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 possibly applies to the models you get at home.

Unlike most car reports, what you read in these pages will not be a faithful reproduction, albeit slightly reworded, of what appeared in the manufacturer's press release. We look for background material, user experience and whatever else we can find that's beyond the obvious. Our guiding rule is that you will be able to tell that the car was actually driven.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Pre-owned: Our tests go back quite a few years, so if you are looking for something pre-owned, you might well find a report on it in here.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted are those ruling at the time the reports were written.



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.


First look: 2014 Mercedes-Benz SL 400 AMG Line

A classic in the making

Posted: 11 September 2014

Possibly not a classic like ‘gullwing’ or ‘pagoda roof’ yet, but a sleek “Sport Leicht” coupé cabriolet in its own right, this latest Stuttgart Dream Machine takes over from its SL 350 predecessor with calm authority. The old free-breathing 3.5-litre motor (225 kW/370 Nm) makes way for a 2996 cc biturbo V6 spinning out 245 kilowatts and 480 Newton-metres. The latter is developed, hardly breaking a sweat, from 1600 rpm upward.
 
Piezo injectors delivering up to five injections per power stroke are supplemented by rapid multi-spark ignition producing as many as four sparks per millisecond. It works. All you need worry about is that it’s ‘way more efficient at extracting energy than your personal trainer ever will be.

Couple this with intelligent lightweight construction, eco stop-start and the renowned 7G-Tronic Plus transmission with Sport driving mode. Make it look the part with the SL-classic upright radiator grille, long bonnet with short passenger compartment, striking tail end, fender side ventilation grilles with chromed fins and bold, chromed tail pipes. Then, because most buyers kinda want them, the company added AMG-styled front, rear and side skirts – to give it that stylishly sporty and elegant luxury sports car look with balanced proportions.

Dynamically slanting head lamps, set well to the outside, flank the striking front end giving the SL roadster its own unmistakable face. The standard Intelligent Light System (ILS) provides five different functions tailored to typical driving and weather conditions. All activated according to each driving situation, they offer the driver a much better illuminated field of vision. This system, and the horizontal strip of daytime running lamps in the far ends of the bumper, features LED technology.

The standard suspension with Adaptive Damping System operates fully automatically with damping forces adapted to road conditions and status at each wheel. This action is infinitely variable, changes from minimum to maximum in only 10 milliseconds and covers a very broad damping range.

Keeping things dynamic, steering knuckles and spring links on the front axle and virtually all wheel location components at the rear are made of aluminium to reduce unsprung masses. For you; improved ride comfort, agility and handling safety. And select a sporty or comfort-oriented basic damper setting by working a switch. 

Just to remind you, standard equipment includes ABS brakes with EBA, ESP, acceleration skid control, six airbags, pre-safe brake loading, reversible belt tensioners and Neck-Pro crash-responsive head restraints for those in front, Adaptive Brake with holding function, hill start assistance, brake drying in wet conditions, attention assist, closing function for power windows and automatically raised roll-over bars for driver and front passenger.
 
Light, dynamic, comfortable yet sweet-handling, traditional yet modern, powerful yet frugal and luxurious yet sporty, this newest SL deserves to become a classic too.

Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press event

The numbers
Price: R1 218 551 including CO2 tax
Engine: 2996 cc, twin-turbo V6
Power: 245 kW between 5250 and 6000 rpm
Torque: 480 Nm between 1600 and 4000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 5,2 seconds
Maximum speed: 250 km/h (governed)
Claimed average fuel consumption: 7,3 l/100 km
Warranty and maintenance: 6 years/100 000 km Premium Drive



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.

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.

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.