Drinking and driving is a criminal offence in South Africa and is a major cause of fatal accidents on our roads. With the holiday season in full swing, cases of drinking and driving are likely to increase and sadly, so will the number of deaths.
We have put together some basic drinking and driving information so that you know where to draw the line but can also avoid drinking and driving altogether, so listen up!
Drinking and Driving How much is too much?
Drinking alcohol impairs driving ability drastically and your chances of having a serious accident increases almost exponentially with every drink you consume. It goes without saying, that if youre drinking, you shouldn’t even think about driving.
The legal limit is a breath alcohol content of 0.24mg per 1,000ml, or a blood alcohol limit of 0.05g per 100ml.
In the eyes of the law, a maximum of one unit or 10ml of pure alcohol per hour is permissible. The human body, depending on your weight, takes one hour or more to process one unit of alcohol and the less you weigh the more time your body needs to recover.
– People who drink beer or spirit coolers can legally consume two-thirds of a beer or spirit cooler with 5% alcohol content per hour.
– Wine lovers can sip 75 ml of red or white wine per hour providing that the alcohol content is between 12% and 14%.
– For whisky and brandy drinkers, only 25 ml per hour is permissible.
The Reality
The reality is that if you exceed these limits and proceed to drive your car, you are guilty of drinking and driving. By doing so, you are breaking the law and you risk causing a serious accident with potentially fatal consequences to yourself and others. And thats only where your troubles begin, its just not worth it.
Using designated driver services in South Africa is the best way to avoid drinking and driving and companies like Uber make organising a lift easy using your smartphone. Be smart, be safe and dont drink and drive.
Citroen C1 Airscape (2014) Review
Citroen’s new C1 quietly slipped into our country and we got to grips with the cheapest convertible on sale in South Africa.
Yes, this is a convertible. Unlike traditional convertibles where the entire roof section disappears into the boot, the Citroen C1 Airscape relies on a sardine can-style system where the roof peels back, resulting in a giant sunroof effect. The bonus and advantages of this are numerous.
Firstly, you can close the roof while you’re driving at high speed, something ordinary convertibles simply cannot do. No more pulling over to close the roof as the rain starts coming down. Secondly, with the windows and structure of the car, you cannot have beggars in your face, something I’ve found happens when you drive a conventional convertible.
Appearance
As for the looks, have you ever seen something which just oozes French flair and charm? This is such a cute-looking little car and many onlookers passed on kind words. With integrated vertical daytime running LEDS in the bumper like its DS3 sibling, the C1 Airscape is unmistakably a Citroen. There’s a nice big shiny Citroen chevron slapped on the front for good measure. There’s also some horizontal coloured stripes on the B-pillar, which is a funky touch.
The fun continues in the interior with the same funky stripes being the dominant theme. The seat sides and headrests have this same pattern on them, and there’s huge splashes of red on the dashboard. If you’re an introvert, you’re going to find this car a little too loud, but I think its terrific especially when most cars are pretty dull and uninspiring.
Specification
Speaking of interior, this little French charmer comes with a commendable amount of standard specification. The centre console is dominated by a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system. There’s also a USB port, aux input and Bluetooth connectivity. What’s particularly cool is the mirrorscreen functionality, where you’re able to connect your smartphone to the car and use the touchscreen interface to use certain apps.
There’s also a climate control system which is just about able to cope with the African sun, a comprehensive trip computer as well as a reverse camera. Nice things like tyre pressure monitor and hill assist are also thrown in. It’s pretty safe too, with ABS with Electronic Brake Distribution and Emergency Braking Assistance, Electronic Stability Control, Hill Start Assist, and driver, front passenger, front lateral and curtain airbags.
It’s a fun and lively city car to drive. The Citroen C1 Airscape has a 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine delivering 61 kW and 116 Nm. This may not sound like much, but when you consider the C1 Airscape weighs in at around 956kg, it gives it a respectable power to weight ratio. Fuel economy is what the C1 Airscape is all about and Citroen claims a combined cycle figure of 4.3L/100km. Thanks to its fun factor and zippy attitude, we were nowhere near this figure, but 6.9L/100km is still okay.
Conclusion and Summary
This is a seriously cute car from Citroen and it’s fun to drive. It brings out the child in you with its vibrant character, the specification is generous too. It loses marks due to its price, which is quite large for such a vehicle. I’d put this cost down to a ridiculous exchange rate and import duties, which is a real pity as the world needs more cars with massive personality.
Citroen C1 Airscape Price – The range starts from R168 900, with the Airscape retailing for R194 900.
Second Opinion
The Citroen C1 Airscape is a fun car to whizz around in, it responds quickly to all imputs and doesn’t feel lethargic at higher speeds. I’m not one for convertibles so this is a better compromise if looking a bit like a magic carpet on your roof. If only it didn’t cost so much-Ashley Oldfield
We Like: Style, specification, fun to drive, cool factor
We Don’t Like: Price, air conditioner battles to chill, may be too vibrant for some
The Mitsubishi Pajero has been around for ages, and yes, this is a new model, well rather an updated model of an update. It still looks the same way it did over 10 years ago, but has anything changed under the skin to improve the tried and tested off roader? We took to the streets and a special offroad course to test it out.
Whats New
Well its mostly cosmetic changes and nothing to really shout about. Theres a set of LED daytime running lights built in now and the bumper has had a slight remodelling that improves approach and departure angles. The rear end now has a sturdier spare-wheel cover that covers the entire wheel in a more modern design. From a tech point of view new additions include a rear view camera and auto dimming headlights.
One Engine
Mitsubishi offers just one engine derivative and its a big diesel. A 3.2-litre turbodiesel with 140 kW and 440 Nm of torque. It feels like a pretty old-school diesel engine, connected to a five-speed automatic gearbox and from the outside its quite rough to listen to. Inside however, its much quieter, a testament to the build quality and soundproofing.
The engine feels strong though, in town and on the freeway its more than capable of holding its own. In the proper rough stuff the engines abundance of torque pulls it over or through even the softest beach sand and up sheer climbs. Fuel economy is a bit on the high side, we were averaging around 11L/100km over the week with the Pajero, claimed is supposedly closer to 9L/100km.
Inside
The Pajero is a big vehicle and in this long wheelbase version you get a seven-seater where the back row of seats can be removed entirely. The middle row of seats fold forwards and then tumble to give more loading room but Im more of a fan of seats that fold flat than this setup. Up front the whole instrument cluster is looking quite dated as does most of the interior.
It does what its designed to though and you get decent equipment in the form of cruise control, a USB port, electric windows all round and touch screen radio unit with a rear view camera built-in. The dot-matrix display screen above the radio interface shows the age of the Pajero but it does read out some interesting figures such as a compass, barometer and an altimeter.
Driving Dirty
The Pajero is built for off-road adventure so we took it to a 4×4 course in the Cape and set it some challenges. The course was extremely sandy and a few dunes made things exciting, there were also plenty of steep inclines to test its grappling skills. We didnt even need to use the low-range gearbox on the Pajero and just left it in high-range and played around with the individually locking centre and rear differentials.
They really help when combined with the traction control system on the Pajero as it sends power to the wheels that need it, making sure you get the grip where you need it. The Pajero cleared every obstacle we tossed its way with relative ease and comfort. The steering though is particularly slow so there is plenty of work to do spinning the wheel back and forth whilst trying to keep forward momentum and not crash into any embankments. The one thing missing that could be of use is hill-descent control, the added security it gives on steep descents is well worth it.
The Mitsubishi Pajero may have been around for ages, but as an offroad vehicle theres still not much that can compete with it. Mitsubishi still harps on about its Dakar heritage and winning streak it had at the event and the skills have translated into its road variant. Times are changing though and the Pajero has been caught and passed by the competition in terms of design, interior advancement and engine refinement. Mitsubishi SA has made up for much of this by pricing the Pajero extremely keenly, the top spec Exceed model as we have here comes in nearly R50k less than equally specced competition.
Second Opinion
My first impressions of the Mitsubishi Pajero come from the back seats as we tackled the offroad course. Despite feeling quite old-school, this is still a very comfortable and capable vehicle. There’s plenty of grunt and the 4×4 systems make light work of obstacles.-David Taylor
Pricing – The long wheelbase Mitsubishi Pajero starts at R639 900, this Exceed model costs R659 900.
We like:
. Offroad skills
. Plenty of power and torque
. Good soundproofing
We Don’t Like:
. Thirsty on fuel
. No hill descent control
. Feels dated
Jaguar and Land Rover Showcase 360 Windscreen (Video)
The British marque is currently showcasing a new windscreen projection system that is said to remove all blind spots created by the vehicles pillars.
Cameras create transparent pillars that warn of obstacles that may be otherwise concealed by the pillars. It highlights pedestrians or cyclists that may be out of view or concealed by the pillars, giving the driver that extra split second to react to a possible danger.
The camera system can also tell when the driver checks the blind spot over their shoulder and can turn the B pillar transparent in the same way the front camera system does.
The navigation system also features a new follow me ghost car navigation system. A transparent car pops up onto the windshield and the driver can follow it to the destination. The most useful system however seems to be the traffic light countdown timer, letting you know how long youre going to be stopped at the current set of lights for.
Check out the video for a quick explanation of how the new windscreen technology works.
360 Degree Windscreen Tech Video
Lexus GS F Teased as BMW M5 Rival
Lexus has teased a few images of its new F model that will be introduced early in 2015.
Lexus GS F details
We reckon it will be the GS F and compete with the German super saloons like the BMW M5, Merc E63 AMG and the Jaguar XFR-S.
While there may not be much to say about the new GS F, it does look to be quite aggressive. There are some extremely large air intakes in the front bumper and the headlights look beady eyed and mean.
Lexus claims this new F model is a track-ready tool and follows in the wake of the Lexus RC F launched this year. By the looks of those brake discs it should at least have extremely good stopping power. Likely to be carried over from the RC F are things like suspension characteristics and technical tweaks. The GS F will likely use the same 5-litre V8 as well.
We will get to see the vehicle in full at its launch at the North American International Auto Show on the 13 January 2015.
Nissan X-Trail (2014) Review
The Nissan X-Trail scored many admirers with its go anywhere, durable look and perceived off-road ability. Add a compliant ride into the mix and space for a family and their regalia and Nissan had an attractive offering in the SUV segment for those wanting something larger than a Qashqai. The new model, released in 2014, has done away with the butch styling in favour of something easier on everyones eyes. We spent some time with the new model to see if theres been some real improvement in the X-Trail.
Whats New?
In essence, not much. The X-Trail is still a capable off-road tool when equipped with four-wheel drive systems, its still spacious inside, comes in a seven-seat option and has a comfortable ride. Get down to the nitty gritty and you start to understand the raft of improvements made to the new X-Trail. The car has a touch more ground clearance, but the overall height of the X-Trail is reduced slightly. Nissan has managed to reduce the overall weight of the X-Trail by 90kg while actually building a larger vehicle than before. A 75mm longer wheelbase has improved space inside while the practicality of the interior has been taken a step further.
Engine Lineup
This is a bit of a strange one to wrap my head around as the new X-Trail gets the old X-Trails petrol engines. That means a 2-litre and 2.5-litre petrol. The turbodiesel though is the same 1.6-litre unit from the Qashqai. The 1.6-litre felt a little bit laggy up at reef altitude, but proves its worth at the pumps as it is impressively economical over a tank.
We averaged 6L/100km in the four-wheel drive variant of the diesel. Power for the diesel is 96 kW and 320 Nm of torque and its the torque that you rely on to keep the X-Trail moving quickly and at low revs. We also had the entry level 2-litre petrol with 106 kW and 200 Nm of torque, but while it did the job of ferrying one or two passengers, it starts to struggle with bigger loads. That said the manual six-speed gearbox is a light shifter and particularly easy to get in and out of gear.
Interior
Seven seats are optional on the X-Trail as youd expect from a large SUV and the rear row of seats are reasonably comfortable, but you only really want to be sending small children to those seats. The boot is quite large at 550-litres and with the seats folded down that increases to 1405-litres. Standard equipment is actually pretty low on the base model with cloth seats and a basic radio interface.
Its a no-frills setup, but at least they havent skimped on safety as the entry 2-litre still comes ABS, traction control, airbags everywhere and hill start assist. Whats a bit annoying is that you cant even spec the nice Techno pack on the entry level that would add some nice touches like a seven-inch touchscreen, all-round cameras, NissanConnect apps, lane departure warning and some heated door mirrors. Thankfully you can have the Techno pack on the more expensive models.
Ride and Drive
The Nissan X-Trail still has an extremely comfortable ride, its cushioned over bumps and soaks up dirt roads with aplomb. Its the best feature on this new X-Trail. The X-Trails steering feels communicative and does a good job over the rougher stuff of being nice and light. On the road its still nicely weighted and inspires confidence on freeways that you have total control, even in a 50kph Cape wind. The X-Trail doesnt lean terribly when cornering sharply, but its not particularly sporty and Im okay with that. Its a family vehicle thats comfortable and capable.
Verdict
The new X-Trail improves on the previous generations formula. It rides comfortably, is spacious and practical, and can cope with a bit of rough terrain thrown its direction. Nissan has also managed to keep the price down quite well so that its not too much more than a Qashqai, that does mean that the entry level models are quite bare though. Nissan say that turbocharged petrol engines may be coming in the new year and that would help with the lack of torque on the current ones as well as making them a bit more powerful. For now though, the X-Trail is a good choice of SUV for the family that wants a bit of everything.
Second Opinion
I feel the Nissan X-Trail is in a spot of bother. While it does most things okay, it doesn’t do anything really well. A jack of all trades and a master of none. Worryingly, I think its biggest threat is going to come from its Nissan Qashqai sibling, which I think is excellent. So if you’re not needing a big boot or seven seats, then it’d be a better bet to consider the smaller of the two Nissan SUVs. – David Taylor
Nissan X-Trail Price in South Africa
The range starts at an impressive R327 700 for the 2-litre petrol and rises to R473 600 for the four-wheel drive top spec 1.6-litre turbodiesel.
We like:
. Interior space and practicality
. A soft-roader that has off road talent
. Keen pricing
We Don’t Like:
. A bit scant on features
. Petrol engines
. No rear parking sensors
The Ford Kuga has been refreshed with a number upgrades including new powerful EcoBoost engines and advanced technologies.
Weve updated the Kuga range with new engines that deliver more power but also lower emissions two things you dont see very often, said Tracey Delate, Marketing Manager, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa.
Its part of our strategy to offer eco-friendly vehicles that dont compromise on driving enjoyment or excellent consumer technologies.
Improved powerful engine range
Ford has increased peak power of the 2.0-litre TDCi engine by 12kW to 132kW and peak torque to 400Nm, up from 340Nm, a significant increase of 12kW and 60Nm. Combined with Fords Intelligent All-Wheel Drive system, this engine is said to deliver the most pulling power ever for Kuga.
The Kuga also adopts the 2.0-litre EcoBoost engine, which powers the Focus ST and delivers 177kW with 340Nm of torque.
The new 1.5-litre EcoBoost petrol engine replaces the outgoing 1.6-litre petrol engine and delivers 110kW and 240Nm in the front-wheel drive manual model and 132kW and 240Nm in the all-wheel drive automatic derivative. It additionally reduces CO2 emissions to 143g/km from 154g/km an improvement of more than seven per cent over the outgoing engine.
Advanced driver assistance technologies
In addition to the Cruise Control with Adjustable Speed Limiter that is offered as standard, the updated Ford Kuga also offers Adaptive Cruise Control including Forward Alert, which warns drivers if they are travelling too close to the vehicle ahead.
Other standard technology features include the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, which warns if any of the tyres lose significant pressure during a journey. Theres also a Hands-Free Tailgate, Blind Spot Information System, Active City Stop, Auto High Beam, Lane Keeping Aid, Lane Keeping Alert and Driver Alert.
An automatic Start-Stop system and the wind-cheating Active Grille Shutter will now also be standard on all Kuga models.
Ford Kuga price in South Africa
Ford Kuga 1.5 EcoBoost Abmiente – R314 900
Ford Kuga 1.5 EcoBoost Trend FWD – R355 900
Ford Kuga 1.5 EcoBoost Trend Auto FWD – R367 900
Ford Kuga 1.5 EcoBoost Trend Auto AWD – R394 900
Ford Kuga 2.0 EcoBoost Titanium Auto AWD – R437 900
Ford Kuga 2.0 TDCi Trend PowerShift AWD – R419 900
Ford Kuga 2.0 TDCi Titanium PowerShift AWD – R454 900
2015 European Car Of The Year Finalists Announced
Seven finalists have made the shortlist for the 2015 European Car of The Year Awards, with the winner set to be announced at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show in March next year.
The winner of the 2015 European Car of The Year Awards will be chosen by a panel of judges that represent 23 European countries and is made up mostly of journalists and other members of the auto industry.
Last years winner was the Peugeot 308, which is said to be up to 140 kg lighter than its predecessor and offers a 420-litre boot. It also comes with an “i-Cockpit” interior featuring a big 9.7-inch touchscreen display from where the driver can have access to all controls.
2015 Mazda CX-5 Introduced Before Geneva Motor Show Debut
The 2015 Mazda CX-5 along with the 2015 Mazda6 have been introduced ahead of their 2015 Geneva Motor Show debut.
Improved features and technology systems
Both models are said to be introduced with more advanced safety technology, more powertrain choices and a new more refined interior. Mazda was a bit coy on specifics but confirmed the models will be equipped with Adaptive LED Headlights – an autonomous high-beam system with four independently controllable blocks of LEDs per headlamp.
The cars will further benefit from new safety features including Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) which extends the existing Rear Vehicle Monitoring (RVM) systems range while also adding Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), which warns the driver of approaching vehicles when reversing.
Lane-keep Assist System (LAS) provides steering torque assistance to help prevent unintentional lane changes, thus complementing the Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS).
Additional enhancements will come in form of a SKYACTIV-D 2.2 clean diesel fitted to the Mazda6 and is available with Mazdas new-generation all-wheel drive (AWD) system. The engine also features the worlds first front wheel slip warning detection system and now employs a specially developed low -viscosity oil to further improve fuel economy. The 2015 Mazda CX-5 will be offered with a 2.5-litre SKYACTIV-G petrol engine with i- ELOOP technology.
More refined interior
Interior upgrades include the new-generation human-machine interface (HMI), MZD Connect in-car smartphone connectivity system as well as a 7-inch touchscreen display and added infotainment features. The Mazda6 will additionally feature a head-up display.
Limited-Edition Aston Martin Works 60th Anniversary Vanquish Revealed
Six limited-edition Aston Martin Works 60th Anniversary Vanquish cars have been unveiled.
Six bespoke models to celebrate Aston Martin Works 60th anniversary
The bespoke models are all based on the Vanquish and each of them are subtly different and have been tailored to reflect one of the six decades being celebrated.
“This Vanquish and its five siblings are a celebration of 60 glorious years of Aston Martin at Newport Pagnell, said Paul Spires, commercial director of Aston Martin Works.
“The team have created a series of cars that are forward looking and dynamic. Their anniversary accents ensure that they are certainly not a retro pastiche of our history.”
Each vehicle is powered by the standard Vanquishs 6.0-litre naturally-aspirated V12 engine delivering 423 kW and 630 Nm of torque. It is mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, and can do the 0-100 km/h sprint in a claimed 3.6 seconds before reaching a top speed of 321 km/h.
Unique colour and trim treatments
The Works Anniversary models are additionally identifiable by their Anniversary Yellow side strakes and two-tone alloy wheels, the new Aston Martin Works 60th Anniversary logo which, like the cars colour schemes, has been designed by the team at Gaydon. The vibrant and distinctive logos are etched into each cars sill plates.
The interior is as uniquely styled as the exterior with two-tone seats, contrast yellow stitching and “heavy weave” carbon fiber trim. There are also special sill plates and a bespoke rotary knob which was created from metal used in a previous Aston Martin engine.
Paul Spires added: We certainly gave ourselves some challenges with this project. Coloured side strakes such as these have never been attempted by Aston Martin before, and sourcing pistons from the correct engines in the correct decades was, of course, no small feat either.
However, were all very happy with the end result and weve already taken a number of orders from collectors keen to own a piece of the brands history.
