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 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.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We step it up a notch in the 2014 MINI Paceman JCW All4

Pics by mediapool.bmwgroup.com

Thinking differently

Published in Witness Wheels on Thursday December 12, 2013

Not everyone cares about practicality or what your mother would approve, or gives a rat’s ass about how many cubic whatsits go in the boot, or even whether oversized rugby forwards can fit in the back seats. BMW, and its MINI division in particular, specialises in sub-niche cars for people who “want” differently. And don’t care too much about the price of individuality or subtle one-upmanship.

Take the MINI Paceman as an example. The four-door Countryman, and especially the All4 derivative, was introduced for those who want a small and energetic SUV that can drive on dirt occasionally, but isn’t expected to do anything as vulgar as clambering over rocks. The Paceman is its two-door offshoot, built on the same floor pan and with outer dimensions as close as anything to those of the Countryman. And the downward, rearward, sloping roof was probably deliberately intended to poke a little fun at that other two-door British machine called Evoque.

MINI’s little Sports Activity Coupé took design cues from the needs of modern target groups that appreciated its confident appearance as much as the infectious driving fun on offer. With two doors, large tailgate and two full-size individual rear seats, the Paceman complements the sportiness of its proportions with a new rendering of the familiar MINI interior. Our test unit was a John Cooper Works with All4 all-wheel drive and a six-speed manual gearbox that suited its image and driving dynamics precisely.

Inside, distinctive shallow, three-dimensional door ellipses border the armrests with their integrated door pulls, then extend rearward beyond the B-pillars. For the first time in a MINI, window controls have moved to the door panels. A full set on the driver’s side includes switches for both front side windows and the exterior mirror adjustments. Moving the window controls away from the centre console optimised access to the large storage compartment below it.

Apart from that, the ambience remains familiar, although designers took pains to emphasise the form of the centre speedo and the air vents positioned alongside it with matt-finished, ring-shaped borders in carbon black. Decorative inner rings in high-gloss black or optional chrome are integrated as standard into these surrounds. Not that the driver will pay much heed of course; it’s still too far away to look at without diverting attention away from the job at hand. Luckily, a digital speed read-out is incorporated into the tacho mounted on top of the steering column and directly ahead of the driver.

Front chairs are placed slightly higher than previously to provide a commanding view, while the separate rear units add a touch of individuality. An optional centre rail running between both pairs of seats can be kitted with cup holders, a central storage bin or an armrest. We weren’t thrilled with the latter because it vacillated between getting in the way of access to the aircraft-style parking brake or interfering with the driver’s left elbow. But who really cares about practicality or what your mother would look for, right?

The proof, however, is in the driving and this is where the Paceman shines. Practically all turbocars pull like railway engines on steroids, from just above idle to redline. That makes owners lazy and denies them the sweet enjoyment a powerful car can deliver. Pretend, just for a day, that this is a normal, naturally aspirated, small engine and use that brilliant six-speed manual cog swapper the way it was intended. Pour on the coals until you find that magical fantasyland where the top end of its torque band morphs into the maximum power zone, then row that stick to full advantage - to remain out there on the edge where only angels dare to fly.

It’s Nirvana. It’s what you pay for. Your mother will disapprove because her job is to protect you. And she’s not as innocent as she looks.

Test car from BMW/MINI SA press fleet

The numbers
Prices: R458 771-60, including CO2 tax
Engine: 1598 cc, DOHC, four-cylinder with twin-scroll turbocharger
Power: 160 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 280 Nm between 1900 and 5000 rpm
Overboost: 300 Nm between 2100 and 4500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6,9 seconds
Maximum speed: 226 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 10,2 l/100 km
Tank: 47 litres
Luggage volume: 350/1080 litres
Warranty: 2 years/unlimited mileage
Motorplan: 3 years/75 000 km

 

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.



Comments?
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