sukan berangan berbulu - Triumph TRs dan Healeys - dan bahkan hari ini beberapa kereta, biasanya Jerman, mempunyai kawalan yang kelihatan lebih kuat dan kurang dipadankan dengan baik daripada yang mereka boleh, dalam mengejar kesukanan. Lotuss Colin Chapman adalah antara yang pertama membatalkan kelajuan memerlukan falsafah kekuatan dengan cara yang diselaraskan. Dari awal keretanya ringan dan mudah beroperasi. Penggantungan Asal Lotus Elans berani supple apabila yang lain tidak perlu kaku.
Tetapi langkah untuk benar penyelarasan datang pada tahun 1970-an apabila Chapman & Co melancarkan Esprit skrin rata dan Elite generasi baru. Apabila anda mencelupkan klac anda mempunyai idea yang cukup baik apa yang ia suka untuk menggerakkan gearlever. Saya memiliki Excel, sebuah kereta yang tidak biasa manis dalam perjalanan panjang walaupun terhadap Porsche 944 kebanyakan pembeli dalam kelas memilih.
Pada zaman moden, semua pembuat kereta telah memeluk idea. Jac Nasser, Fords keju terbesar tahun 90-an, bercakap banyak tentang jabat tangan, perhatikan bahawa membuka pintu Ford harus menjanjikan pemanduan yang menyeronokkan dalam beberapa minit masa.
Peugeot
Pada satu masa, penguji jalan raya banyak bercakap tentang ciri-ciri kebangsaan kereta (penggantungan lembut dan kawalan lucu untuk model Perancis; enjin teratas dan brio untuk Itali) tetapi barangan itu telah diselaraskan daripada kewujudan.
Land Rover Jaguar
Isnin - Seorang rakan sekerja dipanggil hari ini untuk melakukan sedikit perniagaan. Memandu Jalan Pintar 2002 - seperti Gordon Murray, seperti butang Jenson. Menurut kawan saya, harga telah berada di atas lantai tetapi mula bertukar ke atas kerana ini anggap, roadsters enjin belakang kecil yang kurang berfungsi menangkap mata orang-orang yang tahu kereta mereka.
Kisah Butang (terkenal dengan pemilik sedia ada) adalah bahawa bintang McLaren mempunyai Bugatti Veyron, tetapi bertukar untuk Pintar selepas dia menjadi sakit bil penyelenggaraan Bug. Dan kerana dia hanya menyukai Smart.
Anda tidak melihat banyak Roadsters kira-kira - dengan bantuan senarai pilihan yang anda boleh menghabiskan hampir 20k pada satu, jadi mereka tidak betul-betul berjalan keluar dari bilik pameran - jadi anda lupa bagaimana comel dan ruang yang cekap mereka. Tetapi jika pengalaman kawan-kawan saya adalah apa-apa untuk dilalui, mereka pasti akan digunakan. Dia melakukan 90,000 batu tanpa begitu banyak sebagai sedut asap minyak.
Kotak gear seolah-olah kalis peluru (saya menubuhkan ini sendiri, tahun yang lalu, dengan Coupe) dan jika anda ingat bahawa Roadster mempunyai casis tergalvani dan badan plastik anda dapat melihat mengapa kereta moden ini boleh dijangka untuk menjalani jangka hayat penuh, bukannya berkarat jauh sebelum kerja enjin pertama, seperti yang dilakukan begitu banyak Spridgets dan Triumph Spitfires yang sedikit Jerman dua tempat duduk
Mengambil mengintip dalam Peniaga Auto dan dengan cepat ditubuhkan bahawa anda boleh membeli Roadster selama lebih dari 2000, dan mencari Brabus yang sihat untuk 4500 atau lebih. Model lewat terbaik dunia Brabus akan menetapkan anda kembali 7000 - sebelum hagging bermula – dan itu dengan hanya 22,000 batu pada jam. Sebelum pal saya telah dipandu dari tempat letak kereta kami, saya telah diambil alih oleh yang biasa gotta-have-one tergesa-gesa, terutamanya selepas dia memberitahu saya pelbagai pembaikan telah lama sejak tersedia untuk gearchange lucu dan stereng kuasa yang terlebih ringan (anda pergi untuk manual).
Semata-mata cant percaya kereta kecil utama itu akan kekal begitu berpatutan lebih lama - sebenarnya, Im menghadapi masalah memahami mengapa Smart sepatutnya membunuh mereka di tempat pertama.

Many manufacturers seemingly get control weights wrong these days, but MG Motor isn't one of them Tuesday – Driving home in the Autocar MG 6 diesel last night, radio off, just enjoying the car, I fell to wondering why this ordinary machine, too-hastily rejected by most of the market, seemed so damned pleasant to operate.
We were driving through ordinary outer London traffic, on greasy and rutted outer London roads, with the MG proceeding in that neatly brisk way cars always do when you like them, and are perfectly familiar with the way they work.
What made the 6 special, I decided, was its sweetly balanced control efforts. None of the drivers Big Three — steering, gearchange and throttle response — was class-leading in its own right, but the combo was exemplary. Balancing control efforts is hardly new. As long ago as the 1920s the ruling wisdom was that the more performance a car had, the more strength a driver needed to make it go.
That bred a postwar generation of hairy chested sports cars — Triumph TRs and Healeys — and even today some cars, usually German, have controls that seem coarser and less well matched than they could be, in pursuit of sportiness. Lotuss Colin Chapman was among the first to overturn the speed needs strength philosophy in a co-ordinated way. From the beginning his cars were light and easy to operate. The original Lotus Elans suspension was daringly supple when others were unnecessarily stiff.
But the move to true co-ordination came in the 1970s when Chapman & Co launched the flat-screen Esprit and the new generation Elite. When you dipped the clutch you had a pretty good idea what itd be like to move the gearlever. I owned an Excel, an uncommonly sweet car on long journeys even against the Porsche 944 most buyers in the class chose.
In modern times, all car-makers have embraced the idea. Jac Nasser, Fords biggest cheese of the 90s, talked a lot about the handshake, the notion that opening a Ford door should promise enjoyable driving in a couple of minutes time.
Many now make the same claim, but the best still stand out. The common miss nowadays is with gearchange quality. Even the near-perfect Ford Fiesta ST has a gritty, rather unsophisticated gearlever action, and the reduced wheel-winding needed by latest-generation Peugeot 208s and 308s makes the long throws of their manual gearboxes seem distinctly odd.
At one time, road testers talked a lot about the national characteristics of cars (soft suspensions and funny controls for French models; top-endy engines and brio for Italians) but that stuff has been internationised out of existence.
For British cars, only one important dynamic characteristic survives: carefully balanced control efforts. Feel it in an Aston, Land Rover, Lotus, Jaguar — or MG6 — and be proud.
Monday – A colleague called today to do a bit of business. Drives a 2002 Smart Roadster – as does Gordon Murray, as does Jenson Button. According to my friend, prices have been on the floor but are starting to turn upwards as these quirky, underpriced little rear-engined roadsters catch the eye of people who know their cars.
The Button Tale (well known to existing owners) is that the McLaren star did have a Bugatti Veyron, but swapped it for the Smart after he became sick of the Bug maintenance bills. And because he simply liked the Smart.
You dont see many of the Roadsters about – with the help of the options list you could spend nearly 20k on one, so they didnt exactly walk out of the showroom — so you forget how cute and space efficient they are. But if my friends experience is anything to go by, they certainly get used. Hes done 90,000 miles without so much as a puff of oil smoke.
The gearboxes seem bulletproof (I established this myself, years ago, with a Coupe) and if you remember that the Roadster has a galvanised chassis and a plastic body you can see why this modern car can be expected to live a full-life span, rather than rusting away before the first engine job, as did so many of the Spridgets and Triumph Spitfires that were the little German two-seaters ancestors 30 years ago.
Took a peep in Auto Trader and rapidly established that you can buy a Roadster for just over 2000, and find a healthy Brabus for 4500 or so. The worlds best late model Brabus will set you back 7000 – before the haggling starts – and thats with just 22,000 miles on the clock. Before my pal had driven out of our car park I was overtaken by that familiar gotta-have-one rush, especially after he told me various fixes had long since become available for the funny gearchange and the over-light power steering (you go for a manual).
Simply cant believe such prime little cars will stay so affordable much longer – in fact, Im having trouble understanding why Smart should have killed them in the first place.