"Four kilograms lighter and with five horsepower more than last year, the new Honda Fireblade is capable of delivering performance at a level far higher than 99% of the riders who are likely to ride it are ever going to be capable of coping with," writes Gavin Foster.
The Mazda2 1,5 Individual is the South Africa Guild of Motoring Journalists’ Car of the Year for 2008 — marking the inaugural win for the Japanese brand in the country’s premier automotive competition. The announcement was made on Tuesday evening at a gala dinner held at Kyalami, near Johannesburg.
"The Honda Jazz’s 1,5-litre engine feels like a buzzy little unit, but at 120km/h it’s turning over at just more than 3Â 500rpm, which means that you’d be doing over 210km/h before you hit the rev limiter at 6Â 500rpm in fifth." Gavin Foster is halfway through a six-month relationship with arguably the finest car in its class.
"For me, the most difficult part of judging at the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists’ Car of the Year competition is not losing sight of the fact that I’m judging the cars not so much against each other as against their direct competitors in the market place." Gavin Foster rounds up the Car of the Year finalists.
Proposals being punted about at the moment to make Formula One more environmentally friendly involve reducing engine size and power, and other regulations that have been put in place over the years to reduce speeds in the interests of safety can be relaxed to liven up the game a little, reports Gavin Foster.
Stuart Johnston, one of the most knowledgeable motoring scribes in South Africa, has released the 2008 edition of the <i>Motorheads Diary</i>. Edited by Johnston and beautifully designed by Gauteng classic car buff Heide-Marie von der Au, the second edition of this page-per-day diary for car and bike enthusiasts is an absolute gem.
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/ 25 January 2008
The cars we buy and the service we get are still getting better and better each year. That’s the conclusion reached in the fourth JD Power & Associates/<i>Car Magazine</i> 2007 South Africa customer satisfaction index (CSI) study released earlier this week.
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/ 25 January 2008
Arilia South Africa will soon take delivery of the Italian manufacturer’s highly futuristic automatic motorcycle the Aprilia Mana for evaluation. Unlike earlier self-shifting motorcycles that faded into oblivion due to lack of interest caused by sluggish performance, the lively Mana offers riders the option of using any of three fully automatic modes.
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/ 23 January 2008
So you think today’s Formula One cars are fast? How about 70 years ago, when drivers wearing cloth helmets and short-sleeved shirts wrestled massive cars shod with skinny little tyres around grand prix circuits, reaching speeds of more than 320km/h?
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/ 19 November 2007
Daihatsu’s funky little Sirion has had a facelift, and the Sports model has been given a 15% increase in capacity to give it performance more in line with its name and image. Ever since its launch in 2005, the third-generation Daihatsu Sirion has received favourable comment from the press. Although a diminutive hatchback in appearance, the Sirion offered loads of interior space.