Suzuki Swift vs Chevy Sonic
Any classroom is filled with many types of children and many different personalities. There are the smart ones, quirky characters, naughty rascals, mischievous types and myriad in-betweeners.
When it comes to the hatchback class of 2014, the pair here is best described as mischievous. They show off with their better-than-average performance without messing with the naughty kids (like the wicked Ford Fiesta ST or Peugeot 208 GTi). They don’t fit in any preconceived box, which imbues them with buckets of charm.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Appearance-wise, neither the Swift nor the Sonic look like they’re trying too hard. That said, both display hints of their sporting potential. In the case of the Swift Sport (which is also a member of our long-term fleet), the Champion Yellow paint job ups the visual appeal, while a model-specific black-mesh grille, chrome-tipped dual exhaust outlets, a grey diffuser and a tailgate-mounted wing distinguish it from a run-of-the-mill Swift. The latter recently received a midlife facelift, but the Sport, being distinctive in its own right, remained largely untouched.
With the RS badge on its bum, the Sonic raises expectations. This flagship of the Sonic range has an aggressive front-end thanks to a bespoke grille and large foglamps. At the back, there’s a roof-mounted spoiler and a large exhaust outlet.
Inside, the Sonic has comfortable bucket seats that are wrapped in leather and an Alcantara-aping material, and are garnished with red stitching, while the pedals feature metal inlays. Besides these items, however, there isn’t much else to set it apart from its Sonic siblings. The new MyLink infotainment system with a touchscreen interface does add a modern feel to the interior. Overall, there’s a clear focus on quality and efficient ergonomics.
The Swift’s interior features sports seats (which do not drop low enough and aren’t all that comfortable) and red stitching on the steering wheel and gear lever cover. When compared with the Sonic RS’s cabin, the Sport’s interior does feel slightly dated. That said, its simplicity makes for a more intuitive user experience.
FUN FACTOR
Fancy threads get you only so far on the playground. Do these hatches walk the talk, or are they all garnish and little substance?
Their report cards certainly show similar potential. The Swift’s 1,6-litre naturally aspirated unit develops 100 kW and 160 N.m of torque. The Sonic has a 1,4-litre forced-induction engine that bests the outputs of its classmate with 103 kW and 200 N.m. Both are fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox.
The Swift’s powertrain and transmission combo makes for a sporty drive. The engine has a free-revving nature and the transmission is slick. It’s easy to snap shift and, with the help of well-weighted steering and hunkered-down suspension, it provides dynamic driving and composed cornering. The result is a fun little car that offers a taste of the driving fun dished up by serious hot hatches while being pleasant to use as an everyday runabout.
The Sonic, conversely, isn’t as well endowed in the driving department. That said, it’s certainly no disappointment (unless you were fooled by the RS badge into thinking it’s a hot hatch). While it does exhibit a touch too much body roll, it rides better than the Swift.
The Sonic’s engine also impressed us with its strong power delivery. However, the clutch is difficult to modulate smoothly and the gear changes feel sloppy when compared with those of the Swift.
THE NUMBERS
In testing, the hatches shone in different departments. We achieved a zero-to-100 km/h sprint time of 9,23 seconds in the Swift, while the RS failed to break the 10-second mark, completing the task in 10,35 seconds (the 200 kg mass difference plays a crucial part). The RS, however, excelled when it came to overtaking acceleration, beating the Swift in all the speed sections.
Stopping power for both vehicles is aided by ABS and EBD, which helped the yellow car to average a 100-to-zero km/h time of 2,78 seconds. The burnt-orange Sonic averaged 2,97 seconds.
STANDARD FEATURES
Not much separates their prices and both are generously equipped with entertainment, comfort, convenience and safety features. Items such as air-con (climate control in the Swift), cruise control, multifunction steering, ESC (with traction control and hill-hold in the Sonic), Isofix anchorage points and airbags are standard on both vehicles. The Swift, however, has six ‘bags, while the Sonic has only four.
The entertainment systems in the two differ quite a bit. There’s a simple, easy-to-use setup in the Suzuki that is capable of playing CDs and music stored on USB sticks and auxiliary devices. It also features Bluetooth connectivity. The Chevrolet, on the other hand, appears more upmarket with its MyLink touchscreen system. It’s a slickly designed system that is simple to use. It plays music and videos via USB, aux-in or Bluetooth. However, there’s no CD player.
TEST SUMMARY
Now for the hard part. We did not expect the Swift and Sonic to be so closely matched, anticipating that the former would comfortably take the trophy at the final prize-giving ceremony. But, when they are viewed as flagship vehicles in their respective ranges and not simply as junior warm hatches, the competition runs close. There can only be one winner in the end-of-term report cards, though.
The Sonic RS is a good commuter that offers excellent standard specification, but is an average performer when it’s playtime. Which naturally begs the question why Chevrolet slapped those hallowed letters on its rump.
The Swift Sport finds a more appealing balance. It’s a great performer on the playground and a solid everyday prospect despite the slightly harsh ride. In our books, it scores an A, compared to a B for the Sonic.
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Durbanville's best-kept secret - until now.
Like all true-blood South Africans, Team Mufasa Tyres just loves a braai. But there are times when we just want to be spoilt, and then you'll find us heading off to The Mount:
The Mount Restaurant is set in idyllic surrounds with a panoramic view of farmlands, vineyards and mountains. It is centrally located on a very popular and expanding wine route and is frequented by local residents, guest houses, tour groups and the like. The style, ambience and location of the restaurant lends itself to many weddings, birthdays and corporate functions.
The Restaurant is situated in the beautiful Durbanville Winelands on the Hooggelegen Farm. The farm has been in the De Wit family for over 120 years. The Mount boasts idyllic views of the Hottentots Holland, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek mountains and nearby farmlands.
Fireplaces in the smoking and non-smoking areas are welcoming on a cold winter's evening and the vine-covered terrace is very popular for outdoor dining in summer.
Internationally trained chef and owner, Peter Ahern, has extensive five-star cooking experience. He is passionate about his cooking and personally compiles innovative menus which cater for a wide variety of tastes.
Peter will happily design a special menu to make your private function an occasion to remember.
Their fully stocked bar includes a variety of local wines.
Peter and Angela Ahern invite you to experience the hospitality for which they have become known - all you need to do is relax and enjoy fine food, in good company.
At The Mount Restaurant has constant specials to offer a wider variety of flavours and textures to their already extensive A-la-Carte menu. They are open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday and Sunday for lunch.
Contact Details:
021 975 0103
info@themount.co.za
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Where to have your say.
Sometimes we all need a little advice, or a place to brag with our wheels.
At Team Mufasa Tyres, there are usually 2 forums where we head off to:
The 4x4Community Forum
By far the largest 4x4 Forum in South Africa, this is the ultimate source of knowledge:
http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/
CARforums
For all other non 4x-4 vehicle interests, pop on over to this forum:
http://www.carforums.co.za/
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Like our Facebook Page
Our Facebook Page is really starting to get traction, and you'll find us posting:
- Specials
- Cool articles
- Jokes
- and loads of other Stuff
So why don't you head over to our Facebook Page and give us a like, post a pic of your vehicle, or make a comment.
All visitor's welcome!
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Holiday on a Horse
Based 180 km from Cape Town, in the Western Cape’s unspoiled Overberg, the African Horse Company offers multi–day horse trails and out-rides of an hour to the better part of the day. On offer are 1-6 hour beach and mountain out rides and 2-10 day overnight trails catering for beginners to advanced horse riders. The Overberg region is one of the hotspots of the Cape Floral Kingdom, (“fynbos”), the richest of the Earth’s six floral kingdoms and restricted to the Western Cape of South Africa.
The Cape Floral Kingdom is a World Heritage Site and by far the best way to discover its richness is by riding on horse back through this botanical wilderness. This part of the Western Cape is also the mating and breeding grounds of the Southern Right Whale. Galloping along the shores of the pristine Walker Bay between July and December, you will – as a rule more than as an exception- see whales breaching in the ocean less than 100 meters away. Not surprising that the Southern Overberg is perhaps known better by the many as the “Whale Coast”
Starting at African Horse Company's base station, the nature retreat and private nature reserve of their partner “farm 215” (located in the hinterland of Gansbaai between Stanford at the Hermanus lagoon and Cape Agulhas at the Southernmost tip of South Africa and a sustainable operation certified by Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa), the horse trails move through national parks, nature reserves, the Walker Bay Conservancy and some of the routes of the early settlers in the Cape.
You will ride along kilometers of unspoiled beach, climb rugged mountain terrain with your horse , ride through indigenous forest, cross private farms and vineyards and swim with your horse in dams filled with the purest mountain water. An astounding array of fynbos flora and different landscapes awaits the rider with habitats ever changing. Along with this come a rich –and partly endemic- bird life and the Southern Right Whales, which give birth and mate within the safe waters of the Walker Bay (stretching from the Hermanus Lagoon at Stanford past De Kelders to the fishing village of Gansbaai) between July and December.
In the Southern Overberg, nature rules supreme. Human development is naturally limited and nature based tourism an obvious source of income. The African Horse Company has associated itself with the Agulhas Biodiversity Initiative (ABI) and works closely with landowners dedicated to conserving the integrity of the floral kingdom and maintaining an ancient natural landscape which survived intact between the semi-desert of the Karoo and the ocean from a time long before humans set foot on this earth.
The horse trails of the African Horse Company lead to remote spots in the Overberg which practically look the same as when the first modern man made his residence here more than 70’000 years ago. Klipgat Cave in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve is the finding place of some of the oldest remains of modern man in South Africa and the world.
Principles of balanced and integrated development form the vision of the Overberg region in the Western Cape. Horse trails are routed through the varying terrains of beach, mountain, agricultural lands and dune, to places of historical and cultural interest. The horses used are local South African Crossbreeds (Arab and Boerperd blood). Surefooted, enduring and fully adapted to the environment with regard to grazing, weather and terrain, they are the true horses of South Africa and the key to a special opportunity to ride through the wonderful, untouched nature of the region.
The horse trails are tailor-made to suit personal requirements and horse riding experience. A wide array of accommodation is available: from the deliciously luxurious –but strictly laid back- sustainable accommodation on the base station farm 215 to cottages on other stations on private reserves in the Overberg and heritage farmhouses within the Agulhas National Park.
Depending on what accommodation type you choose (food is prepared by the chef on farm 215, the surrounding communities or your horse guide himself) it will always have a strong local flavor and high organic content and will always provide the opportunity to meet the local people over a meal and a glass of one of our splendid local wines.
After all, this area is the newest wine region of South Africa: the Agulhas Wine Region. Blessed with excellent soil conditions and cooling evening sea breezes, the Agulhas Wine Region produces award winning wines. What is perhaps even more worth mentioning is that a growing number of vineyards in the Agulhas Wine Region and the adjoining Hemel en Aarde and Walker Bay wine regions, are producing wine in accordance with the standards of the Biodiversity Wine Initiative, a Western Cape project to conserve pristine nature in between vineyards and the way forward to amalgamate nature conservation and sophisticated agriculture.
The horses roam freely as a herd in the reserve of farm 215, part of the Walker Bay Conservancy, and live and function in a fully natural state. They move from pasture to pasture and along the way nibble from some natural shrubs to add some essential ingredients to their diet. What applies to them, applies to African Horse Company: “In company of horses, in balance with nature”. You could not ask for a more ideal partner and friend for many trails days in a truly beautiful part of South Africa.
Contact Details:
+ 27 82 667 9232
contact@africanhorseco.com
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The all new Jeep Cherokee 2014. It can off-road again!
To our regular readers, it is a well known fact that Team Mufasa Tyres are Jeep Fanatics. So we jumped at the chance when we were offered the opportunity to test-drive the all new Jeep Cherokee:
The Jeep Cherokee has been one of the best-known nameplates in the SUV world. In its past lives, it paired tolerable road manners with excellent off-road capability. But it's been gone since the 2001 model year. Until now.
The Cherokee returns for the 2014 model year, now a substantially beefed-up spin-off of the Dodge Dart architecture. And this time, it spans those on- and off-road worlds much more neatly. A good off-roader and a very comfortable, easy street performer, the Cherokee may be the first compact SUV to do both equally well.
After a decade on hiatus, the Cherokee is back for 2014, and now that we've driven it, we're admittedly more impressed than we thought we would be. It's a turducken of a crossover, a city-friendly crossover stuffed with the heart of a Trail Rated Jeep. From the inside out, it does a convincing job of delivering Jeep essentials-ruggedness and a general zest for things outdoorsy. It even delivers a lot more of the things that drove some Jeep fans outside the home to places like Sportage and Santa Fe.
It doesn't do so with the greatest of ease with its sheetmetal, though, where it flutters between brain-fighting experimentation and duller design by default. This Liberty replacement, Dart derivative, Compass mea culpa wants to define a new era in SUV design, but gives up about a fifth of the way through. The front end splits its headlamps and underplays the grille--the one design detail that connotes Jeep no matter where it's seen, around the world. Those are unforgivable but reworkable flaws. The rest of the body? It's warmed-over leftovers, with heavy reliance on crossover fallbacks in glass area and fender sculpting, rehashed Hyundai. The cabin does paramedic duty here, healing up all that poorly thought-out stretching with some palliative shapes and some truly nice finishes and Easter-egg touches.
Jeep calls the new Cherokee a mid-sizer, however it’s really sized quite closely with compact crossovers like the Honda CR-V, Subaru Forester, Ford Escape, and Toyota RAV4—at about 4.62m long, with a wheelbase of about 2.7m, it's only a few centimeters longer than those models, much smaller than a Chevrolet Equinox. There’s no third-row seat, but this is a roomy five-seater, with a back seat that’s suitable for adults—or even asking three to sit across for shorter distances--but the jutting front headrests might enforce a slouching position that robs some of that rear-seat space. The second row slides fore and aft to choose between legroom and cargo space, and there’s a handy organizer for the more retentive fans.
While several models in this class have gone all-four-cylinder, the Cherokee offers a choice between a four-cylinder or a V-6. The standard 2.4-liter in-line four turns in a well-adjusted 135 Kw and 232Nm of torque; it's plenty so long as there's less weight aboard, and it's plenty smooth and preternaturally quiet, given its world-engine roots. A new 3.2-liter V-6 makes 199 Kw and 324Nm of torque; it's torquey and generally happy with whatever work you throw its way.
The Cherokee also sports a new ZF nine-speed automatic, with a lower first gear for quick takeoffs, a handful of mid-range gears, and a trio of tall overdrive upper gears for good highway mileage. The top figure of 13 km/l highway still isn't stellar for the class, but it's good; the powerful 4WD versions post combined numbers in the 8.5 km/l range. With the V-6 and a Trailer Tow Package, the Cherokee can pull 2040kg. No matter which version, the Cherokee has fairly numb but accurate steering, with a well-tuned and well-damped ride.
The 2014 Jeep Cherokee will be offered in Sport, Latitude, Limited, and Trailhawk editions, with Jeep's Trail-Rated badge applying to the Trailhawk, which gets a one-inch lift, unique front and rear fascias, an Active Drive Lock and locking rear differential, added skid plates, and red tow hooks. As with other Jeep models, there are several different four-wheel drive systems, including Active Drive I, and Active Drive II (adding a dual-range transfer case). All models with 4WD have the Selec-Terrain system, with separate ’smart’ modes for Snow, Sport, Sand/Mud, and Rock, and in low-range models with four-cylinder engines, its crawl ratio is an astonishingly good 56:1, which Jeep says is 90 percent better than that of the Liberty.
Highlights from the features list include a CommandView panoramic sunroof and Sky Slider roof, with memory heated/ventilated seats, and infotainment systems include 21cm Uconnect media center, plus Uconnect Access via Mobile; top models include a full-color reconfigurable LED instrument cluster.
Prices:
2.4L Longitude R479 990.00
3.2L FWD Limited R505 990.00
3.2L AWD Limited R563 990.00
3.2L Trailhawk R607 990.00
Mufasa Tyres Says:
We still love our old box-shaped (XJ) Cherokee, but if someone were to drag us into the here and now, we'd seriously consider buying one of these. Especially if it's modified - see pic below:
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