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.
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.
Pics supplied
Published in Witness Wheels on Thursday August 22, 2013
“Eco Sport?” queried the journalists, “sport…, sport…, sport…,” went the wags and Mark Kaufman, Ford SA’s new VP of marketing, sales and service just grinned. “It’s simple,” he explained: “Economical to buy and run, yet sporty.” So there you have it.
Ford’s compact city SUV, crossover, call it what you will, has been around since 2003 with a second generation launched in Brazil, where 65-percent of the car market is for B-segment vehicles, last year. The new one took off like a bullet and was then introduced in India. Because South Africans are picky, we’re getting the more upmarket European versions built in Chennai.
Briefly, it’s a smidge over four metres long, 4x2 only, offers a choice of three engines, three trim levels and two transmissions and comes in six models altogether. Built on a 2521 mm wheelbase it is 1765 mm wide, excluding mirrors, and stands 1665 mm high – except the entry-level 1.5-litre Ambiente petrol version that sits 16 mm lower. We guess it simply has less ground clearance than the 200 mm boasted by the others.
Other goat track numbers include approach and departure angles of 25 and 35 degrees and a maximum fording capability of 550 mm. Some 4x4s wish they had those figures. In answer to the obvious question, the official stance is “no plans yet,” because only nine percent of buyers in this segment apparently want off-road ability. Guess your scribe is a nine-percenter, because he went to the launch hoping to see at least one awd version.
Suspension is by means of McPherson struts, coils and antiroll bar in front with a twist beam axle and gas-and-oil dampers at the back. Brakes are disc and drum, while steering assistance is electrical. All versions offer six airbags, ABS brakes, remote central locking, alarm and immobiliser, ISOFix child seat mountings at the back, kiddie proof locks, height adjustment for the driver’s chair, air conditioning, rear fog lamps, electric windows in front, powered mirrors, and a four-speaker radio with CD player. The base model has steel wheels and does without Sync connectivity, but all others have 16” alloys and Bluetooth speech, voice command and streaming capabilities. As trim levels go upscale, features improve further.
Engines are the 1.5 petrol version already mentioned that can be had with either Ambiente trim in five-speed manual or as a six-ratio Titanium automatic; a 1.5-litre diesel or the new turbocharged 1.0-litre EcoBoost; both with five-speed manual transmissions and in both mid-level Trend and top-spec Titanium guise.
Luggage capacities are given as 362 litres VDA with seatbacks up and 705 with them folded. To demonstrate what that means in real life, a couple of marketing people popped a wheeled box; about as long and tall as an airline snack trolley but slightly wider, into the hatchway. It fitted lengthwise easily with space to spare on both sides. Helping to make the load space so big, the spare wheel is mounted on the sideways-opening back door. It’s naked in standard trim because some buyers prefer it that way, but an optional cover is available.
For the familiarisation drive we were sent on a scenic tour of the Midlands in Titanium-spec EcoBoost and diesel versions. Both performed well, cruised easily and overtook comfortably when called on to do so. Most of us felt that the diesel version’s torque characteristics suited the five-speed gearing better. We would have liked a six-speeder with closer ratios for the small turbo, but then we’re generally grumpier than Joe and Joanne Average, typical buyers of this kind of compact lifestyle enabler. Both are excellent little SUVs though – pity about not having awd.
Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press launch
We drove an automatic in 2018
The numbers
Prices range from R199 000 to R249 000
Engines: 1498cc petrol developing 82 kW/138 Nm; 998cc turbopetrol making 92 kW/170 Nm; 1499cc turbodiesel producing 66 kW and 205 Nm.
Maximum speeds: 160 to 179 km/h; depending on specification
Claimed average fuel consumption: 4,5 to 6,5 litres per 100 km; depending on specification
Tank: 52 litres
Turning circle: 10,6 metres
Warranty: 4 years/120 000 km; with 3 years roadside assistance
Service plan: 4 years/60 000 km
Service intervals: 20 000 km petrol and 15 000 km diesel
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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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8