Making the lion roar again

Jay Truman from Peugeot in South Africa would like to inform the public the special on the 108 of will last three months. Order while its hot.

Three things you didn't know about Peugeot.

- Ettore Bugatti build the Type BP1 Peugeot in 1912;

- Batista Farina designed the 403 in 1956;

- Ferdinand Porsche wanted to name his car the 901, but had to settle for 911, coz the pug had already trademarked the "oh" in the middle.

Farina's taut, minimalist design went on to establish a reputation in Africa, where people in some areas still call all cars a Peugeot, regardless of make, thanks to the bullet-riddled-but-still-going 504s.

RTI calls in testing stations.

Naeem Sheik, director of Asiphephe Vehicle Test Station.

THE Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) in KZN has invited the 76 owners of vehicle testing stations in the province to a milestone meeting in the capital today.
Proprietors of testing stations see this meeting as a first step to cut corruption in issuing of roadworthy certificates that have over the years seen a few rotten apples add to the one million unroadworthy vehicles that the Department of Transport estimates are driving in SA.
 The meeting will set out the new standards that, among other steps, require photographs of all vehicles being tested.
Station operators will also get feedback on the results of audits by the SA Bureau of Standards, the national and provincial departments of transport, the Road Traffic Inspectorate and Special Investigative Units.

Sheik said periodic testing has been on the books for years, but has yet to be enacted. 
Currently, only taxis and trucks weighing over 3,5 tons have to be tested annually, while buses have to be tested every six months.
According to Arrive Alive, almost half of the cars on SA’s roads, (48,03%) are older than 10 years and 15,81% older than 20 years. Sheik said in the  United Kingdom, vehicles that are over three years old are tested annually. The UK has some 38 million registered vehicles — three times more than SA’s — but their road fatalities are over 20 times lower than in SA. Asked what the single biggest cause for crashes in South Africa was, Sheik blamed worn tyres.
He said this was where a proper road worthy inspection saves lives, because a faulty suspension system rapidly wears down tyres, which lead to oversteering in corners or blow outs.

Best footage yet of SA rally

ONLINE video magazine Kuluma TV’s report on the second Zane Rencken national rally, held last month in Dalton, will air for a week on Ignition TV.

This promises to be the best coverage yet of a local rally, due in part to stunt flying by helicopter pilot Dean Riley of South Coast Aerial Spraying, and in part to foot-flat racing from all racers, like Dean Redelinghuys and Amon Meyiwa, who stepped up from the regional level to win the national open 2 class — despite hitting a stump on one stage.

IGNITION TV SCHEDULE

September 28: 7.30 am and 5.30 pm

September 29: 1.30 am and 1.30 pm

September 30: 3.30 pm

October 1: 7.30 am

October 2: 11.30 am

October 3: 7.30 pm

October 4: 11.30 pm

Like a bunny chow

Mahindra’s XUV300 is unique to behold, but comes packed with value, much like KZN’s signature dish, the bunny chow. The 1,5-litre diesel pulls like a train, and its frugal consumption will inspire owners to go on food safaris to establish for themselves whether Maritzburg’s Bombay Curry Den (est 1980) sells the tastiest bunnies.

THE XUV300 is the first Mahindra I have driven that did not have the cabin bolted to a solid ladder frame designed to overcome anything India’s roads can put in its path.

Instead, the cabin and the chassis are an all-in-one unit — what the trade calls a monocoque hull, and filled to the brim with all the buttons one expects — but rarely gets — in a car starting at a quarter of a million rands.

These lesser-spotted buttons include an auto-dimming rearview mirror, wheel pressure monitors, parking sensors, a rear camera, satellite navigation, cruise control, a sunroof, push button start/stop and dual-zone climate control.

It’s roomy inside, despite the XUV300 being under 4 m long and 1,82 m wide.

The rear seats fold flat in a 60/40 configuration. With the seats up, the boot is a relatively tight 249 litres (the competitors are over 300 litres), but this is still more than enough space for the weeks’ groceries. With the rear seats flat, the space enlarges to 600 litres.

Under the hood is either a diesel or a petrol engine, both sending power to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.

The 1,2-litre turbocharged makes 81 kW and 200 Nm, which is OK for city use, but my preference is for the 1,5-litre turbodiesel, which makes 86 kW and 300 Nm, the highest among its competitors.

LIKING THE BENDS

Like its bigger XUV500 sibling, the XUV300 can be thrown about with verve, with a suspension that is hard enough to soak up speed bumps and the odd handbrake turn, but pliant enough not to pulp your kidneys on a long drive.

ABS-controlled disc brakes all round stop the 1 404 kg car in short order and seven airbags provide reassurance for those who like being surrounded by explosive devices that are as likely to injure one as prevent injury. (At Wheels, we prefer roll cages to airbags).

The Cheetah-inspired lines of the XUV range turn the heads of even non-petrol heads, and I for one doff my cap at Mahindra for daring to design vehicles that look different.

The XUV300 comes in two levels of trim, the W6 and W8. Both models have a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system that is intuitive to operate. One aux and two USB ports allow plugging in or charging assorted digital devices. The system also links with Apple and Android.

There is also a voice control, which either does not understand, or hears something totally different.

This is par for the course at the moment, with BMW, Ford and Merc’s voice recognition systems also still learning how to interact with humans.

While they do, that “voice” button is best left alone if you don’t want to end up yelling at the dashboard.

That was the first niggle.

The second was the cloud of diesel smoke belched out in a cold start.

This is not the fault of the 1,5 turbo diesel, but the lack of a reminder to let the glow plugs warm up for about 15 seconds, and then let the engine idle for another 30 seconds.

PULLS LIKE A TRAIN

In India, where drivers buy cars for their fuel economy above all else, and where well over 30 000 XUV300 models have now been sold, drivers report about 17 km/l from the petrol engine and 20 km/l from the diesel.

The petrol consumption is on par with the main competitor in South Africa, the Ford EcoSport 1,5. The EcoSport diesel gets over 20 km/l, but it can do so because it makes less power than the XUV300. And that is the real surprise from this middle child in the XUV range — that 1,5 turbo diesel pulls like a train.

Were I to compare the value offering of the XUV300 to food, it would have to be a bunny chow — strange to behold, but full of juices and flavour once bitten into.

XUV300 DIESEL COMPETITORS

The best-selling Ford Ecosport 1,5 TDCi Ambiente is over 51k cheaper, but makes 95 fewer Newtons, while the Renault Duster dCi Tech Road is R31 k cheaper, and 90 Newtons weaker.

XUV300 PRICING

XUV300 1,2 petrol W6 R249 999

XUV300 1,5 diesel W6 R274 999

XUV300 1,2 petrol W8 R304 999

XUV300 1,5 diesel W8 R324 999

A five-year or 150 000 km warranty and a five-year of 90 000 km service plan are included in the price. Service intervals are every 15 000 km.

Racer against Tourer

The Toyota Rav4 is designed to explore the byways and find things, like these sculptures inspired by Yugan Govender, owner of Global Scrap Metal in Pietermaritzburg.

IN South Africa, the most popular vehicle shape after the double cab bakkie is the sport utility vehicle, or SUVs.

My ageing mother calls them “big station wagons” and like the stations wagons of yore, the SUV’s are made for family life with lots of space. Unlike those lumbering wagons, modern SUVs also add a dash of speed — some more so than others.

Courtesy of Hyundai and Toyota, I had me one of each type last week, in the shape of the Tuscon 2.0D Elite Sport and the 2,0 RAV4 AWD GX-R.

Back in 2016, when the new Tuscon arrived, it was the most sold sport ute in SA, with seven in every 10 SUVs coming from this Korean factory — most of them the Tuscon 2.0-litre Elite with an automatic transmission.

Desmond Govenden, owner of DY Performance and one of KZN’s top drag racers, says the best thing about the Huyndai Tuscon 2,0d Sport is its handling on those big low profile tyres.

Fast forward to 2019 and Hyundai has given the Tuscon a bespoke body kit and model-specific alloy wheels. Under the hood, they also boosted the power quite a bit in the Elite, to the point where this auto manages to chirp the wheels in first second and third gears, with little tugs of torque steer when the engine pile on its 460 Newtons.

This is the kind of power you want to pull big trailers, and the Tuscon is licensed to pull a braked trailer weighing 1 900 tonnes. Not that we recommend doing this, as pulling such a heavy trailer is the job of a heavier vehicle, not a light sport ute.

All wheel drive in the RAV4 means no fear on slime slick surfaces.

This power comes in at a low 1 750 rpm and continues unabated to 2750 rpm, with a torque-converter shifting smoothly between eight ratios to deliver acceleration that tempted me to take it to one of the many illegal drag races held late at night in several parts of Msunduzi. I did not give in to this temptation. Instead, I met up with Desmond Govenden, tuning guru and a former drag racing and drifting champion, to get a second opinion on this Korean.

He was impressed with the way the high-riding SUV handled around the bends on its big, 19-inch wheels clad with wide, low profile tyres (245/45).

Sure, its is not quite as firm as a big Beemer, Range Rover, Jaguar or Merc, but then the Tuscon does not cost well over a million rands, as do the top SUVs of these brands.

Ventilated disk brakes front and rear initially did a good stopping job, but after a few runs, it was clear that these disks are engineered for civilian use, not repeated hard braking into corners.

Which was when we did a drag, and when I discovered it was a good thing I did not pit the Tuscon against the lads’ hot hatches at the illegal drags.

From a standing start, the Tuscon’s big turbo takes a second or so to spool up, despite having variable vanes that limit this turbo lag to the point where one does not notice it when driving sensibly in diesel-saving Eco mode. In Sport mode, this lag would have had me eating humble pie against all the laities in their tuned hatches.

But once the blower forces air into the diesel, you will run out of road long before you run out of acceleration in the Tuscon. Where the road run out is where the RAV4 comes in.

The Tuscon where its most at home, an old race track.

SEPARATING MEN FROM WOMEN

This is where the men are separated from the women, who have been the main buyers of the RAV4 since the first, much more rounded model launched when we had our first democratic elections back in 1994. (You can still find those old RAV4 curves in the Cherry Tiggo, which is surprisingly good on dirt.)

To get a women’s perspective on latest RAV4, I asked Shay Kalik to give her views. While Kalik liked the new edgy exterior, she loved the interior with its orange trim and soft-touch cladding.

“Its a lot more like a Volvo than the Toyotas I know in here,” was her first comment.

The interiors in both SUV’s are sumptuous, but the panoramic sun roof and keyless entry in the Tuscon put the Hyundai ahead on the useful luxuries count.

Toyota and Hyundai is on par when it comes to easily connecting Bluetooth devices, and the first thing you want to do in the RAV4 with continuously variable transmission is to connect your music to drown out the continuously varying drone. CVT-boxes keep an engine humming in the optimum power band for the most effective work rate and the new RAV4 has ten settings — like a 10-speed box — but that drone does require getting used to.

Inside the 2019 Tuscon Sport.

Call me old school, but I much prefer the eight-speed Sport Direct Shift transmission which Toyota fits exclusively to 2.5-litre RAV4.

Toyota said in a statement the new RAV4’s all wheel drive system automatically adjusts different vehicle systems — steering assist, brake and throttle control, shift pattern and drive torque distribution — according to the drive mode selected. ‘Mud & Sand’ and ‘Rock & Dirt’ modes are available.

But it is not a patch on the four-wheel drive abilities of the first to third generation RAV4s, and we had to back down from The Slope with our tail between our legs. Officially we did not force the RAV4 up there because the axle benders on our steep, test hill demand the higher road clearance of the old RAV4 or the new Jimny.

It came as a bit of a let down for me to learn the new RAV4 is now a soft-roader and no longer an off-roader, but this did not bother the 586 people who bought a new RAV4 last month. And as Kalik says, normal people consider dirt roads to be pushing the limits, so for normal people, the RAV4 works fine.

Inside the 2019 Toyota RAV4. 

All RAV4 models carry a three-year or 100 000 km warranty and a 90 000 km service plan with six-services built in. This is rather shorter than Hyundai’s seven-year or 200 000 km warranty, which breaks up into a five-year or 150 000 km warranty on the vehicle and two years or 50 000 km on the powertrain. Hyundai also has a five-year or 90 000 km service plan.

The Tuscon and RAV4 compete for the hearts and budgets of motorists against the Volkswagen Tiquan, which was SA’s second-best selling SUV last month with 574 units sold; and the best seller, Ford’s much smaller EcoSport, which last month sold 658 units.

Buyers can also kick the tyres of the newcomer Haval, which Chinese premium brand is still offering a lot of SUV in three sizes at relatively low prices.

(First published in Witness Wheels.)