SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in Witness Wheels on Thursday August 8, 2013
Sasuka: isiZulu for "we are departing"
It has been years since we last drove a 16-seat minibus and it was good to be able to stare down nervous white ladies in their oversized 4x4s again. Just kidding.
There have been alternatives to the famous make of public transporters before, but this is possibly the first time that an upmarket answer to Ses’fikile has been offered at a similar price but with even more equipment than you get in the much costlier 14-seat Quantum.
BAW South Africa is jointly owned by the Industrial Development Corporation and Chinese business interests that include Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company. The cars are built from semi-knocked down kits imported from China, with the venture providing direct employment to 469 people at BAW SA and another 500 at suppliers and dealerships.
BAW Sasuka’s engine and suspension is almost identical to the Toyota product and its body is the same width and height, but is 110 mm longer to give your passengers more space to sit comfortably. Its fuel tank is bigger too, at 86 litres rather than 70. Seats are high backed, with built in head rests and they recline through a few degrees to make long distance trips less tiring. Front and rear air conditioning, a more advanced radio and CD unit with Bluetooth cellphone connectivity and a DVD player with 15-inch screen, for entertainment on the move, are included.
Items you do not get in other minibusses include satellite navigation so your driver can find his or her way to new destinations, and a tracker unit that tells the owner immediately if the vehicle goes off its proper route. That is useful if the bus gets hijacked or the driver makes unauthorised side trips. It also alerts you to when servicing is due. On that subject, services are free for the first two years or 200 000 km. That includes brake repairs and is offered as part of a one-hour express servicing programme that lets your driver get back to work with the shortest delay possible.
BAW has promised full parts backup to operators. There is a large parts warehouse at the Springs factory holding spares to the value of R40 million, with daily deliveries to dealers. Parts pricing is to be kept below competitor levels, based on the Kinsey basket. Local dealers will keep a full stock of service items on hand and be able to get less-used parts within 24 hours.
Like its main competitors, Sasuka offers two airbags for the driver and front passenger, antilock brakes with electronic brake force distribution, seat belts for all sixteen people on board and the fire extinguisher and various decals required by law. Attractive financing packages have been arranged with leading banks and BAW offers a guaranteed buy-back scheme for when it’s time to trade in and replace.
Apart from Sasuka’s more attractive seats, other equipment items are almost exact replicas of what is offered on Quantum. The dash, centre console and air conditioning controls will be familiar to drivers of the more expensive vehicle, as will body coloured bumpers and mirrors. One obvious difference is that Sasuka is fitted with white walled and wider tyres, 205 R15C vs 195 R15C, than the other bus uses.
On the road, Sasuka is certainly not a racing car, but it pulls well and handles and brakes confidently. Engine revs at 100 km/h in fifth gear are 2500, so it’s geared for economy. One effect of the greater length and wider tyres is that Sasuka needs about a metre more turning space than its competitor.
Test unit from Metro Car Sales, Pietermaritzburg
The numbers
Price: R299 990
Engine: G4BA, 2.7-litre, four-cylinder petrol
Power: 110 kW at 5200 rpm
Torque: 235 Nm at 4000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: Not stated
Maximum speed: 156 km/h
Claimed average fuel consumption: 13,7 l/100 km
Tank: 86 litres
Warranty: 2 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 2 years/200 000 km; at 10 000 km intervals
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
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