Video – A blonde and a Tesla
July 30th, 2010 
Russell
Yes, Friday is almost over. One more cool little vid before you head off to enjoy your weekend then. Again, not terribly rich in automotive content, although there is a Tesla Roadster in here…
Tag-Heuer brand ambassador Maria Sharapova gets a turn behind the wheel of the Tesla Roadster as part of global marketing drive. Not that we get to see much driving, but hey. There’s a leggy blonde, a Roadster, and Californian sunshine. That’ll do.
Drive News – Daytona Group official McLaren SA dealers
July 30th, 2010 Russell 
McLaren appoints SA dealers, then doesn’t, then does again. Daytona Automotive!
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A strange thing, media-wise, happened on Wednesday evening this week. McLaren Automotive sent out a release explaining that it had chosen Daytona Automotive in SA to represent the UK-based manufacturer in our region. That’s mighty big news for us, and Daytona of course. McLaren has chosen carefully, and believes the Daytona crew have what it takes to sell and support such a high-tech, high-performance, and highly prestigious machine, which says a lot.
But, when I followed the link sent out with the release, moments after it arrived, I couldn’t access the additional info – the page was down.
Only it wasn’t. McLaren had pulled the release… apparently.
Anyway, yesterday it was eventually confirmed that the company will have not only one, but two McLaren dealers in South Africa, and yes these would be through the Daytona Group. Which is, let’s face it, even bigger news for us.
More importantly, it indicates just how important a market an exclusive company like McLaren sees in us. As well as how seriously McLaren are actually taking this new direction of theirs, which the MP4-12C is only the beginning of.
Nissan for instance has required that specialist Nissan Performance Centres be set up locally to sell and support the thundering GT-R. At just over R1-million, GT-Rs actually sell rather well – you’ll see a fair deal of them on the road. They sell each and every unit they can get their hands on, basically. I think there are two Nissan High Performance Centres in the country as well.
McLaren is likely to be aiming for smaller numbers of customers, with a car which costs substantially more and plays in a whole different game, yet to cope with lower demand they’ve established the same number of dealers, speaks very well for the overall level of service McLaren owners will get and, of course, expect.
Then again, as the official local representatives of Aston Martin as well, there’s little doubt Daytona boasts all the right credentials.
Russell Bennett
Pagani Zonda R ‘Ring lap video. Again.
July 30th, 2010 Russell
Well over 700bhp. Carbonfibre all over. An iconic 30-odd kms of tortures tarmac. And kahonas of pure Carbo-tanium, surely. Put it all together, and you get 6:47.
I’ve posted a similar vid before, but this one is a single unedited, contiguous stream of excitement and thrills, and mesmerising to actually watch. Well worth the time spent waiting for YouTube to buffer.
Drive News – FIAT Bravo and Dodge Caliber also get facelifted
July 30th, 2010 Russell 
Nip ‘n Tuck
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Clearly it’s facelift season in the automotive industry. I suppose summer is just around the corner. Time to get those nips and tucks in before packing up and strutting off to the beach, right?
As well as the new Corollas and updated 3-Series, Dodge have come along and refreshed its Caliber crossover, and FIAT has just announced a revised Bravo Sport. I reckon most car manufacturers have been a little tight on R&D budget the last couple of years and trying to stretch things a bit, but I’m sure they’d assure you it was for nobler reasons than that. Anyway.
Drive News – Volvo S60 campaign awards Paris “Naughtiest City” accolade.
July 30th, 2010 Russell 918 Production Confirmed
July 29th, 2010 Kyle Heart wrenching
Why must Porsche do this to us petrolheads? On the one hand, we are sworn enemies of the hybrid, they are not the answer to anything. On the other hand, this particular hybrid is the most impressive, most spectacular, and sexiest hybrid ever, and now they’re going to make it. Yip, it’s the 918 Spyder, and production is confirmed.
Audi A7 Sportback
July 27th, 2010 Kyle 
Love them or hate them, you could never accuse the Germans of resting on their laurels. They always seem to be either inventing new market segments or individual manufacturers enter segments that are new to themselves. And that according to Audi is what they’re up to with the A7 Sportback, although I’m not entirely convinced the A7 Sportback is all that new for Audi, but it does look very handsome indeed. The A7 Sportback was revealed recently in Munich, hardly the most glamorous city in the world, but I guess it is German.
For Audi the concept of the A7 Sportback is threefold; it needed to combine the elegance of a coupe, be as comfortable as their luxurious sedans and even maintain the practicality of a stationwagon. Well, it certainly is a pleasantly shapely car, so sure, I wouldn’t disagree that the A7 Sportback resembles an elegant coupe. As comfortable as a sedan? I don’t know, haven’t driven it. What I do know however from the numerous Audi’s I have driven is that they have some of the best, possibly even the the best, interiors in the business. Build quality from Audi is always stellar, and the feeling of quality permeates every nook and cranny. So we’ll give Audi the benefit of the doubt on this one. But practicality of a stationwagon, surely not. At least that’s what I though from first impression of the exterior, the dimensions don’t imply a great big boot crammed in there. And yet, when I saw the boot, Audi aren’t that far off. I’m afraid I’m still not absolutely convinced, we’ll have to see about rear legroom, but even if this criteria is a bridge too far, the A7 Sportback still looks very close to the the stationwagon practicality criteria.
Drive News – Toyota updates Corolla lineup
July 27th, 2010 Russell 
New models, same (lack of) pizazz
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The Toyota Corolla – the name doesn’t exactly “Ring the Bell” of enthusiastic drivers like we are, does it? With good reason of course, the Corolla has been the motoring world’s answer to McDonalds for a long, long time now. Affordable and filling, if not exactly appealing to the gourmet gut.
Very much like the ubiquitous fast-food chain however, the Corolla does redefine the concept of mass-market motoring. Every single month the name sits atop the new-car sales figures by a significant margin, punters just can not get enough of the model. And that’s despite the fact that these days, it’s not actually even that affordable anymore, and seemingly in spite of the recent spate of bad PR Toyota has had, which incidentally it now appears could have been hoax more than engineering hex!
So now, Toyota SA has unveiled the latest versions of this hallowed, but unexciting, mainstream people-mover. The tenth-generation Corolla isn’t being replaced just yet, this facelift will bring model number-watchers up to around Corolla 10.5.
Drive Test – BMW X1 xDrive20d
July 27th, 2010 Russell 
Crossing Over…
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Sometimes people just don’t listen. Or, more specifically in this case, read, as this happened in response to an email, not a direct conversation.
After battling through various challenges with BMW SA and sourcing test vehicle for Drive from the company and finally having achieved at least a limited level of response (the company was still seeking a replacement for their key media communications manager, admittedly) I emailed the fleet controller with a relatively restrained list of vehicles we were currently keen to test. The mail ended, “In short though, just about anything from BMW bar an X1 diesel, which our sister publication dieseldrive.co.za has just had, would work for us to get started with.”
What do you think we were collecting from BMW just a few days later? Yup, a brown X1 xDrive20d. Not just a diesel xDrive, pretty much the very one Christo at Dieseldrive had recently returned! Right.
Drive Test – Audi TT RS Coupe
July 26th, 2010 Russell 
A Phoenix Rising?
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When the TT RS was delivered for us to test for a week, the office crew who were in at the time took it for a quick strop or two around the block, and were chock-full of snap judgements on the vehicle when I pitched up to collect it.
“It hasn’t got a clutch, it’s got a light switch”, “For R200K less, I’d have the excellent TT S”, and “Suspension so punishing it would be awful as a daily Jo’Burg commuter” all greeted my introduction to the littlest RS.
But they were all wrong.
