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 local launch of Foton’s 2013 Tunland 4x2 doublecab range.

Pics supplied

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday February 9, 2013

Posted: February 9, 2013

Serious equipment on board.

Foton has been in South Africa for the past three years, thanks to a distribution partnership between Imperial Motor Holdings and Bidvest – not a fly-by-night operation, obviously. The local product range consists of the Inkunzi 14-seat taxi using an engine suspiciously like that powering the famous one, petrol and diesel Thunda workhorse pickups, and recently-introduced Tunland doublecab 4x4s. These show a significant step upward in specification and pricing.

Not everyone needs to go adventuring in his or her doublecab, so a less expensive on-road alternative makes sense. Enter a pair of Tunland 4x2 double-cabs, released at an informal launch in Johannesburg a few days ago. Power is courtesy of a 2780 cc, Cummins ISF-series, commonrail turbodiesel produced in an equal joint venture at the Foton works in China. It’s Euro4-compliant with expected average fuel usage of 8,3 l/100 km and a CO2 emissions rating of 219 gm/km. The five-speed manual gearbox is a Getrag JC538 while the limited-slip rear axle comes from Dana, so you can see that there is some serious equipment on board.

Local development, on and off road, in deserts, over mountains and on freeways, took place over six months and used 120 vehicles, each driven around the clock. Apart from Chinese experts, 50 European, American and Japanese engineers were involved. That’s a lot of input and millions of test kilometres. One would expect that to result in a perfectly decent vehicle. It does.

The cabin is more spacious than most although rear seat accommodation is about average, the bin is similar in size to that of its main competitors and rated at 935 kg, it drives like a car and it’s well equipped. The lower-spec Comfort version gives you 16” alloy wheels with identical spare, disc and drum brakes with ABS and EBD, two airbags, fabric upholstery, double wishbone independent suspension up front and a solid axle with leaf springs in the back, rack and pinion power steering, fog lights at both ends, powered windows and mirrors, remote central locking and window closure, air conditioner and radio/CD with USB and auxiliary.

Lux trim adds leather, one-touch closing with anti-pinch for the driver’s window, defrostable outside mirrors and rear glass, two more speakers, a reversing alarm, a roll bar, and a tonneau cover for the bin. This is lined at the factory for extra protection  and we forgot to mention the back seats that flip upward for added, secured storage space.

The introductory ride-and-drive over 100 kilometres showed the Tunland 4x2 to be very comfortable for a solid-axle pickup, with willing engine response and pleasant handling. A small emergency situation developed while industry doyen Bobby Cheetham was driving. Contrary to cynical common belief, the brakes work – very well. Fit and finish is really good too - some highly rated competitors could safely look and learn.

Dealers: 35 countrywide, with a further five planned for the coming year and three rural service agents. There are five dealers in KZN; at Newcastle, Uvongo, Durban, Gateway and Pinetown. Stanger will come on board later. Spares: Approximately 85 percent local availability of non-engine parts at present, with delivery ex-China expected to take 14 to 21 days. Engine parts will be supplied by arrangement with Cummins SA.

Information gathered during a distributor-sponsored press launch

The numbers
Prices: R249 950 (Comfort), R269 950 (Lux)
Engine: 2780 cc Cummins ISF, four-cylinder, turbodiesel
Power: 120 kW at 3600 rpm
Torque: 360 Nm at 1800 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 13,5 seconds
Maximum speed: Governed to 160 km/h
Safety rating: C-NCAP, four stars
Average fuel consumption (claimed): 8,3 l/100 km
Fuel: 50 ppm recommended, but 500 ppm usable
Tank: 75 litres
Towing capacity (Braked): 2500 kg
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 2 years/40 000 km; at 10 000 km intervals




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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