Motor Road Test No. 1/68 - Sunbeam Rapier

Going in Style.

Lavishly equipped and very comfortable; lively performance and above average economy; sound handling, roadholding and brakes, but a jittery back axel.
A year ago we said of the now obsolete Rapier V in a test report that it was a bit "long in the tooth" and "lagging well behind fashion", and that it had "the worst seating arrangement" among the Rootes saloon range. Times have changed. The new Rapier, something of a dark horse until now as none have been sold or even released to the Press, has emerged as a fasionable, comfortable and modern successor in conception and execution. The marked superiority over its predecessor is even more conspicuous than the £250 increase in price - a justifiable increase, as you get so much more for your money than before. Even though the £1,200 price tag puts it among some pretty stiff opposition - both British and Continental - the Rapier holds its own well as an appealing competetive car with a formidable number of credits.

This is the last predictable addition to the "Arrows" - the code name for the Minx/Gazelle/Hunter/Vogue/Sceptre variations in acending order of price. The Rapier tops them all as the most distinctive of the sextet and the only one with its own very individual styling. The two-door body with windows that wind down to make pillarless open sides is a configuration inherited from previous Rapiers but the Fastback styling is new and associates the car more closely with the conception of a grand tourer - a role the Rapier plays far better than many other so-called GT cars. Its acceleration brisk, its stride in overdrive (a standard fitting) fast yet fairly relaxed and quiet; it has four very comfortable seats, sufficient luggage space for four people and a splendid observation turret cabin for sight-seeing; it will travel from Dover to Warsaw with only one stop for fuel and do a long Continental tour between routine servicings; its heating and ventilation are outstanding and the interior fittings and decor not only lavish but very well finished. The precision of the controls - especially the pedals and gearchange - deserve high praise too. By any standards it does pretty well in all these departments.

The use of radial-ply tyres and stiffer springs has improved the roadholding and handling to a level where both are above average, if not outstanding. But the wheels can still tramp and patter on a rough surface, emphasizing the limitations of what can only be called by current standards rather primitive axle location. The firmer springs do not seem to have made the ride any worse, though.

It isn't often that we get unanimous opinions about test cars so perhaps the most telling praise we can give to the Rapier is to record that all eight of our staff who drove it liked it very much.

Performance and economy

The Rapier uses the same 88 B.H.P. twin Stromberg version of the familiar 1,725 c.c. engine that the Sceptre we tested recently. Slightly greater weight (all that glass no doubt) is compensated for by lower gearing so that the acceleration of the two cars is virtually identical with the Rapier, because of its lower drag factor, just having the edge at the top end. Even so, it will still not quite lap the MIRA banked track at 100 m.p.h. though it needs little more than a slight tailwind to exceed three figures in one direction and Rootes engineers say that they have reached 113 m.p.h. on an assisted run on the autobahn.

For a rather heavy 1.7-litre four seater, the Rapier has pretty lively acceleration; for a £1,200 grand tourer with sporting inclinations it is not exceptional compared with some of the competition. Apart from a tingling vibration felt through the pedals and gearlever at certain revs, the engine spins very freely and smoothly up to the red-line limit of 6,000 r.p.m. though the 4.22:1 final drive makes spirited driving just a little fussy in the lower gears. Even overdrive top is not that long-legged (19.4 m.p.h per 1,000 r.p.m compared with the Sceptre's 21.8) though it is high enough to allow a fairly relaxed and quiet cruising speed of 90 m.p.h. (4,640 r.p.m.) without taxing the engine one little bit. The booming vibration that limits top gear pulling to about 25 m.p.h. on other cars in this Rootes family has been lowered to below 20 m.p.h. on the Rapier (and even then it does not feel as harsh) so, even without using the gearbox the car pulls away smartly at low revs.

Since Stromberg side-draught carburetters were adopted for these Rootes engines there has been no trace of the old problem of getting the engine to start when hot. When cold, it usually fired promptly though unless the choke is pushed half home immediately, the revs soar up (because of an interconnection with the throttle) to a level that sounds unsuitable for bearings that have partially drip dried overnight. Until the engine has reached working temperature, it is inclined to hesitate and cough when pulling on a wide throttle at lowish revs without plenty of choke to enrich the mixture.

We feared that the low gearing would make the petrol consumption rather heavy, but as the charts show, the 25.1 m.p.g. overall and 30 m.p.g. touring puts the Rapier up with the leaders in its class. Again the car's low drag prevents the consumption curve from falling as sharply as, for instance, the Sceptre's, which is a good 12% better at 30 m.p.h. but virtually the same at 90 m.p.h. in both top and overdrive. The 30 m.p.g. upper limit would allow outstanding range of well over 450 miles with a full (16 gallon) tank of four-star petrol - the cheapest needed to avoid pinking.

Transmission

Overdrive is a standard fitting on the Rapier so, except on the alternative three-speed automatic, you get six gears to play with. In practice, though, there are only five ratios as overdrive third and and direct top are virtually identical. It could be argued that as the gearchange is so good and the shift into overdrive rather jerky (unless the clutch is dipped to cushion the engagement), overdrive third is a superfluous gear. It was not used very much by us. The rigid medium-length gearlever, surmouted by a smooth palm-shaped knob, moves easily and positively through the gate though the efficient synchromesh sometimes obstructs the smoothness of the movement, particularly into first and second. As other less powerful 1725s from the range have managed to start on a 1-in-3 hill, it was predictable that the Rapier would romp away like a mountain goat up such a slope. A splendid car, therefore, for Alpine work with a gear for every gradient and plently of power - and clutch bite - in reserve.

Although the 32 lb. push necessary to de-clutch does not represent much effort, it is a measure of the current emphasis on light controls, when clutch pressures of 15 to 20 lb. are not uncommon, that the Rapier's must be reckoned as medium- weight. It engages very smoothly, though, and takes up the drive progressively, not in one instant bite, and feels, like most of the other controls on this car, refined and well engineered. There is very little noise from any part of the transmission.

Handling and brakes

Safe predictable handling and good roadholding make the Rapier a pleasant car to drive, rather than an exhilarating one. The steering is rather heavy for parking and hauling the car round back-double town routes but otherwise light enough and reasonably positive. The marked contrast in "feel" between the rather springy castor action under normal cornering and the light, detached sensation that comes in progressively on the threshold of a front wheel slide allows the car to be driven safely near the limit of adhesion on a wet road. Except when cornering hard under power, it is the front wheels, rather than the back ones, that are likely to break away first when the understeer becomes excessive. The radial-ply tyres (Dunlop SP41) certainly give more adhesion, particularly in the wet, than the cross-ply covers of other cars in the range and the back axel does not feel quite so lively on rough corners either, presumably because of the harder springs and damper settings. Even so, its occasional side-step still feels a bit unruly compared with the disciplined behaviour of some better located live axels - notably Vauxhall's on the new Victor. Just as it is easy to detect and correct (by easing off) a front-wheel slide, so breakaway at the back can be instantly corrected, emphasizing that, although the cornering powers may not be exceptional, the car is well balanced and tidily responsive to the driver's demands. Neither tyre squeal nor body roll cause any embarrassment or discomfort and the car feels stable at speed in a gusty wind.

We could not get our Tapley to record much more than 0.9g before the wheels locked up and prevented a higher reading, but otherwise the brakes are exellent. An effortless push of 40 lb. will suffice for most emergencies and half this pressure for routinestops as the servo assistance is quite strong. Neither the fade test nor the watersplash had any measurable effect on the brakes; the handbrake was also strong, securing the car firmly on a 1-in-3 hill.

Comfort and Controls

The Rapier is a very comfortable car to ride in. Although the back wheels can patter when cornering or accelerating on a rough surface, inducing a rather juddery ride, most secondary bumps like man-hole covers and asphalt patches are smothered quite well and extremely quietly; there is very little of the low-speed thump normally associated with radial-ply tyres on sharp ridges. Coarse surfaces like granite chippings are also covered very quiety. Some indifferent secondary roads show up the firmness of the damping, though, vertical movement of the body sometimes being checked rather abruptly. But on most British roads the Rapier rides pretty smoothly.

Initially, the deeply contoured front seats feel a little short in the cushion, especially to tall people, but a prominent thigh bolster seems to provide ample support on a long run. Generous adjustment for reach, a telescopic column and reclining squabs ensure a very relaxed and comfortable driving position for most people. The snug, enveloping seats - softly padded but not too soggy or lacking in support - are exellent. You can adopt a spendid extended arm stance but the steering is not really light enough to make such a position very practical except for main road driving. With the steering column extended the wheel is rather high (ideally, the column should be adjustable for height too) and the stalk controls beyond fingertip reach.

The pedals are not offset (as in the old Rapier) and the brake and organ-type throttle pedal are arranged to make heel and toeing easy. The splendid footrest to the left of the clutch in the Minx and Hunter has been spoilt (as it has on the Sceptre) by putting a prominent dip-switch button in the middle of it to replace the normal hand dipper. A detail change but a retrogressive one. As always, some people did not like the position of the handbrake to the right of the driver's seat even though it is easy to reach. Others had no objections at all.

Viewed from the driver's seat, the screen pillars are thick enough to mask, say, a pedestrian on a traffic island and the high sill of the back window makes it difficult to see out when reversing into a tight gap. Otherwise, the big area of glass gives everyone a panoramic view.

Getting into the back is scarcely more difficult than stepping into the front; the front seats (not just the squabs) tip forward - and stay forward without having to be held - after releasing a big hook-lock that keeps them on the floor in a crash; a good safety feature. This leaves plenty of space to step into through the wide doors. The back seat is very comfortable for the two adults it was shaped to hold and a third can even sit in the middle, perched in considerable discomfort on a dividing ridge and with his head probly firmly against the roof. Even though his fellows on each side sit lower in shaped wells, there is some danger, if they are tall, of their heads hitting the top on a bad bump - something the designners seem to acknowledge by stripping full-width padding across the most likely contact area.

The exellent heating-and-ventilation system is virtually identical with that of the saloons, with swivelling eye-ball cold air vents at each end of the facia supplementing a powerful and controlable heater/demister. The only difference is the extractor arrangement behind: instead of side vents on the rear pillars, slots beneath the back window expel stale air - a little noisily at speed for back seat passengers. Although the throughput is a little less than in the saloons, we were never bothered by the fastback window misting up in the cold, wet weather. On the outside, it does collect snow and rain drops rather easily though very little dirty spray from the back wheels finds its way on to the glass. December is not the time to enjoy the completely open pillarless sides when all the windows are down, but we know from past experience with the earlier Rapier how pleasant it can be on in hot weather. In view of the complicated sealing problem inherent with such a window layout (which includes opening quarter-lights rather than the fixed panes that most of us prefer) wind noise has been kept down to quite a modest level, though some people complained of a mild booming resonance around 70 m.p.h. There is no difficulty in hearing the radio at 85 m.p.h. The lights - standard four-lamp Lucas units - are good enough to allow fast driving at night on an unfamiliar road, though they are not outstanding.

Fittings and furniture

All the instrument dials - seven of them including a clock, ammeter, and oil-pressure gauge - are compressed into a very purposeful-looking recessed panel ahead of the driver. The speedometer is calibrated in 10 m.p.h. and k.p.h. steps and has trip and total mileage recorders. Although they are not labled there is little possibility of confusing the minor controls as there are not many of them and the shapes are different. But if you have the seat well back it needs a long arm to reach the facia switches even though the choke and two-speed wiper/washer knob protrude well forward (though not beyond the recess) on stalks. Rocker switches for the two-speed fan and panel lights flank the heater controls - still, on the test car, sporting the rather nasty sharp-edged knobs of the original Hunter rather than the smoother ones of the Mk. II car. The big mirror (too big, said some drivers because it obscures the view on left hand corners) has a neat push/pull dipping arrangement and the thick, soft sun visors can be used for the side windows as well as the screen. The window winders feel a bit odd as they are wound backwards to open but the door handles, which you automatically clasp with the door pull/arm rest, are neat and handy. There are two keys for the various locks but as they are identical in shape you are bound by the law of averages to pick the wrong one every time. An infuriating arrangement.

The central divide, which makes clambering across the front of the car from the opposite door difficult, houses two ash trays, a cigar lighter and a useful padded oddments box. At the front, there is also a facia locker and a shelf underneath so there is plenty of room for maps and books. Behind, the capacious deck beneath the back window has been sensibly hollowed out to prevent luggage from sliding off. Although the big petrol tank is fitted between the boot and back seat, the extra length of the body has allowed a boot size similar to that of the saloons, while the low lip makes loading rather easier. Other standard equipment includes twin reversing lights that are automatically switched on by the gearlever, grab handles for the passengers, a central roof light that can be lit from any seat, automatic locker and boot lights, and Britax seat belts.

The lavish decor inside is certainly one of the Rapier's major attractions; most of us were pleased to find that the traditional "veneer of luxury" - timber panneling - had been abandoned in favour of more functional, modern one-piece mouldings. Some people may find the door panels excessively fussy but the overall impression of quality is undeniable.

Servicing and accessibility

The rather heavy bonnet is released from inside the car and is supported on a folding stay. Underneath, the canted engine - an attractive modern-looking piece of machinery if you have an eye for such things - is very easy to reach; so are its ancillaries. Servicing, to the schedule summarized below, is needed every 5,000 miles. On the saloons, the spare wheel steals some room at the back of the boot; on the Rapier, it is slung out of the way in a cradle underneath. Turning a screw with a wheel brace drops the cradle down - the wheel brace being one of the bare essentials contained in the toolkit.

Maintenance summary