Download audio file (zacs160.mp3)

Handling, handling, handling, that’s the news for this week’s episode of ZA Car Show. Nissan  has confirmed that the Juke R will make limited production despite costing more than four times the price of a GT-R.

Jaguar meanwhile is hoping that its XJ Supersport displays the agility of a cat in its new role as a ‘ring taxi.

Toyota’s awaited, for South Africa anyway, 86 has been voted Dynamic Car of the Year.

Christo van Gemert represented ZA Car Show on the Blacktop Rally. 3500kms from Johannesburg to Cape Town and their chariot for the journey was a BMW M3 Convertible. He shares his experience and tells us why you have to enter it next year.

Finally we wrap it up with a review of the Citroen DS4 THP 200 and why you should not buy it, you should rather buy the diesel.

Specifications and pricing can be found here 

Episode 160 download 

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Each time we look at doing a Wallpaper Wednesday, we reach out to our Twitter audience and ask what they’d like to see. This week’s one came as a suggestion from one Dylan Laubscher - click his name for his site – who has some of his own shots to show off. With his permission, we’ve linked to his selection of wallpapers. And if we could add: we’re extremely jealous that he’s been able to shoot some of these cars. We’re also jealous that he’s got talent we can only dream of. Rock on, Dylan!

Audio stream – Download audio file (zacs157.mp3)

Thank you! Thank you for your support if you attended the inaugural ZA Car Show Petrolhead Quiz and thank you if you were one of the very generous sponsors of a prize – BMW, Suzuki, Nissan, Lexus and Autostyle. By all accounts the evening was a great success and we look forward to hosting another one again.

This week BMW unveiled the first shots of its i8 Spyder, a car every bit as stylish and agressive as an Audi R8, but with the consumption of a VW Polo Bluemotion.

Also emerging from the New York Motor Show is Infinity’s er… Emerg-E which is confirmed for production while it has also confirmed an Infinity Performance Line al-la AMG or M-Performance. Is this the sign of things to come because Infinity is launching in SA soon?

Christo and Tom Falkiner from The Sunday Times were at the local launch of the new hipster kid on the block, the MINI Roadster. Good or bad, you’ll have to take a listen to find out of the premium MINI charges for the roadster with less spec than the conventional convertible is worth it?  Click here for a link to the MINI Roadster Microsite Click on the image below to view a full gallery of 90 images.

Christo also got to spend a couple of hours with the latest Nissan GTR. Having just acquired one of his hero cars, the GTR is another so we find out if he was disappointed or impressed. 

Finally we review the MINI Cooper S Countryman. Definitely polarising. Which side do you sit on?

Episode 157 download 

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We’re 12 weeks into 2012 and at least 155 weeks into ZA Car Show. There is some exciting news to come in a few weeks, but until then, if you live in Johannesburg, South Africa and have still not signed up to take part in the ZA Car Show Petrolhead Quiz on 27 March, then you should do so now by clicking on these black-coloured words. The evening promises to be fun-filled and there are some nice prizes in store (hopefully for everyone). You have a 1 in 20 chance of winning something and in anyone’s book those are good odds.

John Beale, Christo van Gemert, Patrick Gearing and Trevor van de Ven debate the merits of owning a little Italian scorpion; discuss the launch of BMW’s new 3-Series; get Trevor excited about a hyper-efficient diesel VW and Christo continues to rub in the fact that he’s going to Le Mans this year.

You can also find out about Tracker in the UK that is going social to find stolen vehicles and decide whether you agree with the choice for the SA Guild of Motoring Journalist’s Car of The Year for 2012.

100km on less than 1 litre of petrol is what the VW XL1 concept promises. It has been caught testing so the concept is very likely to become a reality.

If the camera angles look funny, it is probably because this is a very unconventional racecar prototype called the Deltawing. It’s will race at LeMans this year without classification but is expected to match the times and speeds of LMP1 and LMP2 machines. It is powered by a 1.6 turbo  producing 224kW.

Here’s what it looks like.

The Nissan Deltawing looks more ‘Bonneville Salt Flats racer’ than Audi’s R18 which it will compete against. Audi has already clocked up its first win in its new R18 at Sebring.

BMW has launched the 3-series in South Africa. Christo attended the launch and shares his initial driving impressions. Click on the image to view a complete gallery of images (you will be redirected away from this website).

Finally, we review the Abarth 500 Esse Esse, a surprising little machine that constantly dials up the smiles.  Click on the image to see a gallery.

Episode 155 download 

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Over the years, since the first Z car in the late 60s, the Nissan’s desirable coupé has evolved from a lightweight, focussed sports car, to something that is more “what the market wants”. And what the market wants isn’t always the right thing. More refinement. More luxury. More tech. More power. More this and more that. And more weight – the price that uncompromising consumers (and crash tests) don’t really care about paying. The tech, luxury, refinement, and power aren’t bad things, but they have their place.

Unfortunately, those things have found their home in a good car, slightly softening the experience. Nissan’s quintessential sports car has turned into a two-door compromise: it needs to be soft, comfortable and loaded with toys, because that’s what most modern buyers want. Yet at the same time it’s an impractical two-seater, with a raucous engine, and a big, chunky manual gearbox – something most people don’t want.

Fast, comfortable, luxurious and loaded with toys? That sounds like a job for the BMW 135i or the if-you-can-find-one 1M Coupé. Both are cheaper than our Premium-spec test car, which has satnav and other toys – R463k for a 135i vs R563k for the Z.

Purpose-designed sports car, with low weight and loads of driving purity? How about a Porsche Boxster. Base models start at R589k. But realistically you’re looking at R800k to get the car you want – Porsche options prices are out of this world.

In between those two sits the Z. In Premium spec it has everything that’s optional on the other cars: Bose audio, satnav, iPod integration, Bluetooth, fancy wheels, xenon headlights, climate control, steering controls, cruise control, etc. That’s great, because it adds value to the deal, and at only R30 000 more than the lower-spec Z, it’s not a huge price to pay.

But are those the things that you buy a Z for? There are so many established GT car alternatives that the Z should use the exact opposite to stand out. Lose the fluff. Strip it out, drop the tech and, for God’s sake, give it an exhaust that lets the motor be heard. At low speeds the large bore V6 can be heard purring along, but let your right foot succumb to gravity (or temptation) and the engine’s coarse induction note transforms from silky V6 into infuriated truck. It’s an unpleasant noise, and this problem is compounded by the fact that peak power arrives at 7000RPM, 500 revs shy of the limiter. Even the 363Nm of shunt is achieved at a heady 5200RPM, something that becomes apparent when you need to drop two gears to really get going. It has a fair turn of pace, but never really feels fast. Second gear is good for more than 100km/h, so a sub-6s sprint is realistic (if you can launch it just right). The limited top speed of 250km/h is academic in this law-enforced day and age, but it’ll get there. With a lot of wailing and road noise accompanying it. That’s fine, it’s part of the sports car compromise

What we weren’t counting on were the comfy seats and cushy ride. These are things you’d expect in a grand tourer. The ride on the Z is damn decent, but this does have the down side of making direction changes feel ponderous. Similarly, cruising down country roads, known for their less-than-perfect and undulating surfaces, it won’t remain flat and composed, often feeling wobbly as you hit a dip. Despite this, it’s still taut enough to remain flat in high-speed sweeping bends. Set it up for a corner and get on the power just before the apex. It’ll push wide for a bit before quickly transitioning into oversteer. The nicely weighted steering and limited-slip diff will flatter your inputs, but those 19″ Rays Engineering alloys are shod with 245s at the front and 275s at the rear, so by the time you’ve reached the limit of grip there isn’t a whole lot of room for playing around. In the dry you’ll have to really drive like a loony to get the back end to misbehave, but it’s in the wet where you’ll see just how capable the chassis is. After all, handling is what happens when you’ve run out of grip, and in the rain you’ll feel like a D1 drift champ. Just make sure you have lots of room in the private parking lot you choose to turn into a playground.

In traffic it can be a bit of a handful, with that large engine, mechanical gearshift, and lots of driveline shunt proving to be a real test of your clutch control. We last drove a 370Z in 2010, an automatic model that we remember for being usable every day. When Nissan phoned us up to ask if we wanted this car, we asked if it was a manual. For one simple reason: Synchro Revmatch. This is a nifty feature on the manual gearbox that will blip the throttle for you and match the revs for the gear you are shifting into. No more fussing around with heel-toe blipping and rev-matching. Simply climb on the brakes, clutch in, select your gear, and let the engine management do the fancy footwork. Some might say it takes away from the experience of driving a car, but we’d have to disagree. It makes it less hard work, sure, but the experience is enhanced. Take away the satnav and Bose stereo, but leave SRM in, please. It’s a piece of tech that deserves to be in a performance car.

Whether the 370Z is a sports car or a GT is something we wondered about for a while. Drive it like a performance car and you end up wishing there weren’t any soft bits or rounded edges, and you’ll beg for a sportier exhaust note. Drive it like a GT car, and you’ll tire of the noise, peaky engine and space issues. It’s also a unique car, with few real competitors in the local marketplace, but people buy on figures and brand prestige. The 135i is difficult to ignore for R100 000 less. The allure of a Boxster is only dulled by the fact that every option costs as much as a small car.

It’s comfy to cruise in, but the heavy drivetrain needs patience.
Heated seats and creature comforts for cold days, but no room for golf clubs.
Gadgets to keep you tech-savvy, but not refined enough to feel modern.

Power: 245kW at 7000RPM
Torque: 363Nm at 5200RPM
Weight: 1461kg
Safety: All electronic aids, front airbags,  side airbags, curtain airbags.
Tech and toys: Satellite navigation,

Website: http://www.nissan.co.za/en/web/models/370Z%20COUPE/home/hpage.htm
Price: R562 800

ZA Car rating: One thumb up

64kbps stream Download audio file (zacs148.mp3)

The weekend of 28 and 29 January 2012 was black. South Africa lost two talented motorsports men in unrelated incidents, to the families of Curt Alchin and Wim Pretorius, ZA Car gives its condolences.

Despite the news items, ZA Car Show isn’t sponsored by BMW or MINI, it just appears that they have the most to talk about at the moment. On that front, MINI officially announced the MINI Roadster — a convertible based on a hard top that was based on a convertible, the MINI Coupe — and it also alludes to JCW becoming a stand alone sub-brand like the recently announced BMW M-Performance range. We discuss.

The silver slats in the kidney grills give the car a 'cleaner' appearance if that makes sense? Either way, it emits less toxins, produces V8-like power and consumes fuel like a diesel. For more images (around 70 in total) click on the image to be redirected to our gallery. To view in a new tab (if you're streaming the show at the moment) right click and select 'open in new tab/window.

Christo is going to LeMans this year, that is the commitment to motoring that we have here at ZA Car Show,  and no he’s not getting sent there by a manufacturer so to the South African motoring journalists who read this, you don’t need to hound manufacturers to find out why you never got invited. He, however, was sad to see the departure of Peugeot from the LM1 class which would have left it a one-horse race. It’s also good to see that Toyota is regaining its motorsport ‘mojo’ with the announcement of the Toyota’s LM1 racer, the TS030. It will be a 3.4l V8 Hybrid. This is important becuase we cover another perfomance hybrid in the form of the BMW 5-series Active Hybrid. It’s no tree hugging hybrid like the Prius, but rather a performance hybrid that delivers diesel car-like consumption, very low emissions, and performance equal that of a V8. It doesn’t look like ‘hairy arm pit’ hippie car either, which is what tends to be the perception with the term hybrid.

Toyota will return to Le Mans with the LM1 contender, the Toyota TS030. Click on the image to be redirected to the gallery.

In other news Audi’s extremely beautiful A5 has had a nip here and tuck there and come off looking even better. It’s like taking giving Naomi Campbell or George Clooney (see we keep it relevant for everyone here) a slight make over — the blank canvas is already good so it can only get better, right?

Handsome, very handsome. It's the facelifted A5 and it is finally in SA. Click on the image to view the gallery.

Finally we wrap up the show with the ZA Car Show road test. This week it’s the Audi A6 3.0t, which is actually supercharged not turbo’d. Good car, bad car? We’re torn a little bit between good and boring, but you’ll have to listen to the show to find out why. Enjoy.

We cannot fault its looks nor the way it is built, but in creating something that is so competent Audi has removed any sort of soul, granted the words 'soul' and 'Audi' are rarely used in the same sentence in any event.

Episode 148 hi-fi download (22MB) 

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64kbps stream Download audio file (zacs145.mp3)
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Welcome to 2012 and welcome to the first show the year for the ZA Car Show team. There are a number of big things in store for you this year as we’ve embarked on a couple of changes to the ZA Car Show product offering. Stay tuned to find out more in the coming weeks. In the mean time we kick off the year with John Beale, The Times’ Thomas Falkiner and ZACS’ Trevor van de Ven. Much like your return to work, this year has kicked off with a bang in the form of the North American International Auto Show. Tom also gives us a run down on his upcoming trip to the Yas Marina GP circuit in the UAE with Porche for the launch of the Porsche 991.  And with the start of varsity, there are a ton of new drivers on the roads. We explore what reasonably priced cars — under R140 000 — you should consider if you are planning to buy a car for your recently-left-school child. Reviewed this week are the BMW 116i Urban and controversial Nissan Juke 1.6 Tekna.

As always click on the images to go to a full gallery of that car. You will be redirected away from this page if you do so, however, so to carry on listening and still view the albums right click on the image and select ‘open in new tab’ or ‘open in new window,’ and enjoy. 

This car is one of the most beautiful mid-sized sedans. It will never sell as much as the BMW 3-series, Audi A4 or Mercedes-Benz C-Class and it remains a mystery as to why. In global markets though, this car will be a game changer for the Ford brand, we think. Let's hope that we are proved right with this.

The last time the Americans and Italians mixed this closely it took the FBI many years to find the root of the problems (and they're still looking). Let's hope the same symptoms do no befall a very good looking car which is based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

We review the Nissan Juke 1.6 Tekna in this show. It's a car that polarizes opinions, sells well and remains pretty unique in its segment. Is nissan too bold, or would you buy this car. Take a listen to find out more.

Sport and Urban, good or strange looking, you decide. We review the 116i Urban that looked identical to the blue car and walk away very impressed, find out why.

Episode 145 hi-fi download (18MB) 
Episode 145 lo-fi download (9MB)

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Too many dials, gauges and buttons can be distracting. The new Ford Focus and Renault Megane both suffer from this – buttons, button everywhere!. Sometimes… simplicity is the best. And that’s the theme for this week’s selection of wallpapers. Something plain and elegant, where the objects of our automotive desire are the main focus.

*All photos are property of their respective copyright holders. If you see a photo that is yours, please get in touch and we can credit you, or remove it from this posting.

It’s been a while. We apologise. We’ve been working hard on rounding up more high quality hoonage from around the web, and the return of this regular feature sees us start off with a twist.

We’ve asked the folks from the Forza 4 thread, over at the Something Awful Forums, to let us have their best snaps from that game. The game looks great, and it has the option to output some high-resolution images (great for printing out, or using as your desktop wallpaper). So we asked some of the Forza photographers to give us their best, err, shots.

Now this is the part where you have to read carefully: we want you to vote for your favourite wallpaper in this week’s selection. Voting will close at 23h59 on the 30th of November. And we’ve arranged a nice, game-related prize for the winner. See? We do like giving back to the community that supports us.

So get with the downloading and voting, as you feast your eyes on these.

Cinque, by AK Gara

 High res download

Javelin, by biglads

High res download

512, by Cute as Heck

 High res download

DBR1, by Ether Frenzy

High res download

Coronet, by I said come in

Z, by Kilonum

 High res download

Pantera, by Sunday Punch

High res download

64kbps stream Download audio file (zacs140.mp3)

32kbps stream Download audio file (zacs140_low.mp3)

Alright peeps we’ll kick the week in the teeth with brand new Jeep to make Otto Diesel proud. Stepping out from the crowd is most certainly allowed in the new Peugeot 508 while you’ll not be late in the great Nissan that the GTR badge ate. We round this bad rhyme up with a review of the new BMW (640i) and give a shout out to the dudes at Su-bar-u. Yup it’s true, you might find that the Outback Diesel and Forester Diesel might just be the cars for you.

Bad rhyming aside, we must abide to bring you some great pictures and fun, so go ahead, take a listen to what craziness you might have been missin’

Quite a handsome little tyke

Trevor van de Ven is weak at the knees just looking at this picture. The chances of it being released in South Africa are slim, though, but for a full gallery of the very pretty sedan, click on the image. It will redirect this page to another website, so consider right clicking on the image and selecting 'open in new tab.'

It's not handsome, but it's not exactly pretty either. The 640i has the 3.0 Twinpower Turbo engine too which leaves the team with some mixed opinions. Take a listen to find out why.

Episode 140 hi-fi download (18MB) 
Episode 140 lo-fi download (9MB)

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