Car reviews

SARDINIA, Italy – There's a straight section of asphalt ahead. Roof down, second gear and throttle pinned. The rev needle rises urgently, building to an almighty crescendo at 9 000 r/min. I depress the heavy clutch and slot the next ratio home to repeat the performance. The island scenery ...

Not one, two or three… No, the new X5 M50d makes use of four turbochargers, and the results are astonishing... You can’t really miss those kidney grilles, can you? They dominate the new X5’s face, as they do the X7 and facelifted 7 Series. On the X5 M50d, however, they exist for ...

Jaguar’s top cat is a charming motoring throwback with plenty of punch... Some stratospherically priced things simply evade explanation. Think of the gold-plated sanitary ware in OPEC tycoons’ bathrooms, or the equivalent of the GDP of a small country paid by football clubs for the services ...

CAPE TOWN – Think what you will of the contradiction in terms that is the coupé-crossover, but buyers adore their combination of style and decent dose of practicality. BMW and Mercedes-Benz do a roaring trade in lowered versions of their stock SUVs (nearly half a million X6s have been sold ...

Long-term test (Introduction): Audi SQ5 3,0T FSI Quattro Tiptronic Sporty SUVs. They’re now most certainly a thing. Indeed, this SQ5 finds itself scrapping for attention in an increasingly crowded (and shouty) segment that includes the Mercedes-AMG GLC43, the box-fresh BMW X3 M40i and, of course, ...

Long-term test (Introduction): Kia Sorento 2,2 CRDi AWD EX A Facelifted Kia Sorento recently arrived at our offices for a six-month tenure in our test fleet. I am not usually a fan of dark-metallic paint finishes because they are difficult to keep clean, as well as the obvious issue of cabin-heat ...

Long-term test (Introduction): Honda Amaze 1,2 Comfort Slotting in just above Honda’s entry-level Brio hatch- back, the Amaze range (made up of three models) is the most affordable sedan from the Japanese importer. Our test unit for the next three months is the Comfort variant. Equipped with a ...

Long-term test (Introduction): Ford Fiesta 1,5 TDCi Trend Looking for a diesel-powered B-segment hatchback in South Africa? You currently have just two choices: the flagship Mazda2 and the Ford Fiesta 1,5 TDCi, offered exclusively in Trend specification. Volkswagen no longer offers a TDI-badged Polo, ...

Long-term test (Introduction): Volkswagen Arteon 2,0 TDI R-Line DSG I have a confession to make: I adore sedans. As much as crossovers appeal with their do-anything ability and adventurous designs, few vehicle styles are as pleasant as four-door notchbacks (aside from station wagons, but that argument ...