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.nggv-gallery-pot {display:none;}Rate this gallery:012345678910Cheap, but still cheerful.


Straight after the unmitigated disappointment of that Sandero 1400, I climbed into one of the better-known of the original “cheapie” brigade. Oh yes, Opel might prefer it’s littlest Corsa range to now be more accurately referred to as a premium supermini, but I think we all still recall the Corsa Lite, yes? It used to be a budget offering this name.

It isn’t so much any more. Look at R160K for this entry-level 1.4, it’s quite fairly priced, but it ain’t cheap in the way the Dacia is. A casual glance at the spec sheet might leave you wondering just what justifies the extra cost over the Renault? So there are electric windows in the fronts rather than winders all round, a standard service plane included in the list price, and of course the latest Corsa shape is much, much prettier and more deliberately defined. But otherwise it’s the same five-door, 1.4-litre petrol-powered family tin box recipe, really.

However, one can tend to forget a little that Opel, although playing further down the value scale than the most prominent German players, is still a vehicle built in this centre of engineering excellence. So the moment you step inside the new Corsa, you can tell the real differences between this level of car, and a proper budget-beater. It’s just a nicely rounded and well-finished package on the whole.



Adequate interior materials quality meets a tightly-integrated finish to modern, Eurocentric cabin styling cues. Although the Corsa isn’t a particularly new release there’s nothing inside that looks dated or in any way flaky or out of place. It’s not overladen with technology but it is pretty comfortably appointed as standard, and what you do get seems as though it’ll stay working for quite some time.

That said, a problem which has been pretty consistent on Opels for a few years now does quickly become apparent. With your foot on the clutch pedal, turning the steering wheel swings the pedal from side to side beneath the sole of your shoe. It’s a bit strange, but you don’t really notice it when on the move.



Speaking of moving, the compact little 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine up front produces the same kind of numbers as the Renault unit in the Sandero, but in reality outpunches this motor easily while even managing to sound relatively keen about it all. Sure it’s still no supermini, but yet again demonstrates how the latest small-engine thinking can actually be applied without sacrificing all the qualities we’ve come to love about our dear little modes of transport, even without a turbocharging swelling its output.

This little featherweight motor can actually propel the Corsa up to and even beyond the 170km/h marking on the speedo without prompting the driver to lift off urgently or risk leaving bits of piston scattered about in an oily, smoke-filled wake. In short, there’s heart behind this compact vehicle, an indomitable spirit which refuses to back down regardless of how much bigger or more powerful it’s opponent. You have to love that a little, certainly compared to other cars in this price range which simply don’t feel like they’re interested in trying, or worse, that trying is going to be an expensive mistake on the part of the owner.

The gearbox is good too, moving with a solid precision through its gates and only occasionally baulking, and although the brakes are nothing to write home about, they do offer good progression and decent feel.

Handling is once again commendable for such a high-volume product. Again the impression of solidity comes up, despite its diminutive dimensions the little Corsa seems to stick to the road with conviction, and even relishes the bends that it finds itself scything through.



And finally we come back to the look of the little Corsa. It’s evolved from its original bubbliness to be quite a sharp, handsome little machine in its latest form. It’s a car which actually looks designed, rather than simply being the most cost-effective sheet metal capable of being stamped out in big numbers for low cost at some obscure manufacturing facility. Once again, you may pay a premium for what seems like an intangible perception more than anything else, but you’ll appreciate that fact every time you park up and walk away from it without feeling vaguely ashamed of what you’ve shown up in.

Ths is an excellent overall proposition the Corsa 1.4. Fairly affordable without simply being dismal in every respect, it’s a great first car on a journey to being someone with at least a modicum of motoring passion, rather than for those who’re keen to be soulless drones untouched and unmoved by this dying artform of metal and power and presence. It’d also make a brilliant everyday runaround for a small but growing family, with low fuel consumption, enough build quality to make it feel nice and safe, and handling which even in an emergency is going to be on your side.

Perhaps Opel should consider reinventing the “Lite” moniker – dropping some of the amenities like the electric windows and driving down the price of the Corsa to take on the real budget players? Because the Corsa is so far ahead of others in this category t just isn’t funny. And against it’s direct peers, it’s very competitive and for me would be pretty hard to call between the Corsa and a similarly-priced Polo. The VW would have a bigger and better engine, but the Opel looks nicer by some margin.

Russell Bennett

Liked: Some character.

Slashed, angular styling.

Feels generally well built.

Disliked: Strange clutch/steering column relationship.

Could be even better value…

Drive Vitals: Opel Corsa 1.4 Essentia

Engine:                                                 4-cylinder petrol

Capacity (cc)                                     1398

Gearbox                                              Five-speed Manual

Power (kW)                                        74

Torque (Nm)                                    130

Driven wheels                                  Front

Wheel/tyre dimensions              Fr/Rear 185/65 R15

Price                                                    R165 650

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.nggv-gallery-pot {display:none;}Rate this gallery:012345678910A luxuriously tailored suit.


It was just a few weeks ago that the Suzuki Kizashi was receiving high praise from us for its combination of affordability, exec style and a great drive – the new Suzuki Saloon had become our new king of alternative executive saloons in the sub-R300K market which most have abandoned as their prices have crept steadily up and beyond this point, today considered a fair amount of money to pay for a decent hatchback let alone a fully-fledged 3-Series alternative.

And now along comes Peugeot with its 508 offering the same core appeal – a genuine and genuinely affordable alternative to the 3s, Cs and A4s of the world without compromising the drive. And I’ve got to say right up front, it’s just sublime. Even better than the Kizashi in fact, and that’s saying quite a lot.



All right so this particular model doesn’t squeak in at under the R300K mark, but it comes pretty damn close at R306 700. Even if you added the R17K for built-in satnav like we had on our demo vehicle, that’s still just barely R320K for a car which feels, looks, and goes like it’s worth more. And if you can still manage to shift gears yourself, the Active model variant has the same engine but a couple of the more pointless convenience features left out, and comes in at R283 700. Which by our reckoning makes it something of a steal.

Still, back to this particular Allure variant. Basically for your extra R23K, you get larger 17” alloys (the Active rides on 16”), an annoying electronic handbrake, keyless go, quad- rather than dual-zone climate control, and half leather trim inside. All of which does help to propel the cabin ambience into the more upmarket executive saloon space, certainly, and could therefore be well worth the price.



Then bar the automatic gearbox on this car, everything else is pretty much the same. Which means a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine closely related to the one found in a MINI Cooper S, or perhaps even more closely related to the same unit fitted beneath the hood of the Peugeot RCZ and Citroen DS3. Normally I’m not a big fan of such extensive application of a co-developed unit like this, but when the engine is as good as this it’s forgiveable.

In this form, the mill makes 115kW and 240Nm, allowing the 6-speed manual version to spring to 100km/h from rest in 9.4 seconds according to the manufacturer, although this pricier Allure version can only manage 10.2 thanks to the sloppy self-shifter. You also lose 2km/h worth of top speed, the manual manages 222km/h, this auto “only” 220. Oh well, no real biggie.

Out on the road however, what these numbers don’t manage to reflect is the beefy, muscular way in which the turbo-engorged torque shifts the 508 along, not the distant but still quite throaty growl emanating from beneath the lion-adorned bonnet. It’s clear that, although it may be a distant cousin, there are developments of this same mill which are decidedly enthusiast-oriented, and although this is dulled by the weight and bulk of the saloon car body, there’s still life and excitement lingering in the very metal of the cylinders themselves.



Naturally, the Peugeot s front-driven, but it still manages to make a decent effort when the driver starts driving dynamically. It does have a pretty obstructive gearbox at times, and although there is a button to disable the DSC on a hidden-away control panel, it’s purely for appearances. Turn it all the way off, and as soon as traction is broken, it turns itself back on again. Which of course means it was never actually off in the first place, which is pretty damned stupid if you ask me.

Anyway, the 508 does what French chassis sorcerors are famous for. It mixes superb B-road fluidity with well-matched resilience to roll when pressing on and a nicely resolute front-end which resists wash well. No, there’s no tail-end happiness accessible to help you around tighter turns or anything, and nor is there really enough power to always end up scrabbling wide on the exit. Not that you could even with a V8s worth of power of course, thanks to the intrusive nanny system.

There’s no too-clever active systems at play here either, and in the 508 you can really feel why this is a good thing. Every minute compression of energy nto a spring, slight pause as the tension is coiled and then perfectly damped rebound floods through to niform the driver almost subconsciously of what’s happening at the wheels. There’s not that much feel through the helm itself, but the chassis is a talker, and that’s great in our minds.



All that having been said, this is not a sporty 508. Apparently, that’s a diesel, although I think we all know this is nonsense. The diesel may have more power, but there’s no doubt that it’ll be a passionless, agricultural lugger too. Thankfully this THP petrol is in the range for us proper petrolheads.

Peugeot claim the motor is pretty frugal too, with a highest combined-cycle average fuel consumption of just over 7l/100km. Again, nonsense, as anyone in the know, knows. In reality, and with quite a bit of full throttle driving thrown into the mix, you’ll more honestly settle in the high 10s, maybe even 11l/100km. Which really isn’t bad, even if it can’t come close to the typically blatant bullshit that is the Euro combined-cycle claim.

But perhaps most importantly of all, and to my eyes the real reason why people should consider the 508 as a sound alternative to an established German player, is how it looks. It’s difficult to convey in pictures how it comes together in the metal, and it also tends to grow on you the longer you hang around it. At the beginning of the test it seemed just like another saloon in this class to me, but by the end it had firmly established itself in my mind as easily the most beautiful, captivating, and downright stylish car of a bunch which includes some of the industry’s very best efforts.

It has so much more shape, character, and aesthetic flow than something boxy like the E-Class, so much more alternative flair than something as samey as a BMW 5-Series. The French aren’t that big on adding specific, highly stylised details to otherwise fairly bland shapes like other car “nationalities” tend to – apart from the beguiling Peugeot script in the grille beneath the lion badge itself and the apparently “cat’s-claw” rear light design. But as a whole the shape of the 508 is nothing short of sultry, almost organic. That’s a very rare thing in this hotly-contested space, where innovation and “freshness” aren’t necessarily praised.

This is carried through to the inside as well. Oh by the way, the HUD is silly, perhaps yet another reason to buy the cheaper Active version which doesn’t have this frippery. But otherwise it’s a nice and definitively upmarket cabin ambiance, and feels comfortable, well-built, adequately stylised and pleasantly cocooning.



So in the 508, Peugeot have built one hell of a multi-skilled car. It’s a comfortable, highly-specced executive saloon with a cabin packed with the techie goodness you expect of this class of car. Yet it’s, relatively of course, very affordable. It hasn’t even sacrificed all driving enjoyment on the altar of efficiency, and to top it all off is the swoopiest, most stunning 4-door saloon I’ve seen in a long time, without venturing up to the ultra-luxury, R1m-plus category of course. Speaking of which, from the outside the 508 really has all the presence of a Jaguar XJ, which is astonishing.

Based on technical ability alone, the Germans should be very worried. Of course, South Africans seem to buy these cars especially not on technical ability but on pure brand appeal, so there’s a strong chance the 508 will barely even be a blip in the marketplace, despite deserving to take its place as something of a game changer. A shame, really.

Russell Bennett

Liked: Supple ride, pointy steering.

Purposeful growl from turbo motor.

Stunning to behold.

Disliked: Auto ‘box of course.

Laggy automatic handbrake operation.

Stupid ESC off switch that doesn’t turn the ESP off.

Drive Vitals: Peugeot 508 1.6 THP Allure

Engine:                                                Turbocharged four-cylinder petrol

Capacity (cc)                                    1598

Gearbox                                             Six-speed automatic

Power (kW)                                       115 @ 6000rpm

Torque (Nm)                                    240 @ 1400rpm

Kerb weight (kg)                             1480

Driven wheels                                 Front

0-100km/h                                     10.2s

Price                                                   R306 700

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Fiat has announced prices and details of the 2012 Fiat Punto with the entry-level Pop 1.2-litre model starting from just £9,990.

For the first time the Punto will also be available with the two-cylinder TwinAir engine found in the 500 city car. The 84bhp engine emits 95g/km in the smaller 500 so that figure is likely to remain under 100g/km in the Punto.

Additionally, the 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel engine – previously only available with 75bhp – now comes with an 84bhp output. The new units join the existing 1.2-litre petrol with 69bhp, a 1.4-litre unit with 76bhp and turbocharged petrol 1.4-litre engines producing 104bhp and 133bhp.

Visually the new Punto is marked out by colour coded bumpers, while the interior gets updated dashboard inserts and new seat fabrics.

A new trim level also joins the line-up called GBT. Based on mid-spec Easy models the GBT cars get sports suspension, a rear spoiler and side skirts.

The updated Fiat Punto is on sale now.

source form: autoexpress

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Kia has announced prices for the all-new three-door Rio. The more racy-looking Rio debuted at theFrankfurt Motor Showlast year,
and offers a £600 saving over similarly specced five-door models. Both are offered with identical engine and trim combinations.

Kia’s seven-year warranty is standard across the range and even entry-level ’1′ trim cars come fitted with electric windows and a trip computer. Further up the range, the ’2′ gets alloy wheels and front fog lights, while range-topping ’3′ models come with cruise control and air conditioning.

There’s a choice of four engines: two petrol and two diesels, ranging from the ultra efficient 1.1CRDi through to a 107bhp 1.4-litre petrol. The former emits just 99g/km of CO2, and all diesels come with stop-start as standard.

The three-door Kia Rio is available to order from dealers now, priced from £9,995.

Full prices

1.25 ‘1’
£9,995

1.25 ‘1’ Air
£10,795

1.1 CRDi ‘1 Air’ EcoDynamics
£12,095

1.25 ‘2’
£11,895

1.4 ‘2’
£12,495

1.4 ‘2’ auto
£13,495

1,1 CRDi ‘2’ EcoDynamics
£13,195

1.4 CRDi ‘2’ EcoDynamics
£13,595

1.4 ‘3’
£13,195

1.4 CRDi ‘3’ EcoDynamics
£14,295

source form: autoexpress

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.nggv-gallery-pot {display:none;}Rate this gallery:012345678910SUZUKI SX APPEAL


At first sight the Suzuki SX4 struck me as somehow wrong from an aesthetic point of view. I wasn’t sure about its compact, high-riding body or its big wheels and roof racks but it grew on me pretty quickly. The overall look is sporty and ready for action and those features which seemed out of place at first combine to make it a great looking car.

The example we drove was the 4×4 version which I think is a funky feature in a compact crossover. There’s no diff-lock, no hill climb assist, none of those things which make for a serious off-road capable vehicle but it’ll hold its own if you want to put your surf board on the handy roof racks and hit the beach or if you decide you really need to cross that farmer’s field instead of just driving past it.

Now, in that last paragraph I may have given you the impression that the SX4 is a fun little car for surfer boys and crazy student types and, to be honest, I wish that were the case. I like the picture which this car creates in my head of a bunch of kids being kids and their SX4 taking them wherever their hearts desire. It’s a romantic picture and I really do like it but the fact is that Suzuki has not targeted that market with this car. At R240 900, this is just not in your starving student/surfer’s budget. Sad but true.



Neither, I established, is this car aimed at the mommy brigade. It has an absolutely minimal array of safety equipment and I do mean minimal.  Out of 13 items on the safety and security list, six are related to the airbags, including a mention of how many there are in total and an assertion that they are SRS standard airbags. One just sort of gets the feeling that they’re trying to flesh out a very skeletal list mostly made up of the five most basic electronic aids (ABS, Brake Assist, EBD, ESP and ASC). There are no pre-tensioning seatbelts and this car will not say a word if you don’t even bother to put on a seatbelt. So, no, safety is clearly not the main drive of this car.

The next mommy test was, of course, interior space and it didn’t fare particularly well in that department either. The cabin is roomy enough for a family of four, certainly, but the hatch space is not really worth talking about except to say that there’s just about none. So we can conclude that a boot full of groceries, kit bags and mismatched shoes is also not the aim of the SX4.



Where then, I kept asking myself, will I find this car’s target market? It took some head- scratching but I figured it out. They’re right there, about halfway up the corporate ladder and climbing. They have offices but they’re not the big ones in the corner … not yet. They have life partners and gym memberships and fairly healthy bank accounts. That’s right folks – the SX4 is reaching out to all the hard-working, hard-playing yuppies out there.

Its price tag assures a certain boost in the status department without necessarily breaking the bank, its chunky, all-purpose looks will stand out nicely in the underground parking garage and, when you finally escape the confines of work on a Friday afternoon, I imagine the prospect of a weekend funning about in your SX4 would be quite appealing.

Mind you, all this funning about comes at a price – the SX4 drinks and it drinks fairly hard. I can’t help feeling that this has something to do with the slightly inefficient power delivery of the 2.0 litre, 4 cylinder engine which really lacks the low down torque required to haul this surprisingly heavy little car around.  Once you do haul it out of the dead zone though, the Suzuki is actually pretty quick and handles excellently thanks to its AWD system.



And so we come to the question which I ask myself at the end of every week I spend with a new test car. Would I buy one? I would not. For the same money, I can get something far more family friendly. If, however, I was an upwardly mobile 25 year old with no kids, just about no debt and a healthy sense of fun … well, that might just be a different story.

-          Lisa Bennett

Liked: Sporty, rugged looks

Has character

Disliked:  inefficient power delivery

Slightly cheap feeling inside

Drive Stats Suzuki SX4 2.0 AWD

Engine:  1 995 cc, inline 4 cylinder petrol

Transmission: 6 speed manual

Power (kW): 112

Torque (Nm): 190

Kerb Weight: 1 300 kg

Price: R240 900

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Renaultis working on an Alpine concept for the Paris Motor Show, paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of the iconic A110 Berlinetta.

A Renault insider told Auto Express that although nothing has been officially confirmed, it is understood that the Alpine brand has a “great history and is something very dear to our hearts”. “We know what the brand was, and what it should be”.

All signs are pointing towards a follow-up to the 1960’s rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive coupe, but whether it is economically feasible in the current climate remains a sticking point for the French manufacturer.

We’ll have to wait until later this year to find out more.

source form: autoexpress

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.nggv-gallery-pot {display:none;}Rate this gallery:012345678910The sounds of efficiency.


My first drive in a BMW 1-Series way back when they first appeared was less than salubrious. In fact, the word I’d actually use to describe it best, was dismal. The brand-new, compact hatch-sized but still RWD Beemer, as least that first batch, was nothing like what we petrolheads had hoped and prayed it would be.

I vividly remember trying in vain to key-in to the balance of the ungainly-looking thing with multiple turns around a simple traffic circle. I can’t quite recall what engine was in it – quite possibly the diesel but either way it had no grunt to speak of at all, but I was still utterly shaken to my core by the fact that every time I went searching for the limit of grip, the chassis went completely to pieces and that horrible, catastrophic, juddery understeer started dragging the nose out towards the kerb, often with the very alarmed-looking faces of other motorists blurring through my vision in the process. The 1-Series was practically written off, metaphorically speaking, by me right there.



But fortunately they then started to save the range. First with bigger engines, the scintillating 3-litre straight six fit nicely beneath the hood, then the twin-turbo version of that same unit followed. And I’m convinced they also quietly slipped-in a number of radical chassis and/or suspension setup changes as well, liberating at least some of the BMW-ness from that drab and tawdry machine. It even started looking pretty neat with some M-Sport addenda. And then came the Coupe, which just made it all better, helped in no small part by that exceptional 1 M.

But here, we’re going back to square one. This is the new 1-Series 5-door hatch, the most versatile and most affordable, and therefore highest-selling of the range. Very much like that wooden, dead thing I remember first popping my 1-Series cherry so to speak. Messily. Shudder.

Even scarier, is that it’s also got one of the new-generation of engines beneath its shapelier and ultimately more sporty snout. And it’s the entry-level 4-cylinder. The kind that only the saddest image wannabes with no idea of BMWs as pure driving tools ever buy. Honestly, who/why else would bother with a feckless “four” in their Stuttgart saloon? Only the sixes really count, fours way back then were for Audis.



But, moving with the times, in this case it’s a miniscule little 1.6-litre four-cylinder, with a turbo bolted into the exhaust system to deliver at least a small amount of urge. The claims aren’t too bad for a sub-R300K BMW, 100kW @ 4400rpm, 220Nm at an impossible 1350rpm, 0-100km bang in the mid-8 category and top whack of 210km/h. Oh and apparently it uses almost no fuel, which is weird because that goes against everything my experience with blowers has ever taught me, but it’s par for the confused age we live in so hey let’s go with it. And so the point needs no labouring afterwards, BMW claim 5.5l/100km on the combined-cycle, I got 7.7, which is just slightly under the 8 my ancient 2.8-litre straight-six BM returns. And the 2.8 is quicker, too.

Still, back then that was a flagship sports sedan. This is an entry-level hatchback. In a totally different game.

In operation, the new blown 1.6 really isn’t too bad. OK acceleration off the line is more anodyne than urgent, but it’s competitively brisk. No there’s never enough grunt to break traction at the rear even with the over-complex DSC very firmly off, which is stupid and a waste, but it runs up to that 210km/h marker with ease. In fact you’ll have just got out of fourth at that point, and shifting into top will peg the tacho at 4000rpm flat out. Improved gearing could see the top whack pushed up I’ve no doubt, but it’s for the sake of pseudo-efficiency that it’s geared this way, which in turn lowers the CO2 tax charged at the dealer floor so we’re robbed less because of something which isn’t even real to begin with, so I guess that’s all right too.



Besides, the 116i tries really hard to discourage such, erm, reckless zeal in any case. The engine pulls willingly, but emits the most awful noise. Anyone dreaming of some WRC-style turbo chuffs and chirps, dream on. The 1.6-litre turbocharged four in the nose of this, has a much more workday diesel soundtrack than motorsport-tuned petrol undertones. There’s certainly no joy, no enjoyment at all to be wrung from it.

Which makes the Sport package applied to our test car, which pushes the basic list price for a six-speed manual model like this one up to R288K from R265, just about entirely cosmetic. Although that said, it is an appealing aesthetic on the whole, the new, sportier front-end clearly designed to recall the sultry Z4 coupe is nicely matched to the big, open-spoked alloys. Apart from that you get a Sport badge on the front fender, and the rest of the upgrades are all inside, which is a bit strange.

You also get things like a sporty dash trimming with black lacquered sections highlighted by red pinstripes, a colour theme which is also carried over to the substantial key. I guess so you can brag about how sporty your unsporty 5-door BMW hatch actually is when you’re at a restaurant or a bar flashing this branded slab of plastic.

Not an iota of real added sportiness at all. It’s just weird.



Fortunately the base 1-Series setup is pretty good now. The suspension can feel a bit firm and crashy at times, but the upshot is a hatchback which scythes accurately through the bends with the helm purity which is natural of RWD, even if it isn’t the most talkative steering any more. Here, finally, the 116i starts to make at least some sense. The absence of power means you work this biddable chassis to its limits maintaining as much momentum as you can, and the car feels like it’s on your side in this objective.

In fact you can almost extract enough cerebral dynamic satisfaction from hustling the 116i down any given road to forgive it its most glaring foibles. Almost, but ultimately no, not quite.

Sub-standard materials unfit to be on any car bearing the BMW badge really cheapen the interior, even the multifunction sports wheel feels bound in PVC rather than leather, while the awful scratchy black plastic that makes up the lion’s share of the dash is just appallingly B-grade, and wouldn’t make it onto an Audi even a cheapie like the A1.

And second, there’s a sizeable packaging problem which shouldn’t have slipped through the design phase either. The dash and steering wheel intrude too deeply into the cabin space, so the opening of the driver’s door is more than half obscured by facia when you’re clambering in and out. Sure it’s more of a problem for a 7-foot weirdo like me, but even my 5’5” wife kept catching sensitive bits on the hard wheel making her way in and out of the drivers’ seat. That would get seriously annoying over time.



Perhaps more punch and at least an attempt at a rousing voice, such as the 118i promises, it would be enough to ignore the foibles, but with this painfully dull dentists’ drill of an engine, flaccid performance and sharp but inert handling, that cheap and difficult to access interior continues to stand out in my memory. It’s a shame, because otherwise it’s a real grower, and after my week with it I may not have actually ever looked forward to driving it, but I began not to dread it at least.

Russell Bennett

Liked: Agile, responsive, feel-good dynamics.

Ease of hitting 210km/h.

Sportier sculpting.

Disliked: Atonal drone of aurally dead engine.

Interior materials from a mainstream 90s manufacturer.

Sportless Sport package.

Drive Vitals: BMW 116i 5-door

Engine:                                 Turbocharged four cylinder petrol

Capacity (cc)                     1598

Gearbox                              Six-speed Manual

Power (kW)                        100 @ 4400rpm

Torque (Nm)                     220 @ 1350-4300rpm

Kerb weight (kg)              1255

Driven wheels                   Rear

0-100km/h                       8.5s

Price                                     R286 000 (Sport Line, no other options)

 

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The new N-Tec+ flagship replaces the N-Tec and adds rear parking sensors on top of the NTEC’s satellite navigation and rear privacy glass.

The N-Tec+ and Acenta models have been given a number of exterior changes, including body-coloured mirrors and front foglight surrounds as well as new 16-inch ‘diamond cut’ two-tone alloy wheels replacing the previous 15-inch versions.

Inside, the Acenta now has climate control, automatic headlights and rain-sensing windscreen wipers as standard, while new blue stitching is intended to give the Note’s interior more of a premium feel.

There are no mechanical changes to the existing range, with pricing on the Visia unchanged at £11,200, the Acenta up £200 to £13,000 and the N-Tec+ up £824 over the N-Tec to £13,500.

The updated Note will arrive in showrooms in February.
source form: autoexpress

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