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.


Geely SA announced LC Cross, the second model in its revitalised local lineup recently. We touched down at an Air Force base deep in big-five country to find out more.

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

Bringing out the animal

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday June 13, 2012

Not everyone ‘does’ cute. For some, it may be just a little too girly, too twee or too difficult to take seriously. For those who feel that way, Geely’s LC micro car has been given a twin brother. Dimensions and engine stay the same, but the new LC Cross has more attitude, a chunkier face and one or two changes to specification.

The grille, lights, bumper and lower apron are new. Wheel rims are still 14” in diameter but the tyres are wider and have a higher profile. This causes the car to stand a fraction taller, with unloaded ground clearance now 160 mm. Roof rails have been added so that owners can safely load up a ‘board with which to hit the water or camping gear to take in a music festival.

The three trim grades; GS, GL and GT are as before except that all now have alloys as standard kit. To complete the adventurous look, the full-sized steel rimmed spare has been moved to the rear hatch. This opens upward, with the wheel in place, making access to the luggage area quick and easy.

Your basic GS is equipped with fog lights front and rear, a heated rear screen with wiper, a spoiler with high level brake light, roof rails, a four-speaker RDS radio and CD unit with USB (our whine about needing an adaptor cable was heard, so one is now included), electric windows all ‘round, remote central locking, a filtered air conditioner and electric side mirrors. Safety kit includes ABS brakes with EBD, kiddie locks and side impact bars, for a CN-CAP rating of five stars.

Moving up a level to GL gains you pre-tensioners on the front seat belts and a pair of air bags. Finally, top-of-the-range GT specification adds four more bags, a further pair of speakers and parking distance control at the rear.

Driving force is provided by a 1342 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder petrol engine developing 63 kW and 110 Nm. Fuel consumption is not quoted although a New Zealand site we visited mentions 6,9 l/100 km. The gearbox is Geely’s own five-speed manual unit. Brakes comprise ventilated discs in front and drums at the rear, while suspension is taken care of by means of McPherson struts up front with a hybrid link system and coil springs in the back.

Being a small car, boot space is possibly also best described as ‘cute’ while rear seat accommodations are suitable for average-sized passengers. Performance from the 1,3-litre engine isn’t electrifying but provided you keep the revs up, it goes quite well. Fifth (top) ratio is geared for economy, so downshifts are needed when hills are to be tackled or overtaking manoeuvres planned. Obviously, the power-sapping Highveld altitude took its toll, because our recent test in KZN showed the engine to be more than adequate.

At present, there are 41 dealers countrywide, with two active Geely franchises in KZN (Port Shepstone and Richards’ Bay) and we were told that negotiations for a further four outlets are under way.

The numbers
Prices: GS – R91 990, GL- R97 990, GT – R104 990
Engine: 1342 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder
Power: 63 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 110 Nm at 5200 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: About 14,0 seconds
Maximum speed: About 155 km/h
Fuel economy: See text
Tank: 35 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Service plan: Optional

For a review of the GT version, click here

"Bring it on" was a launch slogan. It will not appear on the spare wheel covers of vehicles for general sale

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 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?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.