New vehicle sales depressed in SA

Walk into a Merc dealer and you’ll be greeted by a brand new C63 AMG sitting alongside a CLS and so on.
 And most amazingly of all, the C-Class range secured second place in the passenger car sales list for January 2009.  Does this tell you that buyers in this range don’t need credit to get their wheels?  There can be no other explanation in a market which slid by a massive 34 percent over the same month last year although from the positive side, sales were up six percent compared with a dismal December.  The top five sellers looked like this:
1-VW Polo                2151
2-Merc C-Class           1457
3-Toyota Yaris           1312
4-VW Citi Golf           1079
5-BMW 3-Series          960
Light commercial vehicle sales were even worse off, showing a massive 41 percent reduction over January 2008.
The performance of the VW Polo continues to amaze, especially when you consider that a replacement model is due to be shown at next month’s Geneva Motor Show.
 It’s rare for a model so deep into its life cycle to continue attracting buyers but perhaps that’s a virtue of solid engineering which is put before glitz and glamour.
Talk of smaller cars brings me to the Mazda2.
  I first saw this model some moons ago in a motor show environment and while it looked refreshingly neat and mod without being over the top, it didn’t make you take a deep breath.
 In the real world, alongside models that have been around since Methuselah discovered the razor blade, the Mazda2 really does look attractive, even spunky, and I can well picture it appealing to younger females.
Zoom-Zoom really is alive and well as far as this model range is concerned but maybe not so much in the case of the visually appealing  Mazda6. 
This slinky-looking mid-ranger simply isn’t winning comparative tests, especially when it’s up against the revised Honda Accord and the now venerable VW Passat.
Another newcomer that caught my eye the other day was the Ford Fiesta.
  A few examples of the old model found their way onto Zim’s roads, and while this was a neat and tidy and very worthy supermini, it didn’t look more than conventional.
 The new model by contrast does catch your eye, looking much more substantial, and as an apparent contradiction in terms, a lot more rakish.
 I’ve been denied the opportunity to drive the latest batch of Fords, but from what I read in overseas publications, they are all endowed with class-leading dynamics and notable chassis composure, attributes which it seems South Africans aren’t especially interested in as the Focus and Fiesta hardly set the admittedly melting sales charts alight.
 I’m guessing it’s a perception problem which has been around fpr a long time, by which I mean since the demise of the Yank-Tank style Fords which were so beloved of South Africans in the 50s and 60s.  Curious this, especially when you consider how good later iterations of the Mondeo have been, yet they’ve been largely ignored.
Fuel consumption
I hear lots of talk about fuel prices but a lot less about how to limit consumption of the precious liquid.
 Driving style and car usage patterns have more influence on economy than any other factors, and while usage pattern, in other words, rush hour traffic, may be unavoidable, your driving style is very much adaptable without incurring great sacrifices.
 Quite why motorists seem hell-bent on accelerating up to a stop street or red light beats me.  All the energy released by the combusted fuel is simply turned into wasted energy in the shape of heat generated by the brakes which in turn wear out faster than necessary.
So, if you’re not going to drive with economy in my mind, there can’t be much point in going into a lengthy discourse on the benefits or otherwise of so-called economy devices. 
All sorts of claims are made for all sorts of dubious contraptions ranging from tablets to magnets, but let me make the point that if these curious devices achieved  even half of what’s claimed for them,  every manufacturer in the world would be in a queue to snap them up.  Instead, they rightly spend billions on improving combustion efficiencies and in reducing drag, which along with mass is the biggest enemy of economy.
Did you know, for example, that around 20 percent of the fuel your car consumes goes down the exhaust in order to overcome the friction generated between the road and tyres?  That’s one very good reason to keep tyres properly inflated.  The friction level rises alarmingly as the side walls bulge further and further. 
Beyond that rather obvious observation, when it comes to replacing tyres, you may be wise to consider the latest generation of “reduced-friction” tyres.

Many European manufacturers are producing special economy-orientated model ranges which feature special tyres in addition to a host of other tweaks.
These special tyres are becoming more freely available on the aftermarket as bigger production runs ensue and I reckon they’re worth seeking out as you will definitely benefit from reduced fuel use, especially if you do a fair bit of open road driving and adhere to inflation recommendations at all times.  Just two examples are Michelin “Energy Savers” and Continental “EcoContacts”.
In years gone by, tyre manufacturers always had to carry out a balancing act between grip and reduced rolling resistance. In wet climates, grip level is especially critical and in order to achieve this, softer compounds were employed which wore out quicker on hot, dry roads and which generated greater friction.
Nowadays, with greater use of synthetics, the compromise factor is greatly diminished so that good grip and low resistance can be amenable bed partners. On a related matter, I read the other day about a tyre test conducted in Europe comparing a well-known international brand with an entirely home-grown Chinese brand.   
The differences in lap times in the dry were not huge but the already-lagging Chinese devices squealed horrendously and simply didn’t cut it in the wet where they were eight seconds a lap slower than the established European make.
 What price do you put on safety?   
Stratospheric pricing
Huge prices are an every-day occurrence in Zimbabwe (unless you discount the pseudo-effect of lopping off noughts every few months) but in price-competitive RSA, it’s not often that you encounter rip-offs.  Unfortunately, I just have and I’m still shaking my head.  My wife is presently driving a Merc A-Class which is fitted with a simply outstanding “communication” system dubbed Audio 20 in Merc speak.  
The sound output of this unit is nothing less than superb — the best I’ve ever encountered — and the integrated phone system is a marvel of well-directed technology which does much to enhance road safety.  
It just happens that this unit came fitted with a “media interface” connection in the cubby hole but the snag is you need to buy cables to connect to the connection so as to integrate your USB device or I-Pod into the aforementioned system.
Needless to say, the socket in the cubby has been designed by the boffins in Stuttgart to be unique to the system so any old cables won’t do — only Merc-supplied bits of wire will do the job and you have to buy three at once even if you only want one.  Get my drift?
It’s worse than you might already think though, as the three cables, which I’m guessing won’t be more than 30 cms long, cost an outrageous R1277.02.   
To put this in persepective, an entire Dolby Digital sound system of Korean origin, complete with no less than five speakers, can be bought in the local Hi-Fi shop for R1300.
Such examples of pure greed do a fair bit to sour the very favourable impressions generated by this little on the outside but big on the inside A170.
It’s ride is a trifle jiggly on uneven surfaces and the power steering feels oddly and artificially weighted around the straight ahead position, but the rest of it is pure delight with a fit and finish that’s wholly worthy of carrying the three-pointed star.
 Most impressive of all is the load area which offers incredible space and wonderfully simple-to-execute configuration options.
There’s no need to touch a seat belt or get buckles out of the way at any time.
The belts fold down automatically with the backrests and the buckles are spring loaded so automatically go down into the well under the folded backrest without digging any holes in the fabric.
 The attention to detail is also very evident in that the release latches on the backrest display a red section  to warn you if the seat is not properly latched and could therefore fly forward in an accident.  
As for price, and giving due consideration to the massive standard equipment levels sported by SA-spec A-Classes, you’re looking at no more money than you’ll pay for a Renault Megane, a Peugeot 308 or a Toyota Auris just by way of example.
So, more’s the pity that M-B see fit to catch you out with accessory prices.