Before the big bang, it is argued, matter and antimatter existed in equal amounts. But for some unexplained reason, matter gradually got the upper hand and the stars and planets were born. Had anitimatter prevailed, the universe would be empty and vacuous, and populated by things called emmas.
Have you ever studied antimatter? It involves big sums and a lot of speculation. Antimatter has a transitory nature - now you see it, now you don't - and therefore it has to be observed during events that last only for a few nanoseconds: look away and you've missed all the action. But the French have managed to find a way of adding some substance to matter and antimatter, to the extent that they can be seen with the naked eye, although, as in quantum mechanics, the matter still has a tendency to pull away rapidly from the antimatter.
To avoid confusion, the French have used non-scientific names to identify one from the other: matter is called the Twingo GT, and antimatter, the C2. I have observed them both, and can tell you that the Twingo GT is everything that the C2 is not. The Twingo GT moves quickly, is full of substance, and attracts attention, whereas the C2 is much slower, has almost no character, and generally goes un-noticed.
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When the car stops, so does the engine |
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But there is a version of the C2 that does have one major benefit, which Citroen calls Stop and Start. I suppose that's two benefits really, but one without the other is not a lot of use. Cars frequently waste fuel for no good purpose: that much is obvious every time you stop in traffic. Someone once worked out that cars in a city like London are stationary for around 25 per cent of the time, yet they continue to burn fuel and pump out CO2 as if they were on the move. But with Stop and Start, all that wastage is eliminated. When the car stops, so does the engine, and when it's time to move, it starts up again - more or less automatically.
The Stop and Start system on the C2 works in conjunction with SensoDrive, Citroen's two-pedal hybrid transmission. As the car comes to a halt, the engine cuts out, and as soon as the driver releases the footbrake, it starts up again. And because SensoDrive automatically selects first gear when the car is stationary, the driver has to do nothing, other than, er...stop and start. A powerful starter/alternator ensures that the engine restarts immediately - in less time than it takes to move your foot from the brake to the accelerator.
The benefits are obvious and quantifiable. On the urban cycle, the 1.4-litre (petrol) Stop and Start C2 delivers a 16 per cent improvement in fuel economy when compared to a regular 1.4-litre model. And this with a more powerful engine - the Stop and Start has a 90 bhp engine whereas the normal 1.4 car has only a 75 bhp engine. Moreover, the 90 horsepower Stop and Start delivers a much better urban fuel consumption than even the 1.1-litre, 61 bhp model. The extra-urban figures for the three models are similar, but the Stop and Start's urban advantage means that it offers the best combined fuel consumption of the entire C2 range, excepting the 1.4 HDi diesel model. Needless to say, the Stop and Start also delivers the lowest CO2 rating of all C2 petrol models.
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