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. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


Techno test: 2013 Toyota Auris 1.6 Xr manual

For best performance, stir briskly

The introduction: This second generation Auris was introduced at the September 2012 Paris Motor Show with Japanese sales commencing immediately, followed by Australia and New Zealand a month later. They call it the Corolla Hatch, because that’s what it actually is. Europe and South Africa started selling them early this year (2013).

The body: Wheelbase remains as before, it’s 30 mm longer overall and the roofline is 55 mm lower, thanks in part to the suspension being dropped by 10 mm for added stability. This in turn permitted Toyota engineers to retune the suspension for a more engaging ride. The face has changed, with new headlamps and grille treatment and chromed accents on fog lights and lip spoiler. The profile is stronger too, with a steeply-raked windscreen, a pronounced rising belt line and extension of the side glazing further rearward. Door mirrors were repositioned within the glassed area while blacked-out centre and rear pillars, and a sharper angle to the rear pillar, add visual impact. The drag coefficient was reduced from 0.292 to 0.277.

A wider opening tailgate is topped by an integral roof spoiler and flanked by new, wraparound rear combination lamps that reinforce the shapes of both rear wing and screen. It provides access to a square, 360-litre boot that loads at mid-thigh height and is only about 10 cm. deep. Two side wells prevent small items sliding about, while four rings and a couple of bag hooks keep things tidy. The space is lit for convenience. Under the floorboard, space around the fully sized steel spare helps keep valuable items safe.

The engine: The 1598 cc, DOHC, 16-valve Toyota 1ZR-FAE engine is equipped with dual VVT-i and Valvematic. This varies intake valve lift between 1mm and 11mm according to load and rpm. Output is 97 kW at 6400 rpm and 160 Nm of torque at 4400 rpm. Compression ratio is 10,7:1 and red line is at 6600 rpm. 

The equipment: Being one of the top pair in the range, Auris Xr boasts a six-speed manual gearbox, powered mirrors, one-touch windows, leather upholstery and dashboard with baseball stitching, heated sport seats with added side bolstering, electrical lumbar control and mechanical height adjustment for the driver, an automatically dipping interior mirror, keyless entry and starting, cruise control, automatic headlights and automatic climate control. It shares an audio display, a better six-speaker sound system, Bluetooth and a reversing camera with the Xs grade. Safety kit includes disc brakes front and rear with ABS, brake assist and EBD, a pair of ISOFix child seat anchors and seven airbags.

The experience: The Auris is a willing, if not exciting performer, doing the standard dash in 10,8 seconds and topping out at a shade under 200. It is geared at about 2900 rpm for 120 km/h in sixth, so roll-on performance is somewhat leisurely. On that subject, it matches the Corolla with its overdrive fifth and super-overdrive top gear. It’s good for economy on the level, but needs some cog swapping to keep going briskly. Apart from that, the car is comfortable, steers and stops well and is pleasant enough to drive. Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, promised excitement in future generations of Toyotas; but this one is apparently still from the old school.

Test unit from Toyota SA press fleet

To see the launch report and more technical details, click here

The numbers
Price: R254 500
Engine and outputs: See text
Zero to 100 km/h: 10,8 seconds
Maximum speed: 198 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 8,0 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 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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