Gavin Foster

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.

Give a dog a bad name … Gavin Foster looks at the car with the weirdest name in the world — the Nissan Qashqai. "In a year when there have been so many stunning new cars launched in South Africa, the Nissan with the funny name is, in my book, a shoo-in as a Car of the Year finalist."

Kawasaki’s brand-new 1400 GTR has arrived, and the bike’s as good as they get. Despite weighing in at a hefty 279kg dry — that’s 64 more than the ZX14 on which it is based — Team Green’s transcontinental hypercruiser feels surprisingly nimble once you’ve reached lift-off speed and retracted your undercarriage.

Ford has introduced a new entry-level family sedan into the local market. Apart from the name, the new Ford Ikon shares little with its predecessor. It’s been almost two years since Ford dropped the Ikon from its South African line-up. At the time it was discontinued, the car came in six derivatives, using locally produced Rocam petrol engines of 1,3- and 1,6-litre capacities.

Four engines, three specification levels, two pronunciations and — no doubt — number-one seller in the C-class hatch sector. That’s the new Toyota Auris for you. At the launch preview in the United Kingdom a couple of months ago, we asked the Toyota UK representative handling the presentation how the name was pronounced, and he told us that it was "Owris".

Remember the Fiat Uno? The car everybody made jokes about — and then bought? Between 1990 and 2005, the little cars — then assembled by Nissan South Africa — became favourites with people who wanted a simple, reliable car that didn’t cost an arm and a leg to buy or to run.

Driving in the United Kingdom, I discovered, is not as entertaining as it is here, because there’s so much traffic that you rarely get a chance to speed — and when you do, Big Brother is watching. Signs light up and chant "You’re gonna go to the devil!" when you exceed the speed limit by two miles per hour, writes Gavin Foster.

As 4X4 wagons go, I’ve had two favourites for the past year or so. The Toyota Fortuner and GM’s Hummer H3 appeal to me because they offer acceptable comfort levels, genuine off-road capabilities and are relatively well-priced. Just about everything else is either too fancy and expensive to take into the bush, or inadequate for really serious use off-road, writes Gavin Foster.

As I write this, Father’s Day is drawing to a close and I can’t help but think how different it all could have been if I’d had access to Audi’s new S3 back in November 1974. Back then, I naively believed that taking up motorcycle racing would render me irresistible to sexually unfulfilled young women, writes Gavin Foster.

With earnings of maybe R40-million from the movie <i>The World’s Fastest Indian</i>, Sir Anthony Hopkins did much better from Herbert James Munro’s love for his 1920 Indian Scout than the eccentric genius from New Zealand did. Gavin Foster looks at the life of Munro, one filled with crashes and motorcycle maintenance.

How many of you have ever seen an eight-time world champion hustle a 500-horsepower motorcycle down the drag strip in anger? Now’s your chance, because Ricky Gadson’s here to break in Africa’s most powerful two-wheeler — the newly arrived Bear Ghost Rider Kawasaki ZX-12R Turbo.

Elvis Presley put three bullets into his when it wouldn’t start, but most owners of the other 7 300 or so De Tomaso Panteras produced between 1970 and 1993 loved ’em, because they looked and sounded absolutely gorgeous, and delivered supercar performance at affordable prices. Pity about the build quality though …

The last time Sweden went to war was in 1814, when it mopped up the placid old Norwegians in just 20 days. Now, with the launch of the new Volvo C30, the normally peace-loving Scandinavians have taken on the mob at which they resisted having a crack in the last major conflict in Europe — the Germans and the Italians.

A friend once told me that whenever he hears "Land Rover" he always sees, in his mind’s eye, a skinny, middle-aged man with blackened fingernails, wearing khaki shorts that stop just above grubby knees. Ever since then I can’t help but see the same old geezer every time I hear or see the magic words, writes Gavin Foster.

Toyota has introduced a station-wagon version of its Panzer-like Land Cruiser pickup to the South African market. Unburdened by the electronic gimmickry, low-profile tyres and tonnes of luxury features found on top-end 4×4 wagons, the Land Cruiser 70 wagon uses most of the underpinnings of its rugged bakkie sibling to provide the ultimate off-road performance at the cost of some comfort.

Nissan made its intentions quite clear at the launch of its all-new Tiida late last year. It wanted to knock a dent in Toyota’s monopoly over the passenger-car C-segment and, to do that, it would have to attract ordinary people rather than just the fleet owners who traditionally bought the outgoing Almera by the bucket load.

Kawasaki has always believed in delivering horses for courses. With their latest ZX-10R and ZX-6R superbikes they told the world that these uncompromising machines were designed to deliver the best possible racetrack performance for experienced riders, and those who wanted a bike more suited for everyday use should look elsewhere in their range.

For a company so steeped in tradition, Harley-Davidson sure broke the mould when it introduced its V-Rod back in 2001. Its liquid-cooled, fuel-injected engine was developed with the help of Porsche, and the new bike’s styling looked 10 years ahead of its time, rather than 40 years behind.

Don’t you just love the way the Americans mutilate the queen’s English, with "center", "harbor", "color", "favorite", "honor", "analyze", "memorize" and all the rest displacing the proper spelling? In the case of the Dodge Caliber’s name, though, the Yanks can’t be faulted, because the car is built in Belvedere, Illinois, so they can call it whatever they want.

Toyota has extended its Quantum range by introducing a new 10-seater people carrier, and dollied up the existing models to fit in with new styling and specifications. Why a 10-seater when there’s already a very popular 14-seater in the line-up? That’s a matter of convenience.

They say it’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog. Honda’s new and significantly smaller and lighter CBR600RR is like a Staffie, says Gavin Foster — athletic as hell, full of spunk and willing to do anything its master asks of it.

Hands up, anybody who has ever seen a Proton on the road. The Malaysian cars have been on sale in South Africa for two years now, and I don’t think I’ve seen half a dozen of them roaming free in KwaZulu-Natal, where I live. After driving a few Protons, I reckon that’s a shame, because they feel solidly built, they are well equipped and they are very competitively priced.

Would our roads be safer with fewer rules, or would chaos reign and the death toll rise? That’s an interesting question being subjected to research in seven cities and regions of Europe, where authorities, encouraged by the European Union, are removing thousands of road signs, traffic lights and barrier lines in an attempt to get motorists to interact in a "free and human way" with each other.

With just two weeks to go before the judging of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists’ Car of the Year competition, Malcolm Kinsey has released the results of a parts price survey conducted on the eight finalists, aimed at helping the jurors evaluate the cars fairly. The <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> has simplified the analysis.

Eight finalists from the more than 100 new car models launched in 2006 were last week evaluated by a panel of motoring journalists to select the Car of the Year for 2007. Which of these deserves to be in with a chance, and which are the losers? After three days of flirting with the cars in Gauteng, South African Guild of Motoring Journalists juror Gavin Foster airs his views.

Perhaps it’s because their mettle was tempered when they bore the brunt of two world wars before the Americans belatedly stepped in help them, or maybe it’s just because they have a sense of humour. Whatever the reason, it’s unsurprising that the Poms were the first to turn adversity into strength and market a brand-new, pre-crashed motorcycle.

Volkswagen’s Citi Golf is on track for its best year yet, with more than 30 000 units being sold in this, its 32nd year of production. Toyota’s Tazz has reached the end of the road, and Nissan’s 1400 pickup is due to be phased out within a year. However, the last of the trio of budget vehicles with roots in the Seventies and Eighties, Volkswagen’s Citi Golf, is still around.

It’s not a Bentley, it’s not a Maybach and it’s probably not going to be mistaken for a Rolls-Royce. If you think it’s meant to compete with exotics such as Ferrari or Lamborghini, then you’ve been smoking your socks. What the Chrysler 300C Hemi is, though, is a big luxury car that exudes presence, goes like stonk in a straight line, scrambles around corners pretty briskly for a Yank tank, and surprises everybody who asks its price.