Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i topCar

THE LIGHTWEIGHT NEW 2016 VW Golf GTI Clubsport S has surpassed the Nordschleife lap time set by the Honda Civic Type R last year, with a blistering 7min 49.21sec flier. VW claims that, as a result, the Clubsport S is the quickest production FWD car yet to lap the Nordschleife. Driving the 265kph Golf was 28-year-old German racing driver Benny Leuchter, who was on hand at the announcement at the 2016 Wörthersee VW festival in Austria. This is a track-ready two-seater Golf and just 400 will be made worldwide, all individually numbered. It’s gone on a significant diet to strip out unnecessary weight: there are no rear seats at all, the battery is smaller, there’s less sound deadening and fripperies such as parcel shelf, floor mats and even bonnet dampers…

THE FIRST ASTON Martin DB11 will be delivered in the final quarter of 2016, but it will not be an immaculate conception. New cars progress from rudimentary mules through to increasingly mature prototypes that are almost entirely representative of the finished article. They are often covered in hypnotic swirly wraps to attract spy photographers. Occasionally, journalists are granted passenger rides in these cars; only rarely do they drive them. But Aston Martin has invited us to Bridgestone’s test track near Rome to do just that. The idea is we’ll get a first taste of Gaydon’s crucial new model, and provide feedback to chief engineer Matt Becker, he of Lotus chassis wizardry fame. Yes, we are under-qualified. As replacement for the 2003 DB9, the DB11 is critical for Aston Martin and…

I COULD KISS ANDY Palmer, I really could. And Ian Minards too. Seriously, the Aston boss and his product guru sidekick had better watch out next time I’m in Gaydon, or it’ll be portly hugs all round. This embarrassing outpouring is down to what they’ve done with the Vantage S and, by extension, to my faith in the future of driving. Not content with squeezing a V12 into a V8’s shoes and thus making the under-bonnet area more overcrowded than the Tokyo subway, these guys have dropped another improbable doozie: a manual gearbox. A seven-speed manual gearbox. With a dogleg first. Didn’t they get the memo about manuals being yesterday’s news? Yes, they got it alright – it’s in the bin over there. It’s hard to figure which sound is…

IT WOULD APPEAR that the Audi SQ7 is to ordinary SUVs what the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building is to your average garden shed. Only the second Audi Q-series model to receive S designation (after the SQ5; the RSQ3 doesn’t count), it features the world’s first production electric supercharger, while the optional ‘driving dynamics package’ adds four-wheel steering, a torque vectoring sport differential at the back and an electro-mechanical active anti-roll system (as per the platform-sharing Bentley Bentayga) – much of which is only made possible by the new 48v electrics that at once supplement and surpass the usual 12v juice. It rides on standard air suspension and is powered by a new 4.0-litre TDI V8 with sequential twin turbocharging and the first diesel application of Audi valvelift technology. Compared to…

AGRICULTURAL – and proudly so – until not too many years ago, the metamorphosis of the double cab has been nothing short of remarkable. As the SUV and high hatch segments redefined what a ‘lifestyle’ vehicle looked like, the double cab moved in from the khaki two-tone hinterland and became a peri-urban pavement special. More Bakoven, more aspiration, more luxury. First to raise the stakes was Nissan’s Navara (soon to be extensively updated), followed by Volkswagen’s Amarok (expect the 3.0TDI in 2017, thank you VW) and finally, Ford’s game-changing Ranger, which did the best job of finding the sweet spot between hard worker and lifestyle lugger. Left fighting over the wooden spoon were Isuzu’s KB, Mitsubishi’s Triton and Toyota’s Hilux. Mitsubishi and Isuzu chose the winding, evolutionary road to newness,…

1 SOLID-STATE BATTERY Although based on lithium-ion tech, the pressurised liquid electrolyte is replaced by a thin layer of non-flammable material that acts as both the separator (keeping positive and negative electrodes from coming into contact) and the electrolyte (allowing ion transfer to happen) 2 SAFER THAN LIQUID Lithium-ion batteries typically run at 35deg C, demanding complex cooling for EVs, and both Tesla and GM’s batteries have suffered fires. To extend their service life, the batteries should never be fully charged or discharged. Solid-state batteries don’t suffer from these problems 3 CLEVER MOTORS Dyson’s digital ‘switched reluctance’ motors benefit from excellent packaging and mechanical design, says Wilson. They offer good cooling and thermal performance – which is key – while aerodynamically efficient rotors, that are quiet and cool, minimise losses…

DOESN’T SOUND LIKE much, 2.65 degrees. There’s 360 of the blighters in a full circle, after all. Yet this is the maximum amount the recently revised Mercedes SL can lean into corners, like a tilting Pendolino train, using the new ‘curve tilting’ function built into the optional Active Body Control suspension system. And although it can be difficult to spot the difference in a photo, on the inside you can definitely tell there’s something sneaky going on. The SL is only the second Mercedes to get curve tilting capability after the 2014 S-Class Coupe. It’s intended primarily as an aid to comfort (hence it isn’t offered on AMG variants) and in the S-Class it feels decidedly weird, the sensation that the car should be rolling – but isn’t –serving to…

MY, MY… how things can change over the course of a year. Beards grow, priorities shift, economies falter, presidencies implode – well, as for the last two points, let’s rather not go there. With the time upon us to say goodbye to our Cactus, it feels like an eternity since it reported for duty 12 months ago, put straight into action with a three-way-shootout cover story. The day it arrived at the office we all clambered over it, with its turquoise paint, plastic cladding and scrunched-up Pikachu face. Then collectively we took it for a drive against its mini crossover competitors, the Ford Ecosport and Renault Captur. It was so light, so nimble, so easy and the cabin so airy and unconventional. We all loved how leftfield if was… little…

NEW MONEY’ is worth just as much as ‘old money’ and new brands stand as good a chance to succeed as established ones – no argument. But a product with heritage certainly makes it more interesting. Ferrari and McLaren may be able to go the full ten rounds in today’s slick showrooms, but there’s no doubt whose back catalogue will keep you entertained for longer. Heritage isn’t essential, but it is important. Trawling through a global news site recently I spotted a picture celebrating 25 years of the Clio in the UK and wondered how long the little Renault had been a part of our motoring scene. It turns out we’ve been able to buy them since 1999, which makes it 17 years now. The difference being Renault South Africa…

ONCE AGAIN, MONTHLY sales figures for new vehicles reflect a fall over the previous month’s total. The April 2016 statistics, issued jointly by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) and Lightstone Auto, the independent provider of the South African new vehicle sales information to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the automotive industry, showed that local manufacturers and distributors sold 40 390 vehicles over the six market categories, with a further 32 856 being exported. By comparison, last month the respective figures were 47 516/27 718. For April 2015, the totals were 44 469/23 602. The 2016 year-to-date totals are 184 627/102 888. Mercedes-Benz (2466), Associated Motor Holdings (Hyundai, Kia, Daihatsu) together with Amalgamated Automobile Distributors (4001) as well as Great Wall Motors (103)…

‘CARS HAVE A talismanic quality,’ says Bayley. ‘No other manufactured object has the same disturbing allure. More emotions are involved in cars than in anything else we make or use: vanity, cupidity, greed, aggression, social competitiveness, desire and fear. But when all this mixed bag of perverse promise and certain threat ends in the catastrophe of a fatal collision, these same talismanic qualities acquire an extra dimension. ‘How the car crash has acquired cultural respectability, even glamour, is the subject of the book. It is not intended to be macabre, rather to survey how man’s most wonderful and most terrible everyday invention played its part in creating some of the enduring personal myths of the 20th century.’ The critically acclaimed book details 20 crashes, looking not just at the accidents…

OVER THE YEARS Jaguar has been urged to make a ‘new E-Type’, a ‘new Mk2’ and even a ‘new XJ220’. Instead, it’s built a ‘new Land Rover’. What’s more, it’s surprisingly good. If you want a sports-minded SUV that can deliver both pace and space – with a healthy dose of grace – then the new F-Pace may well be the best SUV of all. Only a Porsche Macan can match it dynamically. Only a boxy trad 4x4 can better it for versatility. The F-Pace is a seminal car for Jaguar, and will reach more customers in more markets than any Jaguar before. The company now has a car that will rival brother brand Land Rover in sales and revenues. Never mind that to emulate Land Rover’s success, it has…

MOST NEW TECH ideas have a shaky start. Whether they’re underdeveloped, costly or compromised, or all three, early adopters tend to end up making excuses for their impulsive purchase. Take the petrol-electric hybrid car for example, the earliest ones were slow, whiny, heavy and offered very little in the way of actual efficiency gains to justify their increased cost. Hollywood loved them. Small diesel hatch owners just laughed. Times change and technology marches on, sometimes furiously. Supercharger, two turbochargers, powerful electric drive unit, home charging convenience, seven seats, V8 performance, Swedish luxury with genuine small diesel hatch efficiency. This is the vanguard of hybrid tech right now: the Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine. In a nutshell, Volvo has taken the most powerful version of its blown 2.0-litre four, which alone…

WITH A BROAD LINE-UP of Swifts and Ciazs to take on everything from Figo to Fiesta, and the similar-in-size but cheaper Celerio on entry-level duty, we’d understand if Suzuki’s small car range left you baffled. So where will Baleno fit in? Above Swift and Celerio, next to Ciaz apparently. It’s fractionally longer nose-to-tail and wider than the Swift; but more squat in its stance. The name? Baleno is Italian for lightning, which would be cool if it was a hot hatch. But there’s nothing remotely hot about this car. That’s the Swift Sport’s job. Instead Baleno is a higher-tech Swift, more premium, more practical. The problem is Suzuki SA isn’t bringing the higher-tech bits... Its handling is never going to set your heart racing, nor does it elicit the sort…

MCLAREN DIDN’T PLAN to make this car. The 675LT story was supposed to begin and end with last year’s sublime coupe. But sheer customer demand for an open-air Spider version has added this rather special postscript. And that demand has easily outstripped supply; little more than two weeks after the 675LT Spider was announced, the entire 500-off production run was already sold out. If you don’t ask, etc… ‘LT’, of course, means ‘Longtail’, McLaren’s new label of choice for its most hardcore road models and a tenuous link to the old F1 GTR’s dramatic Le Mans racer evolution of the same name. The 675LT Spider does what it says on the (carbon) tin, exchanging the 675LT coupe’s fixed head for a folding roof mechanism. It’s ever so slightly heavier and…

Price (as tested) R547 900 (R574 900) Engine 2755cc, 16v, 4cyl turbodiesel Transmission Six speed automatic, selectable 4WD, diff lock Suspension Double wishbone front, leaf spring rear Towing capacity 3 200kg Kerb weight 1 995kg Power & torque Power 130kW @ 3 400rpm Torque 420Nm @ 1 400-2 600rpm Power to weight 65kW per tonne Brakes & wheels Brakes front Ventilated discs Brakes rear Ventilated discs Wheels 17-inch alloys Tyres Bridgestone 265/65 R17 Performance data Acceleration 0-60kph 5.15 sec 0-80kph 8.13 sec 0-100kph 12.15 sec Overtaking 60-100kph 6.68 sec 80-120kph 8.22 sec Braking 100-0kph 3.2 sec/46m Top speed 175kph Fuel consumption Fuel supply Common rail direct injection Claimed Urban cycle 10.4l/100km Extra-urban cycle 6.5l/100km Combined cycle 8.5l/100km CO2 emissions 224g/km Actual Test route 80km Consumption 9l/100km Cruising range 950km…

THE GLE 63’S piping-hot exhaust system resembles a primitive click language as it contracts violently in the cool morning air. What exactly it’s trying to tell me I’m not quite sure but I’m confident it has nothing to do with emissions tax and saving the planet. Nope – this machine tugs at your sense receptors whenever it gets a chance and forces you to interact with the cocktail of noises, smells and vibrations that comprise the AMG philosophy. Be it from the scent of the smouldering brakes or the thunderous cacophony of its large-capacity turbo mill the GLE 63 ensconces its occupants in emotion but that’s what AMG-badged machines represent: noise, power and presence, right? The GLE (essentially a rebadged ML) sits at the top of Merc’s vehicle hierarchy equipped…

Alfa’s serious about doing its badge, its heritage and its long-suffering fans justice ALFA ROMEO’S GIULIA Quadrifoglio is a story of a race against time. A race to get a brand new car from drawing board to market in less than three years. A race to get it round the Nürburgring Nordschleife faster than any other production saloon car on the planet. A race for me to vaporise a brand new set of Pirelli P Zero Corsas in the best Alfa I’ve ever tried before I’m dragged kicking and screaming from the driver’s seat. And most of all, a race to remind the world that Alfa Romeo still knows how to make a proper driver’s car while there’s still anyone around who actually cares. People who remember Alfa’s glory days…

> CARS ARE different to mobile phones. Your car’s like an astronaut’s spacesuit; home, work environment and life support. It’s your personal space, and humans value personal space. People talk about car sharing, and for certain populations that might be fine, but not for everyone. And brand differentiation will come into it. We’re working to develop a control system that’ll make the car drive smoothly and human-like. We’ll differentiate with a beautiful user experience. > AT NASA our division developed the first autonomous spacecraft – if you’re going to fly to Mars you want to do as much of the work as possible autonomously. We looked at the interaction between humans and robots. A good interface is about putting people at the centre, not putting the tech first and hoping…

TopCar Drive Thru Review: Ford Mustang 2.3 EcoBoost AMERICA’S GIVEN US many great things – muscle cars, fast food and drive thrus being top of mind. So what better excuse to go four-up in the new four-cylinder Ford Mustang and deliberate (among many things) whether you need a V8 to deliver an authentic pony-car experience. It’s the TopCarDrive Thru Review. Catch our full magazine road test of the four-pot ’Stang in the June 2016 issue of TopCa , or view the video here – topcar.co.za/ford/  topcar-drive-thru-review-ford-mustang-2-3-ecoboost Pedro’s take on our longterm Clio TopCar’s favourite international correspondent, Pedro Cerfuentes from Cancún, reveals just a leetle more about our long-term test Renault Clio. The TopCar Show – vol 1: Beijing Special You know not every oyster shell hides a pearl,…

Volkswagen T-Prime Concept GTE Sounds like a fancy German steak, is actually a preview of the next VW Touareg. As the super massive elongated proportions probably make plain, it’s based on the same MLB platform as the Audi Q7, while the GTE tag reveals the T-Prime is also a plug-in hybrid. Combining a 2.0-litre TSI turbo with an e-motor it boasts 275kW, a 50km emissions-free range, 0-100kph in 6.0sec and 224kph top speed. Before you go totally ‘so what?’ on us, the most interesting thing about this concept is the Curved Interaction Area interior. Taking tips from the XC90 and E-Class, this delivers a button-free digital dial and infotainment experience collated under a single pane of curving glass. Fancy indeed. NEED TO KNOW > What it is The next Touareg,…

MAX VERSTAPPEN’S maiden victory in the Spanish Grand Prix certainly provided Formula 1 with the perfect antidote to the vociferous criticism the sport recently endured over various issues, ranging from (lack of) noise through predictable results to skewed and lethargic governance processes. Not only did the 18-year-old Belgo-Dutchman absolutely annihilate the youngest-ever-winner record – previously held by Sebastian Vettel – by almost three years, but his win marked the first for a non-Mercedes driver in 11 races. That it was Max’s first race in a Red Bull Racing car – having joined from sister outfit Scuderia Toro Rosso the previous week after Daniil Kvyat fell out of favour – further fuelled F1’s euphoria. Of course, winning a grand prix at any age is, regardless of circumstance, a momentous achievement celebrated…

DESPITE THE CURRENT Tiguan’s somewhat anonymous styling and a seemingly annual slip in the compact SUV class pecking order, look keenly and they’re everywhere, making friends and influencing people by virtue of the magic combination that is our apparently relentless appetite for SUVs and the Volkswagen brand image. Lest you’re concerned I’m alone in this accusatory damning with the faintest outline of praise, it seems Volkswagen itself is so desperate to imbue the all-new Tiguan with something – anything – more than middle-of-the-road ambivalence that for the launch it’s brought us to what is reputedly Europe’s largest outdoor BMX and skate centre, Mellowpark in Berlin. I say reputedly, because VW also appears to have levelled a large area of it in order to cook up one of those safely-does-it off-road…

THE NOTION OF spacious luxury is not something the seven-seat GLS should battle with, frankly. After all, the ‘S-Class of SUVs’, as Mercedes likes to call it, is certainly imposing enough at 1.8m tall and 5.1m long, but aside from the vast acreage it occupies and the equally hefty price tag it commands, if it lives up to its billing it should be the very embodiment of Mercedes status, comfort and luxury. A good thing as it’s the spearhead of Mercedes’ prolific SUV onslaught – think GLA, GLC, GLE and GLE Coupe – all recently launched as part of a broader product offensive that’ll see the number of Mercedes passenger car models rise from 29 to 42 by 2020. So what’s been done to keep it at the top of…

Mercedes-Benz C 300 Which is the one to have? There are two, the C200 is less expensive, misses a few bells and whistles, same 2.0-litre engine. There’s an extra 45kW here, which helps with in-gear acceleration. It makes a better noise too. Wow factor? We think so – there’s something of a retro vibe going on, and it certainly has kerb appeal, judging from the number of eager conversationalists. It reeks of slinky urban sophistication. Chassis – soggy cheese or F1? The Merc has (optional) adaptive dampers, highly recommended. Then you get to choose your settings – in Sport everything, from suspension to gearbox and steering, tightens up and it can truly lift its petticoats. Lexus RC 2.0t EX Which is the one to have? The hairy-chested 3.5-litre V6 in…

‘In the city it turns into the ultimate urban assault weapon.’ LONG BEFORE smartphones and smart TVs there was the smart car. A pioneering joint venture in the ‘90s between Daimler-Benz and Swatch watch brainchild Nicholas Hayek. Almost before it got off the ground though, Benz’s plucky attempt at redefining urban mobility looked like a nightmarishly expensive faux pas. First of all it was a small car engineered by a premium carmaker in a brand new £1billion factory with very expensive technology at its core: three-layered ‘tridion’ steel frame architecture and small turbo engines. Then scepticism set in over its stability and safety – the elk test showing it to be susceptible to rollovers due to its high centre of gravity and short wheelbase. So it was back to the…

Price (as tested) R1 829 700 (R2 094 450) Engine 5461cc 32v twin-turbo V8 Transmission Seven-speed auto, all-wheel drive Suspension Air suspension Boot capacity 650l Utility space 1 720l Kerb weight 2 345kg Power & torque Power 410kW @ 5 750rpm Torque 700Nm @ 1 750-5 500rpm Power to weight 175kW per tonne Brakes & wheels Brakes front Vented & drilled Brakes rear Vented & drilled Wheels 21-inch alloys Tyres Continental 295/35 ZR21 Performance data Acceleration 0-60kph 2.22 sec 0-80kph 3.17 sec 0-100kph 4.44 sec Overtaking 60-100kph 2.05 sec 80-120kph 3.55 sec Braking 100-0kph 2.80 sec/44m Top speed 250kph (ltd) Fuel consumption Fuel supply Direct injection Claimed Urban cycle 15.7l/100km Extra-urban cycle 9.6l/100km Combined cycle 11.8l/100km CO2 emissions 276g/km Actual Test route 80km Consumption 13.9l/100km Cruising range 670km Warranty,…

THE QUADRIFOGLIO proves to the world that Alfa still has the ability to make a proper driver’s car, but it won’t do Alfa’s bottom line any good. That’s the job of the ordinary Giulia. We’re not expecting QF-style fireworks from a fleet car, but does some of that DNA carry over? Of the available launch cars – a 2.0 petrol with 147kW and the brand new 2.2 diesel, in 110kW or 133kW tune – we tried the latter. The entry-level car is called simply Giulia and comes with 16-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate, cruise control and a suite of safety systems – including lane departure warning, collision warning and autonomous braking. Super adds navigation, part leather seats, 17in wheels and rear parking sensors, while optional Sport and Lusso packs bring…

PORSCHE 919 What makes it tick? Porsche’s powertrain is built around a 2.0-litre turbocharged V4 petrol engine and two energy recovery systems: one reclaiming power from the front axle under braking and a second scavenging energy from the exhaust. When the whole lot chimes in the 919’s a 670kW+ all-wheel-drive tool. The 919 runs in the 8-megajoule class, its efficient and powerful hybrid powertrain meaning the car must run on less fuel than the Audi over a lap. Pedigree? Porsche sits at the top of the all-time Le Mans winners pile, won Le Mans last year with the 919 and took both the drivers’ and constructors’ WEC titles in 2015. They say: ‘The 670kW strong Le Mans prototype is ready for the title defence’ We say: It’s costing a fortune…

LOOK UP THE definition of ‘mega’ and you will find it means ‘very large’, ‘huge’ or ‘excellent’ when used as an adjective, and ‘extremely’ when used as an adverb. Standing next to Toyota’s Mega Cruiser all four explanations appear valid – it sure has massive presence. The Cruiser moniker is a bit at odds though, as this vehicle was designed to go anywhere no matter the topography. Nevertheless, if anything was built to define ‘all-terrain vehicle’ then this certainly fits the bill. Trouble is, someone else did it better. It all began in the late-1980s when the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was purportedly looking for a High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) to replace the ageing Jeep. Reportedly, 61 manufacturers showed interest but only three submitted prototypes: American Motors General,…

Setsuna? Sounds fruity… The citrus-y name is the least of this Toyota concept’s curiosities. Created for the Japanese manufacturer’s first appearance at Milan Design Week, the Setsuna is like a posh children’s push-about toy, in that it’s primarily made out of wood. Wood? Has Toyota suddenly decided to take on Morgan? Maybe a little bit of that. The idea is that compared to the cold-steel disposable inhumanity of a modern high-tech motor, a simplistic warm wooden roadster could become something for a family to treasure and cherish over generations. What – like an heirloom? Exactly! The theory goes that the Setsuna’s wooden elements will age over time, shaped by the presence and experiences of the people who own, interact with and love it. It even has a ‘100-year clock’, which…

HURRAH! JUST in time for this issue, our new long-termer has arrived, and it’s much more than we were expecting. Don’t you just love it when that happens? Even as we bade farewell to the Juke we didn’t know exactly what would replace it. There was talk of a Qashqai, then of an X-Trail, then it was a Qashqai again. Perhaps Nissan would surprise us with a GT-R waiting at the dealership with a massive ribbon on top of it. I imagined the dealer principle saying, ‘Here you are TopCar, your new chariot awaits.’ That would’ve been a dream come true for the 12-year old deep inside me, but let’s be honest, the Nissan X-Trail is bound to prove more useful every day. The car emerged from a transporter with…

IT’S NO SECRET that I’m a little bit in love with the 6, let’s face it, and last week I made enquiries about adding it to my personal . I that’s the mark of a truly impressive car, when you’re prepared to put down your own greenbacks for the privilege of extending the experience. Alas, greenbacks, there are not enough of them, so, benevolent benefactor notwithstanding, I will bid farewell to the mobile sculpture next month as planned, with a heavy heart. Turns out that it may have already left the building – on the national stage at least. One of the consequences of the Great Dissolving Rand magic trick was that motor manufacturers have had to look closely at their import strategies. In the past six months the canny…