A variable vehicle: the BAIC MZ45 WeVan

May 31, 2015 Gelzon de la Cruz2 Comments

The Philippines is now Uber country. On May 11, the government introduced the Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) category. Covering vehicles that provide pre-arranged transport for compensation using online apps that link up prospective passengers with drivers, the TNVS classification applies to the likes of Uber as well as GrabTaxi, EasyTaxi and Tripda.

This is the first time that an explicit category has been implemented on a national level. All previous implementations elsewhere were done through city and local government regulation. Uber Senior Vice-President David Plouffe says the Philippine government’s move would “advance urban mobility, create new economic opportunity, and put rider safety first.” Economy and enterprise, these are the critical points for legitimizing Uber. Apparently, hopefully, Uber and government are on the same page.

Uber’s crowd-sourced transport fleet is divided into two categories: Uber Black counts SUVs such as the Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Montero and Ford Evererest as part of their virtual inventory, while Uber X, the “low cost Uber” as they call it, singles out the Toyota Vios, Mitsubishi Mirage G4 and Honda City.

Under the new rules, only sedans, Asian utility vehicles (a.k.a. multi-purpose vehicles and minivans), vans, or similar vehicles can qualify, and only those that are seven years old or less. As such, the TNVS category lumps in non-sedans with vehicles in the Uber X economy class that features compact and sub-compact passenger cars, while leaving out the SUVs that are featured under the high-end Uber Black service class.

Uber folk are out to put family cars to work, or to acquire second cars that can pull double-duty as revenue-earners—a predictable outcome of the Uber trend. Now, what if that family or second car can be another thing as well, other than for personal commutes or for metered under-Uber service as it were? Like say something for big family vacations or a point-to-point charter service. Enter the MZ-45 WeVan from BAIC.

A sedan’s footprint under a van’s body

She’s big sister to the MZ40 we tested last March (see the story: BAIC’s MZ40 WeVan on an Outreach Drive to Dueg), adding 465mm in overall length, 220mm in wheelbase length and 90kg in curb weight to the smaller compact van. And yet, given all these, the MZ45 still has the modern and amazingly versatile gasoline engine that’s smaller than on any sub-compact intended for taxi duties, has both dimensions and weight to match the compactness of these fleet-service sedans, and has nearly double the seating capacity of any compact passenger car.

The BAIC MZ45 is almost 4cm shorter than the biggest taxi model on offer right now, the BYD F3 1.5L MT, yet it seats 9 to the compact sedan’s 5, and it costs PhP100k less. The MZ45 is just 8cm longer (about the width of your palm), albeit 200kg heavier, than the Toyota Vios Base MT, the most popular taxi model in the country, yet is driven by a slightly smaller 1.2L engine that matches the power and economy of the 1.3L on the sub-compact sedan, and costs just PhP6,000 more. And all these, again, with seating capacity that’s nearly double of either taxi model, that’s enough to transport what a pair of sedans would’ve and with only one chauffeur instead of two.

			Toyota	BAIC	BYD
Aspect		Unit	VIOS 1.3 Base MT	MZ45 Luxury 9	F3 1.5 MT

Dimensions and weight
–	Length	mm	4410	4495	4533
–	Width	mm	1700	1636	1705
–	Height	mm	1475	1912	1490
–	Wheelbase	mm	2550	2920	2600
–	Turn radius	mm	5.1	5.9	5.1
–	Clearance	mm	147	150	170
–	Seating	pax	5	9	5
–	Curb weight	kg	1060	1275	1200

Engine
–	Displacement	ltr	1.3	1.2	1.5
–	Valvetrain		VVT-i, 16V DOHC	CVVT, 16V DOHC	VVL, 16V SOHC
–	Peak power	hp/rpm	85/6000	86/6000	107/5800
–	Peak torque	lb-ft/rpm	90/4000	80/4400	107/4800

List price		PhP	592,000	598,000	698,000

The MZ45 has four rows with 2+2+2+3 seating, front to back. The first row is of bucket seats for driver and front seat passenger, the second and third rows are each a two-seater bench with the aisle running down the right side, and the fourth row is an end-to-end three-seater bench that can be folded up to expand on (actually, create) luggage space. And, like on most any van models, the middle rows offer the most comfortable ride, while the rearmost is the bumpiest—best occupied only when the van is full, all other seats used and the vehicle’s rear springs dampened by a heavy load.

Although, unlike other compact vans with efficiency layouts, the MZ45 has the engine and driver’s seating position well behind the front wheels which are almost flush with the fascia. This makes for a comfortable ride in the front row as well (it being inside the van’s wheelbase span), and for this sedan-like steering and handling experience from the driver’s seat.

Threading the needle

With its maxed out wheelbase under an otherwise compact body, the MZ45 is easy to drive and lithe enough to weave through traffic with composure. It’s visibly narrower than most anything else on the road but that long 2,900mm wheelbase does a lot for making the compact van rock-steady in turns and jinks. Even from a driver’s seat that’s about a meter above ground, there’s no pronounced roll when taking a turn at a good clip, not more than would’ve been felt on a lower slung sedan.

That narrow width still gives the MZ45 true three-abreast seating but keeps things tight enough that the whole of the vehicle’s frontage remains squarely in your field of view and its wing heft is predictable enough to make you “feel” its width in your shoulders. There’s a palpable link between your body kinetics and the motion of the van, the front body corners aren’t so remote that it takes a week of driving to start “wearing” the vehicle. All the better for navigating older inner city streets where road space is often encroached on by the likes of elevated train columns and the occasional sidewalk vendor.

Once you get your frontage through a gap, that gap that’s smaller than what full-sized vans would need, it’s just a matter of timing to know when the rest of the long body has made it through, when it’s safe to start turning the wheel and not cause the tail-end on its overhang to swing out and sideswipe something. No case of cold sweats even when parking despite that reversing camera not being included as stock equipment.

I took the MZ45 with its 5.9m turn radius through the tight turns of a food-chain’s drivethrough, the kind where you see marks on the wall where lots of wide-bodies apparently missed the turn-in point and smacked the concrete. My transit with the narrow van: piece of cake, easy as pie.

Variable mileage

The MZ45 has a 1.2L petrol engine with continuous variable valve timing (CVVT) technology and a multi-point fuel injection system that deliver peak power and torque of 86hp at 6000rpm and 80lb-ft at 4400rpm, respectively. The specs are on the high end for a 1.2L engine, though on the lean side for a van body with a curb weight of 1275kg.

But they make the arrangement work, and rather elegantly for city driving, with relatively short gear ratios on its 5-speed manual transmission where the top fifth gear (not the fourth) is the one with the 1:1 direct drive ratio. The MZ45 (as observed also on its smaller MZ40 sibling) is conservatively geared to be a full-time hauler with some engineering choices deliberately made to keep a constant power reserve for carrying its full rated capacity.

*The versatile 1.2L CVVT 16-valve DOHC engine, tucked under the front seating row*

With 5 people on board, roll-out is at 1200rpm and would peak at around 2500rpm before up-shifts at 10, 30, 50 and then at 70km/h to finally hit fifth gear. But with a full load of 9 passengers including the driver, roll-out revs climb up to 1500rpm and those shift-points become more conventional at 20, 40, 60 and then 80km/h to hit fifth, with engine turns peaking at 3000rpm right before the up-shifts. On the open road with a full load, maintaining an 80km/h cruise puts engine revs at 2700rpm, 90km/h at 3000rpm, and 100km/h at 3500rpm.

Keeping revs under 3000rpm seems to hold the variable valve timing on the 1.2L engine at its most efficient setting. But this 3000rpm ceiling is not always practicable in city driving where you’d have to be proactive to keep your place in lane. So, in day-to-day city driving with a light foot on the gas pedal when possible, you can expect fuel mileage of 9km/l with a full 9-passenger load, 12km/l with 5 people on board, and an excellent 15km/l when you’re all alone in the van, ferrying it to where you’ll be picking up passengers. Mileage on the MZ45 definitely varies with passenger load but is good enough, and predicable enough, to manage fuel costs—particularly when trying to keep these at a fraction of whatever revenues that the erstwhile driver/entrepreneur expects to earn from a paid run.

Mastering loads

Back then to the notion of using the MZ45 as an Uber ride, a chartered van, and a private family van: she can emulate the ride, drive and mileage of a sedan while still having the capacity of a business transport, and yes, definitely the legs and body for a fun family van … but how to load it for these different roles?

"Uber ride" for 4 passengers in comfortable, reclinable couches — “Uber ride” for 4 passengers in comfortable, reclinable couches

*Generous luggage space created by folding up the rearmost bench*

As an Uber ride, the MZ45 actually offers equivalent yet better seating than on a sedan. Fold up the fourth seating row to free up generous “trunk” space for luggage and this leaves the second and third row seating benches for all four passengers to ride in the middle of the wheelbase span—right in the sweet spot for a gliding ride and without the need for anyone to ride shotgun up front with the driver. All passengers even have the option of adjusting their seat backs for a more laid back ride, that’s something they wouldn’t be able to do in the back of a sedan.

*In chartered-van configuration, all seats made ready*

As a full-on people carrier on those chartered-van jobs, unfold the rearmost bench and dust-off the front passenger seat and you’ll have seating for 8 passengers and their day-trip bags. For an overnight trip or a shuttle run to the airport, keep the rear-most bench folded up to create luggage space and you’d still have room for 5 passengers in addition to the driver.

And finally, for a fun and casual family trip, you’d have the ability to go informal and push the MZ45’s capacity to its limits. Sure, you might want to fold up the rearmost bench for luggage or groceries, but you can also bring the extended family along by deploying all seats, having everyone board the van first, and then piling the other stuff in after them and into the generous aisle space. You’d have to be both driver and loader in that case since everyone else would already be in the van while the luggage or groceries are still on the sidewalk … but what father would mind that job when, in return, he can bring the whole kit and caboodle?

*A trip to the supermarket with the extended family, groceries and an oven in the aisle*

Add-ons

The only factory-installed option I’d recommend is the step-board that they didn’t make standard since both the MZ40 and MZ45 are so versatile, these could be configured as rather comfortable cargo vans (they have the MZ40 “Comfort” cargo variant with a cavernous rear compartment bare of any benches).

Although the MZ45 can be had with factory-installed jump seats on the second and third benches, I find that the lack of these options gives me more, well, options. These could expand seating capacity to 11, yes, but would then entail some anxious load planning. With standard payload maxed out at 675kg, the MZ45 has the capacity to seat 9 people even if all of them are full-grown adults. But, with the 11 seats you’d be able to fill with the optional jump seats installed, you’d then have to worry about the size and weight of each of those 11 passengers so as not to bottom-out the suspension.

For my money, I’d rather have seating at the standard 9, keep the aisle space free for some cowboy luggage loads, and incidentally, leave the ends of the rear benches unobstructed (no folded up jump seats getting in the way) for a classier feel when needed (you don’t see fold-out seats on executive jets now, do you?). Sure, the jump seats would max out its people carrier capacity, but without these I’d have more load options for those family trips that make owning and earning with the MZ45 really worthwhile. If it comes to it, I can have the kids sit all cozy and giggling on futons piled in the aisle.

All-in

At this wedding last month, I noticed that several groups arrived in chartered UV Express vans—Toyota HiAces and Nissan Urvans, really big vans that they didn’t seem to be able to fill. And yet, the vans seemed practical for them. Practical even for my bunch because we had also arrived in an unmarked HiAce Commuter that our group had chartered despite not being able to fill all its seats. At the end of the day, it always makes sense to take one van instead of several sedans … it’s even more fun, with all of us being in the same space and able to chat as folks would normally want to.

Now that the Philippines has legitimized Uber as a new mode of public transport, it’s high time for a more creative take on the vehicle types that can be put to task by new entrepreneurs. The market is ready for bigger transports hired under new, legitimized modes. But, at the same time, these don’t have to be the traditional kind of big transports that would burden owners and the country’s road system overmuch.

The new, TNVS category that legitimizes Uber also suggests an area for expansion by the popular online service. TNVS vehicles include not only sedans but also multi-purpose vehicles, minivans and full-sized vans. And yet, the economy-class Uber X service features only compact and sub-compact sedans, while the higher end Uber Black service speaks of premium SUVs. The new TNVS category is not explicit on the matter of SUVs and appears to close the door on the luxury Uber Black service, while also seeming to open another one for an intermediate category of oversized transport such as minivans and bigger. Call it Uber XL, a new category for hiring extra-large vehicles that can seat more than what sedans could, and at an appropriately higher rate than on Uber X.

However, until Uber XL becomes a reality, the folks who’d want to rent out their vans will just have to do it as before, off-meter and on contracted fees. This isn’t true for a BAIC MZ45 owner. An MZ45 owner can rent out his van as a sedan equivalent under Uber X, taking on 4 passengers at a time and gaining regular customers who may eventually be interested in hiring the vehicle as a full-blown chartered van that’ll carry 8 (excluding the driver). Until another Uber category is introduced for mini and full-sized vans, there’s the BAIC MZ45 that could be useful every day both for business and for the family… a truly variable vehicle.

Bring a Tata to a truck fight

May 22, 2015 Gelzon de la Cruz6 Comments

It seems that for every five new vehicles on the road, one is a pickup truck. These city-slicker trucks almost always have twin-row cabs, ride high on raised suspensions, and have roaring diesels under the hood. What’s the draw?

I drove the Tata Xenon XT 4×2 MT exclusively for several days, tested it for all it’s worth, to nail down why the pick-up truck is turning into a passenger vehicle, a passenger truck as it were. I drove it through extra-heavy homeward traffic on a Friday evening, took it on a daytrip to the southern coast of Batangas the next day, made the most of its cargo bed by giving kids a “barn-ride” to church on Sunday, and then filled it to the brim on Monday to haul over a dozen volunteers and their supplies over to a public school where they cleaned and repainted a playground.

Conclusion: if it’s a choice between a big brand compact sedan and this particular truck which goes for just PhP830,000 SRP, I’d go for the Tata Xenon any day. Two tons of truck is utterly practical, an expandable and retaskable thing that could carry up to a ton of cargo and/or people, leaving nothing and no one behind when the need occurs.

The expandables

The Xenon’s rear cargo deck is big enough to load oversized cargo with the tailgate up, even bigger and more versatile with the gate down (so long as you’re good at securing stuff with rope). You can opt for a camper shell of course, cover the cargo deck to make it lockable and secure, even more people-friendly, but I suggest that this be a snap-on affair that you can remove by yourself or with little assistance in case there’s tall cargo that needs hauling.

In good weather, an open deck can pinch hit to transport 7 to 8 people in addition to the 5 or 6 in the passenger cabin, that’s as long as the people in back don’t mind having just the big clear sky overhead. Ironically, those folks would mind it even less, God bless ‘em, when the rains bring a deluge, the lack of a roof above a trivial thing as long as there’s a solid truck underneath to get them away from ground zero.

The high-riding chassis might seem like overkill, like a tip of the hat to monster truck fandom, particularly when it’s mated to just a 4×2 drivetrain. But, from the driver’s point of view sitting nearly a meter above ground level, it’s the perfect thing on flaky infrastructure. Riding on the large tires that can be accommodated by a raised and reinforced suspension, it’s exactly what’s needed for a relaxed and confident drive on ill-kept roads where even manhole covers and drain grills are known to go missing. And when those road hazards suddenly get hidden under feet of floodwater, well, you get the picture. A high-riding chassis, it’s a great thing to have if you can get it.

Truck war

Big players have each and collectively declared that a truck war now ensues. There’s still normal rivalry, no hostilities, but with all eyes focused on the market for pickup trucks, the market for vehicles that are no longer the light-duty cargo-carriers they started out to be but what have become yet another type of passenger vehicle. Amidst all this, they’ve distilled the desires of their market and defined both the form and the substance of the modern pickup, the passenger truck.

Pickups as passenger vehicles, you’d spot them as: (1) having two-row passenger cabs that’ll seat five; (2) being high riders, with ground clearance of over 200mm regardless of whether these are 4×4 off-roaders or 4×2 utilities; (3) sporting large tires on rims with diameters of 16” or more; and (4) being powered by diesels made efficient and with powerbands stretched out by the inclusion of some form of modern, high-pressure fuel injection and turbocharger arrangements.

And apparently, those touch points are enough for big brands to each field many variants. In fact, the more variants they have, the more successful they seem to be at gaining ground and getting market share. Top seller Ford has 13 different variants for their Ranger, based on choices of body fairings, engine, drivetrain, gearbox and passenger cabin sizes. Isuzu has 8 variants for their D-Max, up from 7 last year with the introduction of their new LT-X mid-range 4×2. Toyota and Nissan each have 7 variants for the Hilux and the new NP300 Navarra, respectively. Even Mitsubishi which had just introduced its next generation Strada already has 6 variants.

Old world veteran

Now, into this melee, comes Tata of India … and with just two variants. Identical in all respects except for the drivetrain, the Tata Xenon XT 4×2 and 4×4 variants both have conventional 5-speed manual gearboxes, large 16” alloy wheels, are trimmed for mid-range privateer tastes, and ride high with 210mm of ground clearance. It seems that instead of spreading their assets to probe and engage the whole breadth of the market, they’re taking aim at the market’s meaty middle.

From the start, ever since they went active last year, Tata’s pitch has been bold yet self-effacing. They build durable vehicles ‘cause they need to. It’s an imperative that their vehicles be robust because their domestic market, India, has road conditions even harsher than ours. The Tata brand has been brandished for decades on vehicles plying skewed tracks cut out of Himalayan mountainsides, low and arid desert trails, and the bustling and bumpy scrabble of broken city pavement where these may exist.

When India’s Ambassador to the Philippines L.D. Ralte spoke at Tata’s “Big 7” launch to introduce their line-up of diesel-powered cars and trucks last year, he punctuated his endorsement of the utter reliability of Tata vehicles with a roundabout compliment to the Philippines. He said that since they find Tata’s seemingly indestructible vehicles reasonably priced in India, then these will surely seem even cheaper to potential buyers in the Philippines. Even if Tata isn’t well known yet in the Philippines, it’s famous, if not notorious, in other markets where they know that the heavy industry group from a former colony of the British Empire now owns the English icons Land Rover and Jaguar.

Nine years old, going on classic

The Xenon in current form was introduced back in 2006 which explains its dated proportions and design. At 5125x1860x1760mm (LxWxH), the Xenon is a full 13cm shorter than the current Nissan NP300 Navarra, 24cm shorter than the big Mazda BT-50. And it has the smallest, shallowest cargo deck in its class at 1430x1410x400mm. That’s 7cm shorter than that of the Navarra and 12cm shorter than the BT-50’s.

The Xenon is sparing on the flourish, has a design language that blares last decade’s practical aesthetics (which is just fine) and now stands among newer builds looking tight, compact and more sporty because of the smaller cargo deck. It really is about bulk management. Why go for a larger cargo deck when the Xenon’s tub can already carry even a king-size stood on its side and with two-thirds of its length supported underneath by the flat bed and the lowered tailgate.

Compact is always cool, particularly in the city. After all, this design from last decade is now in the running with urban-dwelling passenger trucks. A cargo deck big enough for serious hauling and not so small to make the arrangement look like those notchy rears of sport utility intermediates, that’d be fine. The Xenon looks the part: a full fledged truck moonlighting as passenger transport.

MilSpec tough

The Xenon’s suspension is old-school tough. Up front are independent double-wishbones sprung by thick torsion bars, in the back, the familiar parabolic leaf spring sets that can be made even stiffer with the addition of more staves (or rendered softer, if that’s your fancy, by taking out some). The coil springs that big brands now use up front, and on the Philippines-spec Navarra even in the back, make no appearance and leave the Xenon’s undercarriage MilSpec durable (torsion bars are the springs of choice on military trucks and main battle tanks).

Of course, the ride is bouncy when the truck is unladen, but this can be mitigated with sensible driving and some tire-pressure tweaking. Recommended unladen tire pressure is 29psi all-around, with those on the rear tires to be blown up to 36psi when hauling a loaded deck. The big but smartly upright and not bulbous 235/70 R16 tires did well at 30psi all-around on SLEX and the Star Tollway for that daytrip to Batangas. In fact, keeping these at the common 30 and not at the 34psi I had found them with, eliminated the side shimmies I’d occasionally feel on hitting small bumps. So take note: the shimmies indicate there’s room for softening, not that the tires are already spongy and flexing a bit to the sides.

The seam between passenger cabin and cargo tub is left unfettered on the Xenon. There are no rubber fillers to trick the eye or absorb vibrations in case the modular bodies flex up against each other. These said, there were no indications, no looseness and no telltale bangs that betrayed any significant flex. The Xenon, despite the torsion bar and parabolic leaf springs and their inherent constant, stiff tension, showed no signs that its frame spans were getting pounded. The whole body on frame assembly stayed firm and square. No surprise that in India the Xenon has been drafted into military service.

Sublime handling

Upstaging the typically bumpy cruise is the Xenon’s handling. The truck grips the road extremely well. Turning into a curve is sublimely predictable, the truck straddling your intended approach line as if it were on rails. While the minimized body roll may be due to the throwback torsion bars up front, these with their constant tension as opposed to the progressive force of coil springs, the exceptional handling is more likely due to the Xenon’s wheelbase geometry.

While its length is shorter than those of current generation big brand models, the Xenon has among the longest wheelbases in its class. While the Xenon is shorter than the Navarra by 13cm, the smaller truck matches the 3150mm wheelbase of the bigger one. The only longer ones are the 3220mm wheelbases on the even bigger Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50. As such, the Xenon has the greatest wheelbase to length ratio among its big name rivals: at 61.4%, the Xenon even bested the 60% of the Ranger and BT-50. You could imagine how well this counters the centrifugal force on turns, with body overhangs tucked up and kept short.

But it should be noted that the weight distribution is ideal only when the truck is unladen. When hauling cargo, the Xenon will be rear heavy and would be more prone to lift-off oversteer, the rear tires succumbing to momentum’s push away from the turn. Not that it needs mentioning, but … best to leave off the slaloms when you’re truckin’ stuff in the, ah, truck.

Elegant power

The Xenon’s 2.2L VTT DiCor engine is a modern, refined diesel with a variable geometry turbocharger (hence the “VTT” for variable turbine technology) and precise and high-pressured common rail direct injection (as in “DiCor” for direct injection common rail). Already potent enough to deliver 147hp peak power at 4000rpm and peak torque of 236lb-ft at 1500 ~ 3000rpm (ratings that rival those of larger 2.5 and 3.0L diesels), the combination of enhancements are capped by a more recent innovation that manages and levers all that power into something altogether more elegant: smooth, uninterrupted force.

The 2.2L VTT DiCor is also the engine mounted in Tata’s Safari SUV. And in that model’s literature, they remember to mention that engine’s torque is channelled through a high-inertia flywheel. Heavier than conventional ones, a high-inertia flywheel has been made massive enough to dampen the torsional vibrations that usually come when the clutch engages at low revs, and to store the engine’s kinetic energy in the form of the wheel’s rotational inertia, its insistence on turning at the same rate even when there’s no force driving it anymore.

*Honeywell Variable Nozzle Turbocharger (VNT)*

The advantages in terms of keeping the turbocharger spooled up are obvious, the effect rather elegant. Instead of the near instant gear-changes on fast automatic dual-clutch transmissions to keep the engine turning at the same rate even through an up-shift, the manual transmission on the Xenon can rely on a heavy flywheel to not only linger at the same rpm but even surge up when you disengage the clutch to do a gear change.

Of course, back when I didn’t know about the flywheel, those surges were irritating me no end, making me question shift timing that took years to burn into muscle memory. Don’t despair, it’s just the friendly neighbourhood flywheel at work. Do it right, let up on the gas a heartbeat faster than with your usual timing and a hundred rpm surge when you pop the stick into neutral will be just enough for the engine to settle back down to the rpm you started with when you reengage with a higher gear. In other words, without the need to feather the gas pedal, and with just a little practice, you’ll be able to game the engine into smooth up-shifts with negligible interruptions in force and acceleration.

Even without turning into a speed demon and insisting on a spirited launch with constant, uninterrupted power driving those wheels even through gear changes, the flywheel has the effect of building up and storing enough momentum in the system to make it feel like you have a second, silent power source boosting your torque even at low revs. Roll out can be done with hardly any throttle, adding less than a hundred to the 800rpm you’d have at idle. With a light foot on the gas pedal, the Xenon can be very quiet as you accelerate for the next gear change.

Easy trukin’

Matter-of-fact, with the flywheel storing momentum plus the variable nozzles keeping airflow and compression optimal in the turbocharger even at idle or low revs, you can drive the diesel in the smoothest way I know how: by engaging the clutch fully before even stepping on the gas, by throttling up again only when you have load on the engine, when shifting up after your initial roll-out. Don’t mind the engine revs going back down to idle during shifts. Although the engine won’t then have the energy state to leap instantly into full-burn flight, the variable geometry turbo will nevertheless keep things optimal.

Driving the truck this way, calmly and like you have a full payload whether you’re laden or not, will see you shifting up at 15, 30, 50 and finally 70km/h for that last one into fifth gear, and with each shift happening around the time the tachymeter needle hits 1750rpm. Nice and calm, there’s the benefit of piloting your two-tons of truck while telegraphing both your trajectory and your intentions to other drivers on the road … a great, laid-back way of driving defensively, a good way to remain courteous, unobtrusive and not obnoxious in your big hulking hauler.

If you need additional incentive, there’s always the mileage you’d be getting. While keeping things calm in city traffic, even with a moderate sprinkling of bumper-to-bumper stretches, the two ton truck with its turbocharged 2.2 liter diesel managed 12km/l, and that’s with a full passenger load. On the highway, keeping the Xenon at 100km/h in fifth gear and at around 2100rpm got me 16km/l, again with a full passenger load. I think if stayed at 80km/l in fifth and at 1,750rpm I could’ve gotten as much as 18km/l. All told, I got readings that jived with the official numbers for the 2.2L Xenon in Australia where they put it down as having mixed mileage of 13.5km/l.

Outflanking the competition

All told, if you were in the market for a pickup truck, the Xenon’s durability, handling and powerful engine would be enough to get you interested. While, if you were really looking for a passenger car and just happened to glance at the Xenon, it’s vestigial compactness, utter versatility and that gem of an engine that can be driven calmly, comfortably and economically while holding a lot of power in reserve, all these could make you take a second look … maybe even pull a chair and go over everything one more time before settling for a sedan.

With their mere pair of Xenon variants to go up against the numerous ones from each of their big-brand truck rivals, Tata may appear like it’s vulnerable to being flanked by many and on all sides. But, considering the Xenon and the surprises it has in store for anyone who’s willing to take a gander, it really is more like them going full tilt into the truck war by shooting straight and true at the market’s center mass.

The BYD L3: Prime Example of Why China Carmakers Are Banking on DCTs

April 29, 2015 Gelzon de la Cruz4 Comments

There’s this apparent trend, a growing demand for automatic dual-clutch transmissions (DCTs). Late in 2008, Germany’s BorgWarner partnered up with the dozen major carmakers behind the China Automobile Development United Investment Company to start manufacturing DCTs in Dalian. Early the next year, BYD Auto, the largest independent carmaker in China and not a participant in the consortium that partnered up with BorgWarner, started developing its combination of a direct-injection turbocharged engine and 6-speed tiptronic DCT—their Ti+DCT technology package.

By April 2012, the BorgWarner-China joint venture was reporting a large and increasing demand for DCTs in the emerging automotive markets of both Europe and Asia. They estimated that the market for DCTs in China alone would grow from 0.6 million in 2012 to 2.7 million units by 2017, growing each year by 35%. Months later, in August 2012, after they had already launched their F5 sedan with the Ti+DCT package that took two years to develop, BYD both admitted that they had problems with supply of the DCTs for their popular vehicles and reported that they had already solved these. Though they didn’t elaborate on their solution, soon afterwards in November 2012 they announced that by the next year, BYD would be putting their own in-house developed DCTs in their vehicles. Then, in 2013, BYD started featuring their in-house developed DCT even on vehicles without high-end turbocharged engines.

The narrative paints a picture of China carmakers, particularly of independent BYD which not only has to compete for market share but also has to defend its position against a consortium of other carmakers, all being keen on putting DCTs on their product, and not only on their higher end offerings. Figuring out why requires a closer look at DCTs, at what distinguishes these from other types, and then an evaluation of its implementation on BYD’s mid-range L3 sedan.

Two where there was one

BYD's in-house developed 6-speed DCT — *BYD’s in-house developed 6-speed DCT*

What makes it a dual-clutch transmission? Why the two clutches? The two smoothen, even simplify, the gear changes. Physically linked, as one clutch disengages from one gear, the other engages the next gear up, or down. Elegant if you think about it. Instead of the sequential steps of lifting the clutch, putting the next gear under it, and then pushing the clutch back in, the DCT does all three in one action.

But what happens at the very start when you roll off? On an automatic DCT, slide the stick into D and what happens? The car being stationary while you keep your foot on the brake (as you normally would on an automatic before rolling off), will one of the clutches immediately press in and engage first gear? You’d think it would if you’ve gotten used to a typical automatic, an AT. But no, it won’t.

Of things mechanical and fluid

On the ATs we’re accustomed to, slide the stick into D and you’ll immediately feel torque on the drive wheels, urging the car forward even as you keep your foot on the brakes. If the AT had a clutch, doing this would’ve stalled the engine, or would otherwise wear down the clutch’s contact surface. But an AT has no clutch.

*Center column on the BYD L3 DCT variant*

Instead of a clutch mashed up against a pressure plate, a torque converter replaces that mechanical contact with fluid force. An impeller driven by the engine’s driveshaft pumps automatic transmission fluid (yes, that ATF you need to top-off routinely) against a turbine, turning it and in turn driving the transmission. Instead of the friction of a mechanical link that would wear down the clutch or stall the engine if you kept your foot planted on the brakes, there would be just the turbulence of the fluid as it gets pumped from impeller to turbine and then back again. (By the way, that re-circulation of the ATF from the turbine back to the impeller is achieved by a third component, a stator, but we’ll leave that detail for another story.)

The torque converter transmits significant enough engine power that if you pour on the gas, keeping your foot on the brake pedal won’t keep the car stationary for long, at least not your drive wheels. But yes, you’d know right off that a torque converter can’t possibly transmit all of it—a fluid connection simply can’t match the positive contact of a solid one. Because the force of the engine is transmitted through fluid pumping, the impeller on the driveshaft will spin faster than the turbine on the transmission—what engineers call the “slippage” that’s inherent in torque converters. (In modern automatics there’s a lock-up clutch that engages when the car is at cruising speed, creating a mechanical link with the top gear after it has gone through acceleration, but that detail we’ll also leave for another story.)

Back to clutches

Back again to the DCT which replaces the torque converter with clutches, it isn’t really an evolution of the AT—not a hydraulic automatic—but rather one of a manual gearbox where the clutch-work and gear-shifting has been taken over by electronic actuators.

More efficient with the positive contact of the clutch instead of the hydraulics of a torque converter, a DCT must have the programming to discern when to engage or disengage either of its clutches. Unlike an AT that can rely on slippage to cushion both the torque from and the load on the engine, a DCT needs to actively manage the clutch-work, manage the clutch friction. The DCTs programming triggers when to engage the clutch on the first gear and when to transition to the other clutch for an up-shift, when to go back to the other clutch for another up-shift, and so on until the top gear is reached at cruising speed.

And, at the same time, the DCTs programming needs to make the automated clutch-work and gearshifts familiar and intuitive to motorists. Not a trivial thing since there’s a lot you could get right, or wrong, in the algorithms.

The DCT on the BYD L3

Now, finally, knowing how a DCT works, we ask: how does it stack up on the BYD L3, how good is it on a compact sedan from China’s biggest independent carmaker?

If you’re mainly a stick driver, you’ll appreciate the convenience of an automatic but muscle memory will probably see you reaching out with your left foot for a clutch pedal that isn’t there, or dropping your right hand onto the drive selector for an up-shift you don’t have to do yourself. Seen from this perspective, from the point of view of one used to being enabled, and burdened, by a manual gearbox, the automatic DCT can be a superb alternative.

*The 1.5 liter BYD483QE engine on the BYD L3*

Before testing the L3’s DCT variant, I tried the one with a 5-speed manual gearbox. The 1.5 liter BYD483QE engine with SOHC over 16 valves featuring variable lift and timing technology delivers peak power and torque of 107hp at 5,800rpm and 107lb-ft at 4,800rpm, respectively. On the 1,210kg sedan, the power is enough for assertive acceleration but you could feel there’s just a slim reserve remaining for when you want things more spirited. But then again it’s tuned for fuel efficiency, the manual variant reportedly reaching 19km/l on the highway. So, given how the L3’s engine is, you’d want all that available power driving you forward. And on the DCT variant, the power is all there.

As advertised, good efficiency

On a highway drive of over 100km, I chalked up 17km/l while insisting for most of the trip on a 100km/h cruise with the engine turning at 2,400rpm. On the occasions when I backed off and settled down at 80km/h, the engine turning at just 2,000rpm, the trip computer had me doing 18km/l.

On a day’s drive in the city, the L3 DCT turned in a figure of 11km/l with frequent prolonged stops burning fuel at a rate of 1ltr per hour being offset by the car’s noteworthy ability to move off again and accelerate decently with the engine never exceeding 2,200rpm—this, even with a full family load of two adults and three kids. With a long enough stretch of open road, that 2,200 rpm cap could bring the L3 up to 60km/h where you could settle back at 2,000rpm and remain in 5th gear. At those readings, at 60 in 5th and with 2,000, the trip computer would show current fuel consumption of just 5ltrs per 100km—the equivalent of 20km/l for those few seconds that you can remain at 60km/h on city streets.

Impressive numbers from a compact sedan weighing in at a ton and a quarter, and close enough to those of the manual variant to verify that the DCT’s clutches do work as advertised. Though more efficient than an AT, a DCT won’t match a manual’s mileage because the latter can be coasted, clutch disengaged, whenever the driver’s inner ear and butt cheeks tell him he can. On a DCT, once the car is moving, one of its clutches is always engaged, unless the driver flips the selector into N. Although, that flipping into N, while already cruising at 100km/h on the highway, shows just how refined the DCT is on the BYD L3.

Smooth clutch-work, smooth shifting

With the car in D and with easy pressure on the gas pedal (pressed just an inch in), the L3 DCT accelerates well enough, shifting up at the aforementioned 2,200rpm as it reaches 10, 30, 45, 60 and then 80km/h when it finally enters sixth gear. The shifts happen so fast and so smoothly there’s no feeling of forward thrust ever letting up, the only sign of a shift being the softening of the engine’s noise as it drops from 2,200rpm down to just under 2,000rpm whenever it takes up the new gear ratio before spooling up again for the next up-shift.

That smooth shifting indicates that the DCTs programming has good routines for toggling between the dual-clutches. But popping the selector out of D and into N, and then back again, while already at cruise, that shows how well the DCT emulates a human driver. Pop her into N to disengage the active clutch, then take your foot off the gas. The car will go free-wheeling and you’ll see the revs settle back down to the 800rpm idling level. All as expected.

But then you’d worry, will putting it back in D cause a sudden, maybe catastrophic re-engagement of the clutch at too low a gear? No, it won’t. Pop the selector back into D and the clutch doesn’t reengage immediately. The DCT first pre-selects the proper gear based on current speed—6^th for 100km/h in my case—and then eases in the clutch. Keep off the gas and you’ll see the tachymeter needle gently go back up to around 2,000rpm as the clutch is finessed back in and the engine revs get picked up by the turning of the drive wheels.

Smooth roll outs with a DCT

Now finally, an answer to the question: what happens differently on the L3’s DCT when you pop it into D to roll out? Like that popping out and back into D at cruising speed, the clutch won’t engage immediately. Pop into D to roll off while still stepping on the brakes and you’ll feel nothing. There’s no jerking forward against the braked wheels. Reason is that the clutch won’t engage until you take your foot off the brakes.

Do release the brakes and a moment later you’ll feel the clutch pushing in, again gently, to start the car rolling. I’ve heard reports of how engines with DCTs typically shudder at this point. For my money, it wasn’t any worse than what I’ve felt on ATs, but putting it that way would have me still missing the point. The shuddering is no different from what I’d feel on a manual transmission if I was too slow in giving it some gas as I let off the clutch pedal. In other words, the vibration is merely a sign of the engine approaching stall, prompting you to be more lively on the gas.

The best way I found for making roll-outs silky smooth on the L3 is to take my foot of the brake then immediately imagine myself easing my left foot off the non-existent clutch pedal. I’d let that visualization trigger muscle memory, let it cue me to gently press on the gas pedal. On a manual, it’s a simultaneous thing: ease off the clutch pedal as you ease in the gas. On a DCT, still with a clutch though it’s controlled by computer, the routine isn’t really different. And, as it happens, it’s a good safety feature. Better to not have the DCT intervene on the gas just for the sake of smoothing out your roll off. That part, you can take care of yourself.

Uphill, not a problem

This said, there is one situation when the DCT will partly engage the clutch and throttle up the engine even while you’re stopped and stepping on the brakes. Recall that a DCT won’t engage the clutch when you put it in D if your foot is still pushing down on the brake. This won’t do if you’re hanging on an uphill incline. That fraction of a second delay will see you sliding back before the clutch engages, compelling you to throttle up quickly to stop the slide and jerk the car into forward motion … a crude and nerve-wracking way to tackle a hanging situation.

No wonder that the L3’s DCT has an uphill assist feature—it’s absolutely necessary after all, not just a gimmick. What is surprising is the sheer elegance of how the designers will have you activate it. If you’re stopped on an incline and needing to climb uphill, a tried and tested technique on manual gearboxes is to pull up the hand-brake to keep you stationary while you balance you’re clutch and throttle to put torque on the wheels and make them start pushing against the brake. This way, when you release the hand-brake, the car will immediately start inching up instead of down the incline.

So how would they have you do something similar on the L3’s DCT? Why, by also pulling on the handbrake of course. Say you’re stopped, hanging on an incline, and wanting a smooth roll out. Keep stepping on the brake, slide the selector into D, then pull on the handbrake to instruct the DCT to set you up with enough clutch and throttle to have the L3 chomping at the bit, ready to move forward as soon as you set the handbrake back down and ease off the brake pedal—very natural for those who are accustomed to manual gearboxes.

Advantages on many levels

Discard notions of it being like a traditional automatic and instead treat the DCT as a manual gearbox on which you’ve delegated clutch and gearshift control to a computer. Do this and the efficiency benefits of this alternative and new automatic, particularly on the BYD L3, will come with no trade-off in terms of drivability. In fact, it could be more enjoyable than either a traditional AT or an old-school manual.

By their very nature, a DCT’s clutch and gearshift servos need to be computer controlled. What’s noteworthy on the BYD L3 is how the engineers have shaped this automation to both rely on and to channel the competence of the driver. With sensors to monitor the energy state of the vehicle, its velocity, its load, its momentum, the DCT makes full use of its controller suite to both emulate and respond to what any experienced driver would do if he were in control of the clutch and gearshift.

And finally, also because of its dependence on electronic control of clutch and gearshift servos, making a particular DCT distinct from those of other carmakers is as much a function of the heavy industry behind it as it is of the programming talent that goes into it. So, with DCTs and while they are still working at becoming major global players, Chinese carmakers can leverage the country’s deep programming talent pool into an immediate competitive advantage.

An Outreach Drive to Dueg with BAIC’s MZ40 WeVan

March 15, 2015 Gelzon de la Cruz14 Comments

On the first Saturday of March, with the season heading seriously into summer but with the air still cool and dry in the hours before the sun came out, I rolled off with a van full of teaching volunteers intent on bringing early literacy to a community in need. With the assistance of BAIC Philippines, I had the chance to test drive their MZ40 WeVan while helping bring volunteers 180 kilometers north to the municipal hall of San Clemente town in Tarlac. There we switched to a 6×6 surplus military truck that is the municipality’s sole means of heavy transport to our final destination: the Dueg resettlement area on the mountain ridge west of the town proper and right on the border with Pangasinan.

6:00AM — a breakfast stopover and most of NLEX behind us

7:30AM — off SCTEX and heading West on the Hacienda Luisita access road

On a Northeast heading again, approaching Camiling

8:45AM — arrived at the San Clemente municipal hall

Switched rides to the town’s 6×6 surplus military truck

Then finally, the kids got books of their own

The kids came away with new books and modest goodies

The volunteers found new stories of their own

On the truck again for the drive down the mountain

Literacy Drive

The volunteers were out on their latest mission under the Barangay Early Literacy Program (BELP) of Adarna Group Foundation, Inc. (AGFI). This one was to the Aeta resettlement community at Sitio Dueg, Barangay Maasin, Municipality of San Clemente, Tarlac. Back in 1991, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales forced the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Aeta tribesmen that had lived near the volcano. Some of them were brought to Dueg. Of the 2,000 families originally resettled at the mountaintop location, just around 200 families now remain.

Singing up those who could be helped in Dueg (photo by Camille Quiambao) — *Singing up those they could help in Dueg (photo, compliments of Camille Quiambao)*

The Dueg Resettlement Elementary and High Schools have a combined population of some 300 students, with teachers who trek up weekly from San Clemente’s seat of government, 9 kilometers as the crow flies though twice that distance on a winding road going up the mountain with about half its length already paved. The mountaintop can be tough on its residents. The days are hot and arid, the nights chill if not freezing, and the surrounding foliage is sparse in comparison to the lush jungle that the hunting-gathering Aetas had once had down in Zambales.

The volunteers brought to the community a morning of storytelling, arts and crafts, and nutritional training for 80 children and their mothers. In the words of Ruth Martin, AGFI Executive Director: “We carry out BELP as a one-day activity in small and deserving communities … we distribute age-appropriate books to children and engage their parents in learning sessions. We also involve volunteers mostly from college organizations and institutions to facilitate storytelling, music and movement, and art activities for the children of the community. We have done BELP in communities like Payatas in Quezon City and Bayan ni Juan in Calauan, Laguna … and we are set to do more in Barangays Sacred Heart and Sangandaan in Quezon City.”

A singular transport

I joined the drive to Dueg to transport 18 volunteers, that’s 19 including me, turning it into it into a convoy of two vans, one the usual people mover provided by a charter service, a big current-model Toyota HiAce, and the second, my ride, BAIC’s new and unusual MZ40 WeVan. Appropriately, the vehicle we we’re lent for this mission, this worthy cause, is itself an award winner. Introduced just last year by Bayan Automotive Industries Corporation (yes, with the initials BAIC), an affiliate of Nissan distributor Universal Motors Corporation, the MZ40 WeVan is a sub-compact passenger van that’s already garnered industry recognition both here and in China, its country of manufacture.

Last November, the MZ40 was named the 2014-2015 Sub-Compact Van of the Year by the country’s Car Awards Group. In the same month, J.D. Power Asia Pacific released its 2014 China Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study which showed that while Chinese customers now expect more in terms of design and technology, the MZ40 (badged the Weiwang 306 internationally) came as the highest ranked in the face of such expectations and was thus named the winner of the APEAL’s mini-van segment.

Not a micro-van but maybe one for old Europe

The WeVan’s proportions fit those of what some have called “bread vans,” those compact though oddly proportioned people movers that look unusually tall and thin, like a loaf of bread you’d find bundled with a second one on the grocery shelf. In obvious deference to tight city spaces, on the WeVan’s larger size and heft, the proportions speak of something else.

Seen in images without passengers to put it in scale, it’s easy to mistake the WeVan to be as small as the Suzuki SuperCarrry and the Daihatsu HiJet, both popular micro-vans characterized by small wheels and just a second seating row, no third. The WeVan might look to have the same proportions but is significantly larger, though with curiously narrow shoulders.

With LxWxH dimensions of 4030x1636x1907mm, the WeVan is slightly shorter and narrower but also taller than vehicles of similar role such as the Toyota Avanza compact MPV with its 4140x1660x1695mm measurements, and the Suzuki APV compact van with its 4155x1655x1860mm. But, while the Avanza and APV both project a distinct Asian lineage, the WeVan seems to ironically fit a European ethos instead.

With its generously proportioned interior, the WeVan is the sort of cargo and people carrier I’d expect to see in Europe where old world roads in towns and the countryside are just wide enough for horse carriages and very, very polite motorists going in opposite directions. Not that I’ve been on any of these roads. I’ve just seen the small tracks on the big screen, often times with big-boned masterless spies and furtive fugitives behind the wheel of small getaway cars.

A full-blown people carrier

Weighing just over a ton, the WeVan is a sub-compact, a smaller interpretation of the conventional passenger van that could weigh twice as much, but with proportions and ingenious space touches that let it take on a respectable load of passengers with its three seating rows. On our trip, with eight reasonably fit individuals (that’s on a bell curve average with me on the wrong end, of course) each with light day-trip baggage, we had tipped the scales at just over half a ton, leaving a large part of the WeVan’s impressive 700kg carrying capacity for several more persons to squeeze in if needed, or for all of us to bring overnight bags if it had been a longer trip.

The seating layout, though on thin but adequate padding, is generously spaced with deep leg areas as well as expansive seat cushions deeper than the average person’s thighbone is long. These dimensions made for a comfortable slouch if and when the drone of the road lulls you to sleep, as it did for my passenger volunteers both on the trip out and the one back.

Because the seats are generously spaced, the last couch nearly touches the tailgate, yes, but with the floor laid flat atop the running gear, there’s a lot of under-seat space to complement the shrunken rear cargo area. Have your passengers pack duffels instead of rigid carry-ons and everyone will have enough nooks and crannies for stuffing in their, well, stuff.

The floor covering is of vinyl, cheesy to some but a real plus for charter service operators and harried heads of families who have to give in to their passengers wanting to take meals on the road. And, of course, there’s always the option of throwing in some rugs for that cozy touch, and for improving the acoustics.

Spartan but comfortable

I mention acoustics because the variant we had was big on utilitarian elegance—lots of exposed body metal on the inside that could reverberate with road noise as well as the engine’s throaty exclamations. This said, the interior noise, though noticeable, was not oppressive, at least not in the rear passenger cabin where, as I mentioned, each one of them had managed to doze off during the trip, and twice too.

And, on the hot day that the Saturday had turned out to be, the air-conditioning also made it easy to nod off. The WeVan’s relatively small engine was matched with an A/C compressor impressively strong enough to cool down the large cabin space, particularly with air being circulated through ducted vents with their own blower and controls for the rear.

There’re no repeater controls up front for the rear blower but a stretch up and back to iron out the kinks in tired shoulders put those in back within easy reach of the driver. But I’d have to say that the cooling capacity on that A/C seemed to come at the price of a rather noisy compressor. Still, the rhythmic thumping whenever the compressor engaged could’ve been due to excessive refrigerant charging. Just a balancing issue, is what I’m saying.

A svelte, stable platform

Somewhat unique in chassis layout, the compact WeVan seems engineered to be a stable bulk carrier (with significant people and cargo carrying capacity) capable of long haul intercity drives. Although the WeVan is shorter than either an Avanza or an APV, its 1,150kg curb weight makes it slightly heavier than the former with its 1,090kg, and almost as heavy as the latter with its 1,165kg. And that grounding weight is set on a wheelbase that’s longest among the group with the WeVan’s 2,700mm versus the Toyota MPV’s 2,655mm and the Suzuki van’s 2,625mm.

With the WeVan’s front wheels almost flush up against the fascia, the front engine, rear wheel drive vehicle benefits from an engine mounting that’s actually more of a mid-front arrangement. Instead of sitting atop both, the driver rides behind the front wheels and on top of the engine compartment. While this explains the higher than usual engine noise heard up front, with the driver’s bum weighing down the engine cover, it makes for excellent steering with significant rear weight bias (a front-rear weight distribution of 44:56 judging by recommended tire pressure variances) to keep the drive wheels well planted even if the driver makes the mistake of braking in a curve and foolishly flirting with lift-off oversteer.

IMG_20150306_170415 — *220kpas on the front tires converts to 32psi, 280kpas on the rear to 40psi*

Put together, the long wheelbase and the mid-front engine location puts the compact, city-friendly WeVan on a stable platform that steadfastly refuses to seesaw left and right, that stays rigidly upright when weaving through city traffic or even when going out and quickly back into lane when overtaking on the highway. The unusually long wheelbase with full-sized sedan-grade 170/70R14 tires on a sub-compact van chassis, puts passengers on a long span bed that packs enough leverage to dampen road shocks at speed, and atop large high profile tires that have the diameter to glide over small potholes.

*Put under the front hood for easy access are the fluid reservoirs, but the engine is elsewhere*

Although the long wheelbase does make for a slightly bigger turning radius (5.2m versus the Avanza’s 4.7m and the APV’s 4.9m), it’s still tight enough to negotiate u-turns on main roads. And, frankly, the marginally less sensitive steering, makes for a heavier feel that doesn’t tie the driver’s shoulder muscles into tight knots on a long drive … it didn’t stiffen up my upper back on the hours-long drive to San Clemente, and that was mighty nice.

An efficient engine at the right speed

After the drive to ferry the MZ40 WeVan north from BAIC’s Makati office to Quezon City in off-hours traffic on a Friday, then to the assembly point near Tomas Morato for a before-dawn roll-out on Saturday, and finally to the Petron station on NLEX at Marilao Bulacan to top off, the van’s tank took all of 2.66liters of petrol to refill. I was dumbfounded. That’s a total of 61km in light to moderate traffic at a consumption rate of just 22.9km/l (definitely worth an exclamation point)!

IMG_20150309_110128 — *The compact 1.2l inline-four underneath the front seats*

A remarkable number and one that’s explained by the WeVan’s 1.2L multipoint-injected inline-four engine having Continuous Variable Valve Timing (CVVT) technology with solenoid actuators constantly adjusting engine tune through changes in load and commanded revolutions. There’s a caveat though. The fuel-saving settings appear to compensate only while the engine is revving at or below 3000rpm.

And, with those turns pushing a full passenger load, the WeVan can cruise only at 80km/h, maybe 85, tops. Good enough for a relaxed, diligently steady drive at your own pace. Not so when you need to stay in trail position behind a big diesel Toyota HiAce that cruises efficiently at or even above 100km/h. Pushed up to a 100km/h cruise in fifth gear, the WeVan’s engine has to spool up to around 3,500rpm bringing it closer to its peak 85hp at 6,000rpm and making fuel consumption shoot up dramatically to a typical 13km/l on the highway.

Fast enough if you can spare the fuel

It didn’t help when, on a particular stretch of multi-lane highway, an overtake attempt put me abreast with another HiAce (not the one I was in convoy with) that chose to speed up and prevent me from pulling ahead and tucking back into the outer lane. The road ahead was open with my convoy lead nowhere in sight so I floored the accelerator to see if we can pull ahead of our curious neighbour.

And we did! Even with eight people on board, the WeVan gradually accelerated to its published top speed of 130km/h, the engine revving to just over 4,000rpm, sounding throaty but not strained. The fully loaded van remained firm on pavement, no shimmies to alarm or even indicate that we were topped out, and with the wind noise from the outside not at all becoming intrusive.

The WeVan can definitely speed up in a pinch, with a power curve that has substantial reserve at the top end, though it sure throws your fuel plan out the door.

A drivetrain meant for full loads

When we were several car lengths ahead of the challenging HiAce, I put the WeVan into neutral to get a feel for how well its transmission was matched to the engine. Lo and behold, putting the van in a coast didn’t result in a feeling of letting up but rather caused this sensation of being released into momentary, momentum-charged acceleration. It seemed like the top gear wasn’t even getting the most out of the engine’s peak torque of 80lb-ft at 4,000rpm.

It turns out that this is par for the course given the WeVan’s specs. Its 5-speed manual transmission has gears that are all shorter than on typical petrol engines with reduction ratios that average 15% more across all speeds, and a fifth gear that’s not an overdrive but instead has a 1:1 direct drive ratio. With the shorter gears and relatively high rev shiftpoints at around 3,000rpm, up-shifts are typical at 10, 30, 50 and then at 65km/h to finally hit fifth gear–shift points more typical of small to medium diesels than on small petrol-fuelled fours, albeit at twice the rpm’s.

Obviously, the WeVan is conservatively geared to be a full-time hauler with some engineering choices deliberately made to keep a constant power reserve for carrying its full rated capacity. My advice is to keep things steady and middlin’ fast with any load and at any gear. The WeVan is more of a little van that could, not something to be hot-rodded into a low-riding hipster.

All in all

The compact WeVan was an ideal transport even for that semi-long drive out to San Clemente. It felt like it could handle even more in terms of load and distance. It can be miserly with the petrol if your timetable allows it. And, though its appointments aren’t plush, it’s comfortable enough for my passengers who surely needed to save their energy, and then regain it, on that hot excellent day when us city slickers visited the no longer nomadic but still noble Aeta of Dueg.

—o00—

A field note

From the wikipedia entry on the Aeta people: “The life expectancy at birth of the Aeta is just 16.5 years, with only a third of children surviving to adulthood at 15 years at which point life expectancy is still only 27.3 years. Young women reach full adult height (average 140 cm (4 ft 7 in)) at age 12 or 13. The most thorough longitudinal study done of any Aeta group (or any ethnic community) is available on the Web.”

A final note

This time the Adarna Group Foundation helped 80 kids and their folks, would that it had been more with the simplest of items—a book, some cookies, maybe some pencils and paper to help out—making an immeasurable difference for each and every child.

If you can help, the Adarna Group Foundation is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/adarnagroupfoundation, and on the Web at large at http://www.agfi.com.ph/.

Real World Drive

the road on a news beat

Category: Drives

A variable vehicle: the BAIC MZ45 WeVan

Bring a Tata to a truck fight

The BYD L3: Prime Example of Why China Carmakers Are Banking on DCTs

An Outreach Drive to Dueg with BAIC’s MZ40 WeVan