Namibia's content-driven motoring portal
Die eerste keer wat ek ‘n Subaru gesien het was dit nie een wat uit die Australiese agterveld hier beland het nie; dit was ‘n Angolese tweedeur-motor in Windhoek in die vroeë sewentigs. Hierdie Subaru het baie soos die eerste generasie Toyota Corolla’s gelyk – behalwe dat daar in duidelike letters geskryf was dat dit ‘n voorwielaangedrewe motor was. Boonop het hy ook aan die goedkoop kant gelyk.
What you need to know: The Volvo XC60 is a mid-size luxury SUV whose mould is similar to a BMW X5 or Audi Q5. Available with your choice of four engines, two gearboxes, four trim levels, front- or intelligent all-wheel-drive (certain models only), this stylish Swede easily matches its competitors for variety.
“Are you testing every Volvo on the market?” asks a friend when presented with my latest test car, a Volvo S60. The sarcastic undertone of his enquiry carried a sprinkling of truth though… with so many new Swedish models on the market I feel duty-bound to test as many as possible and report back to you.
The Toyota RAV4 may happily lay claim to the fact that it was one of the world’s first compact SUV’s. Small and nimble enough to work in town with sufficient off-roady bits for the occasional adventure, four generations of RAV (Recreational Active Vehicle) can look back on many happy customers.
Whenever we learn of a new car, its brag sheet is usually a sea of improvements and additions over the outgoing model. In most cases, daring new shapes hide bigger dimensions and more powerful engines. Although peppered with improvements, the new Honda CR-V is no bigger or meaner than before.
Sometimes it’s great to be a motoring journalist. Hang on, actually it’s pretty awesome being a car journo. Our own cars tend to be non-existent, broken or extremely impractical so when some unexpected visitors propose a scenic tour around the Cape Peninsula, one simply phones around a bit.
Last Friday the phone rang and someone announced that they were bringing around a cougar. As I wasn’t sure which sort of man-eater to expect, I locked all doors, put on aftershave and armed myself with a bottle of gin. Imagine my surprise when the unwanted guest turned out to be Ford’s new-ish SUV, the Kuga.
Welcome to Galimoto’s experimental format of reviewing cars, a shortened and sweetened version of our regular reports, embellished with a small side shot of specifications. The honours of being subjected to this new formula first go to the 2011 Subaru Forester 2.5 XS.
Last week I got to test a car which was reasonably good looking but slightly feeble to drive. I could probably end my review here and let you get on with reading the weather report but I’d quite like to defend my statements; and the Chevrolet Captiva.
What wonderfully changing weather we’ve had recently, hopefully spring will grace us with an extended presence before the agony of summer sets in. Yes, you may safely assume that I dislike summer and yes, you may safely assume that I am waffling severely.