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Are we alone in the universe? Who shot JR? Can a man do the dishes without complaining? What’s the meaning of life? These may be questions of grave importance but they pale in comparison to the following: should you buy a diesel or petrol car?
Sedert die bekendstelling van die Volkswagen CC in Suid-Afrika en Namibië, ongeveer vier jaar gelede, was hierdie vierdeur koepee reg van die begin af ‘n treffer en was dit veral die opvallende en sportiewe ontwerp van die motor wat heel eerstens die oog getref het. Dit is dus ook geen wonder dat die Volkswagen CC in Europa en ook in Australië verskeie pryse vir sy ontwerp gewen het nie.
Recently I was accused of being biased towards certain genres and brands of cars but easily defended my preferences with the fact that a car must ultimately serve its purpose. Some brands do it better than others and my love for two-door coupés is simply because they should be beautiful and sophisticated.
Today I’d like you to meet a small car with a gigantic name, the teeny-tiny Audi A1 1.4T FSi 136kW S-Line S-Tronic. As I don’t intend retyping that novel of a name in every second paragraph, the small German with its big heart will henceforth be referred to as the A1 136kW.
The most successful Mercedes-Benz model has long been the C-Class so it was obvious that the Stuttgart brigade would capitalise on its fame. After estate versions, they’ve produced two coupés over the years but, in my humble opinion, this third generation is the first winner.
A few weeks ago I tested the Volkswagen Passat and described it as agreeable but misunderstood, mostly because it was too close to a Jetta in size and execution. And wouldn’t you know it, last week a new gen-six Jetta 1.6 TDI Comfortline knocked on my door.
Last Monday I got up with a spring in my step, put on my best shirt and zipped through to Volkswagen in town to pick up my new Polo press demonstrator. Unfortunately there was a bit of an internal mix-up and instead I got handed a key marked “Grey Golf R”. Oh well.
This weekend I had the fortunate experience of testing a car that I had recently experienced on its media launch. Living with a car for a few days is completely different to chasing five identical cars through carefully selected scenery in an adult adaptation of who-can-get-there-first.
Pull up a chair and settle down in the middle of obscurity and the apex of pleasantness. Volkswagen’s Passat has always been an agreeable motor car which few people understood, especially since the favoured four-door Volksie sedan on local shores has long been the Jetta.
I’m quite sure that I’ve mentioned my love for coupés before, so our invitation to the new Volkswagen Scirocco R launch in Durban resulted in a brief rock-paper-scissors competition at the office, won by yours truly. Perhaps I cheated, perhaps I didn’t, but a few days later I was jetted off to KZN.