September 24, 2020
THE WITNESS
9
WHEELS
www.witness.co.za
Bargain hunter’s prize S-Presso runs on fumes, goes any place and makes its driver look cute ALWYN VILJOEN I LIKE to think of myself as a bargain hunter, but my family just call me a scrooge. “Whatever”, I reply, for both descriptions qualify me to recognise good value for money when I see it and good value was what I saw when I looked at the specifications of the Suzuki S-Presso. Now, on paper anything can be made to look good, and I keenly awaited my turn in the S-Presso GL+ that Suzuki South Africa’s lent to the media test fleet to see what this upright little crossover from India is like on tar. And on gravel roads. And up grassy slopes. For I took little car to Mbotyi on the Wild Coast to pit it against some of the worst roads and steepest hills SA has to offer. The executive summary: It runs on fumes, it is very stable on corrugated dirt roads and in cross winds, and people say the S-Presso is very cute, even sexy. Consumption My worst fuel consumption in the new Suzuki S-presso was 18,6 km per litre, with four people and their gear for a week of fishing at on the Wild Coast. My average fuel consumption in the S-Presso was 21 km per litre. At one point on the highway, I got this up to 24 km/litre, giving me well over 600 km from the tiny 27-litre petrol tank. To put this in perspective, the old Suzuki 250 cc motorbike I rode in the 1990s was heavier on fuel! High seats Grandma was much gratified by the high seats in the S-Presso, which make getting in very easy for old hips, while giving a high-seated driving position. The back bench also has more than enough knee room, but with a body length of only 3,565 metres, this does mean the 239-litre boot requires some clever packing to fit a week’s fishing supplies and groceries in there. The back bench has seatbelts for three people, but they need to be skinny people if they want to sit comfortably. It follows the 4x4 bakkies
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The 4x4 blokes were at first dismissive about the tiny car’s chances on the deeply rutted, “often as not slick as snot” tracks that are the norm on the Wild Coast. But after twice driving up the lookout hill to see where the bites might be, our wide-eyed gilly professed to be impressed by the little car’s big power. It is not really big power. The 998 cc engine makes only 50 kW and 90 Nm. But Suzuki’s engineers managed to first add a lot of lightness to the S-Presso. It has a kerb weight of only 750 kg, which gives it that all important good power to weight ratio that so many truck owners on Fields Hill have no clue about. Then the clever engine management has the torque kick in from a low 3 500 rpm. This allows you to engage third gear for most city traffic speeds and save a lot of fuel in fifth gear on open roads. Before taking on the corrugated dirt roads, I checked and was gratified to see the full size 165/70 R14 spare wheel in the rear with the jack handily placed under the driver’s seat. Clearly Suzuki knows a thing or two about driving on South Africa’s roads, where drivers dare not set out on a long journey without a spare tyre. Which brings me to the only gripe I have with the S-Presso after a week of long drives over rutted dirt road and often no roads — the fuel gauge in the tiny tank works like that in cars from the 1980s. It sits on half full forever then suddenly plummets to empty. For the rest, I rate any of the S-Spresso models a bargain, especially at the prices Suzuki is asking for the automatic models. These prices include a three-year or 100 000km warranty; a two-year or 30 000km service plan; a modern cabin with an aircon made for India’s humidity, so you can expect frost bite if you leave it on too long in S’afrika, and an audio system that links in three key presses to a smartphone’s Bluetooth. S-Presso prices GL R139 900 GL+ R144 900 GL+ auto R158 900 GL+ S-Edition R152 900 GL+ auto S-Edition R166 900 • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
Life’s a beach at Key PMB Seen here are Key Pietermaritzburg sales exective Alec Harris and dealer principal Mike Jones ‘at the beach’. Tim Hendon, marketing manager at Isuzu SA, told Wheels all Isuzu dealers in SA have been challenged to create a showroom display using all manner of ‘summer props.’ ‘It’s all part of the awesome spirit that exists among the Number 1 rated sales force in the industry,’ Hendon said. Hall said they accepted the challenge with the aim to create the best summer scene, which is why he called in Dave Moore of Classic Plants Nursery in KZN’s capital to build a mini beach on the dealer floor, complete with fishing gear, tanning lotion and the dealer’s mascot, a large soft toy ‘wild dog’. Harris said apart from having a beach in at the dealer, Isuzu yesterday also launched a six-month payment holiday for clients. ‘Come meet with us to buy a new Isuzu bakkie and pay only from April 2021,’ he said. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN
Lategan on the pace at Bothaville
Isuzu starts work on 7th generation D-Max bakkie PORT ELIZABETH — Isuzu Motors South Africa (IMSA) has been busy this year with many changes to some of its most popular models. Speaking at a virtual media briefing this week, Dominic Rimmer, senior vice president Technical Operations said, “despite challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the national lockdown the engineering and product development team at Isuzu has been hard at work making changes to the current line-up of vehicles with some key updates for 2020 as well as doing engineering and durability testing on the upcoming next generation D-MAX bakkie”. “Isuzu has a very long and rich heritage in our market. We have been engineering and manufacturing reliable
and durable vehicles for the last 48 years. In that time, we have learnt valuable lessons about what it takes to engineer a vehicle which can cope with the tough driving conditions in South Africa. Our customers are also very particular about what they want. Our aim is to engineer vehicles which are capable of meeting and exceeding those customer expectations.” A key part of this is the intensive engineering and testing which is undertaken here in South Africa on all D-MAX bakkies before they are introduced. This work continues well into the products lifecycle as part of the company’s continuous improvement philosophy. Isuzu has also announced that work is underway on the engineering and
testing of the next generation D-MAX bakkie, which will be manufactured at Isuzu’s assembly plant in Port Elizabeth. This will be the seventh generation of the company’s popular bakkie, and as we’ve come to expect, the local version will have some uniquely South African features and characteristics. “This next generation D-MAX is a significant step forward for Isuzu in all respects. It offers state of the art technology to enhance the driving experience, efficiency and safety. “As you know we have very high expectations for the D-MAX here in South Africa so a significant amount of work has to be done to ensure that we deliver a vehicle which is capable of coping with our challenging environment and customer demands,” said
Rimmer. Some of the projects being undertaken include testing on the load box which in the current bakkie is has significantly thicker steel in strategic areas such as the load box inner panels, load box front panel, and tailgate. Other areas receiving attention from local engineers include, dust sealing, suspension tuning and development of local dampers, development of all terrain tyres, rear differential lock and axles, wiring harnesses, and accessories such as canopies, roll bars and nudge bars. Isuzu is proud of the D-MAX’s rich heritage of reliability and durability, the company believes the local teams experience will ensure that the next generation Isuzu D-MAX remains competitive, durable and reliable in our tough conditions. — WR.
Nissan’s 400Z prototype has petrolheads salivating NISSAN has revealed the next vehicle of its Z-series lineage, the 400Z prototype, to acclaim from petrolheads around the world. Powered by a screaming Twin-turbo 3,0 V6 with a slick six-speed manual gearbox, the 400Z looks to have all the muscle and modern handling to compete with the Toyota Supra and BMW M2 and local fans hope it will arrive in South Africa in 2022. Speaking at the Club23 Garage to owners of Z and GT-R models, Nissan’s PRO Veralda Schmidt said it is too early to tell when the 400Z will be available in South Africa, but “when the information is shared, it will be communicated at the appropriate time”. The Club23 Garage is a home for Z and GT-R owners, started by Janus Janse van Rensburg and Jacques van Onsellen. It boasts retro-fitted workstations and racing gear to attract even the newest of drivers who appreciate high performance and technical ad-
vice. “We love to share the spirit of Z, in particular, we look forward to seeing
the 400Z take the roads of South Africa for enjoyable and relaxing cruises on open roads,” said Van Rensburg, the
outgoing product manager for sportscars at Nissan. — WR.
BOTHAVILLE – The Total Agri 400, Round 3 of the 2020 South African Cross-Country Series saw Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s Henk Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings (pictured) take their third consecutive victory in this year’s championship. The pair won the qualifying race leading up to the event, and set off in pole position as a result. But it wasn’t an easy victory in the end. The pair set the pace early on, but came across two closed gates in the middle of the first loop of the main event. They lost some time opening them, and gave up more time searching for the route in the long grass. The organisers refunded their time for the gates, but a titanic battle for the overall victory played out during the race. Lategan/Cummings’ main challenge came from Brian Baragwanath and Taye Perry, in their Century CR6 buggy. The two-wheel-drive buggy is known for its pace over open terrain, and pushed the Class FIA Toyota crew hard throughout the race. Baragwanath/Perry started the race down in the order after incurring a time penalty for deviating from the route during the qualifying loop, but the Dakar quad rider made up significant time during the first loop, putting himself in a position to challenge for the overall victory during the second race loop. The Ford Castrol Cross Country Team’s Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer finished in fourth place overall and in the FIA class, with team-mates Lance Woolridge and Elvéne Vonk (#334) crossing the line sixth. Team mamager Neil Woolrdige said it is fantastic that his team’s Class T car are doing well as against the FIA Toyota’s cars. “Not only is the car better, but both of our crews have clearly upped their game and changed their style quite a bit, so it was a great weekend for us,” Woolridge said. In the highly competitive Class T, NWM-supported privateers dominated the field in their Ford Ranger V8 entries, with Malcolm and Frans Kock taking the class win, and finishing an impressive 9th overall in the final standings. Wors Prinsloo and Andre Vermeulen ended second in Class T, rounding out an impressive four NWM Ford Rangers in the top 10. The next and final race of the season takes place in Parys in the Free State, on October 23 and 24. — Wheels Reporter.
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The cute little Suzuki S-Presso rides 180 mm high, which enables it to follow even cattle tracks as long as there is grip, like it did on look-out hill at Mbotyi on the Wild Coast. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN
Due dilligence needed if buying used STAFF who answered the numbers listed for Izy Motors in Durban said they hope police will soon arrest the fraudster who has been abusing the name of used car dealer Izy Motors to steal money from unsuspecting buyers. This after KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala warned in a statement that people claiming to be from Izy Motors advertised cars on Facebook but failed to deliver after the buyer made a deposit on e-Wallet to secure the vehicle. The purported “Izy Motors” seller then avoids all further contact with the buyer. Captain Gwala said several such cases have been reported at various police stations in the KwaZulu-Natal. Captain Gwala warned buyers to verify the authenticity of the dealership before agreeing to purchase a vehicle. In Izy Motors’ case, verification is made difficult as the Durban address provided by Izy Motors belongs to surgery, the landline number no longer exists
and the profile photo displayed on their Facebook page shows a name and number that was obviously pasted on an anonymous dealer’s pillar. This led to Bongani Tshabalala, who installs Jojo tanks and security gates, to post “This is not the real picture profile”. From over 74 000 followers on the Izy Motors’ Facebook page, Tshabalala’s post was the only one to comment on the veracity of the site’s information. Gary McCraw, national director of the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (Nada), told Witness Wheels there are unfortunately unscrupulous operators who go to great lengths to take advantage of unsuspecting people. “Setting up a bogus Facebook profile is a relatively simple scam that we urge prospective car buyers to be wary of. We urge consumers to be absolutely sure that they are dealing with a legitimate organisation, regardless of the transaction type,” continues McCraw. Nada’s advice to consumers is
to carry out the necessary due diligence, prior to transacting with the dealer. Some elements to include in this are: • Consumers should never rely on e-mails containing bank account details (even from trusted dealers) as these can be intercepted by bad actors. • If you cannot meet at a dealership face-to-face and obtain the account details whilst there, then at least Google the business to see what other people said about the company. Also use Googleearth to see if the address corresponds to the dealership. McCraw said buyers are also welcome to check with dealer associations such as Nada and IDA to confirm a dealer’s address and contact details. “None of the suggested measures, in isolation, are guaranteed to remove all risk. “However, a combination of the above may just save a consumer the loss of their hard-earned money,” said McCraw. — WR.
Kia Motors lifts service bar even higher Kia Pietermaritzburg won gold for Service Operations Dealer of the Year and bronze for CSI Dealer of the Year among the group’s Category B dealerships in South Africa. Terrence Moodley, Workshop Manager at Kia Pietermaritzburg, told Dealerfloor customers will report even better service in the coming months, as the workshop has opened a new lounge area for clients. Seen here with their 2020 awards are some of the award-winning service team members (from left) Protus Ngcobo, Tamlyn Samuel, Cheyenne Rajah, Nokuphiwa Bawana and Terrence Moodley. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN
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