The Car Guide

If you have a taste for a period Rolls-Royce or Bentley but do not have the budget for either, you could always compromise a tad bit. BMC was the largest British car company of its day, in 1952 it had 39% of British output, producing a wide range of cars under brand names including Austin, Morris, MG, Austin-Healey and Wolseley as well as commercial vehicles and agricultural tractors. Image: BMCautos At the time BMC wanted to take on the upmarket Jaguars with the Austin Westminister and Vanden Plas Princess R. That plan didn’t work but as time went by Jaguar  was acquired by the BMC stable in 1966, removing the need to compete. From the perspective of Jaguar, the sale to BMC became firm in September, Sir William Lyons, the managing director and co-founder of the company saw the merger as the best way for Jaguar to ensure supplies of bodies from Pressed Steel, which supplied Jaguar and was now owned by BMC.  The styling of the vehicles emanated after BMC commissioned Pini...

In the April 2022 edition of CAR Magazine, we looked at the long-running Swedish seven-seater after its overhaul with a range of mild-hybrid powertrains, three trim levels, and the same gently refreshed exterior introduced in 2020. Volvo XC90, the company’s top-of-the-line flagship model offers a newly-developed fuel-saving engine option that marks the next step in the company’s ambitious electrification strategy.  Image: Volvo The introduction of the new XC90 ‘B’-badged cars represents a major step for Volvo cars towards its electrification era. The new ‘B’-badged cars complement Volvo’s existing T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid, an electrified option on the new Volvo XC90. We had the opportunity to test out Volvo’s halo SUV and we must say it has improved refinements and gains at the petrol pump are marginal. Thankfully the things we love about the XC90 remain strong, from the beautifully crafted cabin, upmarket styling, and good standard specification to the relaxed driving ma...

The utilitarian model is one step closer to arriving in the garages of off-road enthusiasts. Ineos has officially confirmed that Grenadier production is underway with deliveries expected in the last month of the year.  Image: Ineos The highly anticipated Ineos off-roader is officially being produced at the Hambach facility in France. This comes after several delays as a result of global supply chain disruptions for hampering the mass manufacture of the model.  Related: Ineos Grenadier in South Africa – dealer network and indicative pricing Ineos Automotive’s commercial director, Mark Tennant stated: “We’ve come a long way since the project kicked off in 2017 and this is a landmark moment for Ineos Automotive as a vehicle manufacturer. To get to this point is a testament to the resilience and hard work of the entire Ineos Automotive team, our development partners, and our suppliers – for which we thank them all as we now look forward to making our first deliveries to c...

While fuel injection systems were developed early in the history of the internal combustion engine, they did not enter the automotive market until the late 1950s. Fuel-injected plane designs were used in In World War I and they continued to make appearances in aircraft design after that with GM introducing its first fuel-injection model to the automotive market as an option in 1957. Image: iStock Fuel injection systems can be categorised into two types, fuel mixture that is formed externally and mixtures that are formed in a combustion chamber. External mixture formation is also known as manifold injection, the simplest form of Single-Point Injection (SPI). The earliest and most straightforward type of fuel injection, single-point simply replaced the carburettor with one or two fuel-injector nozzles in the throttle body, which is the throat of the engine’s air intake manifold. Single-point injection improved cold-start performance, driveability and fuel consumption but showed stric...

You could win a Falken hamper to the value of R5000 at the 2022 Killarney Motor Show, powered by the City of Cape Town and supported by Masterdrive, Alert Engine Parts, Wingfield Motors and Motul, on Sunday 30 October. This one-of-a-kind prize has been sponsored by Falken Tyres South Africa; we welcome them as a first-time supporter of the biggest motor show in the Western Cape and thank them for their generosity. You could be the one to walk away with this huge hamper from Falken – but we’re going to make you work for it! You’ll have to research the answer to the following question: Where are Falken Tyres made? Email your answer (and your name!) to dave@wpmc.co.za before close of business on Friday 28 October; all the correct entries will go into a crash helmet, and the winner will be drawn at 4:15pm at the Killarney Motor Show on Sunday 30 October, on stage at the Monster Energy Gig Rig on the Porsche Straight, just past the start/finish line – and you’ll have to be there in pe...

It is that time of the year again! In anticipation of the December issue of CAR Magazine, we will be taking some high-performance creations for a jaunt around the picturesque Western Cape. Here is what to look out for in this year’s shootout.  In annual fashion, the closing months of the year for the CAR Magazine team are dominated by arranging a monumental shootout event which features several high-performance models from a raft of manufacturers contending the local market. Pitted against each other, there can only be one overall winner.  Related: CAR Performance Shootout 2022 with Continental Tyres Years gone by have produced December issues with cover images to rival stuff dreams are made of and the 2023 edition of the annual finale will be no different. With an eclectic mix of models available to test this year, including SUVs, hatchbacks, coupes and sedans, there really is something sporty to choose from for everyone.  Breathtaking views that dominate tourist ca...

Volkswagen’s CEO has pledged to do away with their unfavourable touch-sensitive steering controls which have been a controversial feature on higher-end models in their lineup. Buttons will return in the future.  Image: Volkswagen Few bad cars exist in the local motoring sphere but good cars may often come with bugbears that can inhibit their seamless use and become a frustration for their users. Volkswagens’ touch-sensitive steering controls are one such example of this, fitted into higher-end models within the German automaker’s lineup which have been a controversial addition from the onset. Related:  Volkswagen Tiguan R Review This may become a thing of the past as CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Thomas Schäfer has stated that the controversial technology will be replaced. In a LinkedIn post on customer preferences and transformation into digitization, Schäfer stated: “We are sharpening our portfolio and our design, plus creating a new simplicity in operating our ...