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.


We drove Volkswagen’s 2012 CC with 2.0 TDI and decided it could be a bargain.

Social barrier buster

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday August 25, 2012

Anyone who has worked for traditional European companies will know that, when it comes to staff cars, a rigid hierarchy rules. In plain English, no-one may one-up the boss. If the MD drives a six-cylinder Mercedes, woe-betide any mere artisan who dares to arrive with a second hand C63. He or she will be dealt with; discreetly of course.

In a make-believe example, the sales director might have an Audi A5 Sportback with 2.0-litre TDI, while the sales manager could safely arrive in a Volkswagen CC with identical engine. Little alarm bells ring – could he or she actually do so?

Let’s look at the details: A5 Sportback – R439 000, VW CC – R373 800. That’s a difference of R65 200 for the same body, essentially the same engine (Audi claims a few more kW and Nm), similar electronic safety kit including XDS transverse differential lock and similar features. Audi uses a different gearbox with this engine, CVT vs. VW’s choice of DSG, and suspension systems differ. The VW is priced lower and enjoys less brand cachet, so social distinction theoretically remains intact.

CC, or Comfort Coupé, is Volkswagen’s flagship range and part of the company’s unashamed strategy to push its products upmarket and into Audi territory. It underwent some cosmetic and technical changes earlier this year. These included new grille, new front bumper with an added air intake below it, redesigned bonnet and new bi-xenon headlights with static cornering function.

More distinctively sculpted side sills between the wheel-housings make a visual connection between the front and rear bumpers and sharpen the lower contour of the car’s silhouette. At the rear, the bumper now shows greater volume and clarity, generating a dynamic coupé-like styling of the C-pillars and the very long swept-back window. There are more straight line surfaces and greater emphasis on horizontals. Fitting with this image are newly styled rear lights with LED elements that offer improved economy and longer life.

The interior of the Volkswagen CC was also redesigned. In front, the car comes with ergonomic sport seats designed for long trips. In the rear, a continuous bench seat comfortably accommodates three adults with ample leg and elbow room. Interior height is greater than exterior styling might suggest: in front it’s 949 mm (955 mm with panoramic sunroof), and in the rear it is 922 mm. The SA Standard Tall Passenger awarded 7/10 for rear headroom, 10/10 for knees and 8/10 for foot space with the driver’s chair adjusted all the way down. Slave vents channel air through to the rear and a 230 volt, 150 Watt Euro socket assists with charging of office appliances. Storage is limited to a pair of seatback pockets, but no door bins. Doors open to almost 90 degrees, so getting in and out is easy.

The boot is typically VW-huge at 532 litres, opening automatically with a push on a key fob button or a pull of an interior switch. The spare is a fully sized alloy unit and additional seat back releases are provided inside the boot. These tip 1/3, 2/3 with a separate facility for the useful load-through flap. It loads at mid-thigh height, has a lip of about 12 cm and is very practically shaped.

Up front, suede and leather seats provide enough support but don’t smother and are comfortable in extended use. The driver’s chair adjusts electrically for reach and recline, but mechanically for height. Sportier chairs with more electrical options are available. The six-speed DSG gearbox offers a sport setting, manual override and paddles behind the steering wheel. Whichever override is used, the ‘box defaults to the next higher gear at 5000 rpm. We haven’t yet met the DSG we don’t like, so no more need be said about that. Unexpectedly at this price, the doors do not lock automatically as the car gets underway and unlocking, on returning to a parked vehicle, can be fiddly.

The 2.0-litre diesel engine has all the power anyone could need in a daily working car, it’s smooth, sips fuel and is decently quiet. It handles nicely too and is superbly comfortable; almost making one wonder whether that sales director is actually any better off – just a thought.

The numbers:
Price: R373 800
Engine: 1968 cc, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 125 kW at 4200 rpm
Torque: 350 Nm between 1750 and 2500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8,6 seconds
Maximum speed: 220 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 6,8 l/100 km
Tank: 70 litres
Warranty: 3 years/120 000 km
Maintenance plan: 5 years/100 000 km, at 15 000 km intervals.

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



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 they can see 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.