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.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday April 25, 2012
One hundred and one: No, not spotted dogs, but awards bestowed (up to 5 April 2012) upon Land Rover’s newest urban SUV since its well-orchestrated introduction to an eagerly waiting world just seven months ago. Fifteen of those trophies had ‘design’, ‘fashion’ or ‘style’ in their titles and we must admit that all sections of the population; pretty blondes, cool dudes, housewives and even grumpy old men, craned necks for a better look.
Quite candidly, we belong with the group that thinks it looks as if someone stepped on it during the clay mockup stage and that our previous choice for ‘world’s ugliest car,’ the Dodge Caliber, is starting to look downright handsome. A journo-buddy from that other newspaper group told us outright that, based on the evidence of all those awards, we are obviously in a hopeless minority and therefore wrong. Whatever.
Controversial coachwork aside, what is it? Land Rover will tell you that it’s so many centimetres shorter, narrower and lower than a Range Rover Sport and very much lighter. We reckon that, because it uses Freelander underpinnings and shares an engine, the smaller vehicle should be the yardstick. Drive is provided by a Haldex lV, full-time awd system and power in this instance by the Ford 2,2-litre Duratorq motor in 140 kW form. Unlike the Freelander, Evoque offers a 2,0-litre turbopetrol motor as well.
Wheelbase is essentially the same, while the older car is 136 mm longer, 55 mm narrower and 75 mm taller. These numbers compare with the five-door Evoque we had for review. The coupé is a further 30-odd mm shorter and lower still. Off-road numbers show the Freelander has slightly shorter overhangs, with approach and departure angles of 31 and 34 degrees vs. this Evoque’s 19 and 30 degrees. Ground clearance, rampover angles and licencing mass are pretty much the same, once you delve through all the figures and compare like for like.
The transmission used in South African Evoques is the Aisin-Warner AWF21 six-speed automatic with its light and compact gear set. A sophisticated computer program manages clutch-to-clutch actuation and shifting of gears. Its transmission control module (TCM) is located inside the housing, reducing external wiring while providing a secure environment and hopefully a longer life for the TCM. At idle, the electronics automatically engage neutral to reduce internal temperatures and improve fuel economy. The gearbox uses a special maintenance-free AW-1 transmission fluid.
The ritual walk-through from the back reveals an automatic hatch that lifts by itself once you have released its catch or pressed the button on the fob. Another button on the underside of the door powers it back down again. The unitiated are suitably impressed. The 575-litre boot expands to 1445 litres with back seats folded. A nice touch is a pair of adjustable cargo rails with a pair of lashing rings on each. An optional seat-for-two fits onto these rails for those who like to watch the polo in comfort. The spare is a spacesaver.
There is plenty of headroom and space for knees in the back seat although, with the driver’s chair all the way down, foot space is a little tight. Bear in mind that the coupé’s roofline is 35 mm lower and there is 50 mm less shoulder room as well, should you be tempted to go for the sportier look. Repeater vents, a pair of reading lamps and trios of seatbelts and head restraints look after passengers’ comfort.
Up front, the driver is pampered with powered seat adjustments and three memory settings. The only drawback is that it’s possible to accidentally knuckle the memory buttons while opening the door, leading to sudden re-adjustment of the seat. Music fans are suitably spoiled with an opulent Meridian sound system and all the usual plugs and sockets.
Being a Range Rover and closely related to the Freelander, a four-way Terrain Response system featuring “everything off,” grass/gravel/snow, mud/ruts, and deep soft sand modes is standard kit. Downhill crawl that switches on automatically in mud and ruts mode is switchable manually as well, as is the ESP control. Seats are firm yet comfortable and fit and finish is suitably luxurious. It isn’t quite full Range Rover level, but those creations cost a bundle more, don’t they? Vision outward through the fairly narrow side windows and back screen is not too bad, considering the fashionable sloping roofline.
On the road, performance is fairly quick – by no means a challenge for the 3,0-litre diesel in more expensive models, but quite good enough. Cruising at 120 and possibly beyond is perfectly comfortable. The gearbox does its job well, without hunting or unwanted changes, and kicks down easily. Our only criticisms are the same as those aimed by other writers toward this particular engine: a severe flat spot just above idling speed and serious turbo lag. At this price level, the car deserves better.
The numbers
Price: R588 995
Engine: 2179 cc, four-cylinder, turbodiesel
Power: 140 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 420 Nm at 2000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8,5 seconds
Maximum speed: 195 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 8,7 l/100 km
Tank: 58 litres (70l on petrol models)
Euro NCAP: 5 stars
Ground clearance: 215 mm
Approach/Departure/Rampover angles: 19/30/22 degrees (Coupé: 25/33/22)
Maintenance plan: 5 years/100 000 km
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!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8