Gen 3 Road Trip Impressions
Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 8:41 pm
Not so much a trip report as a report on my impressions of the Gen 3 LWB 3.5 Manual on a 1600km trip from Pretoria to Cape Vidal and back via Mkhuze. And also a bit of a comparison with my previous wheels - a 1999 Colt Rodeo V6 DC 4x4 Auto.
My first and overriding impression is that of a hugely versatile vehicle. The three rows of seating provided far better accommodation than the bakkie, with the twins occupying the rearmost jump seats, the little one having the center row to himself and my wife smiling all the while as she has been promoted to the front passenger seat for the first time in 4 1/2 years
The independent suspension works brilliantly - it carries a fair load easily while allowing you to maintain 120 or so even on the very badly rutted road between Ermelo and Piet Retief (and down to Pongola for that matter). "Sinkplaatpad" and bad gravel was also no problem, as a quick flick of the super select lever engaged 4WD seamlessly. Tried 4WD on dry tar too, but didn't like the way it made the car seem intent on carrying on straight no matter what steering input it got. On twisty bits, almost surprisingly, the large car is agile and handling taut, despite slow steering action and BFG AT's. The way the suspension performed on a wide range of road surfaces more than made up for the apparent lack of articulation in the real rough stuff.
The V6 pulled beautifully strong and never failed to deliver the goods ... towing a full 6ft Venter I never felt the need for more power - as long as I kept it spinning above 3500 RPM when it mattered. And spinned it did, right up to the red line without a trace of roughness or breathlessness. And as for towing, I would forget about the trailer if it wasn't for the extension box visible through the rear window. The impression is that I didn't have to "kill it" nearly as much as the Colt to keep to comfortable cruising speeds. Probably the few extra horses and torques of the 3.5 vs the old 3.0 and one more gear ratio to work with.
Speaking of the gearbox, that is one aspect I am not too crazy about - the ratio gap between 2nd and 3rd is too large - a slightly higher 2nd gear would have suited the engine better. The "reverse block gate" sometimes got in the way of downshifts between 5th and 4th. Eventually I resorted to a very slow and deliberate downshift, losing a lot of momentum on uphills. Second gear is also slow and sometimes impossible to engage when cold (note to self: change gearbox oil). Also on the transmission front the drivetrain tizz at low speed full throttle in 1st or 2nd is extremely annoying (another note to self: check prop shaft and all mountings)
Fuel consumption averaged 15.8 l/100km (6.3km/l) on the "BFG MT scale" - pretty good considering a cruising pace in the 120 - 140 km/h range, most of the time towing the 6ft trailer and using all the power available to keep closer to the top than the bottom of the range and plenty full throttle overtaking.
Build quality is impressive, with few rattles (other than keys, sunglasses, CD covers, etc.) evident even when pressing on over the worst surfaces. The car is virtually dust free, with only a little dust from the rear hatch. And some dust around the little one's seat - maybe he was playing with the windows ... Certainly a lot better than the canopied load bay of a bakkie, seeing that's what I am comparing against
One observation that's got nothing to do with the car is the absolute appalling standard of driving we witnessed. Many times I had to brake hard because of some @sshole overtaking on a blind rise, or in the face of oncoming traffic, or making an unannounced turn, or just stopping in the middle of the road. And this is not just private road users, but also the "professional" drivers - not too sure if the coal or timber or sugar trucks are the worst, but they are all pretty bad. The supertwit award has got to go to the driver of the Oosthuizen coal truck with serial number COS 9033 that chose to overtake another coal truck on a steep blind rise close to the Woestalleen mine. Fortunately the oncoming driver was wide awake, braked hard and pulled off just in time.
And as we saw this and other scary incidents I was very happy indeed to be a car with ABS and four disk brakes, airbags and sorted suspension, sharp handling and strong construction. Should the worst happen we will at least have a better chance than the guy in the Citi Golf or Fiat Uno.
Overall the Paj performed reliably, predictably, safely and enjoyably on all surfaces, resulting in much less driver fatigue than the Colt. What I missed from the bakkie was the ability to load sandy kids straight into the back. As a result I spent over two hours to get the car into a presentable state when we got back home. But when we drove into the church yard this morning it looked just as much at home as it did in the wild a day before. Which just underlines the immense versatility of the car - versatility hard to beat at any price.
Am I happy with my purchase? Absolutely!
My first and overriding impression is that of a hugely versatile vehicle. The three rows of seating provided far better accommodation than the bakkie, with the twins occupying the rearmost jump seats, the little one having the center row to himself and my wife smiling all the while as she has been promoted to the front passenger seat for the first time in 4 1/2 years
The independent suspension works brilliantly - it carries a fair load easily while allowing you to maintain 120 or so even on the very badly rutted road between Ermelo and Piet Retief (and down to Pongola for that matter). "Sinkplaatpad" and bad gravel was also no problem, as a quick flick of the super select lever engaged 4WD seamlessly. Tried 4WD on dry tar too, but didn't like the way it made the car seem intent on carrying on straight no matter what steering input it got. On twisty bits, almost surprisingly, the large car is agile and handling taut, despite slow steering action and BFG AT's. The way the suspension performed on a wide range of road surfaces more than made up for the apparent lack of articulation in the real rough stuff.
The V6 pulled beautifully strong and never failed to deliver the goods ... towing a full 6ft Venter I never felt the need for more power - as long as I kept it spinning above 3500 RPM when it mattered. And spinned it did, right up to the red line without a trace of roughness or breathlessness. And as for towing, I would forget about the trailer if it wasn't for the extension box visible through the rear window. The impression is that I didn't have to "kill it" nearly as much as the Colt to keep to comfortable cruising speeds. Probably the few extra horses and torques of the 3.5 vs the old 3.0 and one more gear ratio to work with.
Speaking of the gearbox, that is one aspect I am not too crazy about - the ratio gap between 2nd and 3rd is too large - a slightly higher 2nd gear would have suited the engine better. The "reverse block gate" sometimes got in the way of downshifts between 5th and 4th. Eventually I resorted to a very slow and deliberate downshift, losing a lot of momentum on uphills. Second gear is also slow and sometimes impossible to engage when cold (note to self: change gearbox oil). Also on the transmission front the drivetrain tizz at low speed full throttle in 1st or 2nd is extremely annoying (another note to self: check prop shaft and all mountings)
Fuel consumption averaged 15.8 l/100km (6.3km/l) on the "BFG MT scale" - pretty good considering a cruising pace in the 120 - 140 km/h range, most of the time towing the 6ft trailer and using all the power available to keep closer to the top than the bottom of the range and plenty full throttle overtaking.
Build quality is impressive, with few rattles (other than keys, sunglasses, CD covers, etc.) evident even when pressing on over the worst surfaces. The car is virtually dust free, with only a little dust from the rear hatch. And some dust around the little one's seat - maybe he was playing with the windows ... Certainly a lot better than the canopied load bay of a bakkie, seeing that's what I am comparing against
One observation that's got nothing to do with the car is the absolute appalling standard of driving we witnessed. Many times I had to brake hard because of some @sshole overtaking on a blind rise, or in the face of oncoming traffic, or making an unannounced turn, or just stopping in the middle of the road. And this is not just private road users, but also the "professional" drivers - not too sure if the coal or timber or sugar trucks are the worst, but they are all pretty bad. The supertwit award has got to go to the driver of the Oosthuizen coal truck with serial number COS 9033 that chose to overtake another coal truck on a steep blind rise close to the Woestalleen mine. Fortunately the oncoming driver was wide awake, braked hard and pulled off just in time.
And as we saw this and other scary incidents I was very happy indeed to be a car with ABS and four disk brakes, airbags and sorted suspension, sharp handling and strong construction. Should the worst happen we will at least have a better chance than the guy in the Citi Golf or Fiat Uno.
Overall the Paj performed reliably, predictably, safely and enjoyably on all surfaces, resulting in much less driver fatigue than the Colt. What I missed from the bakkie was the ability to load sandy kids straight into the back. As a result I spent over two hours to get the car into a presentable state when we got back home. But when we drove into the church yard this morning it looked just as much at home as it did in the wild a day before. Which just underlines the immense versatility of the car - versatility hard to beat at any price.
Am I happy with my purchase? Absolutely!
