SA Roadtests
South Africa
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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 archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Pics by author (at Granny Mouse’s Country House, KZN Midlands)
Published in Witness Wheels on Thursday October 31, 2013
It’s 5:00 a.m. and 12 degrees (C) outside. Both screens of our personalised BMW 328i GT have misted over. Switching on the defrosters, we find the optional leather sports seats warming up – too much actually. We try to switch them off, but the heaters keep defaulting back on. Giving up, we eventually find that they can shut down - just as soon as the defoggers have been deselected.
The first BMW 328 was an aluminium-bodied sports car built between 1936 and 1940. Powered by a 1971cc OHV straight six and fuelled by three Solex carburettors, it developed 59 kilowatts at 5000 rpm and drove its rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox. Only 464 were built and they’re worth a fortune now. Today’s 328i has a 1997cc, DOHC, fuel injected and turbocharged, straight four developing slightly more than three times the original’s power; 180 kW at 6500 rpm. Our bespoke GT drives its rear wheels via an optional eight-speed sport automatic. Things have changed since the late ‘thirties, but we wanted a true grand tourer with a hint of historical magic, so we built our own by adding off-the-shelf options to a basic 328i GT.
First, we spent R25 100 replacing the standard six-speed manual box with an eight-cog sport Tiptronic with paddles and Driving Dynamics Control. That brought the add-on CO2 tax to R2975-40. Both BMW and Mercedes show this as a separate item. On cars costing a small ransom, a government surcharge of three grand is shown separately as though it’s optional. Go figure.
Recreating the spirit of the original obviously required Sport Line trim consisting of special badging; high gloss black trim on B-pillars, bumpers, grille and side vents; black chrome exhaust tip; front door sill finishers marked “BMW Sport”; body coloured mirror caps; black Dakota leather sports seats with red highlights; a three-spoke leather steering wheel with red stitching; special interior illumination and various other trim items. Add R17 400 for that. Those seats obviously needed electrical adjusters, lumbar support and two memory settings for the driver’s side, so we chipped in a further R14 350.
Adaptive M-suspension, lowered by ten millimetres and fitted with electronically controlled dampers that adapt to driving style and road conditions, was an obvious choice at R7450. Variable sports steering added R3000. Decent wheels aren’t negotiable. We chose the double-spoke 466s with 225/45 R19s in front and 255/40 R19s at the back. Ka-ching! R7000. The R13 600 driving lights package provided adaptive Xenon headlights with washers and high beam assist.
Parking in today’s urban jungle is a nightmare, so we chose the parking package with parking assistance, park distance control and camera, at a charge of R10 400. For added safety we included lane change and lane departure warning systems at R16 250; surround view cameras for R22 350 and the extended lighting option at R1950.
Obviously, we need to stay connected and know where we are, so the Connected Package at R29 600 provides convenience telephony with extended smartphone connectivity and the necessary additional functions for the instrument cluster, internet preparation, a professional-level satnav unit and speed limit information that reads road signs and displays them alongside your actual speed in the heads-up display (optional at R14 700). The Apps access package enabling web radio, Facebook and Twitter connections added R1650 while BMW Live, the wireless hotspot creator, set us back another R1150.
Every modern car needs keyless access to doors and boot lid so we added R7200 for the comfort access package and a further R3300 for active protection. That’s reversible active seat belt tensioners for the front seats, auto-closing function for windows and glass sunroof, and post-crash iBrake. The sunroof in question cost us R16 500, while the superb Harmon/Kardon surround sound kit with hi-fi speakers was a bargain at R15 200. That brought the total cost of options with extra tax to R231 125-40.
A true grand touring car in the old sense of the name moves four people and their luggage quickly, quietly and safely over long distances and in superb comfort. If it can do all that without needing refuel points every few kilometres, so much the better.
By the time the sun was properly up, we were well on our way. Our project car was quick, responsive and ate up the miles. Fuel economy, at a fairly hard-driving average of 9,3 l/100 km, was good for what you get. Handling and steering was spot-on and the eight-speed automatic gearbox reacted quickly and smoothly. Part-throttle downshifts, for overtaking, were almost instinctive. A choice of drive modes matched every mood and the sports seats with under-thigh extenders were decently supportive without being overwhelming.
Its 440-litre boot expands in 40:20:40 increments and can accommodate skis, for those who do. Rear seat passengers, provided they aren’t taller than about 1,75 metres, not only have plenty of room but their own air conditioner vents as well. And with all that safety kit, in addition to what is provided ex-factory, we were cocooned as well. Is our project machine a true GT? We think so.
Test car from BMW SA press fleet
The numbers
Price: R500 500 basic, R731 625-40 as tested
Engine: 1997 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder turbopetrol
Power: 180 kW between 5000 and 6500 rpm
Torque: 350 Nm between 1250 and 4800 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6,1 seconds
Maximum speed: 250 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 9,3 l/100 km
Tank: 63 litres
Maintenance plan: 5 years/100 000 km
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) 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.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8