SA Road Tests

Welcome

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.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a prepared course chosen to make the product look good. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.


We attended the launch of the 2012 Chery J3 1.6 TXE

Pics supplied

Western design meets eastern efficiency

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday December 5, 2012

The Wall Street Journal once described Chery's corporate culture as an odd hybrid of Communist state enterprise and innovative start-up, with entrepreneurial risk-taking evident in its early history. Chances were apparently taken in the formative years between 1999 and the early 2000s, with litigants including GM, Toyota and VW, but the company now designs and builds all its own products, including engines.

Since about 2007, the enterprise has successfully forged partnerships and concluded agreements with Fiat, Chrysler and others, with the latest being to build Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles in China. It is now the country’s biggest car manufacturer, producing around 600 000 vehicles annually and expects to export more than 170 000 units to 70 markets this year. Watch them – “cherry on top” could soon take on new significance. (Sorry about that.)

Chery’s J3 1.6 TXE, the B1-segment hatchback launched locally recently, was designed by Pininfarina with engine design input from Austrian firm AVL, electrics and electronics by Bosch and Siemens and suspension development courtesy of the British Motor Industy Research Association (MIRA). It is the flagship model of the range, introduced on its own for now to gauge market acceptance.

Its 1600 cc ACTECO-series engine complies with Euro IV emissions regulations while producing 87kW of power and 147 Nm of torque. Front suspension is courtesy of McPherson struts with stabiliser bar, with a multi-link setup at the rear. Braking is by means of discs at both ends, assisted by ABS and EBD. 

Other safety equipment includes six airbags, ISOFix anchorages, child proof locks, rear park assist, alarm and immobiliser, and remote central locking. The J3 was among the first Chinese cars to earn a five-star C-NCAP rating, in 2009. It’s well equipped too, with leather upholstery, powered windows and mirrors, automatic headlamps and wipers, alloy wheels with 205/55 R16 tyres and full-size spare, six-speaker radio and CD player with USB, climate control and an onboard computer. The boot is very adequate for a car this size, at 350 litres with the seatbacks upright. You will have to wait a while for Bluetooth and cruise control as these are still under evaluation. “Hopefully by next year, when the sedan arrives,” said local MD, Brett Soso.

We asked the awkward questions about spares backup and dealership coverage. The answers are: 33 dealers countrywide, with four in KZN; Spares stock holding is kept deliberately lean at about R7 million, with a 92-percent first pick rate and immediate supply to dealers of 89 to 92 percent; Out of stock items are flown in from China with delivery time of 7 to 14 days. If it takes even that long, blame SA Customs, says the spokesman. Parts pricing is kept competitive, with those for the QQ3 scoring well on the Kinsey Report.

Tastes obviously vary, but to us this car looks almost Continental and rather attractive, justifying the payoff line, “Judge a book by its cover.” With all the European input listed above, “the book” appears well written.

The short familiarisation drive showed the engine to be decently peppy, even at Highveld altitude, with good roll-on ability at cruising speed. Accommodations were spacious and comfortable, although only one cup holder was big enough to hold a standard juice can. The five-speed manual ‘box shifted smoothly, its ratios were nicely spaced and the suspension absorbed all the surprises we were able to throw at it.

Information for this report was gathered during the course of a distributor-sponsored media launch.

The numbers
Price: R179 900
Engine: 1597 cc, DOHC 16-valve, petrol
Power: 87 kW at 6150 rpm
Torque: 147 Nm at 4500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 12,3 seconds
Maximum speed: 180 km/h
Comparative average fuel consumption: 7,7 l/100 km
Tank: 57 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 3 years/75 000 km; at 15 000 km intervals plus a “first service” at 5000 km



What We Do

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 they can see 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!

Comments?
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