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.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
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Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday November 9, 2011
Nissan’s Tiida is not the sexiest car to look at, nor does it run like a cheetah chasing down a bush rabbit. Its boot looks a bit too big for its body, its face is rather plain and it takes 10,3 seconds to do the zero to 100-km/h sprint. “Fleet car” is the phrase that springs to mind and that’s where many of them do their time.
Trim and furnishings are utilitarian, with front chairs that look rather plain and could use some padding where the small of one’s back needs it most. Being the top-of-the-range model, seats are clothed in leather. Other plusses of buying this one are a six-ratio gearbox rather than the standard five-speeder, front fog lamps, alloy wheels and wooden trim for the dash, front door pulls and gear knob.
Where it shines, is packing in passengers while providing loads of space for their luggage, then moving them quickly and quietly to their destinations. The 467-litre boot is deep and square, making it possible to stand a few average suitcases on their bases rather than having to lay them flat. The loading sill is at upper thigh height. Rear seatbacks split 60:40 and fold easily onto their cushions, albeit with a step. The spare wheel is a steel space saver.
Tall back seat passengers would probably give the Tiida ‘tens’ for foot room and knee space, and a ‘9’ for headroom. A lap belt is provided for a middle passenger, although there are only two head restraints to go with the three-point belts provided for the outer seats. Storage is courtesy of a small open tray, one seatback pocket and a pair of door bins.
Those in front fare better with a pair of reading lamps, a holder for sunglasses, a cell phone tray incorporated into the rather awkwardly placed centre armrest, door bins, two lidded boxes, a coin slot in front of the driver’s right knee and a medium sized cubby with a separate slot for the car’s books. Filtered, automatic single channel air conditioning is controlled via an upmarket panel with push-button switches. A pair of unlit makeup mirrors is provided and the non-adjustable steering wheel is free of auxiliary control buttons. Safety kit includes four airbags, ABS brakes with EBD and BAS, and front seat belt pretensioners.
It may not run with the big doggies, but where the 1800 Tiida comes into its own is in top gear tractability. There is power in reserve for gentle acceleration from 120 km/h when you need it and maintaining 100 – 120 km/h up Key Ridge is easy. Families with lanky teenagers, in need of a good, solid car that gets the job done without fanfare would do well to consider one of these. It’s far too good for unappreciative fleet people to keep for themselves.
The numbers
Price: R231 500
Engine: 1798 cc, DOHC, 16-valve VVT, four-cylinder
Power: 95 kW at 5200 rpm
Torque: 175 Nm at 4800 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 10,3 seconds
Maximum speed: 197 km/h
Fuel Index: 9,1 l/100 km
Tank: 52 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km with roadside assistance
Service plan: 3 years/90 000 km at 15 000 km intervals
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!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8