Namibia's content-driven motoring portal
A recent purchase by one of our staff members has spurred us on to finally delve into the history of certain performance cars. But don’t worry – we shall use this opportunity to cover other brands, genres and eras as well. In fact, why don’t you drop us a line and tell us which car’s history you’d like to see?
Have you ever dreamt of driving a supercar? Sure you have, why else would you be reading this? Your dream might just be within reach now if one innovative South African company has anything to do with it! We were recently invited by one of our biggest advertising clients, Gift Experience South Africa, to participate in one of their Supercar Drive Days for the public – a first on the continenent.
It’s early afternoon sometime in the late eighties and a young teenage version of the author is sitting on a Windhoek sidewalk near his school waiting for a parental pick-up. Suddenly a big white Mercedes roars into sight, stops at a nearby junction and disappears again with howling tyres and booming V8 thunder.
I’ve been waiting for this car a long time. A few cancellations and finger nails later, Mercedes-Benz’ A45 AMG finally arrived for a week of testing. Why was I so excited to drive it? Not only is it the first proper AMG A-Class, it’s also the first four-pot AMG and the most powerful four cylinder in the world.
Mercedes-Benz is straddling two chairs at the moment. One it refuses to relinquish possession of which serves conservative and mostly existing clients. The other is of the most stylish and daring variety to attract new customers with younger wallets to their showroom.
For today’s review I’m delighted to tell you that our test subject was one of my least favourite automobiles ever and managed to swing that opinion almost 180 degrees within a week. I don’t like hate, it comes with so much guilt and anger, thus I’m eager to share my joyful experiences with you.
Did you know that all French people are rude and every Portuguese owns a corner café? Germans have no sense of humour, Americans are fat and all domestic workers steal sugar, right? None of these stigmas are true, of course, and neither is this one: Mercs are for old people.
This year’s South African Car of the Year competition had one outright winner, a few middle men and an undisputed loser. Racking up the least amount of points ever was the Mercedes-Benz SLK350, a luxury plaything that looked lost among a sea of affordability and puzzled many by even making the finals.