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.


Chevrolet Spark 2013: More is more. We investigate

Pics supplied

Posted 23 February 2013

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday February 27, 2013

New models and new equipment

Not to be confused with Spark Lite, a rebadged Daewoo Matiz, the third generation car with its 1206 cc, DOHC 16-valve engine arrived here in July 2010. The range was given local flavour and lower prices when the Port Elizabeth plant began producing them in April 2012 and a no-frills Campus version followed during August that year. 

There are natural advantages to local manufacture; product pricing is shielded from some of the extremes of currency fluctuation, South African parts suppliers benefit, more people find jobs and the company gets to be more flexible. Meaning? It’s easier to adapt specifications and equipment to local tastes; and new products can get to market more quickly. That, apart from some interior refurbishment and outside remodelling, was what this launch was about.

While others were slightly realigned and re-equipped, two new and almost uniquely South African models were launched. One is a new range-topping Spark LT with more equipment, while the other is a vanette named Pronto (already released in Korea), aimed at businesses carrying small loads and available at a very attractive VAT-free price to those who qualify.
All models use the same engine, body and five-speed manual gearbox but features differ.

Leading the sedans on price is Campus with manual mirrors and windows, height adjustment for the driver’s seat, intermittent wipers, automatically dipping interior mirror, rear window demister, radio wiring with two speakers, central locking by means of the key and a transponder immobiliser. Safety equipment includes a pair of airbags, ABS brakes with EBD, high level brake light and ISOFix anchorages.

The Spark (without letters) adds roof rails, rear screen wiper, remote central locking, an alarm system and a radio and CD player with music box plugs. Spark LS gains a rear roof spoiler, alloy wheels, heated electric mirrors, power windows in front, automatically locking doors, two more speakers, steering wheel controls and a clock. Topping the range is Spark LT with additional chrome trim, front fog lamps, powered windows all around, four speakers, four airbags, a backup alarm and bigger wheels with lower-profiled tyres. A sporty decal package is available optionally for this model only.

The Pronto is essentially a Campus with the back seat removed and replaced by a carpeted platform with a protective panel to shield the driver and passenger from shifting loads. Capacity is given as 275 kg or 876 litres. Roof rails, copied over from the unlettered Spark, permit an additional 50 kg on an optional rack. Access is via the hatch and rear side doors. Tubular frames fitted inside the rear side windows shield them from internal damage and help safeguard cargo against thieves.

Chevrolet sees the Pronto as being of interest to small businesses such as florists, pathology labs, caterers and couriers or possibly as an armed response vehicle. We see it as useful for lugging band equipment or a photographer’s cameras and lighting kit. Its main attractions are that it’s light on fuel and easy to drive and park, yet still equipped with air conditioning, airbags and decent brakes.

The familiarisation drive was short, taking in city traffic, freeways and extra-urban roads – typical small city car territory. The LTs we drove were responsive and pleasant to drive both in terms of engine power and steering and braking. Gearing is average for a 1200 at about 3800 rpm at 120 km/h in top, with good pulling power to overcome any need for constant gear changing. Four fully grown or five average sized people can fit comfortably. 

Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press launch

The numbers
Prices range from R89 035 (excl. VAT) for the Pronto to R136 500 (incl. VAT) for the LT
Engine: 1206 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder
Power: 60 kW at 6400 rpm
Torque: 108 Nm at 4800 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 13,3 seconds
Maximum speed: 164 km/h
Average fuel consumption (claimed): 5,4 l/100 km
CO2 rating: 129 mg/km
Tank: 35 litres
Warranty: 5 years/120 000 km; with roadside assistance
Servicing: Every 12 months or 15 000 km
Service plan: 3 years/60 000 km; optional at R6 600 incl. VAT

What We Do

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.

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.

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