SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8
This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVsand LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.
My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active list down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and search through the drop-down menu that appears.
Editor's note: SA Roadtests accepts multi-day vehicle loans from manufacturers in order to provide editorial reviews. All vehicle reviews are conducted on our turf and on our terms.
For out-of-province vehicle launch features however, travel costs are covered by the manufacturer concerned. This is common in the motor industry, as it's more economical to ship journalists to cars than to ship cars to journalists.
Judgments and opinions expressed on this site are our own. We do not accept paid editorial content or ads of any kind.
The numbers
Price: R277 300
Engine: Suzuki K15B, 1462 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, petrol
Power: 77 kW at 6000 rpm
Torque: 138 Nm at 4400 rpm
0-100 km/h: 12.1 seconds
Top speed: 170 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.3 l/100 km
Tank: 48 litres
Ground clearance: 198 mm
Turning circle: 10.4 metres
Luggage: 328 – 1113 litres
Towing capacity, unbraked/braked: 400 / 1100 kg
Standard tyre: 215/60R16 on alloy wheels
Spare: 215/60R16 on steel
Warranty: Three years, 100 000 km
Service plan: Three services over 45 000 km at 15 000 km intervals
Backstory: Toyota Urban Cruiser and Suzuki Vitara Brezza are identical apart from certain body panels and brand-specific features. Vitara Brezza comes in two trim levels, GL and GLX, whereas Urban Cruiser is offered in three – Xi, Xs and Xr.
I had fostered a faint hope that Toyota’s South African engineers would be allowed a crack at their Urban Cruiser’s five-speed manual gearbox before releasing it to the public. But it was not to be, probably because it’s an imported product rather than one in local production. Problem is that its 1500 cc Suzuki mill turns over at about 3600 rpm for 120 km/h in top, making it sound rather busy and crying out for a slightly overdrive sixth ratio, or a change of final drive, perhaps.
Although roll-on acceleration from that speed is acceptable, overall performance could be described as “serviceable but not exciting.” I would have specified a bit more power but one can’t have everything unfortunately.
Moving on: What Toyota SA does bring to the table are 194 dealers with workshops and spares departments, vs. Suzuki’s 43, making those who opt for Brand T feel kind of smug and comfy.
There’s also the built-in Toyota Connect telematics system that includes an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot with complimentary 15GB of data. Once linked to their profiles, customers can manage their vehicles via the MyToyota App that allows on-demand service bookings, vehicle information and history, tracking data, Toyota Connect data recharge services and more.
Despite being a few mm shy of four metres long, for taxation purposes, it’s surprisingly spacious inside with a good fist-width of headroom for back seat riders who also enjoy generous knee- and foot space.
It’s comfortably appointed with pushbutton starting; automatic aircon; LED lights all around; folding mirrors; seat height adjustment for the driver; a proper old-fashioned handbrake; lots of storage spots; a second glove box; panic handles for all three passengers; single-touch (both ways) window for the driver; clear instrumentation; straightforward HVAC controls; USB, auxiliary and 12-volt sockets and speed defrosters front and rear. The steering wheel does have repeater buttons but only adjusts up and down – can’t have everything can we?
Everyone sits up fairly high for a good all-round view, the easy-shifting manual ‘box is fun to use and the car is easy to manoeuvre. Although its handbrake is placed for LHD it’s easy enough to reach and the action is smooth and progressive.
Safety kit includes two airbags, ISOFix child seat anchors with top tethers, child-proof door locks, rear pdc, reversing camera, remote central locking and ABS brakes with EBD.
If you can’t live without LED front fog lamps, auto-on lights and cruise control, you will need to find a further R27 600 for an XR.
When all’s said and done one must accept that cars priced in the mid-to-upper 200s are almost considered “budget buys” these days, making this a pretty decent offering that fits in with Toyota SA’s apparent quest to be more competitive on initial pricing than was the case previously. (Me, cynical although pre-owned Toyotas practically resold themselves and you usually got the extra money back at trade-in time? Never!)
Test unit from Toyota SA press fleet
We drove an automatic as well
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 or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.
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 ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle 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. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles. And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.
Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.
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Unless otherwise stated, all photographs are courtesy of www.quickpic.co.za
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8