Letter of the month
LAND ROVER’S LEGACY + C63 BOOT + LE MANS LEGENDS
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Touch of class
Gavin Green has been a stalwart of CAR as long as I have been reading, 37 years and counting. Always a beacon of great writing and common sense.
His August column is probably up there with the best. ‘Major controls – including heating and ventilation, headlights, audio controls and haz-ards – should all have physical but-tons.’ Nuff said.
Car manufacturers, please listen long and hard. Gavin is correct.
An ode to the turbodiesel
As portrayed by Christian Bale in the film Le Mans 66, Ken Miles said: ‘There’s a point at 7000rpm where everything fades.’ Not being experi-enced in the ways of the Ford GT40 – in fact I’ve never seen one in the flesh – I’m of the opinion that everything fades at a much lower rpm.
If, like me, you grew up as a pas-senger in a 54-plate VW Touran, you’ll agree that everything fades at about 1200rpm to the bassy thrum of a 1.9-litre TDI.
The move to electrification has led many to mourn the loss of the sound of Bizzarini V12s and high-revving Maranello V8s, but the real loss is a beat so slow you could tap your feet along to the 1-3-4-2 firing order. The old faithful TDI has been clouded in emissions scandals, but the subtle thrum of a turbodiesel is the soundtrack of our childhoods. If you ever can’t sleep, just bring to mind the sound of a 1.9 in sixth on the M4.
In the age of lithium-ion batteries and two-tonne hybrids I will miss the subtle beat of VW’s loyal and lov-able creation.
Never surrender
Heading off on holiday I thought I would buy myself your July issue fea-turing the new C63. By about page 35 I realised I was to be disappointed as boring EV after EV was featured. The saving grace was the DB12, a proper car in CAR magazine!
For true petrolheads it is all about the drivetrain. When I go home I will take my manual Aston Martin Van-tage N430 out
