Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2015 i topCar

1 Muscle car wars – is the new Ford Mustang about to get pasted with a supersized can of whup-ass? Chevrolet’s all-new, sixth-generation Camaro is not only lighter, stronger and better looking than the previous version, you can also have one with the Corvette Stingray’s 340kW 6.2-litre V8. Yee, and indeed, haw. 2 Engage stealth mode – a 205kW 2.0 turbo and 250kW 3.6 V6 with cylinder deactivation are the other choices. Personalisable exhaust sound options include ‘stealth’ and ‘track’. 3 Brains over brawn – modern multi-link rear suspension, at least 90kg shaved off the kerbweight, a 28% stiffer structure, 350 hours in the wind tunnel and optional MagneRide suspension should make the new Camaro much, much better to drive. 4 Interior ambience – the inside also takes a step…

‘IDON’T EVEN KNOW if we need a cure,’ says Lewis Hamilton. He would say that, wouldn’t he, but the evidence against the sport seems overwhelming: in 2008 the global TV audience was 600 million; in 2013 it slipped to 450 million and last year it dropped to 425 million. That’s a slide of 175m – the population of Nigeria – in just six years. People aren’t only switching off their TVs; they’re voting with their feet as well. Ticket sales are down at all but a few tracks, scuppering the business plans of promoters because the gate is their only source of income. That leaves the independent races, most of them European – which aren’t government-funded – in precarious positions. We lost the German Grand Prix in 2015; the Italian…

In a nutshell We saw the concept car for Ford’s new GT at the Detroit motor show in January; now we’ve seen the production version at a special reveal, again in Detroit. What we’ve learned Hardly anything’s going to change from motor show catwalk to showroom spec. And that means outrageous bodywork, with gaping, swallow-your-arm-whole air intakes and channels, wrapped around the mid-mounted 3.5-litre V6 driving the 20in rear wheels. Extensive use of lightweight composites means this Ford supercar will have a power-to-weight ratio to trouble more established supercar brands such as Ferrari and McLaren. It’s set for launch in summer 2016. Fight!…

UP AGAINST BETTER THAN The Kia Sportage, Hyundai ix35. Nissan Qashqai runs it close in all departments WORSE THAN Are you serious? This very well might be the new segment benchmark WE’D BUY The Renault Kadjar THE BARDENAS REALES desert in Zaragoza, Spain was chosen as the launch location for the brand-new Renault Kadjar. It looks nothing like the proverbial sandy desert, with the terrain taking on more of a Karoo-like appearance than anything else. In fact the resemblance is quite uncanny with low shrub vegetation, cattle and sheep, and small koppies punctuating the landscape. It feels and looks a lot like home. Coincidence or not, driving the Kadjar in this virtual South African-like setting gave us invaluable insight as to how it may perform on local soil. Initial impressions…

OPEL’S NEW Astra has a hell of a lot riding on it. It’s the standard bearer for GM’s $5bn product splurge to get its European division out of the red. Nevertheless, product renewal continues at a startling pace, no sooner have we driven the latest Adam supermini and Corsa hatch, do we find ourselves in an early prototype Astra. The new hatch (and estate) rides on an all-new platform. Driving it back-to-back with the outgoing Astra, and the dynamic advances are obvious. The D2 platform slashes 130kg on average: the new car is smaller and materials optimised to reduce mass. With less flab to slow or speed up, brakes can be smaller, wheels can shrink and engines can be downsized. Not only do economy and emissions improve, so does performance.…

UP AGAINST BETTER THAN BMW M6. The big Brit bullies the Bavarian bomber WORSE THAN Nissan GT-R. Identical power-to-weight, but supercar performance WE’D BUY Nissan GT-R. Sorry, we’re just common like that OUROBOROS: THE SNAKE that eats its own tail – is also the reptile that most mimics the F-Type R’s natural handling behaviour. Refreshingly, despite Jaguar’s remit to broaden the F-Type to more driver’s skillsets and tastes, the overarching subtext of F-Type AWD is to better harness its supercharged V8 grunt without losing the thuggish excitement of its rear-drive counterpart. From its striking proboscis, to its unique, vented power bulge sitting 5mm taller to accommodate the raised engine and additional drive shafts, to its muscular rear haunches, little has changed stylistically, and yet in downtown New York, its healthy…

YOU SEE IT, you want it. That’s the way of the 4C, a car so right in concept – beautiful, pure, somehow special, an Alfa – that for many the journey from first sight to dotted line is so breathlessly brief that there simply isn’t the time, let alone the inclination, to listen to reason. And who could begrudge them such admirable, lightheaded spontaneity? But just as the 4C coupe very seductively leans in close and breathlessly asks that you forgive one or two flaws, so the Spider is a car of such debilitating desirability that it almost transcends its shortcomings. Alfa sees the 4C as an ongoing project (worrying or reassuring?), so as well as debuting its canvas roof (easy to remove and re-fit; hard-tops will follow, both body-coloured…

LOOK IT UP and the good people at Wikipedia will tell you a Q-car is a sleeper car, a machine with good performance but an unassuming exterior. Cue the Qs then, Volvo’s pipe and slippers S60, BMW’s swallowed-a-whale 3 Series GT and Jaguar’s XF, more often than not last off-the-lights because the driver has fallen asleep after a particularly gruelling game of lawn bowls. Except these somnambulists have been gifted with hearts of thunder, more than enough grunt to stop pacemakers and ruin pimply GTI reputations. Expect the unexpected... BMW 3 Series 335i GT M Sport The story so far… BMW don’t make station wagons anymore. Except they do. Sort of. It’s called a GT. Confused? Don’t be. It’s not a GT GT, a la James Bond cruising Monaco with…

HOMMAGE MILLE MIGLIA. Hommage M1. Hommage CSL. Three great show cars, three missed opportunities. For while BMW’s latest back catalogue reinvention has been met with nothing but breathless adoration and joy, for now the official response is almost painful in its predictability. ‘Don’t expect styling elements of the Hommage CSL to reappear on future BMW products – this is purely a concept, albeit a very exciting one,’ comments a company spokesman. Cue global mourning. With understandable resignation, the men behind the Hommage toe the company line. ‘This model is not earmarked for production,’ says Adrian von Hooydonk, grandmaster of the group’s drawing board. For now at least, it’s only a design exercise,’ confirms chief brand designer Karim Habib, before adding confidently and with a broad smile: ‘But of course we…

CONSERVATIVE DESIGN might suggest otherwise, but cutting-edge technology lies at the core of BMW’s new sixth-generation 7 Series. Its body is made from a radical matrix of steel, aluminium and carbonfibre, semi-autonomous capability means this five-metre-long limo can park itself, and new-generation iDrive allows you to control the infotainment system with a wave of your hand. Here are five big breakthroughs for cash-rich, time-poor execs… 1 IT TUNES THE SUSPENSION AS YOU DRIVE First 7 with full air suspension. Along with familiar Eco-Pro, Comfort and Sport settings, there’s Comfort Plus and Adaptive. The latter reacts to driver inputs and, if you spec Professional navigation, cross-checks satellite data to pre-emptively select settings. Result: as cushy as the S-Class in Comfort Plus, but more driver-focused in Adaptive or Sport. 2 YOU GET…

DRIVERS HAD A chance to experience the 2.0-litre petrol turbo and V6 Hybrid model, both featuring Direct Adaptive Steering – Infiniti’s cutting-edge drive-by-wire steering system. The first event, held on Saturday November 14, took the readers and their Q50s on a scenic route through the cradle of humankind in Gauteng. In keeping with Infiniti’s premium positioning, decadent breakfast snacks and coffee were served shortly before a presentation by Infiniti South Africa’s General Manager, George Stegmann. With the Q50s beautifully lined up with sunroofs open, Johannesburg’s ever changing summer weather decided it was time for rain. No hassle, as is part and parcel of the extensive technology imprinted into any Infiniti, at a touch of a button the sun roofs were quickly closed. Two breakfast runs were held in Cape Town…

Brabus Startech Range Rover Pick-up Startech – the Brabus offshoot that deals with everything beyond Mercedes – has given the latest Range Rover a radical haircut, replacing the boot with a 1.1m-long load bed. Madness? Possibly genius, as the R140k (est) conversion sees the luxury SUV reclassified as a commercial vehicle, circumventing mega import taxes in some countries. The work includes 100 new body components, retains the standard car’s torsional rigidity and features a tailgate that can be lowered by remote control. This example also wears 80mm fender flares, 23in alloys and is powered by the 5.0-litre supercharged V8, but no-one is forcing you to tick those boxes. Falcon cage an optional extra. NEED TO KNOW > Price Not yet > Engine 387kW 5.0 supercharged V8, 5.3sec 0-100kph, 250kph >…

WHY SAVE FOR tomorrow when you can splurge today? We over 55s – a club including Jeremy Clarkson, Nigella Lawson and, were he still alive, Ayrton Senna (and with heartthrobs George Clooney and Colin Firth fast approaching membership) – can now easily withdraw money from our retirement pots, after radical pension reforms. So goodbye to stodgy annuities and hello to speedy Astons! As the pensions minister said: ‘If people buy a Lamborghini but know they’ll end up living on the state pension, that’s their choice.’ Well said, sir! Ever since the minister name-checked the Italian supercar maker, the red tops have promoted Lamborghinis as the ritzy choice for extravagant oldies keen on fast mobility today rather than an electric mobility scooter tomorrow. But as an over 55 with a bit…

DID YOU KNOW we share an identical population size to South Korea? Except they have 3 per cent unemployment, we have 26.4 per cent. The Koreans clearly have no problem being productive but the concept of individuality is something they’re less familiar with. Enter the three-door Veloster. Inspired by weird and wonderful things like high performance motorcycles, water flowing over muscles and a glasshouse that’s meant to look like a helmet visor – Veloster certainly wears enough design embellishments to turn heads. And of course there’s that third door. Hyundai’s gone all-out, completely altering the asymmetrical bodies at great expense to ensure the rear door opens onto the sidewalk for both left-and right-hand-drive markets. Kudos on the individuality… but what about that turn of speed? Well, the turbo GDI isn’t…

PORSCHE’S 997 GT3 4.0 enjoyed a cult-like following the world over. Its successor, the 991 GT3, has turned out to be even more popular, delivering record sales for the Stuttgart-based maker. For many, the GT3 is the benchmark when it comes to performance with only Ferrari’s impressive (and more expensive) 488 and McLaren’s 650S able to compete with its performance on track and everyday comfort and compliance off it. The RS has always been the most focused GT3 iteration, offering the performance car brand’s ultimate expression of speed and emotion. The new one ramps up the performance factor even further, but you still thankfully don’t need a kidney belt to enjoy it. Every single aspect of the standard GT3 has been optimised to be that bit lighter, faster, sharper and…

ON THE FACE of it, an American car manufactured in Italy is a marketing nightmare, neither country exactly covering itself in glory when it comes to longevity or quality. So Fiat Chrysler’s first ‘world’ car starts from the back of the grid, even before the race has begun. The surprise then is that the best, rather than worst, of each brand’s respective heritages have been married, producing a tough little terrier that is a genuine contender in the ever-burgeoning small SUV market. The Renegade has Jeep’s inherent ruggedness, despite the Noddy visuals, and adds the modern frivolities of Fiat’s urban lifestyle kudos, such as dippy design and digital functionality. And biggest surprise of all – they live well with each other. It’s like Ice-T and Coco, opposites whose attraction creates…

HEREWITH FOR YOUR attention, the facelifted Toyota Auris – fanfare level: nil. As a member of the SA motoring media, I’ll shoulder some of the blame for what’s happened here. I refer to the way our enthusiasm for C-segment hatchbacks almost never extends to the fresh-faced Toyota. VW Golf? Of course! Ford Focus? Sure! And may I suggest a squizz at the Korean options too? We quickly forget Japan’s heroes in the Honda Civic, the new Mazda 3 and mostly, the poor Auris. It’s an accomplished city car and returns more polished than ever thanks to styling that has been made less fussy, and widened diffusers, aprons and air dams lending the car a squarer stance. The interior receives an update as well, most notably a tablet-style infotainment system and…

THINK OF THE new Civic Type R’s spec as an equation to generate the front-drive Nürburgring lap record. The 2.0-litre turbocharged engine makes 228kW and 400Nm, enough to hit 269kph at the end of the Döttinger Höhe straight. The helical limited-slip differential slashes five seconds from the time. Adaptive dampers provide control whether you’re flying at Flugpatz or braking hard into Bergwerk. An aerodynamically optimised body with a nearly flat underfloor sucks the Civic to the ground high speed. are - alloy bespoke Continental Sport Contact 6 tyres, four-piston Brembo front brakes with 350mm drilled discs, Dual Axis Strut front suspension… All of it feeds into the Honda calculator to produce an answer of 7min 50.63sec, the current front-wheel-drive lap record (as we go to press, at least!). Project leader…

NOTHING, NOT EVEN 25 years of watching it on the telly, prepares you for the aural violence of Le Mans in mid-June. The crack and thunder of the LMP2 cars, the flat-six frenzy of the 911s, the interminable flatulent rudeness of the V8s and the high-calibre gunshot gearchanges of the bad boy prototypes. With throttles pinned for three-quarters of each 13.6km lap, it’s a high-speed barrage of mechanical unsympathies that goes on more or less uninterrupted for 24 hours– this is the pinnacle of endurance motorsport. The 24 Hours of Le Mans story began in 1923. Various manufacturers have had periods of domination along the way, Bentley ’27-’30, Alfa Romeo ’31-’34, Jaguar ’55-’57, Ferrari ’60-’65 and Ford ’66-’69. But not even Audi with its magnificent record of 13 wins in…

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD GARMIN HUD Turn your car’s windscreen into an awesome Airwolf-like display panel with Garmin’s Heads Up Display Unit. It projects all your navigation info (ETA, lane assist, speed, traffic and camera alerts) onto the windscreen and also works wirelessly with most compatible Bluetooth-enabled smartphones. Win! £125.00 (+-R2215.00) www.garmin.com BE LEGAL ON BOY’S NIGHT iPHONE BREATHALYSER You think you’re ok until Metro pulls you over and makes you blow on that little piece of plastic and it spits out a small number that’s gonna cost you big money or a night in the slammer. Rather let the BACtrack iPhone Breathalyser decide if you should drive. Weirdly, it also records your drinking habits and can share the info on social media. R3299.00 www.mantality.co.za KEEP YOUR PHONE…

MONTH 10 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER PRADO 3.0DT VX What the heck is this thing? The Prado is sort of a Land Cruiser ‘lite’ thanks to its smaller stature but make no mistake, it can tussle with the best of ’em. Out back sits the ‘Land Cruiser’ badge, the off-roader purist’s stamp of authority. Its nose is a chromed cathedral of bars and lamps and each wheel arch is pumped to Schwarzenegger-like levels to house utilitarian hoops shod in serious-looking rubber. Yet at no point does it imitate its European counterparts, the Range Rover Sports, Audi Q7s and BMW X5s for sheer ostentatiousness. Let’s just say that there are a few good reasons why there aren’t any rap videos featuring Toyota Prados. You dig? Life inside is good and confusing Okay,…

KEY INDICATORS – MAY 2015 INDUSTRY TOTAL 47 868 | PASSENGER CARS 31 201 | LCV 14 182 | EXPORTS 33 411 DOMESTIC SALES IN May were down but not out of kilter with prevailing economic conditions, and if one believes that the impact of end-of-quarter incentives will be as big as Wesbank research head Rudolf Mahoney predicts, sales in the month of June will bounce back and rental companies will spearhead a sales comeback in the second half of 2015. May sales reported to manufacturers’ association Naamsa show an aggregate decline of 3.2% from the 49 449 units recorded in the same month in 2014. The passenger sector registered 31 201 units, a slide of 1 773 units or 5.4% year-on-year, while light commercials at 13873 units showed a…

AUDI HAS secret designs for a baby sports car running a Ducati V-twin motorbike engine, one of the dream projects left behind by Ferdinand Piëch when he recently quit Volkswagen’s supervisory board. The sports car is the most radical of Audi’s current small-car plans, which also include a sub-A1-sized city car. A sports car running a Ducati V-twin? Such a concept was unveiled at the 2014 Paris motor show, but it wore a Volkswagen badge. Called XL Sport, the concept shared the R1.8mil XL1’s carbonfibre construction, but replaced its two-cylinder diesel hybrid with Ducati’s 147kW twin. Tech junkie Piëch, the architect behind VW’s Ducati acquisition in 2012, loved the 1199cc unit, which revs to 11000rpm and features desmodromic valves (closed by cams, rather than a conventional four-stroke’s return spring). Piëch…

THAT FORMULA 1 is in crisis is indisputable, with plummeting TV ratings across the world and dwindling live audiences at virtually every venue attesting to this fact. Indeed, in Canada F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone told the media he had been ‘given a crap product to sell’, and that was not the 84-year-old’s first criticism of the sport he once sold globally to a string of bidders, but now struggles to market. In Austria, one race later, the legendary triple F1 champion-turned-Mercedes Motorsport honcho Niki Lauda allegedly penned a piece for the Red Bulletin entitled ‘What’s Wrong with F1?’ Although the Austrian later denied writing the column, he refused to distance himself from its contents on the basis that the quotes were his, and the gist reflected his sentiments – despite…

HOW’S THIS FOR sibling rivalry: not only has Lamborghini’s new Aventador SV just recorded a lightning 6min 59.73 lap of the Nordschleife, smashing the predicted figure by over 10sec and getting within a couple of Porsche’s 918 Spyder, Sant ’Agata’s ever-smiling r&d boss Maurizio Reggiani reckons there’s more to come. Or less, in fact. About three seconds less. ‘We’re just a small company,’ he explains, ‘and we don’t have the luxury of getting exclusive use of the Nürburgring for long periods. We had 15 minutes, enough for one timed lap, and if you look you can see three or four places where the test driver makes a mistake.’ Whatever store you put in the relevance of Nürburgring numbers when it comes to a car’s ability to entertain, or even Reggiani’s…

TWIN-VORTEX SUPERCHARGER at full attack, direct-injection V8 bass-note filling the gaps, tyres squealing with indifference – this is me pinning a V8 supercharged SVR for all its worth through the wilds of upstate New York. The ride is a little harsh but body-control is superb; steering beautifully weighted and, by Jove, it does feel grippier than a regular RRS. Continuing JLR’s enviable reputation for fruity exhaust notes – further enhanced here with a 60mm underfloor pipe and two-stage active exhaust with electronically controlled valves – I have no doubt SVR is the best sounding SUV of its ilk. The note I dictate after the drive is big and bold so there’s no doubt on the matter: ‘High-riding, 4WD F-Type.’ But now it’s time to tackle a muddy, rutted off-road course,…

I DON’T CARE. I don’t care that the twin-turbo 3.6-litre V6 in the revised Mk2 Cayenne GTS consumes seven per cent less fuel. I also don’t care that it produces an extra 15kW and 85Nm of torque. Nor that it does so with a 1.2-litre reduction in capacity, less weight and an improved 5.2sec 0-100kph time (5.1sec if you spec the Sport Chrono Package) – though I will allow that shaving half a second off the previous benchmark is commendably impressive. I do care, however, that this new V6, this downsized wonder, this planet-saving paragon of virtue (9.8L/100km), sounds just about as exciting as a leaf blower at the bottom of a well. True, it might be a concert-grade leaf blower, and an acoustically optimised well, but compared to the…

THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE isn’t an entirely new concept to the motoring world having first appeared in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as the go-to method of vehicular propulsion. However, advances in the cheaper and the easier-to-produce internal combustion engine would stifle its progress and cull its popularity. Many years would pass before battery power would be explored again as a viable option but the electric car is back and the global economic crunch of the late noughties and the ongoing CO2 crackdown are largely to thank for its return. BMW has been one of the frontrunners in terms of plug-in hybrid and electric drivetrain development which has resulted in a diverse product line-up that includes the BMW i3 you see here. In a world that’s still predominantly ruled…

THE JAPANESE HAVE always been obsessed with mythology: tales of cruel divinities and paths to redemption, creatures with magical powers and legendary places with spiritual resonance. And this is one such tale, about a great deity loved by all, brought low into the realms of the humans, and now on a quest to make its way back into the pantheon. Type R. It seems such a long time since Honda held us in its thrall. The global meltdown, crappy Yen and the base business of selling itself out with dollar-rich bland sedans in the US meant that its soul, those light, singing, artisan-engineered fast cars, seemed as distant in its past as Senna. Now though, there is a new Civic Type R. We thought it might never come, a fable…

MOST ACCEPT THE M1 was the first offering from the M stable. However, a serious case can also be made for the uniquely South African 530 MLE – a car that began a long line of locally built performance sedans. Sharing its company today are three other 5 Series Motorsport models built at BMW’s plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria – the only BMW facility outside Germany to produce these Super Saloons. Second in our line-up is the E12 M535i, also unique to SA and something of a hybrid with its E28 interior. The third car is the E28 M5, the first truly mass-produced M, followed by the E34 M5, the last locally built Five and, more significantly, the last M model to be assembled on SA soil. All the more reason…

HELLO THERE MONTH 1 CITROËN C4 CACTUS YOU CAN ALWAYS tell if a test car is a bit dull to drive – the keys will be passed around very easily between testers. The worst ones may even suffer the shame of spending the night in the office car park, or heavens forbid, the entire weekend. Not so the C4 Cactus. It’s no low-slung sports car with explosive pace, nor is it a gizmo-laden limo suited to presidential duty at Tuynhuys, but since its arrival at TopCar it’s been harder to pin down than an Olympic wrestler. With that funky demeanour; punchy turbo triple thrust, characterful exhaust note, sofa-comfort seating and lithe ride quality all working together to create an engaging drive, it was never going to be left deserted. That…

MONTH 2 BMW 335i GT INSTEAD OF taking the easy route and flying up to the start of the Sani2C 3-day mountain bike stage race, my wife and I decided to drive the 3 650km return trip instead. The arrival of Hunchy couldn’t have come at a better time – not only did the journey serve as a means to run in its motor, it also gave me the chance to experience its ride quality and fuel efficiency as well as its ability to deal with large loads. The GT’s long wheelbase means it has an appreciably spacious boot and interior compartment. Folding down the rear seats increases its capacity from 520 to 1600 litres meaning it’s able to consume a brace of 29er mountain bikes and two large duffel…