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Believe it or not, as a motoring journalist I have an inexplicable attraction to basic and classic vehicles. This love is due to the uncomplicated nature of cars like the Renault Sandero, Suzuki Jimny, Land-Rover Defender, Volkswagen Polo Vivo, etc.
The smoother coincidence
Recent events have shoved the giant car maker Volkswagen onto its back feet but the colossus is using this situation to leap up with new focus and new products. Although it’s probably coincidence, their timing couldn’t have been better to introduce the new-generation Passat in southern Africa.
Guinea fowl are quite sweet, mostly in paintings or on a bed of raspberry jus with some mushroom sauce. Live specimens like the exploding and unbelievably noisy population opposite my home are a nuisance at best, even more so when they interfere with our work.
Met die bekendstelling van die derde generasie Optima het die hoof in beheer van die ontwerp van – produkte, Peter Schreyer, en sy span in die ateljees in Frankfurt en Kalifornië dit onomwonde gestel dat met die Optima dit die doel was om aan die publiek ‘n motor bekend te stel wat hulle nie van sou verwag het nie.
Heel toevallig bel ‘n neef uit die Noordkaap om my mening te hoor oor ‘n motor wat vervang moet word twee aande vóór die bekendstelling van die nuwe Lexus op Franschhoek. My advies aan Neef Gert was dat hy, wat lang en ver paaie teen ongeoorloofde hoë snelhede aflê, maar na een van die Beierse renperde kan kyk wat ek oor die jare baie goed leer ken het. Dit was ‘n ligte foutjie!
Mere minutes ago I realised that I have an unnerving affection for American cars. Despite my personal preferences, I quite like most Dodge efforts, secretly lust after an old Corvette and regard Jeep as one of the most esteemed badges in the business.
First impressions are vital but can often be misleading. Actually I was supposed to tell you about the new Honda CRZ Hybrid today but a slight mishap landed me in the driver’s seat of the equally hybrid Honda Insight. And my initial impressions were rather mixed…
Four point five litres per hundred kilometres; that was the average consumption of the new Toyota Prius I recently drove for two days on its official launch. The third generation Prius will shortly be available from selected Toyota dealerships to maintain and build on its ecological and economical image. Especially the second model (2003) made the Prius into a runaway success, so much so that in April 2008 it smashed the one million sales mark since its first incarnation arrived in 1997.