Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i Leisure Wheels

ONCE upon a time a man lived in Lima, Peru. His name was Diego*. Diego loved 4×4s, and off-road driving. He owned a Toyota Prado 4.0 V6 (a six-speed manual, nogal) with some extra off-road kit added. And a free-flow performance exhaust which came with pleasing sound effects. He belonged to a local 4×4 club. One day, Diego received a phone call: the Dakar Rally was coming to town, and the organisers needed some local 4×4 experts to ferry their guests from Lima to Pisco, then into the Atacama Desert, and finally, back to Lima. And so, as Lady Fate would have it, South African rally and off-road racing champion and Toyota Gazoo Racing SA factory driver Leeroy Poulter – who was recovering from surgery and not competing in the…

THE Western Cape is somewhat parched, with the City of Cape Town particularly hard hit by the worst drought in over a century. Cape Town’s main water supply, the Theewaterskloof Dam, is in a sorry state. Moisture from the city’s half-full, green swimming pools seems to evaporate faster than science dictates it should. Wilted gardens, dirty vehicles and water trickling though the pipes at a fraction of the usual pressure is what visitors can expect. While the City of Cape Town desperately attempts to avert disaster – at the writing of this piece, Day Zero (when the taps run dry) has been estimated to fall on 12 April – things don’t look good, unless water savings increase dramatically, aquifers and desalination plants are tapped into or miraculous rain changes the…

NO one would call the first version of BMW’s X3 a total success. Although it sold reasonably well, it lacked refinement and wasn’t the most attractive SUV you could buy. Then, when the second-generation X3 came out in 2010, it was immediately obvious that the X3 had undergone a major transformation. It was a bigger, sleeker and more complete package. Suddenly, the X3 was one of the best options available in the premium compact SUV segment. With this all-new third-generation X3, BMW had quite a lot to live up to. And as you might expect, they didn’t do anything too drastic. Instead of departing substantially from a winning formula, they simply tweaked and updated the recipe, and the result is a great vehicle overall. EXTERIOR Although the basic shape of…

THE Easter holidays are approaching and with them, the opportunity to enjoy camping under the stars before autumn slips away and the inevitable winter chill sets in. If you fancy the idea and are not fully kitted out, here are some must haves… 1. AIR-O-SPACE INFLATABLE LOUNGEE We were delighted by the opportunity to sink into some loungees during our festive season break. Not only are they great to laze about in (superbly comfortable), but there’s a fun element to setting them up. There’s no need to pump air into the Air-O-Space Loungee, instead you hold the deflated bag open and run, or stand and swish it from side to side to capture the air – kind of like a windsock. To trap the air inside, you roll the end…

Change gears and shift out of your comfort zone. One of these guided self-drive safaris could be that once-in-lifetime adventure you’ve always dreamt about. For more information on any of these tours, or to book your trip: Email: lwtravel@ramsaymedia.co.za Website: leisurewheels.co.za/travel-packages/ or phone Inshaaf Amos @ Tel: 021 530 3380 ISIMANGALISO TURTLE TOUR 24 FEBRUARY - 2 MARCH 2018 2 – 8 DECEMBER 2018 The turtle season stretches from the beginning of November and continues until mid-March when the nesting and hatching season comes to an end. Kosi Bay is the best place in South Africa for a turtle tour. We will overnight three nights in a B&B in Sodwana Bay before travelling via Lake Sibaya, Rocktail Bay and Lala Nek to Kosi Bay where we will stay in a…

THE large and imposing Mercedes-Benz W31 Type G4 was built for the German Wehrmacht in 1934, but as is clear from its appearance, this was not a cheap vehicle to produce. It was so expensive, in fact, that it wasn’t practical when it came to widespread application, especially when you consider that this wasn’t a weaponised vehicle designed to do duty on the front lines. Consequently, only top-tiered members of the German military enjoyed the privilege of riding around in the W31. The G4 was a further evolution of the 1926 G1, yet another six-wheeled Mercedes-Benz. The G4 started out with an eight-cylinder 5 018cc in-line engine that produced a whopping 74kW of power and offered a top speed of 67km/h. Just 11 of these early versions were made and…

To celebrate the arrival of the all-new G-Class at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Mercedes-Benz decided to cast a 1979 version of the vehicle in amber-coloured resin and display it at the American auto show. The 280 GE from 1979 is enclosed in the square block in a dynamic position, which according to Mercedes, gives the impression that it has been engulfed by synthetic resin mid-stream when driving off-road, in its natural habitat, and captured as insects were by amber millions of years ago. The square block is 5.5 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 3.1 metres high. It took 90 days to make from 44.4 tonnes of synthetic resin. Each day, the block grew by around three centimetres in height. Following the car show in Detroit, the…

LOCATED on the edge of the Spektakelberg between Springbok and Kleinzee, our adventure begins at the beautiful Naries Namaqua Retreat. It is more than 400C when we arrive in the late afternoon. We receive a warm welcome from the lodge’s team and soon we are shown to our accommodation: the Namaqua Mountain Suites. These luxurious, thatched dome-shaped suites are built into the surrounding rock, and have stunning views. After dropping our luggage, we head up to the lapa to see the sunset and view the surrounding landscape. Early the next morning, Eon (Simeon) Bok is our guide on a nature walk. He tells us the history of the European settlers realising there was copper in Namaqualand, about the local Nama culture and about the flora and fauna of the region.…

THE truth is, most SUV owners never truly make use of the off-road capabilities of their vehicles. Even large and expensive SUVs with low-range gearing and diff locks on both axles tend to spend far more time on tar than dirt. And even owners who do enjoy a bit of off-roading still tend to spend for more time stuck in traffic than out in the bundu. For this reason, it’s worth pausing for a moment before purchasing that tricked-out 4×4. Do you really need a pukka off-roader with all the bells and whistles, or will a milder alternative suffice? If you’ll be driving around town most of the time, and only spending a week or two every year visiting an overland destination, you might be able to get away with…

THIS story starts in 2011, at the Sun City round of the Absa off-road championship. Glyn Hall, highly successful motorsport manager who had just been appointed to run Toyota Motorsport, invited a rather influential person to go for a ride in one of the team’s new Lexus V8-powered double cab Toyota Hilux bakkies, based on a spaceframe design. That man was Dr Johan van Zyl, former president and CEO of Toyota Motors SA. With factory driver Duncan Vos behind the wheel, the Hilux V8 blasted through the North West veld, leaving one company executive both breathless and highly impressed. That’s when Hall shared his Dakar vision for the Hilux. After that ride, a planning meeting between Dr van Zyl, Hall and other role players was set up. The meeting evolved…

ONCE upon a time, the centre console of a 4×4 housed three important controls: there was the gear lever, the second lever used for engaging four-wheel drive, and the handbrake. Jump into a very modern SUV, and you won’t see any of these. The manual shifter has been replaced with an automatic one, and in the case of a brand like Land Rover, you now use a rotary dial that looks nothing like the shifter of old. Similarly, the 4WD lever has been replaced with either a button or dial that allows you to shift quickly and easily to 4×4. As for the humble handbrake, that is also disappearing. Manufacturers are getting rid of the traditional handbrake that you needed to pull up manually and replacing it with a simple…

The development of a new vehicle is something special. It takes years of planning, tests, feedback from previous models, new innovations, the reading of the market, simulations on computers, wind tunnels and test tracks. But in the end, there is nothing like driving the car. That is why Toyota recently embarked on the Five Continents Drive. Voetspore is proud to be associated with this project. Go have a peek at http://toyotagazooracing.com/special/fivecontinentsdrive/ Despite the engineers’ best intentions in developing a vehicle that is perfect for its application, there always seem to be something they miss. Driving a Toyota Land Cruiser, like we do, is not only about the reliability of the vehicle. There needs to be a few other concerns, too, and that is exactly what Toyota Motor Corporation aims to…

WE left Gauteng early one morning in June 2017, as eight souls in four fully self-sufficient overland 4×4s headed off to Zambia. We were aiming for South Luangwa first, and later, Kafue National Park. Gerhard and Brenda were in a Land Rover Discovery 3, towing an Afrispoor trailer. Thinus and Karen drove a Toyota Fortuner 3.0D4-D 4×4, with a Shadow 750 trailer following in their Toyota’s tracks. The two ladies, Anne and Carla, were in another Fortuner 3.0D4-D while my husband Gary and I were in our customised Toyota Land Cruiser 78. Two of the vehicles were fitted with roof-top tents, while two couples were going to go ‘brave’ in ground tents. There were three Toyotas and one Land Rover. Our odds for getting to our destination and home again…

CAMPING in Europe is a very different proposition compared to the wild and basic approach we tend to favour in Africa. You’re never truly ‘out in the bundu’ when travelling in Europe. Chances are, there’ll be a pub or restaurant just down the road from your campsite. Electricity points and ablution facilities are also ubiquitous, and you can bank on the fact that there’ll be smooth tarmac all the way to the campsite. The only way in which camping in Europe is more challenging, really, is in relation to the weather. For much of the year, Europe is downright freezing, so some proper insulation is necessary. Take all of these factors into consideration, and you can see why motorhomes are so popular in Europe. When the roads are great and…

OOM Frikkie likes his 4×4 overlander as he prefers his woman: prim and proper, with everything in place. Thankfully, then, that Auntie Beryl feels the same way about matters. Never mind the time of day, or whether they are camping wild in the Okavango Delta, or staying in a five-star hotel in Maun, Auntie Beryl always looks she like you can pull her through a ring: all prim and proper. The thing with the accessory and auxiliary and all kinds of other extra buttons and switches in the cabin thus presents a conundrum for Oom Frikkie. You see, he likes to keep the cabin of his Toyota Land Cruiser as simplistic and uncluttered as possible. Everything that needs to be present in the cabin has a specific space. The maps…

WE kick off with a brief look at the sales trends of December 2017. Firstly, the new passenger car segment was down by 6.4% over the same period in 2016. But further demonstrating a definite shift towards the double cab market, light commercial vehicles recorded an increase of 7%. So what about 2017 then, compared to preceding years? Well, there’s good news. Although the 2017 numbers are still down on 2014’s sales – and by some margin – there has been small increases in the car and light commercial segments over the 2016 numbers. Cars were up by 1.9% and light commercials by 2.6%. In the new passenger segment there were a few movers and shakers. For one, the new Nissan Patrol recorded 22 sales in December – a markedly…