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Mercedes-Benz is one of the most innovative automotive brands on the planet, never mind the oldest, so it’s rather surprising that they have a monster lurking in their pricelist. A rugged, uncompromising, almost backwards machine called (insert sounds of thunder) Der Geländewagen.
Pass the caviar and that black credit card; I’m still high from driving a car so superior and luxurious that only real Beluga and serious retail therapy will cure my withdrawal symptoms. The Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG is near the top of Merc’s price list and makes damn sure you (and others) know about it.
No time for chit-chat this week, I have a lot of stuff to work through with our latest test car, the Range Rover Vogue SE TDV8. If you think that name is quite long, you should cast your eyes upon the car itself. I can’t recall when last I drove a car that is, mostly, taller than me.
You might agree that our changing weather isn’t the ideal time to launch a new soft-top convertible, but this only boosted the confidence of Mercedes-Benz representatives at the recent launch of the new E-Class Cabrio. Backed by a joyful marketing campaign that denotes the newcomer as one cabrio for four seasons, the topless executive German completes the E-Class line-up of sedan, estate, coupé and convertible. It’s based on the 2-door coupé version of the E and is only available with a soft top.
“Do you fancy testing a Subaru?” asks our senior journalist at the weekly meeting. Be honest now, what would you have answered? I thought so; and minutes later I was strapped in behind the steering wheel of the latest Subaru Forester, a 2.5 XT model.
I’m not very fond of softroaders or SUV’s, predominantly because they pretend to be 4×4’s but in most cases are unusable for such endeavours. That irritates me on the same level as fancy crockery that just stands in a cupboard and may not be used, or functions of my glossy new cellphone that I will never ever use. Utterly pointless.
In die warm jare van die Koue Oorlog het Agent 007 bewys dat daar ook goeie (of mooi) dinge uit Rusland gekom het. James Bond en From Russia with Love sal nog lank op DVD gekyk word deur ‘n nuwe geslag wat van die Koue Oorlog geen snars weet nie; of van die gebeure wat daartoe aanleiding gegee het nie.