Test notes
Every note on this site was written after the same loop: 46 km through town, the N1 south to Trompsburg and back, and 11 km of district gravel toward Soutpan. Figures are measured, not quoted.
The whole file
The N1 to Colesberg in a full-size saloon
Two hundred and twenty-five kilometres of almost straight tar, a crosswind that arrives without warning past Trompsburg, and a fuel slip at each end. This is the run that separates a car that cruises from a car that merely goes fast.
Read the test notes→
Seats that still work after three hours
A seat that feels good in a showroom has told you almost nothing. The failure happens somewhere around Winburg on the way north, and it is usually a seat base 40 mm too short.
A seven-seater on Free State gravel
Eleven kilometres of district gravel toward Soutpan, seven seats occupied by sandbags, and a tape measure under each wheel arch before and after. A loaded family car is a different vehicle from the one on the showroom floor.
What to measure at a motor show
A show hall is the only place you can sit in eleven cars in two hours without anybody asking for your identity number. Go with a tape measure and a short list of numbers, and leave the brochures on the stand.
Concours displays and the buyer
A lawn full of restored cars looks like a hobby and is actually a long-term durability report. Dry air at 1 400 m preserves some things and destroys others, and the owners standing there will tell you which.
A hire car as a long test drive
Three days and 900 km will tell you more about a car than every dealer loop you will ever drive. The hire desk at the airport is, for about R1 400 a day, the most useful test facility in the province.
Notes are grouped by what the car is for rather than by price. If you want the method before the conclusions, read how we test first; it explains the pressures, the fuel procedure and the three noise readings.