Things have not been going Italy’s way recently. While the Azzuri in South Africa were out drowning their sorrows after dropping out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Italians had at least one thing to celebrate: Alfa Romeo’s Centenary.

With one soldier down – Trevor Tuck couldn’t join us, thanks to the football loss and Alfa celebration – Christo, Patrick and Trevor (van de Ven) discuss a special edition Ford Focus RS, a European sell-out success and a couple of local models.

The team also debates the cars that made the difference to the motoring world in 1981.

Very pretty Fords. You can do it yourself for much less though.

Episode 81 hi-fi download (28MB)
Episode 81 lo-fi download (16MB)

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Show notes and links after the jump.

On 24 June 2010, Alfa Romeo celebrated its 100th birthday. Trevor Tuck celebrated so much, he could not make it to ZACS for this recording. The loss of the Italian team in the FIFA World Cup 2010 might have something to do with his absence, too.

Audi cannot keep up with demand in Europe. We hope the Audi A1 comes to SA soon, so we can see what all the hype is about.

To pay homage to a Le Mans racer you can do two things. Develop a road going version of the race car – which a lot of manufacturers have done in the past – or, like Ford did most recently, put together a sticker pack for the Focus RS, and call it a limited edition. [via: Insideline]

Engine of the Year awards – every good engine is in here. Best Engines in various capacities: A few BMWs. Best New Engine: an Alfa. Best Performance Engine: an AMG.

Opel’s Corsa 1.4 variants excluding the Essentia, get a new engine and some suspension tweaks to improve, consumption and emissions while raising the power ever so slightly.

Suzuki’s Swift Sport is to Suzuki what the RenaultSport Twingo is Renault. Small, compact and huge amounts of fun in the spirit of the traditional hot-hatch. After nearly two years of promises, South Africa finally gets it.  [via: Suzuki]

Not quite a fizzled out electric storm, GM has refreshed the Spark lineup and brought forth the Spark Lite – a revision of the current Spark. It has done this in anticipation of the new Spark which South Africans will get soon. Another car to hot up the entry-level segment. [via Chevrolet]

The New Spark

The new Sorento. A handsome beast - bits of Subaru Forester and Mitsubishi Outlander, in there.

More notes and pics after the jump!

Direct file download (21MB)

Kia’s new Sorento briefly discussed. Watch this space for a road test.

Volkswagen’s Amarok pick-up is now the official Dakar competition vehicle, replacing Giniel’s championship-winning Touareg.

A practical interior. They're gonna need those walkie-talkies.

A huge load bed. Strangely, they have all the wrong tools in there.

Perhaps the racecar won't have those lights. Or wheels. And way more stickers.

Mercedes Benz sets up five AMG performance centres in SA. To give customers a special experience. You know, unlike what they’re going to get a regular dealership. Just kidding – apparently these performance centres will be for enthusiasts of the brand. You know, unlike… nevermind.

The new AMG Performance Centres even have their own website.

Could this AMG brand exercise have something to do with the new Mercedes Benz GP team – formerly Brawn GP? We also discuss other F1 drama, including the driver shuffles and possible speculation about Herr Schumacher returning to the thro… we mean wheel.

The original Mercedes racecars - the Silver Arrows.

Road tests:

The fantastically zingy and fun-to-drive Renaultsport Twingo. 98kW from a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated motor always spells fun. But it’s not perfect…

A cute little city runabout. With dynamite under the bonnet.

The Dynamite.

Unfortunately we will not be able to get this playful pedal set as an option in SA.

A huge big rev counter. With a shift light. Just what your sporty hatch needs.

Tuck, our resident bakkie expert, spent a week with a Daihatsu Gran Max pick-up, to see how it stacks up to other vehicles. He likes it, and sings its praises.

This is NOT the SA-spec Gran Max. We're just making sure you're paying attention, here.

We also have a look at:

• The Twingo RenaultSport – a silly name for a great car, apparently. It’s another small, performance-orientated car announced for South Africa.
• Tuck displays his love for the Renault F1 Team and his favourite driver Fernando Alonso. Not! He is also one of the two people in the world whose actually driven a Spider RenaultSport.
• What is up with Renault?
• Face lifted Nissan Murano looks like its slashed by a samurai rather than styled on one. Is this Renault’s influence coming through?
• Fiat. Great cars, crap service – we rate Fiat’s dealer service using the JD Power survey papers.
• Tuck has a weird fetishes and this week he admits he really wanted a Land Rover Discovery.
• What is the best Mercedes-Benz? Listen to us debate, you will be surprised…
• We also talk about the most desirable old Mercs, the 190E Cosworth 2.3 and Tuck’s Alfa 155.
• The Merc-fest continues and we talk about engine choice and AMG styling packs that cost the price of a second hand Smart car.
• The brand-dilution that manufacturers seem to encourage by offering sport packs; Audi, Alfa and BMW are not exempt.
• The practicality of Mercedes Benz’s Smart brand and how a seemingly decent car brand became a sales flop.
• Student commuters, what cars can you buy for someone going to varsity? Trevor gives his opinions and everyone disagrees.

And more…

Direct file download (28MB)

Under discussion in this episode:

• Hummer driving sales by advertising fuel economy.
• The small engine big car strategy we talk VW’s 1.4TSI – turbo and supercharged – engine.
• Forced induction; good idea or high maintenance costs.
• Turbo cars in motor sport – killing the game?
• The Audi Q7 4.2, Christo gives us his impressions.
• Our advice on SUV purchases.
• WiFi, lane wandering alerts and cool or useless technology soon to be built into cars.
• We give the Department of Transport some advice on how to alleviate traffic on South Africa’s national highways.
• Duncan brings up the Fiat 500 again.
• The tame racing driver lusts after a Chana Star Bakkie after Nissan pulls the plug on the Champ.
• We all lust after RenaultSport models speaking about the launch of the R26 and R27.
• Tuck again reveals strange fetishes for minivans while we talk about the Mazda CX7, Renault Espace and Mazda 5.

And more…

Direct file download (30MB)