Toyota Fortuner 5-speed auto review

When first introduced in 2012, the automatic version of the Fortuner got a four-speed transmission unlike most contemporaries. Five-speeders were considered entry-level while six-speed transmission was the norm. That said, the Fortuner’s four-speeder was up tothe job – it was fast-acting enough and a clever selection of ratios meant you never really missed a fifth gear. Now, to ensure it doesn’t get outdone by competition, Toyota has given a five-speed automatic transmission to the Fortuner.

Like before, the automatic isavailable only in rear-wheel-drive format. The new gearbox brings a set of more closely stacked ratios. It now has shorter first,second and third gears for better acceleration and throttle response, while the fourth and fifth gear are similar tothe top two gears on the old box.

However, this doesn’t translate into huge differences in outright acceleration – the five-speed is just 0.3sec faster to100kph than the four-speeder, and by 120kph they are pretty neck-and-neck. Even in the 20-80kph run, the newFortuner is only 0.5sec faster, and it’s actually slower than the old car in the 40-100kph run.

Where the extra ratio really makes a difference is in everyday driving – the Fortuner feels more eager and faster thanbefore and the jerky throttle response of the earlier ’box is replaced by a more linear one. The engine feels morerelaxed, while the gearbox shifts up early and keeps the motor at more comfortable engine speeds. This also helpsthe 3.0-litre 168bhp motor’s characteristics – past 3200rpm, the engine sounds rough and power tapers off, and sothese early upshifts are welcome. The auto transmission feels more eager to downshift too and gearshifts, thoughsmoother than before, engage with a slight jolt. The Rexton, for example, has more seamless gearshifts.

The rest of the car remains the same. The build quality on the inside is solid but fails still to make you feel like you’re in a premium SUV. Space is ample with comfortable first two rows. The third row, with its knees-up seating posture, is good only for short drives. Despite its tall and heavy stance, this SUV handles quite decently and there is loads of grip from the wide 265-section tyres. However, when it comes to ride comfort, this car is disappointing. The Fortuner feels lumpy, especially at low speeds,and though it gets better as you go faster, it never feels settled.

Pretty much the same car but with improved drivability and performance, the new Fortuner with a five-speed automatic gearbox, is a better buy than before for the expensive Rs 22.33 lakh price tag.

Peugeot 208 GTI first drive review

Peugeot re-enters the hot hatch fray with its 208 GTI, but does the firm still understand what those three letters mean?

What is it?

The final production version of the 208 GTI we drove last week. Spec-wise it comes out of the box much as the preview indicated: a lower, leaner, quicker version of Peugeot’s supermini – keen to trade on its legendary badge, but not particularly beholden to its spirit.

This is, as we expected, a softer and subtler brand of GTI. Peugeot may roll out the memory of the 205 for these occasions like a faltering NASA spokesman referencing the Apollo moon landings, but away from the advertising campaign it readily admits that this is a much more mature model than its landmark scamp – developed to fit the broader requirements of a likely older audience.

Consequently, unlike some demonically tweaked rivals, the 208 is only gently differentiated from its lesser siblings. Whether you like it or not will therefore depend on how much you appreciated the template. But for our money the GTI would need a deeper, far costlier graft than just a new grille to make its less-than-pretty nose genuinely appealing.

Nevertheless its tidy profile is picked out well enough by a skinny set of arches, side skirts, and a prominent rear spoiler. Add to that a questionable splatter of chrome-effect body trim and a raft of badges, and the 208 makes it to familiar hot hatch styling territory.

Beneath it all, swaddled in a rearranged set of ancillaries and close-fitting bodywork is the now customary four-cylinder 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine now running its higher 197bhp RCZ output. Around that Peugeot has installed the usual hot hatch accouterments: a reinforced front subframe compliments fatter struts, sports springs, tauter dampers and beefier anti-roll bars, while bigger brakes and revised steering settings help better control the show.

As well as adding, the GTI benefits from Peugeot’s earlier decision to subtract: the car is 165kg lighter than the lardy 207 GTI at 1160kg. Not featherlight then, but an improvement – especially considering that (again, in keeping with its acknowledged target audience) it’s decently equipped with 17-inch alloys, DAB radio, dual-zone air con and rear parking sensors all standard.

What is it like?

Mercifully, far better than its donor model suggested it would be. Recent memory of the standard 208’s tin-box clunkiness is swiftly expunged once settled inside. True, the GTI is afflicted with the same dislocated interior – instrument cluster half-hidden by the steering wheel, an afterthought of an infotainment screen, glossy dashboard facia looking anything but – yet the important things ring true: the gear knob is a fistful of indented metal; its steering wheel is baby-armed in girth but petite in diameter, and the sports seats cosset and cradle superbly.

Pity the soundtrack doesn’t quite fit the same billing. While sharing the engine, the 208 doesn’t get the RCZ’s trick exhaust, meaning there’s not much to embellish the four-pot’s rather characterless drone. Out and about though (inline with the aforementioned game plan) it’s an hospitable unit. The GTI doesn’t suffer from the 208’s driveline klutziness, even if there is some low-down hesitation, and with 0-62mph in 6.8 seconds, there’s guts enough on tap.

What there isn’t, is much in the way of fireworks. There’s a dependable rocket of 203ft lb of turbocharged torque from 1700rpm; admirable and potent, yes, but largely unwilling to deviate from its flat trajectory. Granted, our test car was very tight and forced to occasionally work at altitude, but revving it out was not addictive, frenzied fun – especially when the accompaniment is a restrained babel of whistle and whine.

The emphasis on flexibility over thrill is perceptible in the chassis, too. While stiffer springs have been fitted, the ride height has only descended by 8mm; give the steering wheel a quick jiggle and the 208 bobs merrily on its travel rather than instantly hunting for a change of direction. This leeway helps give the GTI a degree of leniency: fraught road edges are nibbled away somewhat, and on the low frequency disturbances of French surfacing, it actually rides rather well.

The obvious downside is a touch more lean when you start to tie it on. But – in a way that could be almost described as quintessentially Peugeot if so many years hadn’t passed between this car and the 306 GTI – it’s all neatly steadied before it becomes a real problem; and the 208 eases organically into its grip and line. The steering, it must be said, is a better rudder than it is guide – as we discovered in the prototype, the weighting is a wee bit wooden and isn’t capable of conveying much detail.

However, it’s not over unduly inhibited with torque steer, and its quickness (aided by the steering wheel’s dimensions) delivers enough nimbleness to keep you interested. From there the chassis takes up the reins: there’s balance and responsiveness here, and through medium fast bends, the appreciable sense that the car is pivoting at midships. Doubtless for some there won’t be enough susceptibility to wet ‘n’ wild mid corner throttle adjustments, but (in dry conditions) there’s sufficient rear-axle involvement to help trim the angle of attack.

Try harder and the 208 will cock a showboating back wheel in frowning concentration; pushing back earnestly until excess power cheerily smokes the inside front tyre. While the lack of a limited slip differential makes the latter inevitable (although the ESP has clearly been tuned to stay on top of foolhardy throttle inputs) there’s adequate traction beforehand to allow the GTI to flit through an apex in satisfying style.

Should I buy one?

Well, isn’t that the question of the moment. It’s rare that three newcomers to such a small niche all arrive at the same time, and clearly the scene is set for quite some group test later in the spring. We’ll save the real buying advice for then, but this first look at the 208 GTI does at least confirm a few things.

Most notably, much like its rivals from Renault and Ford, it is no barnstormer. That Peugeot has not returned to the raw freneticism of the 205 (spoiler alert: it never will) should not be greeted with much undue disappointment – it was, after all, predictable – but it does mean that the old Clio 200 Cup has no rightful successor.

Doubtless a further 100kg saving, zingier engine and stiffer chassis intent would have supplied a car closer to enthusiasts’ hearts but, this is, as it was meant to be, a congenial little hot hatch; easily bearable around town, usable on a commute and just enough of a giggle when the whim or right occasion arises.

Its manufacturer was once a master at balancing these attributes, and there’s enough here to suggest that the 208 GTI can enter the forthcoming fray with its head held high. For its patient fans, that revelation alone is worthy of celebration. Welcome back to the ring, Peugeot.

Price £18,895; 0-62mph 6.8sec; Top speed 143mph;Economy 47.9mpg; CO2 139g/km; Kerb weight 1160kg; Engine 4 cyls, 1598cc, turbocharged petrol; Power 197bhp@5800rpm; Torque 203lb ft@1700rpm; Gearbox Six-speed manual

Aston Martin Rapide S review

Aston Martin’s mission to bring us the most beautiful four-door in the world has hit second gear.

Four years into the life of this intriguing hybrid coupe-cum-saloon, what you might call a mid-cycle refreshed version has arrived. Except that theAston Martin Rapide S is a much more altered animal than those terms would imply.

There’s a whole new front-end structure here, a revised engine, a reinforced body, a reappraised chassis, a freshened-up cabin – as well as that thrusting new grille.

Here, then, is a chance for Gaydon to hit the reset button; to cast memories of the first Rapide’stroubled early years – of outsourced production, slow initial sales and punishing early residual values – to the dustbin of history. This car may not quite be all new, but rest assured, it’s much newer than it looks. Perhaps even more important, it’s a clean slate.

Aston’s claims for it are many. This car, they say, pushes the company’s four-door model through two specific performance watersheds: it takes less than 5.0sec to hit 60mph, and is capable of 190mph flat out. It has 17 per cent more power than its predecessor, and 10 per cent more torque at 2500rpm. It has a heavily revised chassis too, and offers as big a gain in refinement as it does on speed.

Is all that to be believed? You’re about to read the only verdict that matters.

All three of design, chassis and interior of the Rapide have all been tweaked in a similar manner for this mid-life revision. The design still utterly recognisable as Aston Martin’s five-metre long four-door car, but there have been subtle tweaks throughout.

On the outside, the most obvious is of course the new grille, which is bigger and, Aston Martin says “more assertive” than before. Our survey said: it’s more Ford Fiesta-like, but we suspect Fiesta will gain from the association of “an Aston grille” and the Rapide will lose not out at all. Overall there are seven new body panels, including a new bonnet (see under the skin), bumper and front wings, surrounding that new grille and new headlights, but you’d be hard pushed to spot all the differences because the proportions are largely unchanged – and the Rapide is none the worse for it.

Beneath the aluminium exterior panelling it’s a similar story. The VH extruded and bonded aluminium architecture has been changed just a little to ensure that the engine sits lower in the chassis, but broadly you’re looking at the same hardware that underpinned the car when it arrived in 2010.

Not that that’s necessarily a terrible thing, either: it’s difficult for Aston to communicate changes because people ostensibly see the same thing every time they revisit the product, but beneath the undeniably attractive aluminium skin a myriad of small changes have been effected over the years to reduce, say, steering kickback and increase torsional rigidity. It’s not unlike the way the aerospace industry improves its products, in that respect. It seems to us though that it just doesn’t quite sit with how people perceive cars.

Take the drivetrain, for example: ostensibly recognisable from before, with a naturally-aspirated, 6.0-litre V12 mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, but it now makes rather a lot more power than it did previously: from 470bhp, which we mooted at the time could have used being a little higher, it has increased to a very solid 550bhp, a 17 per cent increase and more than you’ll find in a DB9. Just short of the output of a Vanquish, in fact.

At more than five metres long, the Aston Martin Rapide S is not a small car. But the logistics of arranging a V12 engine low under the hood, with a cabin behind it and an aluminium structure that needs to be stiff because the shapely bodywork on top is disinclined to help with the torsional rigidity, mean that something’s gotta give. And in this example, it’s interior volume.

There’s ‘nowt wrong with space in the front of the Aston, mind. The seat is lower and the sill wider than is typical on luxury cars but we’ll forgive that. Likewise the transmission tunnel is tall and the windowline high. Nope, our complaints about the front-cabin of the Aston are the same as usual: patchy ergonomics on the centre console and a set of dials that, while attractive, are similarly unfriendly to the senses.

Still, the leather is beautifully stitched and presented, and the piano black perfectly shiny and deftly fitted.

It’s in the rear where the Aston’sstructure gives it the most compromise. The pair of rear chairs – that transmission tunnel and a totally separate ventilation system for rear passengers prevents are triumvirate of rear seats – are small under thigh, and sited low; though are comfortable for kids or smallish adults.

A six foot passenger behind a similarly sized driver is a struggle, though. You’d cope for an airport run or back from a meeting a short hop away, but if you’re looking for the accommodation of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, or even a Porsche Panamera, you can forget it.

The boot is small if you examine the raw numbers (317-886 litres), and the hatch’s opening fairly narrow. But because the rear seats fold (and can be, optionally, covered when they do) the Rapide is a surprisingly useful load carrier.

Because our test took place in cold conditions, Aston opted to provide a Rapide on winter tyres. That inevitably makes for a penalty against our timing gear, but in spite of that, you can still see the improvement in performance that Aston has made to this car in the numbers we witnessed.

Truth is, we already know this is a sub-5.0sec car to 60mph. Our 2009 test, in a 470bhp Rapide on Bridgestone Potenza warm weather covers, recorded the sprint in 4.9sec. The new Rapide S, shorn much less appropriately for standing start acceleration, takes 5.3sec over the same pitch.

With two tonnes to get moving and 550bhp to put down, the surprising thing is actually how well those winter tyres cope; they’ll allow you to use most available power in 1st gear, and all of it once you hit 2nd.

Despite its considerably poorer traction, the new car was only one tenth of a second slower than old to 100mph. It was the faster car of the two to 120mph, and was a full 3.3sec quicker to 150mph – at which point the end of MIRA’s mile straights called a halt to any further comparison.

A Porsche Panamera Turbo will just nudge through 160mph on the same straights; even with the right tyres, we doubt the Aston could have done that. The current BMW M5 is quicker still, and might have hit 170mph there were it not for the speed limiter. So the Rapide can’t be considered the four-door performance king. But the car’s outright pace still feels mighty, and so it should. Bentley’s new Continental GTC V8, for example, took a second longer to hit the big 1-5-0.

Speed, however, is only as half the story in this wonderfully traditional-feeling long-nosed GT. It’s equally matched by an orchestral V12 soundtrack, and accompanied by luxurious, full-cream mechanical refinement.

Shifts of that ZF automatic gearbox may not be whipcrack fast, but they’re perfectly smooth. Aston’s engine insulation allows just enough warble and whine into the cabin to make the car seem expensive and eccentric, but not a hint too much. It’s a wonderful combination – and an increasingly distinguishing one in a market where old-school mechanical richness is routinely sacrificed on the altar of ever–greater efficiency.

The Rapide’s steering, which uses a hydraulic rack, offers excellent feel and accuracy. This helps to mark the Aston aside from the vast majority of luxury cars.

A Porsche Panamera’s rack is heavier in feel perhaps, but doesn’t contain such linear, predictable response, while you can forget any of the rest as a comparison: “The Rapide remains a sports car at heart”, Aston told us, and when it comes to the way it steers, we know what they mean.

Its ride isn’t too far removed from that of most luxury cars, though. There are now three, rather than two, stages to the adaptive damping system, but the standard, softest setting is fine in virtually all conditions. It keeps respectably tight check of body movements but also rounds the worst bumps away.

Again, it’s a price to pay for the excellent inherent balance that the Aston’s chassis possesses. No other five-metre long car flows in the way it does, composed and controlled and with well-honed damping and steering.

The control weights are all absolutely spot on, too, which all goes to make the Aston Martin Rapide S a particularly easy and rewarding car to drive at any speeds.

Aston’s decision not to increase the asking price of this five-metre grand tourer, having refined and improved so much about it, comes as a veiled admission that the last car didn’t quite do enough to justify its substantial price tag.

Within the current Aston range, this Rapide works a lot harder to attract your custom. It’s closer-priced to the DB9 than it used to be, and yet in terms of peak power, it offers damn near as much as the Vanquish.

As such, whether you need the extra two doors or not, you have to admit that, on paper, there’s much more going for this middle-sitting Aston than there used to be – and the secondhand market should judge it less harshly as a result.

This is still a big Aston, of course. Just as with any of Gaydon’s V12s, customers will have to be prepared for steeper depreciation than they’d find on some £150k exotics. You’ll have to be prepared to pay £465 a year for your tax disc as well.

You’ll have to get used to a sub-20mpg economy return too. Our 18.6mpg test average is commendably close to Aston’s 19.9mpg claim for the car though, and a full one-to-the-gallon better than we got from the last Rapide. For a car like this, it’s actually pretty decent.

Despite the revisions to this car, what’s good about the Aston Rapide S in 2013 are the very things that made it good in 2010.

So we like the design, the drive and the feeling that it is built with care. And the things that irritated us then are still its shortcomings today – its rear volume, some road noise and the fiddly interior.

Things have changed, then, but they’ve also stayed the same. Somebody should write a cliché about that. Perhaps in French.

That being the case, our verdict now is much as it was three years ago: if you are able to cope with its accommodation limitations, you’ll love it the Aston Martin Rapide S. It’s a beautifully styled and brilliantly accomplished four-door GT.