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 road tests, just select from the menu on the left.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Big, luxurious cars and flashy SUVs are all very well, but sometimes it's good to get back to basics. All most of us need, most of the time, is a handy little city car that can buzz through the traffic, turn on a tickey and park in the tiniest gaps. If it can carry three buddies or a trio of offspring while lugging a fair load, that's excellent. Not being overly familiar with the local refuelling point is a bonus.
Nissan's baby Micra has been doing just that for 30 years, carefully evolving through three lifetimes to become the fourth, or K13, generation we have today. It looks very much like the old one; in fact it looks rather like a couple of opposition products with its rounded face and big, panda-cute 'eyes', but it is built on a completely new platform and extensively re-engineered.
Size-wise, the new car sits 10mm lower, is 5mm wider and 61mm longer on a wheelbase that grew by 20mm. We don't think many of you will notice these differences. What you might pick up is its more rounded waistline and a character line above the sills (sounds like most of us). The grille has changed and at the rear, its deep tailgate is flanked by one-piece taillight assemblies, while the bumper features a cut-away for the number plate. Possibly the most noticeable new feature is a small roof spoiler, with built in stop lamp, that helps to reduce drag.
Following the world trend towards 'lighter, stronger and stiffer,' the new Micra lost 35 kg of body mass while becoming a much nicer car. Among the weight-saving measures are lighter seats, fewer dashboard components, a lighter roof panel, less mass on the fuel tank, losing the middle silencer and making the front suspension lighter. Speaking of suspension, the components are now mounted on sub-frames to reduce noise and vibrations.
Three engines; a three-cylinder 1200, a 1500cc four and the Alliance's 1500cc K9K small diesel are available. We drove the diesel version that's fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox and trimmed to midrange Acenta specification. This level is functional rather than fancy with steel wheels, a basic air conditioner, cloth seats, fog lights at the back only, just two powered windows and normal wipers and headlamps, but with powered outside mirrors and a decent four-speaker radio and CD player. More money was spent on safety items like four airbags, ABS with EBD and BAS, autolocking, kid-proof rear door locks and ISOFix anchorages.
The little diesel gets you moving briskly through traffic and pulls strongly in top (fifth) gear, showing 3000 rpm at 120. On this subject, we felt that the Micra is happiest cruising at around 110 to 115 km/h. At a constant 120, it felt a little buzzy, almost light and generally not completely happy.
The city is where it belongs however. It's so nice to be able to see outward properly, through big side windows and a rear screen that does its job rather than pretending to be sporty. It's also a pleasure to be able to see the lines marking out your intended parking space and slot straight in, without having to gulp and guess, then open the door to check that you got it straight. This is what city cars are all about.
The numbers
Price: R148 500
Engine: 1498 cc, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 47 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 160 Nm at 2000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 15,3 seconds
Maximum speed: 150 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 4,9 l/100 km
Tank: 41 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km, with roadside assistance
Service plan: Optional
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) 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 I do actually exist.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
Comments?
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This site is operated by Scarlet Pumpkin Communications in Pietermaritzburg.
Unless otherwise stated, all photographs are courtesy of www.quickpic.co.za
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8