Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi 140PS 6sp Ghia March 7, 2008
Posted by carcritic in Uncategorized.Tags: car reviews, cars, cool cars, latest cars, new cars, people carriers, uk
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Model tested: Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi 140PS 6sp Ghia
Price as tested: £23,995
Range price: £19,495 – £24,995
Insurance group as tested: 11
Insurance group range: 10 – 11
Date tested: January 2008
Road tester: Stuart MilneAuto Trader Ten Point Test rating: 85%
The Ford Galaxy has been one of the most popular seven seaters on the road since its launch in 1995. It brought seven-seat practicality to the masses, and thanks to frequent updates, is still loved today.
This, the second generation Galaxy (the first major revision was a far-reaching facelift) spawned a sporty brother, the Ford S-Max. That car might grab the headlines for its ‘daddy-cool’ image, but the Galaxy is the more practical sibling.
The Ford Galaxy looks like a big car from the outside, but has an immediate consistent look with the smaller, Focus-based C-Max and sporty S-Max. Its front is as sleek as Ford’s other MPVs and its rear lights give a nod to the Mondeo saloon. It looks as through the Galaxy will be huge inside, with its boxy rear three-quarters maximising interior room.
8/10
The Galaxy is built alongside Ford’s Mondeo saloon and S-Max sporty MPV, with all three models sharing the same dashboard. It’s well designed and has a genuine premium feel, worthy of a badge from the most highly regarded German manufacturers. The red trip computer is reminiscent of those installed into VW and Audi vehicles. A u-shaped handbrake which lifts vertically is a nice touch in a centre console which sweeps between the two front seats. The view from the second row of seats is equally pleasant, with a table to occupy the outermost two passengers. The third row of seats lifts out of the floor. Our test car was fitted with optional £1,500 leather upholstery, which although costly, oozed quality. This is the MPV to show its rivals the way when it comes to interior style.
10/10
Seven seats might steal the headlines, but it’s the amount of storage space in the cabin which really impresses. A row of cubbyholes running along the centre of the roof provide front and second row seat passengers access to oddments, while on the range-topping Ghia model, these stretch almost the full length of the car. There’s yet more storage on top of the dash, in the centre console and doors and even in the passenger-side armrest on the third row of seats. Unlike the original Ford Galaxy, which required seats to be removed to expand interior space, the latest model’s fold into the floor – although not completely flat like the Vauxhall Zafira. Boot space grows from 367 to 2,095 litres depending on the number of seats folded.
The third row lacks the ‘one-touch tumble’ offered by some other rivals, with the seat base and backs having to move separately. While not requiring the same level of manhandling to remove the seats as the original model did, it is still hard work.
9/10
The Galaxy shares many major components with the excellent Mondeo saloon, so inherits a good chassis. There’s less bodyroll than you’d expect, and the steering offers a good level of feedback. Our test car was fitted with the optional IVDC with Continuously Controlled Damping, which is a clever piece of kit that adjusts the firmness of the suspension through three settings, and changes the damping every 0.2 seconds for an optimum ride. Even on ‘Sport’ mode, the ride was good, but ‘Comfort’ felt a little bouncy at speed. ‘Normal’ was an excellent compromise.
8/10
Ford offers six engine choices: 2- and 2.3-litre petrol, and a choice of two 1.8-litre and two 2-litre diesels. The petrols offer some of the best performance, with 0-62mph times of 10.7 and 11.1 seconds and top speeds of 121mph and 118mph respectively. Oddly, the larger 2.3-litre engine is the slower of the two.
The diesels will make up the bulk of sales. The 1.8-litre comes in 100bhp and 125bhp flavours, and the latter is also available with a six-speed manual gearbox which marginally improves performance. Headline figures for these are 0-62 in 13.8 or 11.4 seconds (11.2 for the six-speeder) and top speeds of 106, 114 and 116mph. The 2-litres come in 128bhp and 138bhp guises offering 0-62mph in 11.8 and 9.9 seconds and top speeds of 116 and 120mph. The later, the high-power 2-litre diesel is the fastest, and as our test car pulled well in any of its six gears.
8/10
Starting at almost £20,000, there area cheaper seven-seaters on the market. And what the car will be worth after three years/36,000 miles depends on which model is chosen. The 1.8 TDCi 100 LX retains an impressive 51 per cent of its value, while the 2-litre petrol in Zetec and Ghia trim keep just 43 per cent.
Ford says the diesels offer average fuel consumption figures from 38.1mpg (2-litre 128bhp) to 53.3mpg for the 1.8-litre models. That’s good for a car with seven seats, making the emissions per occupant competitive. Insurance groups of 10 and 11 are average for this class of vehicle, and CO2 emissions ranging from 166 to 197g/km place the cars in tax bands E and F, costing £165 and £205 respectively.
8/10
This incarnation of the Ford Galaxy hasn’t been around long enough for many common problems to emerge. It feels like a premium product, and vastly improved over Fords of old.
8/10
The Ford Galaxy scored a full five stars in the EuroNCAP crash test programme, and offers the full range of airbags, including driver, passenger, front side, 2nd and 3rd row side curtain and driver’s knee ‘bags. Additionally, all seats have full three-point seatbelts and a collapsible steering column. A deactivation switch for the front passenger airbag is a dealer-fit option.
10/10
There are three models in the Ford Galaxy range; LX, Zetec and Ghia. The LX features air-con, heated electric wing mirrors, electric front windows, electronic stability programme and a heated front windscreen. The Zetec adds 16-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, electric height adjustment for the driver’s seat, electric front and rear windows, front and rear park sensors and a child observation mirror in front of the main rear view mirror.
The range-topping Ghia adds indicators and ‘puddle lamps’ in the wing mirrors, a Sony CD player, automatic headlights and rain sensing wipers, auto-dimming rear view mirror, cruise control and the full-length overhead storage bins.
8/10
It’s the MPV which feels like a quality saloon car with massive levels of storage space. There’s little to rival it for everyday usability for large families.
8/10
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X March 5, 2008
Posted by carcritic in Uncategorized.Tags: cars, evo, lance, mitsubishi, new cars, rally cars
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SpecificationsModel tested: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR FQ-300 SST, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR FQ-330
Price as tested: £31,999, £32,999
Range price: £27,499 – £37,999
Insurance group as tested: 19A, 20A
Insurance group range: 19A – 20A
EuroNCAP result: TBC
Date & place tested: Prodrive, Kenilworth, Warwickshire
Road tester: Stuart Milne
The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series – or Evo as it’s more commonly known – has been in production and relatively unchanged since it launched back in 1992.
The ‘Evo I’ as it became known was the successor to the rally-winning Lancer 1600 GSR and the Lancer Turbo. In 1992 the Evo badge was born and the car, although undergoing a staggering nine revisions, retained the same basic architecture, albeit with more technology and power crammed in each time.
For 2008, Mitsubishi has launched this, the Evolution X (pronounced ten), and is only the second all-new Evo.
Based on the standard Lancer, as all Evos have been, the Evo X moves the format up a gear.
It still has the ability to conquer all road surfaces with frightening ability, but is more refined and comfortable, and Mitsubishi hopes as well as stealing sales from the new Subaru Impreza WRX and STi models, it could attract buyers normally tempted by BMW M3s and Audi RS4s.
Mitsubishi invited us to the test track operated by Aston Martin and motorsport specialists Prodrive to put the new car through its paces.
Sadly, the car is so new, Mitsubishi was unable to have the new cars put through the test procedure required for low-volume models, so we couldn’t sample the Evo’s talent on the road.
But we were able put the Evo through more extreme paces in the safe environment of the famous facility, including two skid pans, a high-speed circuit and a winding tarmac rally stage.
That’s more than enough to predict its abilities on the public road – and if evaluating the Evo X on a track was good enough for Mitsubishi, its good enough for us.
Three engines and two gearboxes
Like previous versions of the Lancer Evo, the Evo X has a choice of engines – all extremely powerful. The new car produces 290bhp, 324bhp or 354bhp depending on whether the FQ-300, FQ-330 or FQ-360 is specified.
The Evo X is devastatingly fast in all three guises, with the 300, 330 and 360 versions despatching the requisite 0-62mph dash in 4.7, 4.4 or 4.1 seconds respectively – slightly slower than the Evo IV. All models are limited to 155mph.
But for the first time, Mitsubishi has offered the Evo with an automatic gearbox on the FQ-300 version. The twin clutch SST (Sport Shift Transmission) is a fast shifting automated manual which features three modes, each changing the gearbox’s characteristics.
Select Normal, and the jerkiness between changes is reduced, making it ideal for driving around town. Mitsubishi also claims fuel consumption is improved by more than 10 per cent in this mode over traditional auto ‘boxes. The Sport mode shifts gears faster and higher up the rev range, and a Mitsubishi insider claims using this could improve B-road pace by around 20mph.
The third system is Super Sport mode, indicated on the dash by an S-Sport logo. Mitsubishi stresses this is not recommended for use on public roads, and to avoid accidental activation, the car must be stationary and the toggle switch operated for more than five seconds.
Super Sport means the driver has to hit maximum RPM – or the redline – before the car will shift gears to wring every last drop of power from the engine.
Naturally, gears can be shifted manually using the steering wheel-mounted levers or by pulling the gearstick back and forth, Touring Car style.
A conventional five-speed manual gearbox is also offered in all three versions, which unusually does without a dedicated reverse gear. In order to save weight, backwards motion is dealt with by the gearbox engaging first and third with an additional gear separate from the rest of the cogs.
On the track, the SST is very effective, shifting gears at the optimum time to allow the driver to concentrate on finding the best lines through the bends. Its one of the few gearboxes we’ve tested to make more sense at high speeds than a manual.
Gripping stuff
The Evo X is also equipped with a host of rally-derived technology to improve its fearsome traction.
It features the latest generation of Mitsubishi’s Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC), which it has fitted to its World Rally and Paris-Dakar competition cars. The Japanese giant says it’s the best incarnation yet, and certainly produces an enormous amount of grip.
To illustrate this, we took the Evo X FQ-330 on two skid pans, developed to simulate driving on black ice and sheet ice. With the system activated, and with instructions to try and unsettle the car with heavy acceleration and steering, the Evo X snakes a little, but seems determined to head straight on.
And to underline the point of just how slippery this surface was, coming off the end of the course in a slide caused the tyres to grip the standard tarmac and painfully jolt the occupants from side to side.
With the systems off, the car still hung on surprisingly well, given the low-grip surfaces, but it was possible to spin the car easily.
This is all thanks to a package of features which incorporates an active centre differential (ACD), which splits the spread of power between the front and rear depending on which has most grip, and active yaw control (AYC). This limits yaw (side to side) movement by controlling the power which is sent to each rear wheel. It also features active stability control (ASC) and Sport ABS)
The entire S-AWC system can cycle through three modes, depending on the road surface: tarmac, gravel and snow.
On the track we found the system to work seamlessly, allowing a fair amount of understeer in the entrance to bends (when the car wants to plough on ahead under hard cornering) and oversteer (where the back of the car wants to slide out on the exit of a bend) before the system cuts in.
One particularly fast right-hander allowed the car to drift around before the next fast left-hander.
But with the traction control off, it’s even more fun – although not recommended on the public road.
And the Evo’s Brembo brakes were more than up to the job of hauling in all that speed, and remained as potent on the last lap of our test as the first. Very impressive, as was the Evo’s precise and well-weighted steering.
Refined
But where previous generations of the Lancer Evo have been hard riding, loud machines, the Evo X suspension is firm but pliant, and never became uncomfortable on our multi-surfaced track test. That’s thanks to a combination of Eibach springs and Bilstein shock absorbers – both names to whet the appetite of any performance junky.
And while the old models had Max Power-style drainpipe exhausts which barked and howled on the move, the Evo X is surprisingly quiet – but not so you can’t hear what 300-odd bhp sounds like.
It looks more civilised too and Mitsubishi has reigned in the temptation to fit outrageous wings and vents.
It’s a nicer car to sit in. It has more cabin space than the previous generation – and more than many of its rivals too. Large areas of grey and black plastics still remain, but it’s more stylish than ever.
There’s enough head and leg room for tall occupants, and a good amount of storage space goes some way to compensate for the small boot. Its considerably smaller than the standard Lancer thanks to the engines extra ancillaries like the turbo forcing Mitsubishi engineers to stow the battery and windscreen washer bottle in the boot. And the rear seats won’t fold like they will in the standard car either.
The boot on one of our test cars was partially filled with was the business end of a thumping 650W audio system – a 10-inch subwoofer.
Its part of the package which comes as standard with the high-spec GSR model. The Rockford Fosgate-developed HDD system also includes a 30GB harddrive to store around 1,500 audio tracks, satellite navigation and nine speakers in seven positions.
Standard equipment on the GS model – the entry-level Evo X – includes 18-inch Enkei alloy wheels, Brembo brakes, comfortable and supportive Recaro front seats, Bluetooth, automatic headlights and mirrors and electric windows.
It also features a category 1-approved alarm and immobiliser – essential for combating the legion of Evo-loving joyriders – and a tracking system, which comes with 12 month’s free subscription.
Step up to the GSR model – for an additional £2,000 – and you’ll a host of extras, but most will pick it for that ear-shredding audio system.
Like the previous model, the Evo X can be specified with a package of tuning bits from Japanese performance specialists HKS.
Easier to own
Mitsubishi has tried to make Evo ownership less painless with the Mitsubishi Service Plan – a three year servicing package
which, at £400 is around the price of a single service. Unsurprisingly, take up is around 98 per cent on vehicles the scheme is already offered on.
For the first time an Evo falls to group 19 insurance; the FQ-300 is still costly, but less than the group 20 models which make up the rest of the range. But servicing is still a frequent 10,000 miles or 12 months.
The biggest problem the Lancer Evolution X faces is the much cheaper Subaru Impreza – an age-old battle.
Which car will win? Only time will tell. But the new, more expensive Evolution has already sold out until May.
CAR Critic 