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I googled the number 147 to find out what the number meant in numerology terms. I didn’t understand a thing, but there were two tarot cards one with ‘love’ and the other with ‘devil’ on them. That pretty much sums up the Alfa Romeo 147, then. It also, hopefully, shows how much we love ZA Car Show and with our news and reviews, stop you buying the devils cars regardless of how many times Trevor says buys a SAAB. Whatever the meaning,  listen to the show now, because having told you this, you’re either about to fall in love if you share ZACS with all of your friends or will turn into a devil if you don’t. It’s your choice.

This week with the start of the WRC, Citroen driver, Sebastian Loeb has kicked off the WRC Sebastien Loeb Invitational Season. Will he be as unstoppable as the other Sebastian, Mr Vettel? With the WRC starting we’re glad that the Dakar has ended. Have you considered a Mazda 3? Yeah, we didn’t think so, so you might like the debate that breaks out as Christo tries to tell us about its new update. The Jeep Wrangler has also had an update and it appears to be quite significant while we swoon over the Fiat 500 1.2 Cabrio Audi R8 GT Spyder and Review the MINI One — the one car you should not overlook at if you are already looking at things like the Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2, Volkswagen Polo and Toyota Yaris — we’re willing to bet you’ll be very surprised.

Your hosts this week are Christo van Gemert, Trevor van de Ven, John Beale and Patrick Gearing.

As always, click on the image to view full galleries of the cars featured. You will be directed away from the page, so right click and select “Open Link in New Tab/Window” to avoid this.

MINI Bayswater. Apart from the riduculous colour, these special editions seem to sell out before they're made available. We cant fault MINI on its style. Click on the image to view a full gallery.

Yes it's a Mazda. It has a new engine in the range - 2.5 litres in capacity now and some other tweaks. Click on the image to see a gallery.

Jeep can pull of khaki better than a farmer from Limpopo. Click on the image to see a full gallery (not from the local local launch).

The Fiat 500C 1.2 has become South Africa's cheapest convertible. Oh we do like this little thing.

You can now order one of these in South Africa. You'd better have a fat wallet and not drive past Porsche on your way to Audi.

This is the basic Mini One. It looks pretty much the same as every other MINI, but offers far better value than most competitors. Find out what we think in the show.

Episode 147 hi-fi download (22MB) 

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Two’s company and this week, our second show of 2012 it’s Trevor van de Ven and Christo van Gemert that keep you company while chatting about cars, some good and some bad. There’s a slew of new BMW engines destined for the BMW 1-Series (international markets only at this stage), which get’s our Captain Consumption aflutter with excitement, were still not quite sure why. BMW has also announced that it will be launching an M Performance series which will be more dedicated than simply adding an M-Sports pack to your Beemer, while being not quite as hardcore as BMW’s M cars. Why, well you’ll have to listen, won’t you? Christo van Gasoline reports back from the Abarth 500 launch that he attended recently and the two round off the show with a review of the Audi TT-RS and Mitsubusi’s Titanic Triton.

We dont have a picture of the engines so an image of the new M-Sport pack for the 1-Series will have to do. Can you spot the add-ons?

You think we included a picture of Dr. Friedrich Nitschke, the President of BMW M Gmbh, because of that magnificent moustache? You'd be wrong, there is a car behind him, which is the only indication that we have at the moment of what the new M Performance cars will look like and the M550d X-Drive looks deceptively like full-blown M5 unless there's some sloppy PR going on here.

There's a sting in the tail of this little car. Click on the image to view a comprehensive gallery. You will be redirected, so right click the image and select "Open in new tab/window"

The one we had looked identical to this, red is certainly the best colour for this beast that out accelerates just about everything on the road. Hear what we think on the podcast. For a gallery, click on the image but be aware that you will be redirected away from this page. To stay here, right click on the image and select "Open in new Tab/Window"

There's nothing new here, it's a Mitsubishi Triton. We review it...

Episode 146 hi-fi download (22MB) 

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“Don’t call me, Babe” are the immortal words from Pammie’s 1996 hit-film Barb Wire. Okay it wasn’t a hit. But like Barb, Fiat is trying to shake misconceptions and stereotypes. The notion that the 500 is ‘girly’ has haunted the car since its launch, but our Trevor and Patrick will fervently disagree. However, to the average man-on-the-street, the perception is otherwise and rightfully so. The car is often described as “cute” and  ”pretty,” – even Barbie has a Fiat 500 (and J-Lo) but these new scorpions from the Fiat group have a serious sting in their tail.

Click on the image to view a full gallery of the Abarth 500, Abarth 500 esseesse and Abart 500 695 Tributo Ferrari. You will be redirected away from this page, so right click and select 'open in a new tab/page.'

After quite a wait (the Abarth 500 launched overseas in 2008), it has finally been made available to South Africans through the Abarth Performance Centre at Arnold Chatz in Craighall Park, Johannesburg, and will cost you R230 000 for the 1.4l turbo-charged engine producing 99kW @ 5500rpm and 206Nm from a relatively high 3000rpm. The Abarth 500C will cost R255 000 for the privilege of an uninterrupted view of the African skies above. Fiat engines have always been a little ‘fizzy’ and beg to be driven, and the Abarth 500 appears to be the same. The Abarth 500C is also available with the Dualogic ‘manu-matic’ MTA transmission, if changing gears with a stick aint your thang, and gains an extra 4kW in the process upping the power to 103kW at a lower 5000rpm. It gives the hydraulically actuated manual transmission – no dual clutches here – less of a hard time and makes it more drivable without requiring the ‘box to change down as often.

In both cases you might want to opt for the additional ‘esseesse’ kit which harks back to the old days of Carlo Abarth’s go-faster kits in a box. It gives this wee-beastie a power jump to 118kW @ 5750rpm and an increase of 24Nm to 230Nm @ 3000rpm. Also included is a brake upgrade with bigger calipers and cross drilled disks, performance suspension complemented by sports dampers from Koni, and rounds it all off with some nice 17-inch alloy wheels that are available in either white or black. The kit costs an additional R37 000 and will be fitted by the Abarth Performance Centre. Best of all you get to keep the crate that it all comes in - there’s no ‘fitted at the factory’ box to tick here and adds to the allure of owning a true Abarth esseesse.

Not for girls. The Abarth 500C even looks good in colours other than primer grey.

The original esseesse models were enthusiast cars and that remains the same here. You dont need to buy the extra kit. Truth be told the 99kW version will likely be ample for most people and the Abarth styling alone gives it the cred that the 500 lacked amongst South Africa’s testosterone-fueled masses. But for those discerning few who enjoy driving, it can be made that little bit more special by eking out slightly more fun for the daily commute, from an already capable chassis. This car enters the school yard that has been occupied by the Polo GTi, RenaultSport Clio, Citroen DS3 and Peugeot 207 GTI and they’re pretty big bullies.

A nice place to be. Look at the ''I'm serious about my pedigree" shift-light cluster on the centre console.

The boring stuff is that the Abarth 500 is pretty much standard high-spec safety (Euro NCAP 5-star) tand features seven airbags including one for your knees, ABS, EBD, ESP, Blue&Me mobile phone prep and iPod integration, a sport button, metal shiny bits everywhere, a shift-light pod, and Abarth sport seats. All very nice.

It's in RenaultSport Clio, Polo GTI, Citroen DS3 territory and it wants to play.

We’ll save you from all the other nostalgia and trivia that goes with the Abarth badge – you can listen to the upcoming podcast for that – but well leave you with this: the “Don’t call me, Babe” leitmotif of Barb Wire comes from the original advertising for the Barb Wire Dark Horse comic book. Barb was quite a bolshy broad who wasn’t afraid to lay a bit of smackdown on the boys. She used those words to differentiate herself from a buxom, slightly airy comic book heroine named Babe, by John Byrne, and like Barb, the Abarth 500 is not an airy, cutesy 500, it’s a parabuthus granulatus.

Is there room for really expensive track machines in South Africa? Apparently so, otherwise KTM would not have launched the X-Bow here. Episode 85 also covers the new Chev Spark Heavy, Ford Figo and face-lifted BMW 3-series, in both coupe and convertible form. Also on the cards is the very frugal Fiat 500 TwinAir, and the not so frugal Ford Focus RS – both of which will be coming to our shores.

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Episode 85 hi-fi download (32MB)

Episode 85 lo-fi download (16MB)

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Show notes and links after the jump.

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Slowly getting back into the groove, after a short absence from the internet airwaves, the three-strong ZACS team congregates once again to bring you the latest motoring news and history. The new and the old, all in one podcast. Where else can you get quality programming like this?

Before we start with this week’s show notes, let us first CONGRATULATE our fine co-host, Trevor van de Ven, on becoming a dad. Again. His son joined the family last week and Trevor has used this as an excuse for not featuring the latest episode of your favourite motoring podcast.

In his absence, we’ve discussed things as exciting as the new Mercedes Benz E-class estate and as dreary as the Lexus LFA, which will be making its debut as a production race car in the 24-hours of Nürburgring endurance race.

Lexus LFA at the 'Ring

Also featured in episode 69 are a duo of Japanese sports cars, in the cars of the episode’s year (1969), the actual Car of the Year winner, and Fiat’s new additions to the 500 model range.

Episode 69 hi-fi download (21MB)
Episode 69 lo-fi download (11MB)

Oh and HEY! Why haven’t you mailed us? Or started following us on Twitter? Remember – ZACS loves you. Without our loyal listeners, and their feedback, we’d be nothing. Tell your friends, ask us questions, share the podcast, go hog wild.
Follow us on Twitter, here.
Join the ZA Car Show fan group on Facebook, here.

More links, pics and words after the jump!

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