SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active list down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and search through the drop-down menu that appears.

Editor's note: SA Roadtests accepts multi-day vehicle loans from manufacturers in order to provide editorial reviews. All vehicle reviews are conducted on our turf and on our terms.

For out-of-province vehicle launch features however, travel costs are covered by the manufacturer concerned. This is common in the motor industry, as it's more economical to ship journalists to cars than to ship cars to journalists.

Judgments and opinions expressed on this site are our own. We do not accept paid editorial content or ads of any kind.


Seventh son: 2021 Honda Ballade 1.5 CVT

The Superman Secret

Posted: February 24, 2021

The numbers

Prices: Comfort @ R336 500, Elegance @ R366 900, RS @R396 900
Engine: 1498 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, i-VTEC four-cylinder
Power: 89 kW at 6600 rpm
Torque: 145 Nm at 4500 rpm
0-100 km/h: n/s
Top speed:  n/s
Real life fuel consumption: About 6.5 l/100 km
Tank: 40 litres
Turning circle: 10 metres
Luggage: 506 litres VDA
Standard tyre: 185/60R15 on Comfort and Elegance, 185/55 R16 on RS
Spare: 175/65R15 (steel rim) on Comfort and Elegance, full size alloy on RS
Towing: Not rated
Warranty: Five years, 200 000 km
Roadside assistance: Three years
Service plan: Four years, 60 000 km at 15 000 km intervals

We could bore you with historical details and convoluted facts but we won’t. Let’s just accept that the 2021 Honda Ballade, as we know it in South Africa, is secretly a seventh-generation Honda City. The previous model, introduced here in 2014, was a sixth-generation City so this new one looks and feels much the same.
 
Appearance changes include a broader front badge bar, slightly narrower headlights with an upward flick to the outer edges, a wider grille mouth and deeper fog lamp surrounds with decorative strakes.

At the other end are reshaped tail lights, more creases in the back panel, vertical fog lamps instead of horizontal and a fashionable new diffuser.

The interior features restyled vents; automatic, single-channel air conditioning; new instruments and steering wheel, pushbutton starting and a larger touchscreen for Elegance and RS models. Said Elegance version loses its reversing camera to new top model RS that also gains LED headlights and fog lamps, a TFT digital driver interface and leather upholstery.

It grew; 110 mm longer and 55 wider but with the now-expected lowering of overall height - by 10 mm in this case - and at the expense of ground clearance. That shrank from 150 mm in 2015 to 137 mm now. Boot and tank capacities remain essentially unchanged.

But easily overlooked is the engine. It’s a new 1.5-litre, naturally aspirated motor with similar cubic capacity to the outgoing unit. Displacing 1498cc, the new engine is one cubic centimetre larger than previously but that’s where most similarities end.

The power plant, coded L15B, gets more sophisticated hardware and electronics allowing it to deliver a broader spread of power without sacrificing top-end performance. It’s fitted with a Double Overhead Camshaft (DOHC) cylinder head; a first for City/Ballade.

Honda’s decision to move to this more complex (and expensive) arrangement was to meet stricter emissions standards. A twin-cam layout gives better control over valve timing and valve lift and makes it easier to meet BS6 requirements without sacrificing performance and economy.

The increase is not dramatic; nine kilowatts more power but no added torque. Honda says the improvement is not in the power output as such, but in the way the engine delivers; more concentrated in the lower- and middle reaches of the powerband.

This earlier build-up of power is just what the doctor ordered. It feels more flexible and appears to be a slightly better, if not yet ideal, match for the constantly variable transmission (CVT) with which all three South African models are fitted. Turbocharged versions of this engine work beautifully with it but the logistics of naturally aspirated, 1500 cc power and CVT still need work.

But outright performance has never been what Ballades are about. This is a gentle city car with a big boot, lots of people space, Clark Kent manners and loads of safety kit. Suburban families and grandparents appreciate it for all those reasons but grandchildren who stumble upon its Superman alter-ego secretly love it. Because it's a sleeper.
 
Slip the stick back an extra click to the “S” position, cinch your seatbelt a little tighter, apply pressure in the bottom right corner, juggle virtual gears with the steering-mounted paddles, watch the revs climb, hear its happy growl and let the fat lady sing.

Although no match for a Civic Type R, it can provide loads of under-radar fun. As long as Gran and Gramps don’t find out.

Test unit from Honda Motor SA press fleet 

We drove the previous model in 2014

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 or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

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 ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle 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.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.