Motoring News

General News
Dodge Charger saves man's life

A parked Dodge Charger inadvertently saved a man's life, cushioning a 39 story suicide attempt in New York.

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A Dodge Charger buffered a 22-year-old’s apparent attempt to end his life as he jumped off a 39 floor building in New York on Wednesday.

Thomas Magill jumped off the high-rise building on the West Side of New York but survived as he landed on a 2008 Dodge Charger parked below.

According to the New York Daily News, witnesses said he landed feet first on the red Charger, causing the roof to crush and the glass to break. He underwent surgery for two broken legs and was in a critical condition last night.

According to the New York Post, a contractor called Anthony Monteforte heard the crash. Monteforte said, "He looked like a pretzel."

The Post also reported the Dodge’s Charger, Guy McCormick to have said, "I can’t believe this. My car saved his life."

McCormick had borrowed the car from his wife and said it was ‘totalled’ with a smashed rear windshield and damaged boot.

Dodge’s Charger is a large four-door performance sedan produced for the North American market, capable of significant performance due to a full line of HEMI 5.7- and 6.1l V8 engine options.

The Charger is also popular as a law enforcement vehicle and set to be replaced by a new model next year, employing various technical upgrades courtesy of Chrysler’s relationship with Italian auto giant Fiat.

General News
Ferrari’s huge fire-risk recall

After one fire too many, Ferrari has issued a product recall on all 458 Italias produced to date.

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Ferrari has issued a directive to its global customer base that will see 1248 cars returned to dealerships as part of a fire-risk recall.

The fabled Italian supercar maker has a seen a number of 458s destroyed in recent months due to fire.

After investigating incidents that saw four immolate themselves (one each in California, Paris, China and Switzerland) Ferrari issued the recall.

The issue appears to be with the wheel arch and heat shield assembly, secured by mechanical fasteners and an adhesive.

Due to the 458’s extreme exhaust heat signature (hardly surprising, considering its 4.5l V8 produces 425kW at 9000r/min) the adhesives can overheat, producing smoke which ignites off the gas exchange plumbing.

As the 458 Italia is constructed with rather exotic materials (to keep mass low and aid agility), it burns rather well too – unfortunately.

This is the flip side of any light aluminium and magnesium structure: the distressing rate at which it burns once ignited – as a few 458 owners have found out.

Ferrari’s official factory line is slightly more diplomatic. "High outside temperatures and intensive use of the vehicle cause a distortion and the vehicle catches fire," a company spokesperson said.

The recall will involve 1258 cars, with Ferrari attaching a new heat shield free of charge (would you expect anything less?) as part of the fix, which sees the heat shield attachment secured exclusively with rivets instead of an adhesive.

4x4 Lifestyle
Driven: Kia's edgy new Sportage

Kia's latest Sportage is set to shake-up the traditional South African SUV hierarchy. We drive it in Mozambique.

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A decade ago there were no Kias with even passing aspiration appeal.

Well built, terrifically equipped and superbly priced family cars. This was Kia’s core business.

The product portfolio lacked something with the Eurocentric individualism of sibling brand Hyundai’s Tiburon.

Nowadays though, Kia’s relationship with stylish design language is a lot more interpretable. The industry is taken notice and reading between the lines - Kia is a brand with appreciating design value.

The Schreyer effect

Kia’s chief designer is of course former VW and Audi style guru, Peter Schreyer.

The prodigiously talented German was responsible for the original Audi TT and is an acknowledged private transport design master.

Under Schreyer’s direction Kia’s revolutionised the aesthetics (and some would argue, brand equity) of its product offering.

Cerato. Pro_Cee'd. Sorento. Soul. All these cars are celebrated designs in their own right yet managed to share a recognisable Kia signature execution too.

In a remarkably short period of time Kia’s cars have germinated from being forgettably anonymous looking to becoming one of the most celebrated contemporary four-wheeled design portfolios around.

Best of all is that the company’s core values have not been supplanted by its newfangled chicness. Perhaps no car better illustrates this than Kia’s latest offering to the South African market, the third-generation Sportage.

The previous one was a slightly indifferent looking, yet very solid soft-roader SUV generously trimmed with features. Third-generation Sportage has been engineered to operate at a whole new level though.

Looking at the new car its Sportage DNA is untraceable. This is a thoroughly new design which is in all likelihood the best looking compact SUV on the market right now.

Although Schreyer’s probably poached the idea for those oversized rear taillights from erstwhile employer VW’s Touareg, the rest of the car is fantastically executed. It is a masterful interplay of clean surfacing, subtle details and expertly crafted proportions.

Three engines

South Africans have option on a smattering of Sportage models, configured around three engine and transmission combinations.

Buy-in point is the Ignite grade 2l petrol, available only in front-wheel drive with either a five-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. With an equal ration bore and stroke ratio, the entry-level Sportage produces an impressive 122kW of peak power from its 2l swept capacity.

The headline petrol 2.4l Sportage does not have a manual transmission option, yet is available with all-wheel drive capacity - modulated by a clutch pack.

Eight units more powerful than its 2l sibling, the 2.4l Sportages (either front- or all-wheel drive) share a similar 130kW output peak with the turbodiesel cars. Of course the 2l compression ignition engine models (sporting both manual and automatic six-speed transmission options) have demonstrably more rotational force, with 392Nm compared to the 2.4l petrol’s 227Nm.

Statistically the three engines compare favourably with their competition – especially the 2l turbodiesel, which is a very impressive joint-venture project with Hyundai.

It is a Kia – everything is inside

The value offering from manufacturers based on the Korean peninsula has always been stellar – with very little offered in the line of optional extras.

Kia's new Sportage continues this marketing mantra.

Front-wheel drive models roll 17-inch alloys with the all-wheel drive Sportages equipped with wheels an inch larger. Exemplifying Kia’s thorough homework on local road conditions, all Sportages are equipped with a full-size alloy sparewheel – a vanishing product specification amongst most other SUVs.

The Sportage registers an impressive suite of active and passive safety features too.

A sophisticated pulse braking system has force distribution and adaptive cornering control, ensuring optimal control whether you require emergency deceleration in a straight line, or are trying to avoid a hazard on a substrate surface.

In the event of a collision six airbags litter the cabin architecture.

Beyond these standard safety features the Sportage’s comfort and convenience tailoring depends on drivetrain specification.

Manual air-conditioning, satellite steering wheel controls, powered mirrors and windows, a mutli-format enabled sound system and aft bumper embedded parking sensors stock the 2l Ignite.

Upgrade to the more powerful 2.4l petrol and turbodiesel front-wheel drive options and you gain automatic air-conditioning (augmented by a thermal regulated glovebox), leather upholstery, a powered driver’s seat, cruise control and daytime running lights.

The Sportage range is headlined by the all-wheel drive derivatives, adding significantly upgraded infotainment capability (buoyed by a subwoofer with its own dedicated power supply) and the clever rear-view mirror field of view reversing camera, first seen on the Sorento. A panoramic sunroof is optional and Kia has a range of nudge and bull bars too - all calibrated to work with the airbag systems.

Drives like it looks?

I know what you are thinking. “It looks great. Spec is neat too. Can’t possibly be a decent drive as well, right?” Wrong.

Crossovers. SUVs. Soft-roaders. Whatever you like to call them, vehicles like the Sportage are built to traverse bad roads, not cut a path where there are no roads. To illustrate this Kia optioned to launch the Sportage in Mozambique, navigating the potholed roads near the Lebombo mountains. This provided classic soft-roader terrain, the kind of routing which an adventurous crossover owner might happen upon during a weekend breakaway.

Out on the Lebombo bound route Kia’s new Sportage provided a driving experience true to its technical billing.

The turbodiesel engine, combined with a rather alert six-speed automatic transmission, has a real urgency to it above 1 800r/min. In a velocity range between 60-140km/h throttle inputs are met with a surge of rotational force (392Nm) endowing the Sportage diesel with a generous safety margin when overtaking.

Sportage diesel's dynamics are well balanced too, with the 32bit engine control module enabling impeccable management of the piezo high-pressure injection system. Unsurprisingly, it averages 6.5l/100km on the combined cycle.

The Sportage’s choice of 17- and 18-inch alloys roll just enough rubber profile (225/60 and 235/55) to allow sufficient sidewall clearance to cushion through Mozambique’s worst potholes without warping any rims. If you do take out one of the tyres, there is of course a full-sized to ensure your onward journey to a final destination is not done at sloth-like pace courtesy of a space saver space...

Secure traction

As tremendously responsive as the 2.0 CRDi Sportage is, the bulk of sales may be all-wheel drive 2.4l petrol models, which lack the diesel Sportage's mid-range punch, has entirely tolerable performance.

The entry level 2l engine needs a lot of input from the left hand and left foot to keep it going though. Its manual transmission's shift regime is not stellar either, the co-ordination is very light yet the shift action (especially downshifting from third to second) is slightly awkward when you hurry the lever through the H-gate.

Sportage’s all-wheel drive system is of course a front-wheel drive biased set-up augmented by rear axle traction when required.

A clutch pack splits the toque distribution equally between both axles when the lock function is engage and only works below 40km/h. Don’t kid yourself though, this is at best a traction aid for muddied dirt roads and easy sand tracks to an isolated vacation spots.

The Sportage does not have a reduction ratio transmission or genuine centre differential. Ground clearance has been lessened by 23mm to 172mm on the new vechile, so there is no pretence at real off-roading, which is fine really – as it is a crossover. Boasting hill-start and descent assist electronics it will do a neat job of manoeuvring water craft down and back-up slipways.

At speed and around a bustling urban environment – such as peak over traffic in Maputo – the Sportage’s all-wheel independent suspension tracks confidently and overall it is an agile, well sorted car. Sorry, I mean crossover.

The electric power steering is predictably numb just off the centre-point at speed, yet this affliction is common of all contemporary electrically geared power assistance systems. This is the price one pays for an increase in efficiency and lowered consumption.

From the helm Kia’s latest offering is very convincing. Sportage’s seats and steering both have an ample range of adjustment, ergonomics are neat (the large font dials are legible and adds to the cabin’s ambience) and although the materials are not all of premium soft-touch tactility, the cabin achitecture is very much well put together. Third-generation Sportage's luggage area is 80mm longer and 110mm wider too, multiplying to a total volume of 740l.

Image machine

All things considered the Sportage has few foibles.

The 55l the fuel tank – even when factoring in the range of its efficient engines – is a trifle too small for local conditions, where a weekend away roundtrip can easily tally 1000km. Staying with the fuel issue, the magnificent CDRi diesel engine has very sober drinking habits, only accepting 50ppm diesel – which, in all honesty, is to be expected for something of its capacity and output figures.

Well equipped, decently engineered and terrifically styled the new Sportage is a fantastically accomplished vehicle.

Crossovers. SUVs. Soft-roaders. The difference between these market niches are frictional and for all intents and purposes the result of marketing malarkey. Kia's new Sportage seems to make sense of it all and should enable the South Korean brand to bolster its burgeoning image even further.

Pricing:

Sportage Petrol

2WD 2.0 MAN IGNITE     R249 995
2WD PETROL 2.0 MAN    R264 995
2WD PETROL 2.0 AUTO R274 995
AWD PETROL 2.0 MAN   R294 995
AWD PETROL 2.0 AUTO R304 995
AWD PETROL 2.4 AUTO R319 995

Sportage Diesel

2WD CRDi 2.0 MAN   R289 995
2WD CRDi 2.0 AUTO R299 995
AWD CRDi 2.0 MAN   R319 995
AWD CRDi 2.0 AUTO R329 995

4x4 Lifestyle
Hilux on the rocks in Iceland

Iceland's Arctic Trucks exists for snow. Now it's joined Toyota SA to build extreme machines for Africa, too. LES STEPHENSON reports from Reykjavik.

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I'd always wanted to drive a Tonka truck for real, to somehow shrink, like Alice, into the miniature cab and simply drive over everything in my way. It took a trip to Iceland, a few degrees south of the Arctic Circle, to make the dream reality – except for the shrinking.

How come? Well, Toyota SA has become closely involved with bakkie convertor and extreme tours company Arctic Trucks in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, to the extent that the two businesses intend to produce "extreme" trucks similar to those in the picture above at a plant in South Africa.

The tech and international expertise will come from AT, the parts from Toyota SA, but the automaker will remain fairly remote from the operation because of Toyota's global business rules. Essentially, the required Toyota Hilux bakkie will be sold to a customer and the vehicle passed on to AT at a yet-to-be established facility in Johannesburg but, unlike other converters, the factory warranty will remain in place.

And you might as well know up front that the price of the basic Hilux will pretty much double by the time it reaches your garage with all its new bits. Into which, by the way, it might not fit with its hugely flared new wheel arches. The first SA units are expected to be delivered before the end of 2010, which happens to be the 40th anniversary year of Hilux production.

Toyota has for decades celebrated important increments in its market-leading trucks' existence with media events on an island somewhere – Mauritius, Reunion and (most recent) Madagascar. This past week the 40th "party" involved Iceland (a nation of 300 000 people in the North Atlantic Ocean), a number of South African motoring writers, a half-dozen of Arctic Trucks' fat-tyred, high-riding go-anywhere's, two glaciers and a lot of active volcanoes – one of which, you might recall, brought European air traffic to a halt earlier this year.

Oh yeah, and two grinding tectonic plates, some of the world's most spectacular waterfalls, a crashed US Navy DC3, a spooky beach of black volcanic ash, a hot blue swimming pool that claims to be able to cure psoriasis, and another simmering volcano that could bring the northern hemisphere to a halt two years from now in an eruption that will make the Eyjafjallajokull seismic event seem like a wind bubble in your bathtub.

It's an amazing country of many geological faces; a must-go target for adventure-seekers.

AT's super-outdoorsy board chairman, shaven-headed Emil Grimmson, explained to Wheels24 during a walkabout at the compact Reykjavik workshops that there's more to building a Hilux globe-cruiser than just fitting a balloon tyre at each corner to make it as comfortable on the road as it is rocking across the rock-covered, blasted landscape of an Icelandic volcanic ash-field, floating on the knee-deep snow of a sub-Arctic glacier or splashing through a river on hip-high rubber.

Hell, yes! And during the past week I've done all the above, and more… check out the gallery that's linked to this feature…

"Icelanders once used horses to get around on difficult terrain, especially in winter," Grimmson said, "but today we use bigger tyres to 'float' on the snow. We started with 35" BF Goodrich tyres back in the 1980's and in 1985, for the first time, Iceland was crossed from East to West by a motor vehicle.

"At first Toyota Iceland declined official involvement – there were warranty issues – but AT learned to listen to its customers and in 1990 we took off. Now 70% of vehicles in the Icelandic mountain glaciers are Hiluxes. We use Toyota parts in the conversions wherever possible – parts need to be universally available, especially when our vehicles reach Antarctica (see below).

"However we couldn't use the Toyota name on our products so Arctic Trucks came into being and we changed the styling of the trucks for individuals who wanted to be different."

The high-rise, balloon-tyred AT products use rubber starting at 35" (that's what will be offered in South Africa) but a conversion of a Prado (Land Cruiser 150) is a work in progress with 44" tyres at the Reykjavik workshops. A set of four starts at the equivalent of about R12 000 but the full conversion can almost double the price of the parent Hilux.

"We also teach drivers how to handle their AT units safely – our motto is 'understand both the situation and the vehicle'."

Part of AT's corporate credo is the care of the environment; it's one of the company's foundation stones. Once upon a time in Iceland only heavy trucks and tracked vehicles reached remote places. Snowmobiles were also used in winter but their unreliability, short range, fragile drive belts and no-snow areas discouraged their use.

"Then along came Arctic Trucks," Grimmson said, "and changed everything. We're also working in Antarctica, though at first people didn't believe what our bakkies could do - huge distances on one-third the fuel of alternatives, at greater speed and with much better comfort.

"We've opened up possibilities for further, easier, Antarctic exploration. We're supplying vehicles for an Indian Antarctic research unit and Arctic Trucks will be used for a televised celebrity race to the South Pole because our vehicles can achieve previously unachievable distances."

Those six three-litre turbodiesel all-wheel drive bakkies will be assembled in South Africa and feature on worldwide TV. Grimmson reckons SA's off-road experience will be invaluable in their production and that's how come I landed in Reykjavik with waterproof boots, thermal underwear and rarin' to evaluate AT's products – one of them the red Hilux 38" used in British TV personality Jeremy Clarkson's dash to the North Pole in 2007. I drove it up there in Iceland.

The 44 is a truly astounding ride; nothing except perhaps a brick wall will stop it and mud, snow, ice and river crossings go by almost unnoticed by the crew.

Another AT Hilux will in November be handed over to South Africa's Sanae Antarctic bases to improve access to that frozen wonderland - the first such vehicle the station has had in its 50 years of existence. AT will also establish a service base to be run by Sanae staff.

AT also does big-tyre work for the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish military but our focus last week was on the off-road performance of their converted Hiluxes, so back to the trip… and that simmering volcano. It's called Hekla and our travels in the AT AWD's took us right to it. Or at least to the Vanajokull glacier in which it lurks, and the country's highest restaurant that squats on a rocky mountain peak at the end of a twisting gravel road and gazes across 8600 square kilometres of ice.

It's a white sea that stretches over the horizon but is striated by bands black ash from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption – as are thousands of square km of other mountains and ash plains across Iceland

It's snow driving and it's what the fat-tyred AT's are built for. Apart from the bigger rubber, the suspension is raised by around 40cm, front and rear diff locks are installed, some have built-in air pumps, most have auto five-speed gearboxes (the standard item), seriously long-range diesel tanks can be installed, but all models can be customised according to clients' needs.

So, on the snow? The glacier's vast surface is uneven, narrow crevasses slice in parallel across the surface - wheel traps hidden under a thin mantle of white. We hit one and had to be hauled out with a winch. Bigger cracks have swallowed whole trucks. The ride on some areas was rough and back-wrenching but soon forgotten on flat virgin snow.

I wish the Antarctic drivers new snow on the south polar ice when their AT Hiluxes fire up after shipping from Durban.

The scale of the glacier is eye-numbing; leading vehicles shrink into dots and the only way to follow is to stick to their tyre tracks, picking up speed and hearing the fat rubber roar over the ice crystals with nothing else in sight but distant mountain peaks poking out of the whiteness.

Product range

An AT Hilux can easily be identified by its imposing stance, flared wheel arches and large tyres, the last being the key differentiator in the name of the conversion. These are the standard Hilux conversions available from Arctic Trucks but information on the others are on the Arctic Trucks website.

They all have running boards and brackets, a fire extinguisher, torque wrench and a first aid kit. Conversions are done on all Hilux versions - double, single and extended cab.

AT35: 35” tyres, flared wheel arches and a suspension raised by 40mm. A popular choice among hunters, 4x4 enthusiasts, farmers and park rangers across the world. The 35x12.5R15 tyres are fitted to 15x10 wheel rims and are key to Arctic Truck’s proposition that the AT35 has better off-road capabilities, a softer ride, higher seating and, thanks to the tyres that can be deflated for soft sand or snow, better traction off the beaten track.

AT38: The version that carried the BBC Top Gear team to the magnetic North Pole. It has Toyota’s three-litre D-4D diesel engine that's capable of 126kW and 360Nm. It rides on 38x15.5 R15 tyres and 15x12.5 rims.

It can be ordered with auto or manual gearbox, heavy-duty suspension, a differential lock on each axle and the fuel tank can be expanded to 110 or 160 litres. Other extras include a compressed-air tank with waterproof compressor, an extra-heavy duty dual air filtration system, a 24V generator and more power outlets. Ground clearance is 420 mm under the vehicle’s belly.

AT44: Designed for the harshest conditions. This is the model that drove from the Novo airbase on Antarctica to the South Pole and back in 2008/09. The AT44 rides on 15x16 rims and 44x18.5/15 tyres which can be deflated to allow the AT44 with a 1.5 ton load capacity to cross ultra-soft ground. It can be ordered with manual or auto gearbox and a crawler gear with a 5.132:1 ratio in low range.

Maximum fuel load is 1350 litres if you order the trailer bowser, 190 litres without.

Under-belly ground clearance is 480mm, there is a 100% differential lock on each axle and heavy-duty suspension. Air tank, compressor and 24V generator are options.

6x6: Same features as other AT's but with a much longer load bed, three-ton load capacity and 400-litre fuel tank.The 6x6 can be ordered with any of the AT conversions and is powered by the same 3.0 D-4D engine.