Opel Insignia. Euro Car Of The Year

What a close contest for the 2009 car of the year award with the winner taking the prize by just one point from Ford Fiesta. The Opel Insignia managed 20 number 1 votes from the 59 motoring journalists while the Fiesta had just 19.

Insignia will surely breathe some life into Opel’s sale and also be some consolation for Genera Motor during the present economic storm. The car demands a more respect than its predecessor , the Vectra with its elegant styling. It looks good both outside and inside.

There are a number of technical highlights that would have helped the Opel to just steal the honours. Some of these are Adaptive Forward Lighting system which is essentially super efficient lighting comprised of 9 beams that automatically adjust themselves to provide the precise lighting. Also the leds are said to be so efficient that the car emission is reduced from 6g/Km to about zero.

Then there is the Lane Departure Warning and Traffic Sign Recognition. By utilising cameras and some processors the Insignia can read oncoming Traffic signs and inform the drive to slow down for instance if over the speed limit. Lane Departure warning monitors the driver’s normal driving lane and informs alerts if there is a some veering off.

Opel also presents FlexiRide and Adaptive 4X4 which are essential sophisticated electronic driver assists. FlexiRide allows the driver various chassis settings ranging from relaxed cruising and more sporty response. Adaptive 4X4 is really traction control that aims to provide the most efficient torque to the 4 wheels.

Once it arrives in South Africa, the Insignia will definitely mix in well in the battle presently made enjoyable by Honda Accord and Mazda 6. Definitely one of the most anticipated new cars for sale for the year 2009 and more special than most Opel’s currently on the market. It might also steal some buyers forcing themselves onto “out of budget” Marques such as the BMW 3 series and Audi A4

Phew Lewis. Lighting does not strike twice

The Brazilian grand prix was one of the most unreal races with the drama and suspense that it provided. It could have been any one’s race Felipe needing to finish first and Lewis only needing to come home fifth.

In my opinion no one really had an advantage as Massa was under a lot less pressure as he just needed to win while Lewis had to be extra conservative. Besides I would bet he had nightmares of how he lost the last season by just one point.

Massa did all that was expected of and won the race while Hamilton was gambling with being out of the points and at one point it looked as thou Hamilton will have to try again the following year.
Fortunately for Lewis he managed to just get the needed points and the events of the final few laps are well documented.

But who was more deserving of the champion ship? My take and this is just my opinion is that Hamilton truly deserved the championship. The main reason is being that he did not really have a cover number two driver, while Massa had this advantage in Kimmi Raikkonen. The Chinese grand prix is one good example of good driver line up at Ferrari. Back at McLaren, Heikki Kovalainen hardly finished on the podium and in most races he was fighting for 7th – 5th finishes with less effective cars.

So would Hamilton dominate if (hypothetically) there were not radical technical design changes as enforced by FIA for cost cutting purposes? No. All drivers are now out to beat him, some believing he needs to be put back in his place. Alonso has been pretty handful in the last five races, Raikkonen is set to do a special intensive testing programme to get him back into shape. Robert Kubica just needs a fast car, not forgetting Vettel who is now coming with age(at 21 he has already a win and 26 races). Then there is Massa who will definitely want to punish Hamilton for the emotional trauma he inflicted on him.

Lewis Hamilton is world champion for now, but for the next coming seasons winning might be a bit too difficult.

Felipe Massa Wins, Lewis Hamilton Second - European Grand Prix – Valencia

One of the most boring races that I have seen and a huge disappointment as this is one of the new tracks that are supposed to inject some fresh excitement into f1.

The top finishing positions were as the starting grid with Filipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen. There was only superficial excitement brought by the drama from the Ferrari team while surprisingly no safety car as predicted by many team engineers especially the Mclaren F1

As ever the battle was bound to be between Massa and Hamilton and one could almost predict the final results 10 laps into the race. With a track temperate just above 40 degrees, Ferrari would have the slight advantage. Massa was pulling away from Hamilton with between 0.3 and 0.5 seconds per lap for most of the race. I get the feeling that Hamilton was pushing much harder than Massa and the Brazilian could have gone slightly faster.

Down the field, it was pretty much normal procession with David Coulthard’s Red Bull hitting another car, Hondas struggling etc. A genuine let down for the fans was the early retirement of the local driver Fernando Alonso.

A little drama in the pitlane with Felipe Massa beign released into an unsafe rush with Adrian Sutil to exit the pit. Stuarts kept everyone guessing what their outcome would be but fortunately only a small fine was handed to Ferrari.

The team’s reliability failed for a consecutive race and Kimmi Raikkonen was the unlucky one this time round to see his car emit a lot of some from an engine failure.
Notable performances where from Toyota who finished both cars in the points fifth and seventh. Sebastian Vettel had an allroud good weekend.

Race Results
1. MASSA Ferrari
2. HAMILTON McLaren +5.6s
3. KUBICA BMW +37.3s
4. KOVALAINEN McLaren +39.7s
5. TRULLI Toyota +50.6s
6. VETTEL Toro Rosso +52.6s
7. GLOCK Toyota +67.9s
8. ROSBERG Williams +71.4s
9. HEIDFELD BMW +82.1s
10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +89.7s
11. PIQUET Renault +92.7s
12. WEBBER Red Bull +1 lap
13. BUTTON Honda +1 lap
14. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
15. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
16. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap
17. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
R. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +12 laps
R. SUTIL Force India +16 laps
R. ALONSO Renault +57 laps

There are good buys out there

These are very hard times with many daily struggles as far as motoring is concerned. Worldwide market pains, food prices so on. Petrol price is one daily obstacle which is enough to make some turn to very naughty antics. In the recent months reports have been surfacing that some members of the motoring community have lowered to the level of driving away from petrol pumps after filling up without paying a Rand or even waiving good bye. Eish. Life. Very hard.

But what about affordability of cars, they are not getting any cheaper either. I suppose the next batch of tricks to play would be to walk into a show room, politely request a "test drive" and then follow normal procedure: drive off without waving good bye.

For the less radical, getting an affordable car in a civilized manner is still possible if not much easier than ever. This is because a number of motorists feel they are forced to sell. A very valid observation is just the number of vehicles with the personalised "For Sale" sticker on the window.

I was chatting to a friend who told me she managed to get an Opel Corsa lite for less than R40 000. More like R35 ooo to be extact. My immediate question was the millage. Only 90 000 was the reply. Wow. Lucky person? Not really. If you have cash now, you can get very good deals from motorist who are forced to sell.

There is then some thing positive in these hard times and a second hand buyer can drive away from the purchase waving good buy.

Grand Prix of Hungary(2008)

Eeh welcome to the world of winning Heikki, the first of many.

The words of Ron Dennis, Mclaren f1 team principal his tone sounding a little unhappy and unexcited . That is because he and Heikki know very well that the win was handed to the team by Fillipe Massa’s unfortunate retirement just three laps before the end of the race. Timo Glock finished second while Kimmi Raikkonnen took the final podium position.

Massa looked like an outright winner from the first lap when he jumped both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen from the start and was then able of pull away from Lewis Hamilton for the next laps. By the first lap the racing order was one that would not have been anticipated with both Maclarens behind Massa who qualified third and and Timmo Glock in fourth place. Kimi Raikonne was then stuck behind Fernando Alonso for most of the race.

The first event to change the final outcome of the race was on lap 50 with Hamilton suffering a puncture which forced him to pit only to rejoin in eleventh place. He did make forward grounds overtaking a number of cars to end up 6th some way behind the fight got 5th and 6th (Raikonnen vs Alonso).

But the big event of the race was the leader Massa stopping with just three laps to finish. Very unfortunate as he had put in a very spirited drive.

2008 Honda Accord

How much would you pay for a Honda? Over R250 000? No, never. Insanity of the first degree especially if at this car price range one can get any of the regular German sedans.

This has been one of the many naive conclusions that I have reached with friends time and time again whenever a new Japanese model is launched. And the 2008 Honda Accord was greeted with the same mentality. This was before I had the chance to step into the car and ponder its offerings in a more sober manner. The entire model range is great value for money with plenty of standard features and overall performance which may be offered as extras by the traditional big three.

Reasonable Styling
I do have my grudges against the Accord the very first being the exterior styling. The car’s looks are overall good and well balanced. However, at first glance the model looks too similar to the previous generation. Too similar to the point of appearing like a facelift instead of a completely new design. However the changes are there and do take a very observant eye to notice. The wheel arches are bolder while the front lights and rear lights are revised.

The design continues with the high windows and the bulged bonnet together with big-ish, almost suv like mirrors. All of these design cues make the car look a little heavy while at the same time muscular in a cool confident way.

Neat Interior
Stepping into the car is a pleasure. You do feel very welcome and cosy with a neat balance of grey and blending between the seats and the facia. In terms of ergonomic design Honda got it spot on. Where as in the past (and even today), manufactures seem to clutter all the functional controls on the central console, Honda seem to understand that most of the button pressing happens while the car is in full motion.

What immediately impresses me is the complete separation of the multi information display from the central console and much closer to the windscreen. This makes for much easier reading while driving. There are not that many buttons on the facia which in short means less confusion while in traffic.

Another feature that impressed me is the voice dialling. Once a phone is connected via blue tooth the driver or passenger can then dial away. Voice dialling is pretty common but in the Accord it does work, most of the time. It can get annoying and slow voicing the digits carefully and then waiting for the nice lady to confirm the input. But agg, kids will love it.

Worthy Purchase?
Would I pay over R250 00 for a Honda? I find it more difficult to give a naive answer now and at this point I am deliberately looking to add to the list of grudges against the Accord. And yes I get one more for the exterior styling. The car in my opinion is available in a very limited spectrum of colours. In total there are seven official colours.

But to the naked eye and for the sake of colour naming as used in normal conversations there are really only white, black, silver, grey and blue to choose. And to really make this a grudge, white and black are extremes of the colour spectrum while silver and grey are too close to black. So in essence there only three families of colour offered by the Accord namely white,black and blue.

My second grudge has to do with the plastic on the dash board. This will be fine for the first months when the car is still brand new. But cars are very good in getting dusty and needing a clean. I am not sure whether the material will retain it strong colour after contact with liquid water being one.

So would I pay over R250 000 for a Honda?No. But “no” is still a very naive answer because the Honda accord starts at just under R240 000 and the base model is very good for the price packed with features.

The reality is that the Honda Accord never promised any one diamonds and pearls, Honda never said that if you buy this car, then onlookers must be ready to perform symphony when you park it and step outside. Honda created a car for the sober minded considering that the premium big three are getting more and more unaffordable while their base models are just a teaser with little features.

Verdict

Likes
- Exterior styling too similar to previous model
- Limited colour range
- Plactic on dash board

Dislikes
-Lots of features for even at the base model
-power seems good
-overall very good value for money.