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Sometimes my friends and acquaintances can be cruel. Downright rude, even. If I had a Rand for every time I heard “Meh, is that your car for this week?” or “When are you testing a Ferrari?” I’d have, oh, about N$28 now. What most of them refuse to believe is that I enjoy testing small budget cars – like this Kia Picanto.
The serious contender
As one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in the world, Chevrolet took a bit of strain after the recent recession yet the American giant was blessed with perfect timing as that coincided with the launch of their new world beater – a passenger car for markets around the globe – the Chevrolet Cruze.
It turns out that we were on our best behavior throughout the year as we found a new Honda Accord under our Christmas tree last year. Although we weren’t allowed to keep the maroon metallic sedan indefinitely, the kind folks at Honda allowed us to use it all through the festive season.
Is there still such a thing as a bad car? I’ve been asked the question before and the best answer would be “not really”. Some Asian cars aren’t that nice but neither are their prices so it’s all relative at the end of the review. Some cars are just “ok” though, and Chevrolet’s Captiva is one of them.
As great as it is to screech around a race track in AMG’s or chase identical Audis up a mountain pass, I find it wonderfully refreshing to test an ordinary car from time to time. By “ordinary” I mean normal, sensible and something most people (including the author) could afford – like the Chevrolet Cruze.
Many car manufacturers like to make a big noise about their latest product and urge you to buy the best thing since sliced biltong. Most of their marketing efforts are just steam-powered self-promotion but occasionally a grain of truth slips through…
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.
Oh joy. A negligible part of my driveway is currently being occupied by yet another zippy and affordable hatchback. Don’t get me wrong, I quite like this segment but its members are always a pain in the you-know-what to review.
Shortly before composing this text I closed the curtains, made myself a cup of tea, killed all telephones and put on some Type 0 Negative. I want my peace and quiet. A week of driving the Chevrolet Lumina SS UTE has completely saturated my need for attention.