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.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday May 26, 2012
Pics supplied
The engine: This is the 1NR-FE motor introduced to Europe late in 2008. Developed for improved performance with lower emissions than the 2NZ-FE motor still used in Zen models, it has an “undersquare” configuration with narrower bore and longer stroke. Construction is otherwise similar with an aluminium block and DOHC, 16-valve, VVT-I head layout.
The body: Despite a 50 mm increase in wheelbase, it has shorter front and rear overhangs and more prominent wheel arches, giving the new car a racier edge. Overall length is 100 mm longer than the previous model and width is unchanged, but trimming the height by 20 mm to 1510 mm adds to the car’s lower, more purposeful appearance. Its coefficient of drag (Cd) is 0.287.
The fundamental strength of the car’s structure provides a reassuring environment for its occupants. Impact forces from front, rear or side collisions are dispersed through strategically engineered elements in the body, so minimising deformation of the cabin. Bulkheads inside rocker panels and bars in doors were added to improve side impact performance. Xs models are fitted with four airbags each and all versions gained five star ratings in the 2012 EuroNCAP test programme.
The experience: The 232 dm3 load space increases to 1017 dm3 when the rear seatbacks are folded down. A false floor hides a well; approximately 12 cm deep, for safekeeping of valuables and the spacesaver spare is stored below that. Loading height is at mid-thigh level to yours truly. The rear seat area is best reserved for shorter passengers. The large, tall passenger rated headroom at 7/10, with knees and feet faring slightly better at 8/10. Three belts and three head restraints are provided. Storage is minimal with a small centre bin and one seatback pocket. On the plus side, entry and exit was easier than on many supposedly larger cars.
Those in front are better looked after with a decent glove box, a couple of cup holders, small slots and narrow door bins. The USB and auxiliary plugs in the cubby are hard to get at, so it might be an idea to use extension cables. Extra marks go to the USB for accepting iPods loaded with WMA-encoded music. Track title and artist names are shown on the display when using either ‘Pod or flash stick.
Both driver’s seat and steering wheel adjust mechanically for height as well as reach, while the latter includes sound controls on its spokes. White on black instrumentation is easy to read, the hand brake lever is comfortably accessible and the six-speed manual gearbox has a short and positive action. It is geared at about 3100 rpm for 120 in top, which is relaxed for a 1300.Overall performance is willing and it steers and parks easily. Toyota made special mention of bigger side windows in its official tech-lit, and it shows.
Slight overkill, possibly, on this level of car was the Bridgestone Potenza tyres fitted. No real complaints, as such things are nice to have, but they do tend to follow grooves in concrete roads. We have found similar behaviour with other sporty tyres, so it’s nothing to get overly anxious about.
The numbers:
Price: R183 000
Engine: 1329 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder
Power: 73 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 125 Nm at 4000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 11,9 seconds
Maximum speed: 175 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: about 6,8 l/100 km
Tank: 42 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km with roadside assistance
Service plan: 4 years/60 000 km at 15 000 km intervals
Our review of the 2015 model is here
Automatic version shown. Sorry, but no manual transmission pics of this model were available
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) 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. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
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