Aesthetic allure meets high performance: New BMW M6

Land Rover Limited Editions

The third-generation Range Rover has been on sale for ten years now, and Land Rover is celebrating with a trio of special editions. They should also help extend the RR’s life before the impending mk4 version appears.

The Range Rover Westminster Edition replaces the Vogue and Vogue SE models. At R 900 000 +, it costs little more than the former, but gets an abundance of extra equipment. Highlights are heating and cooling for the front seats and a whopping 19-speaker, 1200W Harman/Kardon stereo. The clever dual view setup - which allows the driver to see sat-nav and car controls while the passenger watches TV or DVDs on the same screen - is also standard.

Exterior telltales include a new finish for the front grille and side vents, a set of 20in, ten-spoke alloy wheels and the obligatory Westminster badging. The only engine option is Land Rover’s 4.4-litre TDV8 diesel (linked to an eight-speed automatic gearbox), capable of launching the Range Rover to 100km/h in 7.5sec.

The TDV8 Autobiography and Supercharged Autobiography are the other two specials. Both get the ‘Range Rover Design Pack’ as standard, which includes new front and rear bumpers, silver treatments for the grille and vents and 20in ‘Shadow Chrome’ alloys.

The King Of Super Cars

New.. Bughatti supersport ..  the ultimate super car with the ultimate price .. expect to part with ZAR 19 million.

2 words you wont see often.. < MINI ROADSTER >

Yet another slightly different Mini variant – or, if you’re of a more cynical disposition, the bottom of a well-scraped barrel. The Mini Roadster is a soft-top version of the two-seat Coupe, sharing its sister’s lower windscreen line but with what we’re promised is a greater emphasis on driving dynamics than the existing, four-seat Mini Cabriolet.

The Roadster will be sold with the same selection of petrol and diesel engines as the Coupe. But, despite losing two seats and a fair percentage of its windscreen, the Roadster will be around R7000 more expensive than the equivalent cabrio. Go figure....

Volvo - A look back ..

VOLVO FACT ( for all you Swedish car lovers ) In February 1982 - 30 years ago - the new Volvo 760 GLE was launched. No typical Volvo, yet unmistakably a Volvo. Seen as elegant and exciting with its characteristic design it was well received. The 760 became the car that actually saved Volvo Car Corporation back then and paved the way to the modern company of today.


I have included print adverts from GLE times as well as a glimpse of the interior and what the standard car looked like.. all I can say .. is thankfully, VOLVO found style, aesthetic lines & performance - The evolution from brick to space mobile and along with it, the transformation from deep frown to cheeky smile.

Suzukis latest concept, the lightweight and slippery G70 is destined for the Geneva motor show . The company has focussed its efforts on making this as light as possible, just 730kg, with what Suzuki describe as 'elaborated dynamics'. The Japanese company has also worked hard on reducing the aerodynamic drag, and claims the G70 is is at least 10 per cent more aerodynamic than the previous model.

This is not a production-ready concept, but it does demonstrate a new vision for the Suzuki's new direction for its next generation compact car. As a result of the low weight and efficient engines.

Also on show will be the new Swift range-extender, Suzuki's latest development in hybrid technology. First shown at the Geneva show in 2010, Suzuki has worked hard on developing the system, now more than 100 per cent more efficient than in 2010 - We look forward to seeing these concepts come to fruition.

At the Detroit show in January much of the talk on the Volkswagen stand qas that the production version of the pretty Bluesport concept was close to death after not gaining enough support from US dealers.

The following week Porsche boss Matthias Mueller told a German mag that it would require a ‘new generation’ of customers before the company would consider production a sub-Boxster roadster. As the original plan had been for Porsche, Audi and potentially even Seat to use the Bluesport’s core architecture to produce their own models, this led many to pretty much write the Bluesport’s obituary.

But when Automoblog caught up with Volkswagen’s engineering boss, Uli Hackenberg recently, we got a very different story – and exclusive confirmation that the Bluesport project is still very much alive.. Take a look at these pics and tel me theres no market for a sub - Boxster roadster..

Unveilings by Porsche

Porsche has pulled the wraps off its all-new Boxster. Now in its third generation, the model has enjoyed its most significant design development too, with shorter front and rear overhangs, bigger wheels and more sculpted side styling injecting some drama into the looks. It’s still recognisably Porsche’s baby roadster, just a leaner, fitter version.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of the headlines fall to increased efficiency and better performance. It’s considerably lighter, for starters (though Porsche is yet to announce how much has been shaved from the current, 1.3-ton car), and there’s a pair of new flat-six engines, both equipped with direct injection and stop/start technology.

The entry-level Boxster gets a 2.7-litre unit, smaller than the 2.9 it replaces but boasting a quicker 5.7sec 0-100km sprint.

Chev Sonic - Compact Car of The Year

Meet the Automoblog compact car of the year winner and Chevrolet’s new hit, not to mention the first ever test of a robot in disguise (anyone who has sat through either of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies will understand. Anyone who hasn’t probably thinks I’m due for my pills about now).

The even better news is that Chevrolet has pitched the price at around R 156 000 which brings the words ‘bang’ and ‘buck’ to mind (and not with reference to a road traffic accident with a deer).

We managed to steal the Sonic for a few weeks, during which we put this sexy little 1.4 compact through its mechanical paces on a long haul Cape Town to Beaufort West stint. The Sonic certainly stands out as it negotiates the meandering roads and the uninviting barren and desolate stretch known better as the N1. Mostly it looks very much like a bigger Chevy spark, just more  aggressively angular. Even when looking at it from dead head-on or sit behind one in a traffic jam and it somehow looks very niche, almost in a class of its own

I was slightly fearful that when I opened the door of the Sonic. Scared that I might be faced with a parts-bin interior with lots of hard black plastic and an overriding feeling that the designer went home after he sketched the steering wheel. Not so. The digital dial set into rectangular binnacles are a refreshing and clean addition, but the plastics on the radio and climate controls are a pleasant silver and there’s no sense that they’ve been lifted straight from the dash of a pick-up. In fact the auxiliary controls for the radio are perfectly set for easy access, not lost in the broad spokes of the steering wheel.

The first few kilometres are certainly promising as we slowly negotiate the roads leaving home.. The pedals are well-spaced, and each has a pleasingly instant response – the throttle particularly so. The gearbox is typically smooth and precise, also there’s a slickness to the action and the way it engages each gear that’s satisfying. The steering is also direct enough to thread the small bonnet reassuringly and accurately in whichever direction you need it to go.

Power is certainly there, but the 1.4 needs to be wound up with more revs than you might imagine to extract it, and because the gearing is incredibly long you find you’re grappling with the box more than you’d expect.

But the Sonic isn’t at all about hammering along. There’s a good deal of wallow as you pick up the pace, relatively small bumps creating big, vague, vertical movements in corners. There is a sense of the car shrinking around you, the front-end accuracy never disappears after you turn in, and you’re never left hanging on to a little car travelling quite quickly in a worryingly approximate direction.

Financially, in terms of value for money the Chevrolet Sonic is a serious contender. The Sonic is stylish, sexy and surprisingly quick off the mark. Even more surprising is the interior. Trimmed with an aesthetic appeal. The absolute kicker for me though, is without a doubt the fuel consumption or lack therof. The Sonic literally gave me the impression that it ran on an oil rag.

Of course with all these impressive characteristics, you’d expect the illusion to be gone when you look at the exterior. It isn’t. No. I’m sorry but this Chevrolet Sonic is a great car with a lot of heart and offers a fuel economy to performance ratio I have yet to experience.  Automoblog is proud to name the Chevrolet Sonic Compact Car of The Year 2012.

Chevrolet Captiva V6 -

America has always baffled me and It’s the little things that baffle me most of all. The way the middle classe don’t wear socks, the way they address one another in such loud voices across the hotel swimming pool, the inability they all have to locate themselves, or anyone else, on a map of the world, the love affair with country music, the mullets, the television ad breaks, the way they don’t offer you a cup of coffee or a drink when you go to their houses. I always feel like a civilized human amongst a sea of uncouth individuals.

The strangest thing about America, though, and possibly one of the very the best is that half the cars sold there every year are not cars at all. They’re SUVs.

Now, a pick-up truck, is made by nailing a couple of slabs of pig iron onto a chassis that would be recognizable to the makers of any 19th-century covered wagon. Then you simply add leather seats to make it feel like a premium product, but an SUV is a lot more complex. The theory is a blend of urban city clicker and off road explorer with all the creature comforts one could ask for . So Bluetooth, power electric seats, climate control, sat nav & sun roof. The list continues.

When you have a pick-up, you are not an IT engineer from Vodacom. You are a frontiersman who likes his beer cold, his springbok raw and his music hill billy. An SUV on the other hand is a different story and the new Chevrolet Captiva is in a class of it’s own.
Without further ado, I arranged with Chevrolet to borrow one of its new Captiva models. It arrived sporting 19 inch alloys, skirting trim, chrome roll over bars and leather interior. And it lasted three days before I had to top it up, so fuel economy – not so much. Something to note: This is a V6 and if treated as such the R440 000 range topper is easier to digest.
Where do we start? The ride is more comfortable than the Nissan Quashqai 2 . The performance is spectacular and the space in the back is far from a joke. And it’s all very well pointing at the undeniably large boot. That’s the beauty of the Chev Captiva, it doesn’t look out of place in any situation, whether you are wearing jeans and a T Shirt or a suit and tie – it’s got charisma, stance and energy. And no matter what kind of music you enjoy – hippie hop, Gregorian chants or the karaoke version of umshini wam – the performance sound system will play it flawlessly.
There’s one problem. In it’s last budget, South Africa decided that too many people were using tax-deductible vans and pick-ups as family cars at the weekend. And as a result, those that do will be clobbered.
As a tax-avoidance scheme, then, the SUV days are OVER, which means it must be judged as a vehicle. And I have to say it’s one of the best I’ve ever driven.