I test drive the Suzuki SX4!

Suzuki SX4 4x4

So I've heard a lot about SUV's and lately "Crossovers" and they've always sounded like a great idea. A car you can drive around normally (without bankrupting yourself in fuel costs) during the week, then get a bit wild and go off the beaten path on the weekends. Sounds fantastic right? Well It did to me so when I was given the Suzuki SX4 to review I was very excited. This was going to be fun!

First Impressions:

Suzuki sx4 cute ass

Its a lot smaller then I thought, it's basically my Fiesta... on stilts. I hope this vehicle is aimed at the female market because I can't really see it suiting the guys I know that need 4x4 vehicles. It is lovely inside, very comfortable, it has all the gadgets on the steering wheel, electric windows and all those cool new additions that are becoming standard features. It has a little button next to the gear lever to change from the weekday 2x4 car into the weekend 4x4 wild thing. Crossovers....the Jekyl and Hyde's of the car industry. Sadly I never did meet the Mr Hyde side of the SX4 as the gentleman who delivered her didn't seem to keen on us taking it off road.

Interior:

All the gadgets

I must say this car is very comfortable, which I wasn't expecting. The large wide seats don't LOOK comfortable, but they are..incredibly. The short gear lever was also a pleasant surprise and a feature I thoroughly enjoyed. It made changing gears very easy and smooth and added a certain excitement to the whole experience. The height of the vehicle certainly adds to the comfort.

Exterior:

That lovely red

When I first saw pictures of the SX4 I wasn't very impressed. It was cute enough but I thought the front end was rather dull and the rear end cute. It's a different story once I saw the car for the first time. I think colour  plays a huge part. The vehicle I was sent was in a gorgeous "Nail polish" red. In the SX4...white looks boring, red looks great. Another reason I feel its a chicks car.

Engine:

It had one.


Ok no seriously. It has a 2L , if you'd like more info on that go here. At first I was not very happy with the power. I was quite disappointed with how little it seemed to have for a 2L but by the end of the week I realised that the vehicle is so easy to drive that it doesn't feel like its trying, but the speedo is climbing even though it feels like the car barely broke a sweat. It is certainly no speed racer but that's not what it was designed to do. To be honest, I prefer my 1.4 Fiesta, it feels like its kicking ass and taking names, but that's my opinion.

about the same size as my Fiesta

General driving etc:

tiny boot

So I am not entirely sure what market this vehicle is targeted at. It is a very small hatch back that can go off road but has the price tag of some much larger sedans. I thought it might be "soccer moms" but that boot would only fit one child's sport kit and barely. Plus you couldn't really fit a months groceries in there either. I've seen a lot of rich older ladies in them but only the regular 2x4 variant...which just seems pointless. For the R247900,00 price tag on the 2x4, there are so many other, in my opinion, better options. Like the new Ford Fiesta, you could get the top of the range with all the trimmings for the same price as the entry level 2x4 SX4.....but that's just me. It is a sturdy, strong and reliable car and its fun to drive. I would recommend the 4x4 variant because for a little over 20 grand more, its a lot more fun.

The other crossovers that compete with the SX4 are the VW Cross Polo starting at R 224 800,00 , or the Chevrolet Captiva 2.2D AWD LTZ at a hefty R 443 000,00

Don't forget to check out Ciro's review of the SX4 on our site.

I've got it!!!! Horsey Mums! It's strong enough to pull a horsebox, can tackle the fields you usually have to park in and can fit a saddle in the boot. So if you are a working lady during the week but spend your weekends outdoors, the SX4 is a fantastic option and a lovely car to drive.

Convertible 4x4? The new Range Rover Evoque convertible concept.

So Land Rover is unveiling its new Range Rover Evoque convertible concept car at the Geneva show this march, and I don't know what to make of this car.

It is certainly sexy with its rugged yet somehow sleek looks, but really, what would be the point of having a 4x4 convertible?

I'm one of those few people who believe that if you don't 4x4, don't BUY a 4x4 vehicle. I laugh at the yuppies that drive in traffic all day in their fancy SUV's that have never so much as crossed a patch of grass. I laugh even harder at the ones that buy "spray on mud" and pretend to use their 'all terrain' vehicle on anything other then tarmac and concrete.

So this concept, though gorgeous, baffles me. I shouldn't like it, yet I do. It goes against my logic of a car doing what its designed for.

If it's a 4x4, it should be used for that purpose, and where on earth would you off road in this sleek topless beauty, seriously? And those low profile tyres? I'm wondering how well this car would handle a speed bump, nevermind gravel roads.

So, in reality, you would pay a fortune for this car because it ticks so many boxes, yet you could only really use half its features. Its yet another SUV destined stay on the road. Its heartbreaking.

So I guess I feel that while it is most certainly gorgeous, it just doesn't make sense as a 4x4.   And Sadly, they put a soft top on it, I've yet to see a soft top that looks good with its top up.
My suggestion, scrap the 4x4 side, convert the soft top into a retractable hard top and we're good to go.
But that is just my opinion, and I honestly know this car will be an absolute hit with the yuppies and wannabes out there.

It still looks hot though! :-)

Road trip to Nam (ibia)

Car: Mums Toyota Corolla
Team: My 2 best girlfriends and a guy named Terrick

Possibly the dumbest idea we ever had but certainly great fun. I had had my licence for less then a month when my girlfriends (Sam & Chris) and I decided to go visit some friends in Namibia for new years. Our plan was to go in Sam's Hyundai Atos,

 across Botswana and into Nam, then Down to Walvis Bay where our friends stay. It would take over 18 hours of straight driving.....yeah and we wanted to do this in an atos!!!!!!!

Luckily Mum offered her Toyota Corolla and Sams bf Terrick asked to join, so at least I had a co-driver seeing as Sam wasn't actually licenced yet.

We left Magaliesburg at the crack of dawn, only to sit for a couple of hours at the border, waiting for it to open at 8am. Bad planning that one.

I have to say that for a long trip I highly recommend the toyota corrolla.

  Its comfortable, light on fuel and drives like a dream. I do not recommend travelling through Botswana unless you have a map with Petrol stations marked on it though. The little towns on the map, are not like little towns in S.A, they are actually mostly "locations" and finding fuel can be tricky.
We were nearly on empty with no clue where the next Service station would be so decided to turn into one of these "towns"
After finally finding a local that spoke english, we were directed to the back of this little "spaza shop" type cafe. There we got fuel out of a barrel with a watering can. I just preyed the fuel would be clean and good quality and that my mother would understand why I filled in the log book so vaguely at this stop.

As it was, the very next town had a beautiful Star Stop type station, but onwards we went.

Botswana is a very interesting looking country and I hope to one day have the chance to actually visit, instead of just driving through. The landscape is like a strange dream, changing colours every few km's. The road was in excellent condition so the only thing slowing us down was the occasional livestock crossing.
We droves through 'clouds' of butterflies and when we finally reached the border into Namibia our car looked like the Texas chainsaw massacre for butterflies.

Ah yes, finally we had reached Namibia, what a beautiful country. I'd love to live there. When you think of Namibia, most people just think of desert, but actually there is lots of green too. The drive from the border to Windhoek was magnificently beautiful.

Windhoek is a quirky little town, set in a bunch of hills. You can't see it as you get close like with Jo'burg, you suddenly turn a corner, come over a hills and you're in it. Another place I'd like to go back and visit properly.

After Windhoek, our next stop was Swartkopmund. We had finally reached the coastline so naturally had to stop and get out feet in the ocean, even though it was already dark.

Swartkopmund is to me what Cape Town would have been if it wasn't so over-crowded and commercial.
It is the perfect little tourist spot.

 My favorite attraction is the Aquarium

After our brief stop, we pressed on to Walvis Bay, our final destination.

Walvis Bay is possibly my favorite place in the world. I loved the town, I loved the people I met, loved the food, the pubs and especially the natural attractions.


Walvis Bay is on the coastline of Namibia. It is a small industrial town once owned by South Africa. Its reputation as an industrial town seems to have kept the tourist at bay a bit and the town still retains its small town, quirky charm. Its best feature is Flamingo Bay, the lagoon around which the town is built.


It is also close to Dune 7, which is huge and the salt pans which are beautiful. It is a natural playground for 4x4 enthusiasts and quad bike junkies.














The salt pans contain an algae that turns the water..and the flamingos pink.

This spot we chose to camp out at for new years is a popular horse-shoe shaped dune called "Amphies"

 It was an absolute blast, we sand boarded, raced quads and 4x4s across the desert, played drums and danced around the fire. An altogether fantastic experience.