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I’ve decided to open a tyre shop which only sells 20-inch wheels. This stroke of genius, which should also be infinitely more profitable than motoring journalism, came to me while testing the umpteenth car with ultra-low profile rubber. This Audi RS5 Coupé was in a string of seven cars I tested with 20-inch tyres.
Did you know that the Ford Focus is the best-handling hatchback (“…in the world”), American cars can’t go around corners, every petrolhead needs to own an Alfa and the Nürburgring is 21km long? If you believe any of this, and that an Audi TT is only for air hostesses, then you suffer from something I call “Clarksonitis”.
Put your money where your mouth is. Go on, we all chat and discuss our favourite things, dreaming about A or recommending B to a friendly neighbor but how often do we take the plunge ourselves? I’m more than happy to lead by example and hereby proclaim that I would gladly buy an Audi A5 Coupé.
Apparently they exist. People who look at an Audi Q3 and say “no way José, that’s too big and boring!” The German manufacturer and most of its competitors cater for such folk because our consumer society breeds these trendsetters by the truckload. Enter stage left, the achingly trendy Audi Q2.
In die laat vyftigerjare en vroeë sestigs was daar seker een motor wat almal se verbeelding aangegryp het; die DKW. As dit nie vir sy uitstekende vertonings op die renbaan en in tydrenne was nie, was dit ten minste die half outydse bakvorm en dan daardie “put, put, put” klank van die tweeslagenjin as hy luier.
Bold design and strong customization for this city SUV
“So what’s it like?” asks a friend, shortly after my return from the Audi Q2 launch in Cape Town. While I regurgitate specifications and give lively driving impressions, her face starts shriveling in bewilderment. “No, no…” she perks up again, “…does it really look as funky as in the photos?”
So here’s something different. Each year we list our favourite new cars which were launched over the last 12 months but this time around, instead of us telling you which ones we liked, our Facebook page invited YOU to vote your favourite new ride of 2016.
The list of candidates was chosen from the launches we attended or vehicles we thought were brilliant newcomers and worthy of being included in this line-up.
The new mixture
Do you know that saying about not messing with a winning recipe? Yeah, picture the scene at Audi’s headquarters when they were tasked with updating the third generation of their accomplished A3. I imagine a boardroom full of long vacant stares, fly counting, much doodling and plenty of awkward silences.
