SA Road Tests

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


We report back as Toyota makes green motoring affordable in the 2012 Yaris HSD

Pics supplied

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday July 21, 2012

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.


Are we there, yet?

“I love driving efficiently,” said Dave (don’t call me Professor) Pepler, University of Stellenbosch academic and environmental activist, “but my kids hate it.” For him, fuel consumption of 3,8l/100 km as offered by Toyota’s latest hybrid car, the baby Yaris, is Nirvana. Children on the other hand only want to know: “Are we there yet?”

The scene was a lecture theatre at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pretoria University. Reinforcing the seriousness of its message, Toyota SA chose not only to launch the company’s latest offering at a seat of learning, but brought in heavy artillery as well. Following a technical presentation by an engineer from Product Planning, they introduced both Pepler and celebrated academic and environmental champion, Professor Derick de Jongh.

Fans of the brand, having driven Priuses for some time, both had messages. The essence of de Jongh’s talk was that despite critical urgency, the recent Earth Summit was a waste of time because no action plan was adopted.  Big business, big government and greed got in the way, he reckons. “Cars using alternative sources of energy, be they hybrid, plug-in, hydrogen or whatever, are needed urgently” he said. “They are not necessarily the message itself, but the signal that something has to be done.”

Pepler, on the other hand, is simply a fan of efficiency. “They make perfect commuter cars because they are quiet, they last long, they’re economical and the battery complaints are mostly mythical. Costs are coming down and initial energy inputs aren’t as high as doomsayers would have you believe. Look at the millions of nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries bought and used in cell phones, tablets, music players and computers. Those made for hybrid cars are but a drop in the ocean.” According to Pepler, Eskom has committed to using alternative ways of generating electricity; hydro-electric, solar and wind farms, so making future plug-in cars less environmentally “dirty”.

Toyota freely admits that there is a problem with acceptance. Over four million hybrid cars have been sold worldwide, but South African offtake is low. One Prius was sold here in 2005, while 13 have so far moved off showroom floors in 2012 – hardly cause to break out the bubbly. Part of the problem is price, because Priuses are technologically very advanced and expensive to make. The best alternative, reckons Toyota, is to build the basic machinery into everyday cars, so reducing costs drastically.

Enter the Yaris with hybrid synergy drive or HSD. The formula is simple. Take a Yaris, put in a smaller version of Prius’ Atkinson Cycle engine and a smaller electric motor, while making its gearbox and transaxle more compact. You not only get a “greener” car, but the usual complaint about losing half your luggage volume falls away. The hybrid Yaris is only about 20mm longer than the standard version, to accommodate the mechanicals, while the NiMH battery fits under the back seat rather than in the boot.

Toyota is betting on acceptance by younger, environmentally-conscious buyers looking for a car that’s not only eco-friendlier but performs acceptably too. Harnessing a combined power output of 74 kW and zero to 100 in 11,8 seconds, the electronically controlled CVT (e-CVT) gearbox has been set up to be less prone to flare.

Getting technical for a moment, the 1500cc engine is a reworked version of the second series’ Prius motor with 75 percent of its parts either replaced or modified for greater efficiency. As mentioned, the battery, transaxle and gearbox are smaller, but the cars are otherwise normal production units. Suspension is by means of McPherson struts in front and a torsion beam axle at the rear. Brakes are ventilated discs in front, solid discs at the back.

Equipment is generous, with the standard XS model featuring alloy wheels, automatic air conditioner, touch screen six-speaker radio and CD player with USB and auxiliary, Bluetooth, rear fog lights, eco readout, powered front windows, four airbags, cloth upholstery, ABS/EBD/BAS/VSC and powered outside mirrors. XR specification adds three more airbags, powered rear windows, two more speakers, front fog lights, automatic wipers, lighting and a cooling vent for the glove box, combination leather and cloth upholstery, height adjustment for the front passenger seat, cruise control, rain-sensing wipers, push-button starter and more sophisticated light control.

Knowing that journalists are cynical about mileage claims, Toyota turned the familiarisation drive into a test to see which team could return the best fuel economy. Eight crews of two each were sent out in identical XS cars over a 129-km route divided almost equally between freeways and country roads, all with their fair shares of hills and downgrades. It was an eye-opener. The Witness and Radio Lotus team simply drove carefully, maintaining speeds close to or slightly below posted limits for the various sections. Fuel used was 5,42 litres, for about 4,2 l/100 km. Average consumption by the eight cars was 2,52 l/100 km. We don’t see many drivers being that patient, day in and day out, but it shows that Toyota’s Eurotest figure of 3,8 is achievable, even at Highveld altitude.

The numbers
Prices: Yaris XS – R223 800, Yaris XR – R245 900
Engine: 1497cc, four-cylinder, DOHC, 16-valve, VVT-I, Atkinson Cycle
Power: 55 kW at 4800 rpm
Torque: 111 Nm between 3600 and 4400 rpm
Electric motor: 45 kW and 169 Nm
Zero to 100 km/h: 11,8 seconds
Maximum speed: 165 km/h
Average fuel consumption: See text
Tank: 36 litres
Warranty: Car - 3 years/100 000 km, hybrid drive components including battery - 8 years/195 000 km
Service plan: 4 years/60 000 km




What We Do

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!

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.