AUTOCAR 22 Oerobe! 1970 requirements. Our test car, now some seven This is where the FF 11 really excels, Even on a months and 9.000 miles old, was built before damp and greasy surface, the odds are that it the introduction of these latest changes. and is will achieve exacrly the same times as in the to be the subject of a long-term report in ne:>:t dry, and with absolutely no fuss or drama. Its week's issue. superb traction really has to be e:>:perienced to DJBJEST be believed. Even on loose gravel. stalling the PerfOfmance convenor on full throttle before releasing the The big vee-8, aided by its automatic-choke brakes, there is rarely a trace of wheelspin. JENSEN FF 11 Damp and greasy London streets even fail to Carter carburettor. starts instantly from cold. but sometimes stalls almost immediately catch it out. We can think of no other (6.276 c.c.) afterwards. It subsequently restarts without production car. let alone one with 330 bhp trouble to settle down to a reliable and under its bonnet, that can remotely compare AT-A-GLANCE: Luxury 6T capable of with the FF 11 in this respect. carrying four adults. Chrysler vee-eight an consistent idle. Hot-starting, on the other hand, is sometimes embarrassingly difficult, A 10 Even by luxury car standards, it is an impressive and refined perfonner. Excep­ minute stop in hot weather can mean anything astonishingly effortless car. When cruising at tionally effortless high-speed cruising. up to 20 sec "cranking" before the engine around 120 mph (122 mph on the clock), the Ferguson all-wheel-control gives remark­ fires. There is. however. no trace of fuel power train is remarkably unobtrusive. Wind able traction and excellent handling. Anti­ vaporization. something we have often noise, too. is modest. Allied to excellent lock braking still controva,.ial. but ensures e:>:perienced with large American-engined cars straight-line stability and first-class brakes, control during panic stopping. Very good during performance testing at MIRA. The these qualities make for a quite exceptional power steering. Air-conditioning leav.s provision of a pair of electric cooling fans helps journey car. Yet it is just as much at home on scope for improvement. a great deal in this connection. Controlled by a winding country roads or crowded city traffic. thermostatic switch, they are unusual in not Inevitably, one has to pay for performance of being wired through the IgnitIOn. This this order from a car weighing more than 2 tons arrangement undoubtedly helps to keep down (41.1 cwt, laden as tested). Overall petrol MANUFACTURER under-bonnet temperatures during the consumption during the 1AOO mile test period JaRsen Motors Lld.. Kelvin Way, West Brom­ heat-soak period immediately following (entirely divorced from the long-term appraisal) wich. Staffordshire switching off. but the considerable noise from was 11.9 mpg. Moderate driving on a journey PRICES the fans (they frequently operate under these to North Wales returned 12.2 mpg, but we Basic £5.900 Os Od circumstances) often e:>:cites comment from could not approach the calculated (DIN) figure Purchase Tax £1.805 15 5d bystanders. From inside the car, however. the of 14.8 mpg. Consumption, in fact, seems little Front seat belts ............ standard equipment noise is modest unless a window is lowered . affected by the way the car is driven and around Total (in G.B.l £7,705 ls 5d Air-conditioning (an optional edra, as 12 mpg would seem a typical figure. With a 20 previously mentioned), wider rims and tyres, gallon tank, this gives an abSOlute range of 240 EXTRAS (ine. P.T.) and slightly more fuel all contribute to an miles, not a lot for a car of this calibre. On the Air conditioning £220 3d * increase of just over 2 cwt in kerb weight credit side, the fuel gauge and low-level *Air horns. £16 11d compared with the FF tested by Autocs! in warning light (3 gallons remaining) are both Fog or spot light (Cibie) 7d £8 1968 (Mk I model-mpol't published 28 March exceptionally accurate, enabling most of the £19 6d White wall tyres 1968). In the form tested, the FF 11 scales 37.8 tank's contents to be used with safety. .Sun-dym glass £50 11d cwt, 51.6 per cent of it on the front wheels, Reference to the comparison tables shows that Static safety belts in fear £10 48,4 per cent on the rears. Despite the the fuel consumption. in fact. is similar to that Special upholstery £48 2d '" additional mechanism associated with the drive of other cars in this class. Oil consumption £65 6d Special paint to the FF's front wheels. this compares during the test was negligible. DUO-lone paint ... £26 2d favourably with the 50.7-49.3 distribution of *Voxson radio and stereo the Interceptor tested last year (AutOCS!, 4 £71 16s tape player 2d September 1969) largely because of the FF's 4 Automatic Gearbox in. longer wheelbase and slightly more rearward Chrysler's TorQueflite transmission is a PRICE AS TESTED £8.064 3s 8d engine-gearbox disposition particularly smooth unit. Our only criticism concems its reluctance to kick-down on PERFORMANCE SUMMARY Minor engine changes have raised the peak part-throttle. One can, of course, change down Mean ma:>:imum speed 137 mph of the power curve some 5 bhp and 400rpm, manually, but some of our testers thought the Standing start i-mile 15.8 sec but the FF Il as tested has a slightly less selector lever a little too high and too far back. 0-60 mph 1 sec favourable power-weight ratio than the earlier 8. Full-throttle kick-down into intermediate is 30-70 mph through gears 7,1 sec car. This, together with marginally higher possible at speeds below 66 mph and into low Typical fuel consumption 12 mpg gearing. may well account for a slightly less at 28 mph. Unlike soma automatic gearboxes, Miles per tankful 240 brisk step-off. However, the 0-50 mph time {6.2 sec) is the same for both, and the FF 11 has holding intermediate does not interfere with a slight advantage at higher speeds. Its top kick-down operation into low (and subsequent changing back into intermediate). ITH its sophisticated four-wheei-drive speed, too, is better {137 mph mean, 141 mph transmission and anti-lock braking, the best, compared with the earlier car's 130 mph). W Jensen FF 11 is undoubtedly one of the To a considerable extent. this is due to the AII-wheel-<:ontrol most technically advanced- cars in current Dunlop SP radials having appreciably less A great deal of the FF Il"s magic stems from production. Although the FF has remained rolling resistance than the RS5 cross-plies the Ferguson system of all-wheel-control, now unchanged fundamentally since its debut in formerly used. handled by GKN. 8riefly, what it does is divide October 1966, numerous detail improvements As our comparison tables show, there are engine torque between front and rear wheels in have been made since then. The appearance of cars capable of out-performing the FF 11, but a 37 :63 ratio (in this particular instclnce).. the FF 11 in October 1969 marked a significant they are few and lar between. We must also Furthermore, it allows the front wheels to step in the model's development. New features point out that it may well be possible to better overrun the rears by a maximum of 16 per cent. included e:>:tensive interior restyling. improved our through-the-gears times by holding low and and the rears to overrun the fronts by a seating, low-profile radial-ply tyres on wider intermediate gears to 5,500 rpm or so. maximum of 5 per cent. This arrangement rims, higher overall gearing, greater fuel Although revs of this order are within the allows the degree of freedom between front capacity, a larger radiator, improved heating, engine's capacity (the FF can exceed 5,400 and rear wheels necessary to prevent full air-conditioning as an optional e:>:tra, plus a rpm in top), we chose to observe the transmission wind-up, rapid tyre wear and host of lesser items. The rear suspension was tachometer red-line {5,100 rpm) during the handling peCUliarities, but ensures that also modified slightly and the Selectaride acceleration runs. Leaving the transmission to optimum traction is available at all times. dampers dropped in favour of conventional its own devices, with the selector lever in 0, The system is only partly effective in reverse; fi:>:ed-setting ones. results in earlier changes (at 4,500 rpm torque is still divided between front and rear in As described in the 24 September issue of indicated). The acceleration suffers slightly as a the same proportions, but the one-way clutches Autoc8!, there are still more improvements for reSUlt. an additional 1.3 sec being taken to which control the permissible speed 1971. Among them are improved refrigeration, reach 100 mph. There is usually such a differentials are inoperative. This means that with a larger evaporator and a pair of additional splendid reserve of power that holding in this one should avoid situations where the car has facia outlets. The seats have b.een further way is quite unnecessary. to be reversed up a particularly slippery improved and the instruments made easier to A spectacular performance on paper is one gradient. Apart from the Ferguson contrf'1 unit, read. There are also a number of new safety thing-using it under give-and-take conditions a Salisbury Powr-Lok limited-slip differential is features.