October 24, 2019
THE WITNESS
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19
WHEELS
www.witness.co.za
Classic cars AFRICA’S ONLY DAIMLER DROPHEAD
Left: The Kwid is currently SA’s lowest priced new car. Centre: Paul Parsons added a small Chinese petrol engine to help power his old bicycle up Maritzburg’s steep hills. Right: A bus is not only the cheapest way to travel between provinces, but also the one that emits the least greenhouse gases per passenger. PHOTOS: QUICKPIC, ALWYN VILJOEN
Travel cheap cheap ALWYN VILJOEN explores five ways to get to point B without spending lots of money AS transport hack, the two questions I get asked most often are: “Which is the best car?” and “What is the cheapest way to travel?”. The answer to the first is easy — the best car is the one you can afford, which in SA is the Kwid. CHEAP Derided by motoring journalists for being a tin can on wafer thin tyres without advanced safety features, the Kwid 1.0 Expression is nevertheless a much safer bet than commuting in a Siyaya and at R140 900, the monthly payments and insurance come to what many young families spend on taxi fees. Young and old drivers have taken note, and Renault dealers are now selling over 1 000 Kwids a month. After the Kwid comes the Suzuki Ce-
lerio 1.0 GA (R141 400) followed by Mahindra’s KUV 100 1.2 K2+ (R143 k). Both are excellent hatches that were engineered tough to overcome the horror that is India’s roads and weather, and built affordable enough to sell in that frugal market. CHEAPER In flat but traffic-jammed Cape Town, cycling has long been the fastest way to get into the city bowl, even in that city’s dismal weather. In steep KZN, commuters who want to bicycle need help, which is why Paul Parsons added a tiny Chinese petrol engine to help power his old delivery bicycle up Maritzburg’s steep hills. These two-stroke engines bolt on and sell from R2 300, with assembled
bikes available for under R6k. The drawbacks of two-strokes are their vibration, exhaust gases and noise, which is where electric motors come in. Increasingly popular among mountain bikers, these quiet hub motors sell from R3k for a 1kW motor. Note, officially, one needs a vehicle licence for mopeds and ebikes. The National Road Traffic Act defines a “motor vehicle” as any self-propelled vehicle including a trailer and “a vehicle having pedals and an engine or an electric motor”. However, the act excludes from licensing motorised vehicles controlled by a pedestrian, or weighing less than 230 kilograms and “specially designed and constructed, and not merely adapted, for the use of any person suffering
from some physical defect or disability and used solely by such person”. To date metro traffic officers have included motorised bicycles in this exclusion, perhaps thinking anyone who willingly pedals to work over steep hills must have at least a mental defect. CHEAPEST Why is a bus like a chicken? Because it goes “cheap cheap” — like R150 cheap for a one-way, overnight ticket between Maritzburg’s CBD and Park Station in Johannesburg. To put this price in perspective, just the toll tariffs on this route are R242. A bus also emits a lot less toxic gases per person than a motorbike or even an electric car that has been charged by Eskom’s coal-powered plants.
... AND CHEATS Today’s digital savants don’t just do cheap, they cheat the system with digital hacks that put using stuff before owning stuff. Ride hailers like Uber and Taxify are a good examples of such hacks, but can quickly get expensive. Enter ride sharing that link private drivers with passengers looking to pay for a lift. • Visit jrney.co for more on this. Another digital hack links licensed drivers with vehicle rental companies that need to get their vehicles back from especially airports. International operator Transfer Car recently opened shop in SA and is now looking for drivers who can move these cars. • Find more on transfercar.co.za. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
Tata and Volvo spark evee plans
Durban second in car crime DURBAN remains second in both hijacking and theft reports in the latest quarterly Tracker Vehicle Crime Index. The index is based on Tracker’s 1,1 million units installed for the period July to September 2019, and provides insights into where, when and at what times vehicle crime is most likely to occur in South Africa. The index shows vehicle theft and hijacking trends in South Africa were unchanged compared to the preceding quarter. Johannesburg, Durban, Khayelitsha, Rustenburg, Tweefontein, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Polokwane and Postmasburg were the towns most affected by hijacking. Theft was mostly reported in Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, Rustenburg, eMalahleni, Mthatha, Sasolburg, Polokwane and Kuruman. Tracker data indicates most activations for theft equally on Friday and Saturday. Activations for hijackings took place on Saturday followed by Thursday. Most hijacking activations took place between 10 am and 2 pm as well as 8 pm and midnight on any day of the week, while theft activations occur mainly between 5 am and 8 am. Tracker said in a statement hostage taking during hijackings remains a concern, with on average 29% of Tracker’s activations result in a hostage being taken, with one percent suffering a physical injury or fatality. Criminals impersonating law enforcement officials in order to commit hijackings also remains a concern. Tracker’s Ron Knott-Craig warned drivers to be particularly vigilant during November, which has in the past seen a peak in vehicle-related crimes. — WR.
Electric vehicles are best for last mile deliveries like Clean Motion’s Zbee 80 km cargo scooter (top) or electric-assist cargo bikes from Anywhere Africa, with (from left) Nicho Ntema, Neo Rabotapi and Oliver Higson. PHOTOS: ALWYN VILJOEN and “off-road durability”. More details have not yet been released, but pundits predict Tata, holding company of Jaguar, will be using the learnings from the I-Pace. Tata did say the Nexon meets the IP67 standard for water- and dustproofing, meaning the electric drivetrain can be submerged for half an hour in water up to a metre deep. The Nexon sounds like just the evee for rural KZN.
The Nexon is expected to sell for about R365 000 in India, at which price it will face strong competition from Hyundai’s electric Kona and Mahindra’s e-Verito. Meanwhile, Volvo announced its parent company Geely will do future tweaks to the internal combustion engines (ICE) while Volvo’s in-house propulsion engineers concentrate exclusively on electric powertrains.
Tying in with a short “bio-fuels the future” speech I made at the recent Smarter Mobility Africa, Volvo said ICE engines will be used for many years yet, but fuelled by fuels from several renewable sources. Volvo expects half its global sales to be EVs and the other half hybrids by 2025. Volvo Cars last week announced a ground-breaking global incentive scheme, branded the Recharge campaign, whereby the buyers
of all new hybrid plug-ins will receive a full refund for all electricity used in the first year of ownership. The Recharge campaign is also being rolled out in South Africa. MD of Volvo Car South Africa Greg Maruszewski said in South Africa, this offer applies to the Volvo XC90 T8, with official measurement of T8 owners’ electricity to start in May. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
Systems in new UD Quon focus on keeping driver safe ALWYN VILJOEN UD has released eight new models of the Quon 6x4 extra heavy truck, with four rigid models and four truck-tractors, all with a new Escot-VI electronically controlled automatic transmission with an easy-to-use straight shift pattern and powered by an Euro 5, 11-litre engine. Passive and active safety features include a Traffic Eye Brake system, which uses high-precision radar and a cabin-mounted camera for dualmonitoring of the road ahead to mitigate collision braking. A Lane Departure Warning System also alerts the driver when they are straying across lanes and an additional Driver Alert Support makes an alarm when the system detects any symptoms of inattentive driving or drowsy driving. Adaptive Cruise Control keeps a
pre-selected distance to the vehicle in front while UD’s stability control detects conditions in which the truck could become unstable, such as
PRESELECT GEARS Never fixing what ain’t broke, Daimler used its four-speed preselector gearbox with fluid flywheel in the Conquest Mk II. This clunky system was popular in the 1930s for then offering some of the benefits of an auto box in a simpler manual box, The driver pre-selects the gear and then stomps on what looks like a beautifully decorated clutch pedal (pictured above) but which is actually a foot control to engage the gear, and keep selecting the next gear and stomping the pedal to engage it as required. ‘SIDE SADDLE’ THIRD SEAT A second unique feature of the Drophead Coupe is the side-facing third seat tucked in behind the driver. Previous models of the coupé had four seats and why Daimler’s engineers went with ‘side saddle’ third seat (pictured right) is not clear. Smith told Wheels what he misses most about Maritzburg is the network of fellow vintage car enthusiasts who could help source parts and answer such questions, or just provide a shoulder to cry on at “the Klink”, where the members of Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC) gather most Friday nights. PHOTOS: ALWYN VILJOEN
ALWYN VILJOEN WITH pressure mounting on the world’s car builders to stop making vehicles that spew out smoke from fossil fuel, Tata and Volvo became the latest big name brands to launch models that run on electricity. In India, Tata recently launched the Nexon, which the company said will use Tata’s latest 96 kW electric motor powered by a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery. Liquid cooling is the latest must have for hot battery packs after a slew of complaints about the Nissan Leaf battery packs — which do not have liquid cooling — overheating on the hot days. Tata said in a statement the Nexon will have a range of approximately 300 km, with fast charging capability
MIKE Smith, former fuel station owner in Maritzburg now residing in Strand, saw this 1957 Daimler Conquest Mk II “Century” Drophead Coupé — which had been languishing for eight years on blocks in a workshop Somerset-West — and offered to buy it on the spot. A Daimler nut, he knew it had to be rare, but was pleasantly surprised to learn the 4,5-metre barge is one of only 47 surviving from the original 54 made between 1956 and 1957 (excluding two prototypes); and the only one in Africa. He said the car received some indifferent “rust treatment” and he has spent the past few months getting the classic back to spec. “It was really tatty when I got it, but all the parts are now in and working and the restoration are now at cosmetics, like rechroming. The Conquest “Century” Mk II was fitted with a 2 433 cc six-cylinder petrol engine in Coventry. The old block was reportedly good for 160 km/h, making 74 kW (100 Bhp ) at 4 400 rpm and 176 Nm at 2 500 rpm. (For comparison VW’s 1,6 four-cylinder makes 77 kW at 5 250 rpm and 155 Nm at 3 500 rpm.) Like all veteran car restorers, he has a vague aim to recoup his five-figure investment at some point and if he can ever part with this a rare find, Sotheby’s listed one for over R1,1 million in 2015.
curves or slippery road surfaces, the system applies control appropriate to engine output and braking power to each tyre to maintain stability.
Telematics enable fleet owners to track their vehicles’ productivity and fuel efficiency through various functions like geofencing, driver reports and manual navigation. Gert Swanepoel, MD of UD Trucks Southern Africa, said the new Quon is especially suited to the distribution, petro-chemical and FMCG market segments. “The all-new Quon offers a highly productive range of vehicles optimised for our customers’ business needs,” explained Swanepoel. “Our customers’ definition of the essentials needed in a truck has changed. “Our focus therefore is to give customers reduced operating costs as related to things like fuel efficiency, payload ability and uptime. Secondly, we are concentrating on the people factor within the transport business, making our trucks even safer and environmentally friendly.”
ELB Equipment helps clean up KwaZulu-Natal towns ELB Equipment said in a statemnt it has secured the lion’s share of orders for government’s Green Good Deeds campaign which is aimed at cleaning up rubble within the municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal. The campaign is an initiative of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the province with the aim of bringing financial relief to municipalities which have been hiring equipment such as backhoe loaders (pictured), graders, rollers and trucks at great cost to
clean up their areas. In addition to clean-ups, the equipment will also be used to build, maintain and renew infrastructure such as drains, pipelines, outfalls and clearing operations. ELB Equipment divisional director Desmond van Heerden says the company was able to supply the majority of yellow equipment (27 machines) for the R104 million contract, with trucks, water tankers, honey-suckers and a fire engine secured by vehicle suppliers. — WR.
OVER 500 CLASSIC VEHICLES ON AUCTION A MAMMOTH collection of 500 lots of automobilia is set to go on auction over four days from November 6 to 8. The lot includes 70 vintage and classic cars and trucks, as well as over 100 000 rare spare parts. Among them a 1946 Peugeot 202 — believed to be the only one in SA — and a 1928 Buick convertible are expected to fetch high prices, but a trio of more modern muscle cars in the shape of a 1964 Dodge Polara, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala convertible and 1971 Ford Mustang will be popular. The auction will be live-streamed on the following platforms: YouTube, the High Street Auctions website and on the High Street app; and the auctioneer will accept telephone bids, online bids and commission bids from those who cannot attend in person. The refundable registration fee to bid is R20 000 and there are no minimum bids. Wheels last month arranged a private viewing at the deceased estate on a farm near Stellenbosch and can report all the cars are in running order, but the trucks, several of which were used in movies, need a flatbed. More on www.highstreetauctions.com
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Other Engine Spares - Cylinder Heards for most makes of LDV’s - Replacement Turbos for most makes of LDV’s - Bell Housing Big/ Small - Gearboxes - Diffs
ENGINES, GEARBOXES, HEADS, TURBOS, DIFFS, LEXUS SPARES We have in-house Workshop for Engine Exchange and Fitments
WE OFFER DELIVERIES INTO DURBAN AND SURROUNDING AREAS ON ALL ENGINE AND GEARBOX PURCHASES.
Wheeled events October 25 – 27: Snow+Rock Enduro 2019 at Afriski Mountain Resort in Lesotho. The entry fee is R750 per rider for the two-day event and includes a goodie bag and exclusive Snow+Rock T-shirt. Spectators enter free. The route is suited for novice, intermediate and advanced enduro riders. More on www.racecontrol.co.za.
November 1-2: Parys 400 national cross country championship final round
Ferraris arrive for Italian Day at the VVSC club in Maritzburg.
KZN WHEELS CLUB EVENTS November 8: Social at the Vintage Sports Car Club on Oribi Rd. November 10: Ride to Giants Castle. November 16: Motorcycle Morning. More from Minnesh at 083 701 6762.
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