Peugeot and Renault are in a race to get their new convertibles out before the full chill of autumn, but they needn’t worry too much. Both the Peugeot 307CC and the Renault Mégane Coupé-Cabriolet have electrically operated folding hard tops, as pioneered by the Mercedes SLK. They are the first full four-seaters to combine the cosiness and security of a closed coupé with the open-air pleasures of a convertible.
Even including soft tops, there are remarkably few four-seat convertibles available for less than £20,000 — currently only the Vauxhall Astra (from £17,390) and the recently introduced Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet (from £14,175). Peugeot has just announced prices for the 307CC, which will go on sale on October 1, starting at £18,300.
The 307CC’s roof folds up or down in 25 seconds at the touch of button, and there are no latches or covers to be fastened. Safety features include front and side airbags for driver and front passenger, rollover protection bars that pop up behind the rear seats in an accident, and electronic stability control.
The standard 2 litre engine develops 138bhp but the 180bhp power unit of the 206 GTi 180 will be available at the end of the year, taking the price to £20,900.
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The rival from Renault is the same size and layout (in both, the retracted hard tops take up a lot of boot space) but has the novelty of a roof made of tinted glass, so that it gives a light and airy feel even when driven as a coupé. Renault will offer a wider range than Peugeot, starting with a 1.6 litre at £16,500 and even including a 1.9 dCi diesel (£19,000), but do not expect the Mégane Coupé-Cabriolet to be available before November.
Flaminio finds fame
The streamlined Citroën DS and the rustic 2CV are two notable French automobile landmarks, but Flaminio Bertoni, the man who designed them, is little known and rarely acknowledged. Yesterday, however, a rally of classic Citroëns by the side of the Thames marked the opening of an exhibition at the London Design Museum to draw attention to his work.
An Italian, he joined Citroën in 1932 and shaped the body of the Traction Avant, the first front-wheel-drive Citroën, in modelling clay in a single night’s work.
The exhibition includes a pre-war prototype of the 2CV and a DS19, an extraordinarily advanced car when revealed in 1955.
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There is a wider exhibition of car design at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire, featuring 16 significant cars — all but one British — and putting each in the social context of its time: fashion, entertainment, art and architecture. They range from a Model T Ford and 1959 Mini to the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato.
When Flaminio Drove to France continues at the Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames, London SE1, until October 12. The Driven by Design exhibition at the Heritage Motor Centre runs until Christmas.
A diesel to get you fired up
It can be difficult to get people excited about a diesel engine, so Vauxhall and its German associate Opel have sought to focus interest on the new 1.3 CTDi motor intended for the Corsa by fitting it into a sports car and breaking 17 world records with it.
Last week at Opel’s Dudenhofen test track near Frankfurt, the ECO-Speedster, a modified Vauxhall VX220 with the new diesel engine installed, was run flat out for 24 hours and averaged 140.7mph. Fuel consumption at maximum speed was 31.4mpg, but in a separate exercise run on public roads, another ECO-Speedster achieved 111.2mpg.
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Opel and Vauxhall have no intention of marketing their ECO-Speedster, which has a special version of the new 1.3 litre Multijet direct-injection diesel engine developing a generous 112bhp.
The Corsa 1.3 CTDi, which will go on sale in September, has a more modest 70bhp output but is faster (reaching 103 mph) and more economical (62.7mpg on the combined cycle) than the Corsa’s current 1.7 litre diesel, and meets tough new Euro 4 emissions standards for 2005. Vauxhall’s latest diesel engine was developed with Fiat and is identical to the new 1.3 16V Multijet motor of the revised Fiat Punto, due on sale in the UK this week.