Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, January 28, 2014 — 19

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MOTORING

New electric

is no shockKarla Pincott

BMW’S little i3 city car andi8 sports car are just thestart of the electric rangefor the German prestigebrand, with an executivetelling media at Detroitmotor show the next car isin the works.

BMW’s head of electricvehicle operations andstrategy, Jacob Harb, hintedto AutoblogGreen thatwhat is being developed islikely to be an i5, althoughhe stopped short of giving aname to the project.

‘‘You can probably take aneducated guess at the nextthought process, somethinga little bigger, maybe a littlemore range, relative to thei3,’’ Harb is cited as saying.

‘'We’ve got everythingtrademarked and we’re ex-ploring the best, next iter-ation. It is coming. It’s indevelopment now.’’ Harb re-portedly said he would beheading to Munich as earlyas next week to ‘‘start thediscussions further’’.

We’ve reported previouslythat BMW was tipped tohave already registered aseries of nameplates, rang-ing from i1 up to i11 and it’slikely that their next stepwould be a more family-focused car to aim for vol-ume sales numbers.

News last year suggestedthat an i5 could be in the

works with BMW planning

to stretch the platform that

underpins the i3 to create aroomier – and more family-focused – vehicle.

Suggestions are that the4000mm platform couldgrow another 100mm of rearlegroom and an additional150mm of rear overhang tomake for extra luggagespace. Unlike the integratedmonocoque steel platformsof most cars, the i3 has aseparate aluminium chassis‘‘skateboard’’ – on which sitsthe ‘‘hat’’ of the carbon-composite body – making iteasier to extend the plat-form length and change thebody and doors.

However, there will also bethe question of whether thecurrent i3’s drivetrain willhave enough grunt to copewith the extra load, oncepeople and family cargo alsoclimb aboard. The all-electric variant gets a130-160km range from its25kW/250Nm motor andlithium-ion battery pack.

And while the range-booster variant gets 300kmwith the addition of a 647ccmotorbike engine thatkeeps the battery topped up,it also takes on board anextra 150kg.

So a larger sibling maymean we’ll also see a strong-er drivetrain solution.

Ford Falcon’s 2.0-litre EcoBoost 3.5 turbo engine produces almost as much performance as its 4.0-litre siblings

Falcon’s late boostAlistair Kennedy

UNTIL recently, the idea ofAustralia’s Ford Falcon be-ing powered by a turbo-charged 2.0-litre enginewould have been seen assales suicide akin to thedecision of Holden to build acompact Commodore backin the late 1970s — a decisionthat gave Ford market lead-ership for the next decade.

With just three years leftbefore the Falcon disap-pears from our roads, theturbo engine is far less of agamble than it otherwisewould have been.

Especially so as the newEcoBoost engines are beingadded progressively acrossthe Ford range and its ex-posure in the Falcon is likelyto flow through to improvedsales in other vehicles, in-

cluding the recently un-veiled Mustang.

T h e F o r d F a l c o nEcoBoost comes in threevariants and the prices areidentical to those of theequivalent six-cylindermodels which probably ac-counts for the slow sales ofthe EcoBoost to date.

EcoBoost engines aresmaller and lighter thanconventional petrol engines,with the combination ofcommon-rail direct fuel in-jection, variable valve tim-ing to reduce both fuel con-s u m p t i o n a n d C O

2

emissions.At the same time, they

deliver power and torqueoutputs around the samelevels as larger, naturally-aspirated engines.

The 2.0-litre Falcon en-gine generates maximum

power of 179kW at 5500rpmand a substantial 353Nmfrom as low as 2000rpm.Compare these numbers tothe 195kW and 391Nm of theFalcon 4.0-litre six and anydoubts about performanceshould be allayed.

Fuel consumption in theEcoBoost G6E is listed at 8.5litres per 100 kilometres onthe combined urban/high-way cycle compared to the9.9L/100km of the six andCO

2at 201 grams per kilo-

metre against 235g/km.All EcoBoost Falcons

come with six-speed ZFautomatic transmission,with the manual option inthe 4.0-litre XT not beingoffered.

The sixes are often usedfor towing so be aware thatthe capacity of the EcoBoostmodels is just 1600kg, well

down on the 2300kg with the4.0-litre engine.

The interior of the Falconis spacious enough for fivepassengers although withmy 1.8-metre height and de-clining suppleness, I found italmost impossible to get intothe driver’s seat, at itslowest setting, withoutbrushing my head againstthe top of the door opening.

The steering feels directwith plenty of feedback andthe ride and handling arewhat we have come to ex-pect from a car made herefor local conditions.

Verdict: Add the environ-mental benefits of theEcoBoost model and you’vegot a car for the future.That future is, of course,limited which is all the morereason to go to a Ford dealerand do some haggling.