Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i topCar

‘We are going to do the X2 for real and this gives you a very good indication. We don’t like to over-promise and under-deliver’ ALL X1 UNDERNEATH Production X2 delivers a far greater distinction in bodywork over its donor car than either X4 or X6 managed. Don’t expect that to filter through to the engineering – platform, suspension, front- and 4wd configurations, engines and transmissions and are all as per X1 INSIDE STORY Interesting that BMW chose not to reveal an interior. Could it be that the real X2 (due next year) will differ substantially from X1, so why show your hand too soon. Van Hooydonk’s favourite bit? The matte chrome side glass frame with integrated wing mirror support. Production? Don’t hold your breath. BMW’S BIG ANNOUNCEMENT at this year’s…

IF YOU WANT a car named after a hot drink you can have this Opel Mokka or you can dream about owning a Suzuki Cappuccino. Unless Tata has built a Tetley Tea Shooting Brake we don’t know about. Helping it to sound less like a Starbucks order, the Mokka badge has gained an X suffix, which you’ll soon see on the bootlids of Corsa and Astra-sized crossovers. As well as a new name, the Mokka X has received updates aimed at smoothing off the old car’s rough edges – its cluttered cabin, uninspiring engines and incongruous exterior styling, to name but a few. Outside, most of the changes have been made around the front of the car, with completely redesigned headlights incorporating Opel’s ‘double wing’ LED daytime running lights, an…

It’s a comfortable place to be, especially from behind the helm, where it feels more like a hatchback that a compact SUV THERE’S NO denying the intrinsic holding power of the new Tiguan. It looks amazing – chiseled and resolute you can’t mistake for anything but a contemporary Volkswagen product. Despite a couple of practicality niggles its predecessor was a resounding success all over the world and regularly featured inside the top 30 on the sales charts here in South Africa. The good news is the new Tiggy appears to have ironed out the few shortcomings of its forebear as well as upped the ante in terms of all round refinement. This big push to give it more substance and status marks a bold move to position it more upmarket…

Power and a lever Type R will retain current car’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder VTEC unit, which today produces 228kW and 400Nm of torque. No sign of a dual-clutch ’box, so a six-speed manual is nailed on. Frantic shifting a Type R rite of passage. Subaru-esque scoop Turbocharging key to meet Type R’s goals (and towering specific output), hence the intercooler scoop. But could previous mono-scroll turbocharger make way for twin sequential blowers? Great Japanese brake off Huge vents lurk in the flared arches behind the 20in front wheels, to help scavenge hot air from the wheel wells and cool the big Brembo brakes – with their four-piston calipers and drilled and ventilated discs. No all-wheel drive After Focus RS it’s the question everyone’s asking, but a four-wheel-drive Civic Type R isn’t…

Who is Jay Leno? Born in New York to a Scottish mother, Leno began as a comedian and actor, but was destined to become America’s most iconic talk show host since Johnny Carson. From 1987 onwards he regularly sat in for Carson on NBC’s The Tonight Show, and eventually took over the anchor role permanently in 1992, the show taking his name. In 2009 he tried hosting a nightly talk show of his own, but returned to The Tonight Show in 2010 and stayed another four years. At 66 he still performs stand-up, and Jay Leno’s Garage, is now a weekly cable show in its own right. Jay is for Jaguar The big man and his precious E-Types. The red one is definitely the most interesting one. It’s a chopped…

The Top Car Show IT’S THE ONE where we unpack the November issue of TopCar Magazine. That means hot metal like the Nissan GT-R and Bugatti Chiron, as well as a duelling Audi TT RS and Porsche 718 Cayman. Things get silly when Peter shows off his appalling presenting skills in the Jaguar F-Pace, whilst Aaron and Ray unbox an RC car. Thanks for watching! Make sure to subscribe for more great videos. Catch the full video here – https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=vg1OLEfFqT4 GOLDEN HOUR Great car, great road, perfect time of the day – the Brits call it the gloaming, we call it the Golden Hour. Join us as the sun goes down for exceptional photography in the latest Volvo S60 Polestar. SA FESTIVAL OF MOTORING (MERC…

I beg your pardon? No doubt you’re looking forward to a future in which you hustle your car along a winding road before switching to autonomous mode on the motorway and unwinding with the latest issue of Autonomous TopCar on your mobile device… A guaranteed recipe for motion sickness? Indeed. The disconnect between the object you’re focusing on and the scenery in your peripheral vision, together with suspension movement, plays havoc with your senses. And many passengers suffer from motion sickness as a matter of course, anyhow. How does the sim help? According to British simulator specialists Ansible Motion, one practical, if mildly sadistic, way of mitigating motion sickness is to induce it deliberately. Ansible’s ‘driver in the loop’ simulator allows designers to test different window shapes and suspension settings…

SPOOKY MODEL HOTWHEELS ELITE ECTO 1 CAR 30 years after the original movie and with a remake done, many are wanting this wicked 1:43 scale Hotwheels model of Ecto 1 for their collection. Get it before the remake messes it up. Pricing TBC Aladdin’s Cave, Eastgate START ’EM YOUNG KID’S MECHANIC SET By getting the tykes to learn mechanical skills you can rest assured that your future earnings will go to car parts and not narcotics. It will also keep the rugrats busy long enough for you to catch the game on telly, uninterrupted. (+/- R2100) www.imaginetoys.com BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED AIR POWERED ENGINE CAR KIT There’s nothing quite as horrible as unwrapping a cool gift only to find out batteries aren’t included. Luckily, this one is powered by…

Sedans are a good buy because they have generally been well looked after, booted cars attracting the kind of buyer less inclined to put their car over a drop-off on a Saturday night. Choose well and prices can also be considerably cheaper than their hatchback siblings, fashion dictating that the hatch is hero. It’s no surprise that the Polo Vivo is the country’s top-selling small three-box sedan, followed by the Nissan Almera and Chevrolet Sonic. Further up the exclusivity ladder the VW Jetta is favourite, along with the (previous generation) Honda Civic. Our pick of the crop would be a left-field choice, but bear with us; for R100k less than the cheapest Audi A3 sedan a nearly new Mazda6 2.2D Atenza offers a lot more space, bulletproof reliability, a dynamic…

Stuff BMW says ‘The rear lights reach deep into the sides of the car, creating a visual connection between its flanks and rear end.’ Who writes this stuff? Light has dawned Lamp glass has merged with the kidney grille. Standard LEDs can be optioned up to adaptive status, with Selective Beam and anti-dazzle functions with a range of up to 500 metres Ultimate what? The ultimate driving machine becomes ultimate self-driving machine? Active cruise and lane-assist now joined by cameras, radar and ultrasound sensors A heads-up Great to know BMW’s superb full-colour head-up display is featured in here, along with impressive kit including surround sound and WiFi for up to 10 devices Your next 5 Series will be lighter, more aerodynamic and bring the latest generation of BMW’s high-tech features…

1 A Ferrari with less power? Technically yes, this is a less powerful GTC4 Lusso, but not by much. Ferrari has inserted a version of its V8 3.9-litre turbo, delivering 448kW and 760Nm – actually more torque than the V12 version. Expect fur to fly… 2 What else do I have to give up? Just the four-wheel-drive system. Clever though it is, ditching the hardware and sending power solely to the rear saves weight and shifts the weight bias rearward to compensate for the reduced traction. 3 Will I gain anything over the V12? You can expect more money in your wallet, relatively speaking. Increased efficiency and reduced weight should improve the V12’s 15L/100km combined figure, perhaps to 11.2L/100km 4 Sounds great, can I buy one? Probably, though pricing and…

BY THE TIME you read this it will have been a year since Lewis Hamilton inexplicably crashed his metallic purple Zonda 760LH (which denotes precisely what you imagine) into three parked cars at crawling speed near his Monaco home, and seven years this month since golfer Tiger Woods suffered an embarrassing low speed accident, in which the golfer smashed into a fire hydrant and tree outside his home in Florida. These two superstars have, of course, a lot in common – both were child prodigies in their respective sports before breaking numerous records en route to domination at the highest levels. In the process they not only became rich beyond their parents’ wildest dreams, but effortlessly transcended that thin line that separates global icons from the truly great. Woods’s accident…

I’M STANDING IN a Free State kitchen facing a pair of impossibly tight khaki shorts, wrapped around the midriff of an impossibly large soya farmer. Ricoffy, koffiekoekies, more dogs than a SPCA pound after Christmas. This is the heartland, and this is Isuzu country. ‘Don’t give me your new Hilux nonsense. Strong is what we need. Simple. Make it simple. They don’t understand. We don’t make wine here. We grow food. The roads eat bakkies.’ In a nutshell then, there’s the reason for Isuzu’s evergreen popularity; two parts tough, one part simple, one part what-my-pa-likes. It’s this baseline devotion that GM wants – and needs – to keep, while at the same time appealing to the next generation of softer owners, they of the equally tight apparel, less khaki, more…

ESSUVICATION – the practice of transforming traditional vehicle bodystyles such as hatchbacks and MPVs into SUVs. Okay, so that may be a word I just made up but the growing demand for SUVs means it’s now officially a thing. What else could explain Honda’s transformation of the Brio hatch, by way of the Mobilio MPV, into a seven-seater SUV? Is this the more practical Renault Duster rival Honda would have us believe or is it merely the Toyota Avanza’s worst nightmare? A visual dilemma Despite appearances, the BR-V is not a real SUV. Unlike some rivals, there’s no four-wheel drive model, no torquey diesel option (locally at least) and it won’t go off road. Still, it has been designed to look the part, which thankfully means it isn’t just a…

Did I mention how abrasively loud the GTS is? Even at idle you’d think you were sitting in a race car MY BODY IS sore and stiff. I’ve been bouncing around like a rag doll inside this thing for the past hour and trying to stay composed is proving difficult. I guess then it was a rookie error choosing to admire the acid-orange roll cage and fire extinguisher instead of question its relevance – a clear case of not reading the instructions properly. Either way the BMW M4 GTS is a loud, fast and obnoxious car that inadvertently forces both people and cars to move out of the way for fear of being eaten or something. It is a scary machine. Calvin seemed to think so too and upon handing…

‘TWO HUNDRED METRES, easy right, triple caution, donga on the left! Over two ditches. So stay on the right! Please!’ I was sewn into a pukka racing bucket via a six-point harness that under hard braking threatened to hug me till red spots danced in front of my eyes. My task was laughably complicated in theory, much less so in practice if I could only find the groove. I was navigating ex cross-country champion, Terence Marsh in his Dakar-spec 290kW/500Nm Red-Lined Nissan Navara on a 150km qualifying prologue at the Donaldson SunCity 450 with only about an hour’s worth of experience aka seat time. I had 24 pages of instructions in my lap to get through and the dangers out there were real. Punctures. Roll-overs. Fires. Public embarrassment. Many bad…

1 ASTON MARTIN DB11 By retaining the exhaust manifold design and ratios of pipe length Aston was able to keep the rich sound mix, particularly the 3rd, 6th and 9th orders and how they ripple through. The subtleties come in the half orders, with the V12’s distinctive engine note developing between the 2½ and 3rd orders. ‘We don’t put in pops, bangs and tricks – if it over-fuels when you lift off it will pop but we don’t dial that in artificially,’ says Hirst 2 FORD FOCUS RS ‘Removing insulation from the bulkhead and the rear underfloor allowed a range of engine and exhaust frequencies to be released into the cabin,’ explains Ford vehicle engineering manager Tyrone Johnson. But the key is a sophisticated electronic sound enhancement system that synthesises…

ALDOUS HUXLEY, the fabled English writer and philosopher, once said ‘Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.’ Cadillac, it appears, has taken him quite literally – by launching its first series-production rear-view camera system. It’s snappily dubbed the ‘Rear Camera Mirror’, and consists of a rear-mounted camera, more image processing than the production of Tron, and a high-resolution display. The display sits in a conventional rear-view mirror housing, and overlays a standard mirror. This means, should it pack up – or if you don’t like it – you can simply switch back to the ever-effective bit of glass with some reflective coating on it. So why all the additional, seemingly needless complication? The aim, claims Cadillac, is to improve safety for the driver and…

THE EDITOR’S BRIEF was simple – ‘take the day off and drive your longtermers for as long as you want. Take photos, tweet and just enjoy the car and share the experience with fans on social media’. It’s not often we get these kinds of orders so I embraced it with open arms and did exactly what was asked of me. I love driving, especially when there are no pending deadlines or the like to ruin the experience. Living in Durbanville Hills on the outskirts of Cape Town also has its benefits. Apart from becoming the hub of outdoorsy activities its location in the hills means there’s an abundance of awesome roads to explore, both of the tarred and dirt variety. With this kind of testing topography available I decided…

Light, fantastic Despite the show car feel of the Trezor, the design and engineering team worked hard to take weight out of the vehicle. The chassis incorporates a central carbonfibre cell with tubular steel frames front and back. Jaw-dropping lifting lid is carbonfibre too. The concept weighs in at 1600kg and is fully functional. Satsuma bags Imagine a satsuma bag lit with red lasers and you’ll get some idea of how the Trezor’s tail lights are constructed. Actually made up of countless fibre-optic strands twisted under tension, they increase in light intensity under braking and look awesome tucked into the concept’s super-slim rear apertures. A pane in the dash The floating infotainment screen is the cabin’s most real-world feature. Using OLED tech and thin curved glass, it offers a drag-and-sweep…

I’M FROM NEW ZEALAND, Auckland. I grew up with my mom – no brothers, no sisters just a big dream to take on the world’s best. All the women in my family had horses so I got dragged out to the farms on the weekend, every weekend. At the age of six I was given an old clapped-out dirt bike by my mum. She had no idea how to operate it, fix it or ride it so I kind of had to figure it out as I went along, so I’m kind of self-taught, the story of my whole career in fact. I raced motocross, got good results, second place in New Zealand. Racing was getting too expensive, replacing clutch plates, tyres and all that stuff. I saw the Crusty…

AS I WRITE, 30 (or so) of my favourite cars are just a few feet away. The number grows regularly. There is a 1970 Porsche 917 in Gulf blue and orange, my favourite sports racer. Alongside is a D-Type Jaguar. I once drove the ex-Mike Hawthorn ’55 Le Mans winner, and 20 years later the very first D-Type. There is the red ex-Fangio Alfa 159 ‘Alfetta’ GP car, wire-spoke wheels glistening as the sun shines through my window. (It is summer as I write. In winter, those same wheels sparkle from the glow of my desk lamp.) I recall its oddball pedal layout, brake and accelerator transposed, a worry in a car of such rarity and pedigree. On one of my runs up the Goodwood hill, it overheated. I had…

AS MID-LIFE facelifts go, I’d say this is a pretty successful one. Peugeot’s compact crossover, due in South Africa soon, no longer resembles a 208 that’s just had a nasty shock, and now cribs a few styling cues from 2014’s Quartz concept to look a more convincing baby SUV. The grille’s been pulled upright and peppered with a set of 3D-effect plastic inserts, and the wheelarches and sill scuff plates pushed outwards for a bulkier stance. Minor changes, but enough to give this small-ish car a bigger on-road presence. It still is a 208 of course, carrying over the supermini’s floorpan, engines and dashboard more or less wholesale, albeit with posher materials and finishes (and a bizarre aeroplane throttle-style handbrake). That means a similarly attractive but flawed cabin, including its…

DAWN, MAHIKENG AIRPORT. Orange. Everything’s orange. The car’s orange, the sky’s orange, the Kalahari sand is orange. Even the runway is orange, the North Easter blowing full pelt. Behind the wheel I feel properly berk-like, full-face helmet, asbestos racing gloves, the whole nine yards. A berk because I’m doing 40kph, this is just a photoshoot, a practice run for the real thing later in the morning, when Speedweek gets under way and I can light up the blacktop, trying for 322kph. Still, it’s the business this machine, even as a stroller, the F-Type SVR AWD as loudmouth as the colour suggests, a gobby bawler, five litres of phwoooar, good for 422kW and locomotive amounts of torque. It throws up tractor levels of red dust, even at this pedestrian speed, the…

Show me the speed New TFT instruments replace previous analogue clocks. Type R repatriates digital speedo from its exile in old car’s ‘floating’ upper binnacle, and plonks it back in the driver’s face. Type R steering wheel destined for lurid two-tone leather. The hero returns Gearshift has been slowly making its way down the centre stack since the last-but-one Civic had it placed high up the dash, and has now arrived to a hero’s welcome back in the traditional spot. While it was away, the handbrake has become electronic. Fully connected Central colour touchscreen features new-age ‘Honda Connect’ infotainment, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Phone, maps, messages, music – there’s not much you can’t do through here, including checking your reversing camera (which you’ll need with Type R’s be-winged…

> AT VOLKSWAGEN, we regard electric mobility as key for the future. > THE BEETLE brought mobility to the masses. The second movement for us started in the ’70s with the Golf, which became connected to a strong movement in society, upward [mobility]. Electromobility is the third phase of development, of moving people forward. > TECHNOLOGY, CUSTOMER demand and customers’ lives are changing simultaneously, governments are moving away from combustion to electric propulsion. The VW board spent four days visiting China and we saw how people’s lives are changing, how they use connectivity to ease their life – this is just enormous. > CHINA WILL see the strongest and fastest volume deployment. > WE WILL connect directly with customers. In the past we’ve delegated this to dealers, but in future…

‘ADULTING.’ IT’S A term that’s popping up regularly in the Leathern household lately. It’s a bit like our equivalent of that famous bit of dialogue from Trainspotting. You know the one where Ewan McGregor advocates the seemingly mundane trappings of regular existence ‘choose a family, choose a flatscreen television, choose a mortgage… choose LIFE!’ while his character does very much the opposite throughout the film. Yes, well, with the wedding out the way, the winter nesting period well and truly over, the wife and I are trying to get healthier. That means watching calories, exercising regularly, partying less – you know, generally ‘adulting’ this whole life thing. It’s going well too, instead of a glass of wine or a few beers on the weekends, it’s wheatgrass smoothies at the local…

FOR THE THIRD consecutive month, domestic sales showed an increase over the previous month with September’s total being 1 256 more than August 2016’s figure of 46 143, although export sales showed a drop of 1 472 units from 34 348. Commenting on the latest statistics, NAAMSA said the recession in the domestic new vehicle market had accelerated significantly during September with all major segments reflecting double digit or near double digit declines. Given the present difficult economic environment in South Africa, the negative trend was expected to continue over the medium term. Surprisingly, export sales of new motor vehicles had also reflected a year-on-year decline. Year-to-date, total industry sales had fallen 11.3%. Of the 47 399 industry sales of vehicles in September, 80.9% represented dealer sales, 14.3% represented sales…

IT WAS A head-to-head South Africa didn’t get to fully enjoy, the battle between the original BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz 190E. The oil crisis of 1973 prompted the introduction of the BMW, a canny decision that doubled Munich’s global sales and started a trend towards sophisticated small sedans. Mercedes-Benz’s answer was the classy 190E and the rest is history. Now, 40 years later, the wheel has turned – the world is seemingly once again ready for compact executives. Audi A3 1.4 TFSI Anyone familiar with the A3 hatch will instantly recognise the interior of the sedan and that’s a good thing; few cars are as ergonomically sorted and none as beautifully screwed together as this best seller. The obvious difference, that 425-litre boot has the happy side effect…