Namibia's content-driven motoring portal
Today I bring you news of a very, very important car. Obviously it’s important enough for the manufacturer to launch this new model in our market but more importantly, it slots into our market’s most popular segment, around R120,000. So everyone, please say hello to the new Honda Brio.
The Honda CR-V enjoys quite a strong following in our neck of the woods, primarily due to its versatility, comfort, quality and incredible reliability. As the fourth generation ties its laces in the starting block, you may even find first or second generation cars still motoring around your neighbourhood.
I think I may be getting old. A recent birthday has firmly plunged me into middle age and I’ve decided that I dislike camping, queues, hip hop, clubbing and down-down competitions. With a growing affection for classical music, scenic walks and reading, help couldn’t arrive soon enough.
Of all the months in a year, October surely has the worst reputation. The seasons are in an awkward change, car sales slump, scholars and students are panicking, the Christmas holidays are too far away yet big supermarkets already annoy us with merry decorations.
Today I bring you news of the freshly face-lifted Hyundai i20 which, for most people, probably bears the same significance as a kitchen appliance sale at your local mall. So – for those of you in need of a new dishwasher, err car, you may want to read on.
Last week saw the introduction of the Hyundai i30, a compact hatchback competing in the C-segment against favourites like the VW Golf, Opel Astra and Ford Focus. The Korean is all-new and armed with a few goodies to create some European headaches.
Last year on a drizzling May morning I was silently praying and denting the passenger foot-well of Nissan’s 370Z Roadster as a seasoned motoring journalist took us through a damp Du Toits Kloof Pass, often sideways and one-handed while merrily chatting about modern advertising standards.
Toyota is on the rebound after a few reliability niggles landed them on the wrong end of a witch hunt. Old foes and new competitors are clawing at market share so the Japanese giant had to think fast and aims to fight back with increased quality and quantity of products.
Subaru South Africa’s website alleges that they sell six distinctive model ranges, four of which I’ve already tested. Forester, Impreza, Legacy and Outback are now familiar territory to yours truly with only the Tribeca and STi left for us to test. If anyone at Subaru is reading this, I wouldn’t mind an STi press demonstrator; for a month.
Think before you speak, something I should’ve done last week before I had to eat my own words with a hefty side dish of umm’s and ah’s. When the friendly Subaru chaps dropped off a pearl-white Impreza sedan I immediately mistook it for a WRX, hence I pointed out their blunder: “No, no, I’ve tested this before” I alleged. “No, no, you haven’t!” they retaliated.