Car Design

Today, I feel it is time to talk a little bit more about design of cars. This is very relevant considering that the person who I respect most in the whole industry, Chris Bangle, has decided to jump ship for horizons new. This was the man who made me realise that normal cars could be works of art as much as any  Ferrari or Lamborghini is. He is of course, the head designer of BMW. Or he was, until a couple of weeks ago.

But before we delve into the genius of Bangle, lets look at what makes a great car design. To really visualise what I view a great car design to be, you have to think of the iPod. Yes, I know it's not a car, but every designer strives to make function as pure and simple as possible. That's what Jonathan Ive achieved when he designed the iPod. I want to achieve that same design feat with cars, but going about designing such a car is easier said than done.

Every car manufacturer has their own little quirks that set them apart form other manufacturers. Citroen has two chevrons that integrate into the grille design, whilst alfa romeo has the shield front that stands proudly from front of the car, and it is these influences to that pose a problem to the ultimate design of a car. Because the ultimate design of a car would not have these funny fripperies which would spoil the lines of the car.

Designing a car with no immediate tell tale  designs would of course be mad, because whatever company to try and sell it to, they would say, where's the thing that makes it unique to my brand. So, designers have to work with these constraints, so, as you can see, achieving perfect form and function is harder than it looks.

Which is where Chris Bangle steps in. Working with the two kidney grill design that is such a stalwart of BMW style, he managed to sculpt a design using his ground breaking flame surface style to create one of the most important cars of the 21st century, the utterly gorgeous 7 series (runs away from the barrage of angry comments). He moved on to restyle the rest of the BMW range, including the prettiest car for under £30k, the BMW Z4. Most importantly however, Bangle's ethos has always been about form and functionality. His 3 series design produces  a drag of 0.26 cD, which is phenomenally low for a saloon.

But alas, Bangle has gone from the automotive industry in order to persue different interests. Why, I do not know, but he will be sorely missed. Adrian van Hooydonk, you have high expectations on your shoulders now.

Roman

Engine + Turbo = Fun Fun Fun

After ten years of doom and gloom the 1.4 T-jet engine has put the Fun back in FIAT. The Bravo is to Fiat what the Focus is to Ford; an all round family car. Its wonderfully curvaceous rear adds elegance to your everyday traffic. Fiat have really worked hard making the diesel and small petrol engines in their range really environmentally friendly, which is nice but the thing everyone secretly craves is power. The best model is obviously the fastest and most powerful - the 1.4 T-Jet 150 sport. The science behind it shows that emissions can be cut by using smaller turbocharged instead of big heavy petrol drinking V6 engines.

The only downside is the engine name "T-Jet", the T stands for Turbocharged, which I feel Fiat are ashamed of. Iconic turbos include the Porsche 911, the Renault 5 Turbo, the Bentley Turbo and various Saab Turbo models. In the eighties and nineties car companies fitted turbochargers to all sorts of vehicles, it gave them huge amounts of power and made them go like feces off a shovel. At the time the word turbo turned into a household brand which subsequently lead to the overuse of the term; things like turbo whisks, and turbo irons and turbo blenders started to appear in every house. Alas, nowadays it is no longer acceptable to associate cars with their gas guzzling sports turbocharged ancestors. The car industry has prevented any association with the word turbo by disguising it as a T, but don't tell a soul - it might cause a drop in car sales.

Back to the Bravo, if you look very carefully you notice the subtle sporty features which include 17" alloys as standard (unlike like Roman's BMW 3 series), twin exhaust pipes and beautiful black leather with red stitched sport seats (a must have extra). Inside it has bluetooth handsfree, and a USB port for data communication between your stereo and your digital media device. The main bad point is the lack of leg room in the back; I suffer from the well known Italian shortness syndrome, but I didn't realise Fiat's target market are passengers who no longer require the usage of their legs (which can be easily removed if you move the front seats far back enough whilst the passengers sit in the rear). 

All of that aside, the best thing about the Bravo 1.4 T-jet is is the SPORT button: its the closed thing you'll get to maximum warp on the school run. You simply touch the throttle and after the short calm before the storm*, the steering becomes harder and you are propelled into what seems another dimension. Maybe that was a touch on the enthusiastic side but it does make a boring car journey to the shops seem really fun. If you don't have a family or just don't like the look of the Fiat bravo, more powerful, suped up versions of the 1.4 T-jet are available in the Abarth 500 SS and Alfa Romeo Mi.To.

Stars: 6

*The geeks among you will understand that this momentary pause is called turbo lag, which isn't supposed to be a good thing but its not a Nissan GTR so who cares.

Franco

Snow means.......

Rally driving! Well you you need a few things before you do attempt to recreate your own Rally of Finland in along your local snow ridden A roads. Only do this if you have all of the following items:

• A Finnish man
• A snowed over road with corners
• An rally car such as the Escort Mk 1:

Happy snow day

From Franco and Roman