Car Throttle News Bites: 17th February 2012

In News Bites today, we've got more Geneva Previews from Peugeot, Volvo and Audi, a special edition XK from Jaguar with the best seats ever, the new Kia Cee Apostrophe Dee, and an upcoming hot Ford engine that they better put in Caterhams.

Remember the '84-'93 Peugot 205 GTI?  Peugeot hopes you do.  That iconic hot hatchback, a trailing-throttle-oversteering bastard from the days of the MkII Golf GTI, has pretty much ruined every Pug hot hatch since then by way of comparison.  Not necessarily in terms of raw performance: The fastest 205 GTI they ever made had a 1.9L 126bhp engine, meaning it might lose a stoplight drag race to a modern Corolla.  No, what journalists continually bang on about is that no Pug hatch since (not including the 106 Rallye and 306 GTi-6, I suppose) has approached the tactility and connection to the driver that the 205 did.

Well, fingers crossed for the new one, which is debuting in "concept" form at Geneva in March.  The production version of the GTi will be shown at Paris in the fall, with sales starting in Europe early next year.  The new GTi is of course based off of the new 208 subcompact, which in my uncultured American eyes is a seriously funny looking vehicle.  The 206 was a long sight prettier.  Differences between the regular and GTI versions will mostly be the flared wheel arches and some small details like side skirts, a rear diffuser, etc.  But what's up with that praying mantis mouth? It feeds a 1.6L direct-injection turbocharged I4, shared with the RCZ sports coupe (as well as the current Mini Cooper S.)  It makes 200bhp and 188lb-ft torque, or 203lb-ft on WOT "overboost" mode like the Mini.  Power is sent to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.  Other facts: the GTI will have a 36mm wider track than the 208, and upgraded brakes with 302mm calipers up front and 249mm calipers in the rear.  The GTi gets interior upgrades in the form of an Alcantara-wrapped dashboard, leather flat-bottomed steering wheel, and leather/cloth sport seats.

The other 208 Peugeot will be displaying at Geneva is this, the XY concept.  It's a more luxurious take on the 208 subcompact, designed to compete with the Citroen division's upscale DS3 subcompact.  On the outside, the most noticeable thing is that gorgeous, thick-enough-to-swim-in paint.  Peugeot calls in "Pulsion", and it's supposed to shift color depending on the angle and lighting you view it in.  It's made up of sixteen different coats of paint and lacquer.  On the inside, the XY signals a return to the delightfully French bizarre, sybaritic luxury of the past.  Dark purple leather covers the dashboard, arm rests, steering wheel, and shifter.  The XY gets the cloth/leather sports seats from the GTI, and there's ambient lighting and black trim around the sunroof to spruce things up.  I like it - too bad we'll never get anything like it in the states.  Apparently power isn't a luxury to the French, because the XY is motivated by the 208's standard 1.6L turbodiesel with 115bhp and a 6-speed.

I really like Volvo's C30.  It's a really attractive 3-door sports hatch-thing, powered by a torquey turbocharged five-cylinder, it's got a nice interior with a touch of that Nordic minimalism, and it manages to have both a plunging rooflline and room for 2 adults in the back.  Apparently I'm in the minority, because not a lot of people have bought the C30.  Volvo's replacement for the unloved hatch keeps the sexy, but aims more directly for the heart of the Golf market: a 5-door hatchback called the V40.  A few grainy low-resolution photos of it have leaked online in the past few days, ahead of it's debut at Geneva.  No real details on it yet, but what do you guys think of the styling?

Do you want a Jaguar XK/R, but find the regular models too... pedestrian?  Perhaps they have the stench of mass production about them?  Maybe you're thinking about spending twice as much on an Aston V8 to get that whiff of exclusivity, but your significant other says you're mentally handicapped and won't allow it.  There's a solution!  Jaguar is introducing special edition versions of the XK and XRS Coupe/Cabriolet called the Artisan, and it'll give you your fix.  The interior receives most of the upgrades: textured "Scraffito" (?) leather covers the 16-way adjustable heated sports sedans, the dashboard, instrument panel, door and rear quarter panels.  There's also a leather headliner, a 525-watt Bowers & Wilkins stereo, a heated steering wheel, and two new veneer finishes.  Why don't I show you a picture of the outside?  Because it looks like an XK with different wheels and special paint.  Look at that interior... just look at it.  Sure, Audi's interiors have that teutonic solidity and high-tech feel: but none of them are this inviting.  Pipe and slippers are a prerequisite for purchase.  Want.

Soon, stars in reasonably priced cars will have a nicer place to sit while they pedal around Top Gear's test track.  Assuming that TG's current Cee Apostrophe Dee explodes soon, which it probably won't.  Shame, because there's a new Cee'd coming to Geneva.  The pace at which Hyundai and Kia are reinventing themselves and their product lines is absolutely shocking - remember when Kia sold crap like the Sedona and Amanti?  Anyhow, the new Cee'd is Kia's version of the Hyundai i30, which we (will) receive in the US as the Elantra GT- so it stands to reason that what we see here as the Cee'd we'll see in the states as the new Forte.  Considering the Forte came out four years ago and still isn't really "outdated," that's kinda cool.

The new Cee'd is a lot more dramatic looking than the old model (or the Forte/Cerato) it will replace, with an especially expressive face.  The Kia corporate grille is present here, flanked by pulled-back headlights with LED running lights as well.  The tail lights look a little out of place (especially compared to the new Rio) but otherwise, no styling complaints.  The biggest change is the interior layout, which is much improved.  The Cee'd borrows it's driver-centric dashboard layout from the larger Optima sedan, with an instrument panel canted towards the driver in a somewhat Audi-like design.  There's the requisite big touchscreen satnav and auto climate contro, and the seats look particularly nice.  The Cee'd will likely get the same 1.4 and 1.6L motors as the i30 in Europe, with larger engines in America where we love torque and burnouts.  This could be a serious competitor to the posh new Focus.

A single image of the new Audi A3 leaked out on Wednesday, previewing the 3rd-generation Audi compact hatch that should also be showing up at Geneva.  It's based on the new VW corporate mid-sized architecture, that will underpin the next Golf.  No word on how auto-forum.cz got their hands on the picture, but we won't have to wait long to see the whole thing.  I know it's an all-new product, but it sure looks the same as the current one - I suppose Audi doesn't want to mess with success?

And finally, rumors are circulating around the internet that Ford's working on another variant of their ironically-named "EcoBoost" engine series.  Currently there are 1.6 and 2.0L I4's, plus the beast 3.5L 24v V6 that powers the SHO.  Word has it that Ford's cooking up a 2.3L "EcoBoost" I4 that will be suited to longitudinal or transverse mounting, with power output estimated between 300-350 horsepower.  Why should you care?  Well for one, who doesn't want a turbocharged four with 130-150bhp/l?  And secondly, this proposed bigger EcoBoost will power both the upcoming Focus RS, and a revival of the Mustang SVO - a lighter, better handling performance Mustang powered by a Turbo four.