Gavin Foster

Hyundai’s first full-size luxury car to be sold in South Africa, the Azera, is hard to fault. The Korean company’s new flagship is powerful, spacious, comfortable and safe. It’s also extremely quiet and delivers a very plush ride, which renders dreams of uniformed chauffeurs and bottles of champagne being consumed in the back seats quite plausible.

Mossel Bay, it is claimed, has the second-mildest climate in the world, after Hawaii, but that isn’t the reason Toyota South Africa chose the coastal town to launch its new Fortuner wagon. A vehicle as capable as this needs to have a decent stage on which to flaunt its assets, and the numerous mountain passes leading across the Outeniqua mountains to Oudtshoorn were tailor-made for the job.

Fiat Auto South Africa has launched a new version of its Palio, offering much a higher specification level than the current Go!. For just R13 000 more than the entry-level three- and five-door Palio, buyers of the Vibe will receive the added benefits of aircon, power steering, an audio system with a radio/CD/MP3 player, door pockets and colour-coded exterior mirrors.

Next week sees KwaZulu-Natal hosting the 2006 Standard Bank Durban Motor Show, from March 17 to 21, at the Durban Exhibition Centre. Thirty leading motor brands will display their latest offerings at the event, and their ranks include more than a couple of exotics.

I don’t know of any law that says speedometers have to over-read, but there are a few that prohibit speedometers from reflecting a lower speed than the vehicle is actually travelling. In the United Kingdom, for instance, speedometers may legally be up to 10% optimistic, but there’s no leeway for under-reading.

It’s very good-looking, it’s extremely well specced, it feels well built for the money, with excellent ride and handling, and it’s affordable. On the downside, the Proton brand has yet to gain the confidence of the South African public, and the Savvy is let down by a lethargic 1,2-litre engine that doesn’t deliver what the sporty styling promises.

Nissan has just launched a three-door oil-burning version of their cute little Micra -the first diesel passenger car bearing the Nissan logo to go on sale here in South Africa. At R139 900 the Micra Tekna is scarcely a budget car, so you’d be justified in expecting it to look the part and come with a full toy-box.

Kawasaki’s sexy new ER-6n naked motorcycle has gained a fully clothed stablemate. The ER-6f, aimed at riders who enjoy the versatility of the 650cc twin but feel the need for more efficient streamlining and weather protection, is mechanically identical to its lively sibling, but comes with the option of ABS brakes and retains the user-friendly nature of the naked bike.

When Hyundai’s Getz arrived on the scene at the Geneva Motor Show in 2002, it received loads of favourable comment in the motoring press, but nobody expected the factory to sell 550 000 of the little hatchbacks in a few short years. Gavin Foster went to the launch of the new face-lifted model.

Honda reckons that it is going to open the floodgates in South Africa, and the new Civic is just the car to do it. Gavin Foster agrees: "The new Civic is streets better than the model it replaces, and buyers would have to go far to find a better car for the money."

Bakkies such as the Opel Corsa and Nissan 1400 sell only in South Africa, Brazil and … well, that’s about it. As a result, Ford, General Motors and Nissan have pretty well had the field to themselves for decades in South Africa. Then, last year, Fiat introduced its Strada pickup, and Proton’s newly launched Arena light pickup has now arrived to wee on the South African manufacturers’ batteries.

"It would be great if we could all buy the most expensive tyres for our cars every time we needed them, but for most of us that’s impossible. Most cars are used as simple commuting tools, driven by ordinary people who live on a tight budget," writes Gavin foster.

The final phase before the announcement of the 2006 South African Car of the Year will take place middle January next year, when 24 of the country’s top motoring journalists and their assistants will take to the road and track to determine the winning car.

"Maybe I’m just an eccentric, but I have a thing about small, affordable cars. They get the job done well enough most of the time, you can have fun driving them hard without getting into too much trouble with the law, and they’re a breeze when squeezing in and out of parking bays," writes Gavin Foster.

The problem is that the public in general don’t understand how things are supposed to work. Traffic authorities feed them half-truths, and the media unquestioningly run mindless stories about the "millions" owed to the authorities in "outstanding fines". What is happening now has nothing to do with road safety, and everything to do with raising revenue to fill municipal budgets’ shortfalls.

Yamaha’s MT-01 is not a superbike. At 240kg without any fuel on board it’s about 70kg overweight for the racetrack, and with just 90 ponies held captive in its behemoth 1670cc engine, it’s not powerful enough to kick any modern superbike’s backside at high speed. But the big V-twin has enough going for it to make it a great real-world motorcycle despite these apparent disadvantages.

Toyota’s Yaris super mini, which has done so well everywhere it’s been marketed, has never been available in this country, so news of the impending arrival here of the latest model — just two months after it was first shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show — stirred up loads of local interest. The perky little commuter slots in between the Tazz and the Corolla.

Ford’s Ka, launched in South Africa this month, nearly eight years after its arrival elsewhere, rather disappointed me. I’ve watched the company’s latest offerings with interest, and as they’ve improved immensely over the past few years I’ve become a big fan of the Blue Oval.

The biggest single advance in automotive engineering over the last couple of decades has been in the role that electronic technology plays in managing various functions. It started when electronic ignition systems replaced points and condensers, and simple engine management systems evolved into complex computers that do everything from fine-tuning fuel-injection systems to altering the length of inlet tracts.

"I experienced an epiphany half way through my first drive in the Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 recently. Cruising along the highway with the climate control helping me keep my cool and the radio turned off so that I could listen to the lovely V6 exhaust note, I suddenly found a most uncharacteristic thought ricocheting around in my skull," writes Gavin Foster.

Honda has just announced that they’ll soon be launching the world’s first production motorcycle equipped with airbags. The new Gold Wing, due to go on sale in about a year’s time, will be fitted with an airbag module containing an airbag and inflator, crash sensors to react to sudden deceleration, and an ECU to interpret whether there’s a collision about to occur.

Opel’s Tigra Twin Top is the latest convertible to reach South African shores. Where soft-top cars never really took off in this country due to the security problems they posed and the schlep that was involved in what amounted to pitching camp in your transport, the current offerings do all the work at the push of a button, and because the roofs are solid, security isn’t compromised.

Mercedes-Benz has upped their game considerably with the introduction of a new V6 diesel and three new petrol V6 units into their C-Class range. Gone is the old single-overhead-camshaft three-valve-per-cylinder technology, replaced by double-overhead-camshaft four-valve units mated to the company’s superb seven speed auto transmissions.

So, what do you look for when buying a car? Gorgeous styling? Impeccable attention to detail? Stunning performance? Despite what the motor industry would have us believe, the average working-class South African buys largely on price. Give him all the bells and whistles at a reasonable price and a queue starts developing outside dealers’ doors.

Politicians spend a great deal of our time and money passing myriad laws aimed at making us think they’re very busy people. The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy may neither be created nor destroyed, so they’re obviously putting lots of effort into converting worthwhile tasks into bullshit just to impress us voters.

Kawasaki’s set to bring an exciting new middleweight into South Africa in about two months time. The ER-6n is powered by a 650cc vertical twin engine — a configuration that was enormously popular in the mid twentieth century but has fallen out of favour these days. The bike’s styling is ultra-exotic, and with 72 horsepower (53 kW) on tap it should also be a lively performer.

Daihatsu’s YRV Turbo is a like a Tonka Toy on ecstasy. It looks like it should be parked in the kids’ playroom, yet delivers performance that should please anybody who enjoys brisk driving, especially along winding roads. The car’s power-to-weight ratio is formidable, thanks to its minimal 950 kg mass and a very lively turbocharged engine.

Brazil and South Africa are the only two countries in the world that have any real market for half-tonne bakkies. The Brazilian-built Fiat Strada enjoys 25% of the light commercial vehicle market in its home country, and now that it’s arrived in South Africa it’ll probably have a huge impact on sales of General Motors’ Corsa utility and Ford’s Bantam.

Fords new Territory has arrived, and — on paper at least — it seems like a good ‘un, as long as you can afford the fuel. Available only with a four-litre 182 kW six-cylinder in-line engine pinched from the Falcon, the Territory comes in two- wheel and four-wheel-drive derivatives.

BMW has produced, in the R1200 RT, a machine that is light years ahead of the R1150 RT, the model it replaces. With its flat twin now displacing 1 170cc and generating 81 kW (110 bhp) and 115 Nm of torque it’s a truly formidable high-speed touring machine. Apart from the extra power and torque delivered by the bigger engine.

The French build small cars that seem to expand into big ‘uns once you’re inside them, get around corners without wallowing, and don’t guzzle gas. Renault’s new Modus is just such an offering. The Modus is the first of a Renault range that will include the new Clio and the next-generation Twingo minicar.

Adventure motorcycles have a lot going for them. They’re more comfortable for two-up touring than superbikes or cruisers are, and they open up a whole new network of gravel backroads taking you to fascinating places that you’d never ordinarily know about.