Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2015 i Leisure Wheels

E-mail your views to editorial@leisurewheels.com or submit them via our Facebook page or the website at www.leisurewheels.co.za, or fax them to 011 704-3047. We reserve the right to edit and shorten letters. Concise letters will be given preference. Please supply your postal address, in case you win a prize Resurrect the Stompneus The article, “Beyond ghosts and diamonds” in the November 2014 edition by Chris Coetzee, stirred an idea deep down which could be turned into reality. South Africans, in many ways, are like Americans. We are just as crazy about cars and bakkies as they are. We are also blessed with highly competent and inventive entrepreneurs. We are in the forefront of not only reproducing sports cars such as the Ford GT40, Daytona Coupe or Porsche 917, but also…

When Jenny came home with two big, expensive fire extinguishers after my most recent effort, I knew this was more than mild irritation about a blackened pot and a smelly kitchen. She was exploiting her God-given right to rub it in that I once set both my car and my motorcycle on fire in separate incidents spanning less than a week. I was alone at home when I decided to fix the car’s carburettor that Sunday afternoon in 1992. Jenny and the kids were spending a few days with her family in Port Elizabeth. The Chevair stood half in and half out of the garage while I fettled it, and things went swimmingly until I gave the accelerator pedal a couple of hefty pumps to prime the carburettor, and then…

The recent launch of the facelifted Touareg reminded me just how good it actually is. VW did almost nothing to differentiate the new model from the pre-facelift one. In fact, even a hardcore motoring fanatic would struggle to find the difference between the two cars if they were parked right next to each other. Not that it matters, because VW build a car properly in the first place, so it doesn’t have to tweak it too much when the inevitable facelift comes along. The Touareg is available with three engine options – a V6 petrol, V6 oil-burner and a range-topping V8 turbocharged diesel monster. If it is relentless power you seek, it would be best to go for the V8 diesel. It serves up a colossal 800Nm of torque, which…

RELIABILITY Last year, while we were in the Addo Elephant Park, an elderly couple in a 4x4 ventured far too close to a group of elephants in order to get a good photograph. Then, as the elephants approached up the road towards them, they started to panic. The old man shifted to reverse gear and backed up, but his vehicle was in low range and it did not move fast enough. He then stopped and changed to high-range 4x2, but it was a model without a gear lever for the transfer case – you had to push a button to change the 4x2 selection, and it always takes a few seconds before it changes and you can drive off. In his panic, the driver changed to the reverse gear before…

Road Test Editor gert@leisurewheels.com Late in 2014, Chinese stunt driver Han Yue set a record for the tightest parallel parking job ever recorded. Driving a Mini Cooper, he placed his vehicle a mere 8cm (3,14 inches) from the two cars bordering the open parking bay. Not to be outdone, stunt driver Alastair Moffatt broke this record in January 2015 by reducing the distance between cars to just 7,5cm. He was driving a Fiat 500C. Now, as you can imagine, you don’t perform this sort of tight parking by using the traditional parallel parking method. No, these drivers race up to the parking bay at an angle, and then slide into it by pulling on the handbrake. It is quite a feat, and well worth watching. You can find videos of…

In this modern day and age it is impossible to keep a new model under wraps. An insider at a manufacturer will inevitably let something slip, not to mention the fact that European motoring magazines pay big money for so-called spy shots of upcoming models. This means you have prying eyes permanently stationed at the Nurburgring, which a pre-production model will inevitably visit during the final months of its development and testing. The Porsche Macan is a prime example. First there were rumours that Porsche was working on an Audi Q5-based SUV to slot in below the Cayenne. Then came the first images of the disguised vehicle and then, finally, Porsche revealed the name. During the last two years, there has been much speculation on what engines it would have,…

Porsche reveals fastest Cayenne Porsche unveiled its new Cayenne Turbo S at the Detroit Motor Show. This is the top model in the range, with a 4,8-litre biturbo V8 engine producing 419kW and 800Nm. It can accelerate to 100km/h in 4,1 seconds and the top speed is claimed to be 284km/h. Porsche says the new SUV has lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 7min 59.74sec – a record for an SUV. The all-wheel drive system powers the rear wheels but offers variable power distribution to the front axle. The brakes have been uprated to cope with the massive amount of power. Exterior changes include 21-inch alloy wheels, a roof spoiler and a sports exhaust system. Infiniti’s new QX50 for China Infiniti has unveiled the new QX50 crossover at the 12th China…

Namibia is not a place: it is texture, a taste of the wind, a profound change to one’s imagination. Namibia leaves an echo in the soul, rather than a stamp in a passport. And that change is permanent. Intentionally travelling to a desert is an act of pilgrimage, perhaps a plea for change, for a clearing of one’s internal clutter. The special memories that result are a legacy, a bequest of moments. Profound moments: the snoozing eagle owl above our heads at Abiqua Camp; the entranced look on my daughter’s face as she followed a field-mouse through the dry grass at Klein Aus; the twenty minutes of pure enchantment for us all, when the sociable weavers flew into our hands for some morning rusk crumbs; the stunned silence of the…

SA-bound Tivoli revealed SsangYong recently revealed its new compact crossover in South Korea. It’s called the Tivoli and looks rather funky. We haven’t seen the interior yet, but the car has been in development for a few years now, so we’re betting it will be as cool as the exterior. A lot of research and development has gone into the Tivoli, which will be used as a launching platform for a few new engines from SsangYong. It will be available with a 1,6-litre petrol or 1,6-litre diesel engine. SsangYong says both engines have been tested extensively in extreme conditions – from minus 42C to 50C in the desert. These engines will be available with manual as well as automatic gearboxes. The Tivoli will go on sale in SA from mid-2015.…

TIRED ENGINES Abrasive wear Abrasive wear is caused by small particles, introduced through air, fuel or oil. This kind of wear can be reduced to a minimum by ensuring that the various filters are kept in good condition. Small particles of carbon, formed during combustion, can also serve as a lapping agent. Attrition This refers to wear by metal-on-metal contact. This type of wear depends entirely on the thickness of the oil film. The rings are, of course, lubricated, but the nature of the oil film depends on the motion of the piston. When the piston is travelling down the bore at an incredible rate of acceleration, the oil film is thick enough to eliminate direct metal-on-metal contact, but at the top and bottom dead-centres, where the piston comes to…

NAMIB DUNES It all started when a friend asked me if I wanted to bundle my camping gear and 15-year-old son into my 4x4 and take part in Uri Adventures’ “Faces of the Namib” guided tour. He was planning on taking his son, also 15, so he thought it would be nice if we tagged along. I jumped at the opportunity, but as the date drew closer, I started to get a bit worried. From the information provided, it was clear that this was a proper 4x4 expedition. Would I be able to cope? I studied the list of must-have items. We needed to take water, extra fuel, V-belts (what were those?), gearbox oil, engine oil and loads more. Why did we need all this? My worry intensified. In an…

CAMP COFFEE What are your options when preparing a cup of coffee in the bundu? Most of us resort to instant coffee, but this is less than ideal. If you’re used to good coffee at home, forcing down a cup of instant can be unpleasant. I often resort to drinking tea. Finally, determined to find out how to brew real coffee in the bush, I approached an old friend, Peter Primich. He is a coffee fundi, having penned a book entitled Brew Tool – Coffee Culture. It is the South African coffee lover’s bible. My request to Peter was simple: I want to be able to enjoy a hot, flavourful cup of coffee while camping, with minimal effort. This is what he suggested: The AeroPress The AeroPress is a relative…

Features Editor gerhard@leisurewheels.com It’s a common misconception that motoring journalists don’t have their own cars. My colleagues and I all have our own vehicles and, truth be told, they sometimes serve as a necessary break from the brand new machines we drive most weeks. Having your own car also helps you understand the plight of the average motorist, because like them, we also have to pay for their upkeep. This differs from test units in the sense that these are always fully fuelled, insured and specified to be as luxurious as a sheik’s holiday home. My own car is a humble Kia Picanto, but I adore it for many reasons, one of which is that I can drive it flat out wherever I go, without ever breaking the speed limit!…

The Porsche Macan is an excellent SUV. All that has been written about the sportscarlike qualities of Porsche’s latest creation is absolutely true. You can believe the hype. Dynamically speaking, the Macan is probably as good as an SUV can be. Which is why the oilburner in the model we tested left me somewhat unsatisfied. To be sure, it is efficient, refined and offers loads of torque, but a diesel mill in this car just felt, well, wrong. Diesels are popular, of course. Porsche SA claims that 75% of all Macans sold locally have oilburners under the hood. And I have no doubt that the owners of these cars will be more than satisfied with the performance offered by their diesel-driven SUVs. But the Macan is so good that it…

The US is a wonderful and magnificent place, but the culture shock one gets when going there for the first time is immense. The people may speak a kind of English, but on every other front they just do things differently. The first thing you notice about “Merica”, as it’s pronounced in Texas, is how big everything is. The malls, the fast food, drinks and even the people. But most noticeable of all is the cars. What we regard as big vehicles in SA are called “small” or “mid sized” in the US. It’s the same story with recreational vehicles (RVs), or motor homes, as we know them. The biggest bakkie-based motor home we could find on sale in SA is based on the Toyota Land Cruiser. It pales in…

Last October, Leisure Wheels reported on the Project Tunland 2.8-litre turbodiesel double cab’s impressive performance on a trip to Santa Maria in southern Mozambique, in the hands of LA Sport’s Annalie Lewis and a few of her friends. Earlier, in an article headlined, “Rise of an Eastern star”, readers were told about the Tunland being fitted with items from the LA Sport catalogue. The vehicle is currently equipped with the following LAS products: bull bar, Profender suspesion, rear bumper, spare wheel carrier and snorkel – all provided by LA Sport. The American Racing ATX Series rims and Cooper ST Max tyres were sponsored by Autowiel Gezina. During December 2014 and January this year, the Tunland completed a different kind of challenge. It was sponsored as a research vehicle for the…

Over the years there has been a great deal of confusion when it comes to first aid treatment for snakebites, and despite a number of books being written on the subject, many people still have a poor understanding of the effects of snakebites and what first aid measures to follow. The advice given in books written in the first half of the 1900s was not particularly good, and the general books on snakes that followed contained very little on first aid treatment. One of the most significant publications was Snakes and Snakebite: Venomous Snake and Snakebite Management, by Visser and Chapman. It was first published in the late 1970s and was one of the first popular publications in SA that properly dealt with snakebites and included sensible first aid advice.…

INTO AFRICA During the last three months of 2014 the Voetspore team travelled along Africa’s Great Rift Valley. It is a journey that took us from Mozambique to Djibouti. En route there were a few surprises…. Right in the middle of Africa is a small country in the shape of a heart. It is called Burundi. Like its former colonial ruler, Belgium, Burundi is something of an odd destination. Tourists in Europe will visit London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin or Rome. Only by chance will a tour group stop in Brussels. Burundi suffers from nothingness. Their next door neighbour, Rwanda, can “boast” of a genocide in 1994 when the Hutu militia wiped out about 10% of the population. To the west of the country is the Democratic Republic of the Congo…