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.


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.


Nissan SA has introduced an SE version of its Pathfinder 2.5 diesel to take on the competition. We took it for a drive

Pics supplied

SUVs with sports car technology

Nissan’s Pathfinder LE range of 4x4 SUVs are extremely capable with very adequate ground clearance, lots of wading depth, and good approach and departure angles. Further, the ABLS electronic all-wheel drive system with selectable 2WD, 4Hi and 4Lo works very well indeed. Apart from using torque-sensing differentials to distribute power between axles, it measures how much traction each wheel has, so it can figure out which ones are spinning.

Rather than allowing them to continue doing so, the system transfers power within milliseconds to the wheels that have grip; enabling them to pull you out of trouble. In extreme circumstances, you could have three wheels without traction and the last one would be allocated 100 percent of the engine’s power to get you free. Trivia: ABLS all-wheel drive fitted to Pathfinders is a modified version of that used on Nissan’s GTR sports car.

It’s brilliant, but the standard LE simply has too much kit for some people’s wallets and the resulting high prices caused many Nissan fans to defect to other makes. The obvious way out was to dump some toys and trim the price - drastically.

The SE range announced recently therefore shed the sunroof; the fancy leather seats with their electric heating, adjustments and memories; self-dipping for the inside rearview; the third row of seats; foldaway function, reversing tilt and memory for outside mirrors; front fog lamps; the tonneau cover and the reversing camera. They also deleted the USB connector for the six-CD entertainment centre. That seems counter-intuitive, but there’s still auxiliary and Bluetooth. Most importantly, Nissan pared R100 000 off the selling price. Now that got your attention didn’t it?

While much was removed, a lot remains. For example, you still get ABS with EBD and vehicle dynamic control, six airbags, remote central locking, the split tailgate that allows you to pop small or long and light objects inside without having to open the hatch, roof rails, side steps, power windows, cruise control, dual zone climate control with extra vents for those at the back, 17-inch alloy wheels and a trip computer. Both have hill start assist, but only the automatic provides downhill crawl.

As this is basically still the Pathfinder we know, Nissan took us out into the Waterberg region to have some fun and recall what its high-riding, short overhang, integral chassis, ABLS-equipped people mover can do. Long winding country roads, rocky trails with washaways, forest streams, the powdery dump at an abandoned tin mine, and a game park with its own cheetah conservatory, were all included. Just like a typical weekend’s adventuring for your normal, average, suburban family, right?

We drove both six-speed manual versions and five-speed automatics. Nobody got stuck, jammed or hung up; the cars were comfortable and stable over some pretty loose and treacherous surfaces and performance was well up to Joe and Joanne Average’s expectations. It was fun.

Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press launch

The numbers

Prices: R450 900 (man), R470 900 (automatic). NB: CO2 tax increase due in April 2013
Engine: 2488 cc, common rail, direct injection, turbodiesel
Power: 140 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 450 Nm at 2000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 11,0 sec (m)/10,7 sec (a)
Maximum speed: 186 km/h
Average fuel consumption (claimed): 8,5 l/100 km (m), 9,0 l/100 km (a)
CO2 emissions, gm./km: 224 (m)/238 (a)
Tank: 80 litres
Luggage: 515/2091 litres
Clearance: 232 mm
Wading depth: 450 mm
Approach/Departure/Breakover angles: 30/26/24 degrees
Maximum permissible towing mass (braked): 3000 kg
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 3 years/90 000 km; at 15 000 km intervals


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?
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.