TRIUMPH 2000 SALOON

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30447, 22 May 1964, Page 11

TRIUMPH 2000 SALOON

Q'HE Triumph 2000 is a difficult car to classify. In size, it falls between the medium-sized class and the big cars; in overall performance it falls between good and excellent, and in luxury and comfort, together with completeness of specification, it falls somewhere between very good and outstanding. The 2000 is powered by a two-litre six-cylinder engine giving 90 b.h.p. at 5000 r.p.m. and driving through a fourspeed all-syncromesh gearbox or an automatic transmission. Suspension is independent all round, and disc brakes are fitted on the front wheels. The brakes are servo assisted. The version tested had a manual transmission. Under the bonnet all service points seem readily accessible, and at the other end of the car the boot is large without being huge. A considerable amount of room

is taken up by the spare wheel. The boot is fully carpeted and the spare wheel is fitted with a cover. The four-door body Is slightly more than 14ft sin long and sft sin wide. Dual headlamps are fitted, and an excellent feature is the flashing indicator repeaters on the side posts. Thus drivers approaching from the side can see if the indicators are operating.

Comfort Behind the wheel, the driver’s first impression is of the exceptional comfort of the front seats, and then of the good visibility all round. The pedals are well-placed, the stubby floor-mounted gearlever is within easy reach, the seat gives fair lateral support, and the seat back is fully adjustable for rake. This allows almost any driver to select a most comfortable driving position, but at the same time even tall passengers would find there was still plenty of knee room in the back. The handbrake is between the seats, and through the wheel the driver can see two deeply-recessed circular dials carrying a 110 m.p.h. speedometer, odometer and tripmeter in one, and fuel, temperature gauges and an ammeter in the other. Between these are four warning lights, for low fuel level, low oil pressure, choke, and ignition. On top of the dash are a further three lights for indicators (two) and headlight main beam.

Controls Wipers, washers and lights are controlled by piano-type switches which are very easy to use, and the choke has a knob The cigarette lighter is on the right-hand side of the steering wheel where it is quite out of reach of a passenger, and on the test car the indicator lever, which also flashes the headlights, was on the left-hand side of the steering column. Publicity photographs show this lever on the other side of the column, and this would appear to be more logical, allowing the use of the left hand to change gear while if necessary the right hand could steer and flick the indicators at the same time. The horn is operated by pressing part of the steering wheel spokes, and is not as simple as a horn ring. However this latter might hide the instruments. The horn, as is only too common on modern cars, is not nearly powerful enough.

Controls are well within the reach of the driver, however, including the heater quadrant. The heater fan was so silent it was impossible to hear until the engine was switched off, and the engine itself was outstandingly silent. There is a separate heater duct to the rear of the car.

The wipers swept the screen well, covering a good area, and did not lift at speed. There was no opportunity to try the headlights. The dash is padded and finished in a most attractive veneer and there are wood cappings on the doors. This and the high standard of the rest of the trim makes the interior of the car most attractive. There is a large glovebox. Very Smooth On the road, the immediate impression is of the outstanding smoothness and silence of the engine, the absence of road noise, and the extremely good ride. The 2000 gives the ride and silence of the better American cars without the sometimes associated disadvantages of inferior handling and “floating” on some surfaces.

The brakes are a little overpowerful at low speed, the very lightest touch being needed, but over 30 m.p.h. they are excellent. The test car’s brakes squealed loudly when firmly applied over 40 m.p.h., but this was probably caused by misalignment of the pads. Acceleration is brisk but smooth, and the car is obviously capable of easy cruising close to its claimed maximum of more than 90 miles an hour.

The gear-shift is short in movement, smooth, and the synchro is unbeatable. The clutch is light and positive, the accelerator progressive. The steering is not exceptionally light at town speeds, but it does not become much heavier for parking, although the lock is very good. At speed the steering is direct, with adequate castor action, but some road rumble is fed back to the driver’s hands on some surfaces.

It took far too many turns of the winder to lower the windows. Visibility on the move is good, but the rear vision mirror is far too small. Handling

The handling can be summed up as a very consistent understeer up to very high

cornering forces. It is good on both tight and sweeping tarmac corners, and could probably be adjusted by altering tyre pressures for those drivers preferring rather less understeer.

The understeer is strong enough to make some wheeltwitching necessary during fast cornering, but noit strong enough to be disconcerting. Certainly the handling is very safe. Roll angle is not great and the .wheels always seem to stay in contact with the ground,' even under really hard cornering. The ride is excellent over all types of surfarce and this is complemented by the excellence of the seating. The brakes smelled but did not fade on the hill descent and the handbrake proved capable of locking the rear wheels easily at 30 m.p.h. To sum up, the Triumph 2000 is an outstanding fiveseater giving a very high standard of comfort and appointments combined with an exceptionally smooth, silent and powerful 2-litre engine, a good gearbox, good handling and an excellent ride. There can be no doubt that for its price of £1473 (£515 sterling) it offers value very close to the best available in the class and price range. It

is a car that has much to recommend it

Technical

General equipment includes heater, moulded pile carpets, cigarette lighter, wood cappings on door and .waist,* attachments for safety harness, sealed beam headlamps, direction indicator repeater lamps 'fin side posts, polished aluminium sill plates, tool roll.

Dimensions: "Length 14ft s}in, width sft sln, ground clearance (laden) 7in, turning circle 32ft, front seat, effective, width 50in, front head room 35in.

Capacities: Fuel tank 14 gallons, engine (drain and refill) 7 pints, luggage boot capacity 13 cu. ft.

' Engine: Six cylinders, bore 74.7 mm., stroke 76 mm., capacity 1998 c.c., maximum power 90 b.h.p. at 5000 r.p.m.

Gearbox: Four forward speeds and reverse. Synchromesh on all forward gears. Remote control gear lever centrally mounted. Diaphragm clutch. Suspension.— Front: Independent suspension with single lower wishbones arid combined with coil spring and telescbpic damper units. Rear: Semitrailing arm independent suspension with coi l springs controlled by telescopic direct acting hydraulic dampens. Mounted on rubber insulated sub-frame with rubber spring .insulation.

Brakes: Caliper disc brakes on front wheels. Drum brakes on rear wheels. Direct acting servo.' .

. Steering: Rack and pinion. Two spoke steering wheel 16Jin dia., 4 turns lock to lock.