Bucket Seat: KIA GOTG Campaign

Kia South Africa this week launches a unique ‘Test Drive for Good’ campaign in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province, inviting all residents in the province to help raise funds for acclaimed Pietermaritzburg-based humanitarian aid organisation, Gift of the Givers. Open to all residents in the province, Kia South Africa - with its 12-strong dealer network in the province - is committing a donation of R100 to Gift of the Givers for every test drive completed over the Heritage Day weekend in September. 

“The Kia brand is celebrating its 25th anniversary in South Africa this year and has had a presence in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province right from the beginning,” comments Gary Scott, CEO, Kia South Africa. “As we celebrate the success of the brand over this period, we want to give back to the communities we serve and, in the spirit of our brand slogan Movement that inspires, Kia wants to partner with the residents of the province – whether they are Kia owners or not – to achieve this goal by blending a brand experience with collaborative fundraising in a fun and highly relevant, localised manner.” 

Kia South Africa is a long-standing supporter of Gift of the Givers, individually and as part of Motus Holdings. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Motus Holdings donated four vehicles to further aid the life-saving work Gift of the Givers do. In March 2021, Kia also donated a Sportage 2.0 CRDi EX AWD to the organisation, used primarily by Dr. Sooliman as he travelled across South Africa on various humanitarian missions in execution of the organisation’s mandate.

“As South Africans doing business with South Africans in South Africa, it is critical to us that the Kia brand is trusted and loved by all South Africans,” adds Scott. “Our desire to facilitate change while providing mobility resonates with Gift of the Givers’ position of providing assistance unconditionally and assisting the needy, irrespective of human or animal, race, religion, colour, class, political affiliation or geographic location.”

The ‘Test Drive for Good’ campaign follows a donation of R100,000 to the organisation at the beginning of September. The donation was presented to Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman during Kia South Africa’s 2023 Kia Leadership Conference, where Dr. Sooliman delivered a message of hope and resilience to the 120-plus audience. Gift of the Givers Foundation is the largest indigenous disaster response NGO (non-governmental organisation) on the African continent, with the essence of its presence being to bring hope and restore dignity to the most vulnerable. Its primary focus is on disaster response, hunger alleviation, water provision, healthcare, education and social upliftment. 

Kia has 12 dealerships in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province, specifically in Newcastle, Vryheid, Empangeni, Ballito, uMhlanga, Durban Central, Springfield, Amanzimtoti, Port Shepstone, Pinetown, Hillcrest and Pietermaritzburg. All of these dealers, with the exception of Kia Durban Central, will be open throughout the Heritage Day weekend, and collectively have the ambitious target of completing at least 3,000 test drives between Friday, September 22nd, and Monday, September 25th. With weather and other elements coming into play, KIA South Africa have decided to extend this campaign to this weekend, between Friday 29th September till and including Monday 2nd October! 

“We believe that our exclusive partnership with Gift of the Givers, itself a Kwa-Zulu Natal-based organisation, will ensure that all funds raised through the campaign are utilised to the direct benefit of the province’s residents,” adds Scott. “It’s as simple as completing a test drive of any Kia model at any Kwa-Zulu Natal Kia dealership, a simple act that guarantees a donation of R100 to Gift of the Givers by Kia. Let’s unite this Heritage Day weekend and collectively create a movement that changes an immeasurable number of lives for the better.” 

For more information, visit Test Drive For Good

Bucket Seat: Ford Ranger Raptor

Last year I had the Ford Ranger Raptor on test and it was the first time I experienced a "performance bakkie" and at the time I never really saw a need for such a vehicle. Before the official Ranger Raptor was launched, there were many places offering "kits" and stickers to make a normal Ranger look like a supposedly Raptor but then Ford decided to pull reigns and release an actual Ranger Raptor to stamp their authority on the market. The Ranger Raptor comes fitting with a 2.0L Bi-Turbo diesel that churns out 157kW and 500Nm of torque, I mean for a bakkie that is a lot of towing power but people who buy this van aren't buying it as a work horse but rather something to have fun with. Ford sent me the Raptor again last month and fortunately I had some work down in the KZN South Coast, which involved a lot of off -road driving, in mixed conditions and I had the perfect opportunity to put this beast to the test. 

When it comes to styling, I said it before, Ford got this one right, most of these kits we see on standard Rangers are over done and make the car look ghastly, with the Raptor, its more of a minimalistic approach where the concentration was aligned with the practicality of the car. A lot of the design was centered on what they wanted to van to do rather than just the looks, so with the wide body, the Raptors front face being shorter than the normal Ranger, with a metal scuff plate underneath to protect the under carriage from potential damage in high-speed bush whacking. The Raptor comes with a MacPherson strut design, double-wishbone front Fox racing suspension with coil-spring solid axle with Watts linkage at the rear. This along with the huge 17" 285/70 tyres allows you to conquer just about any terrain with relative ease and also, with some speed. 

Navigating the gravel roads in both the rain and wet proved to be effortless for the Ranger Raptor, ride quality was unmatched to other bakkies in its class, the car was so comfortable in this setting that it actually wanted you to go faster and that is when I appreciated the engineering that went into this car even more. The way it manages to grip to the surface but maintain composure is really something else. All of this happening on the outside while you are pretty relaxed in a comfy cabin, fitted with racing  seats for driver and front passenger, finished in a suede with stitching and heating, dual climate control and the huge infotainment screen with Ford Sync 3, which has built in Android Auto and Apple Car Play. Being an Android user I made use of the Android Auto, which worked seamlessly, my only gripe would have to be connectivity with the cable, but that is more for Google to sort out than Ford as it is an OS issue. On normal road driving it would be fine but when you're making your own roads in the middle of no-where, the connection between cable and device might break off now and then which doesn't help you when you are driving and enjoying your favourite track only for it to cut off and you have to spend time trying to re-link it. 

Anyway, back to driving, when it comes to most 4x4's, many tend to prefer the manual gearbox but the Ranger Raptor ain't your normal off roader so the 10-speed auto box is the perfect fit for this, also Ford given you paddles on the steering should you feel the need to down change or want the manual feel while driving, it really enhances the rally feel and often you even forget about the sheer size of this thing, because the Raptor is longer, wider and higher than a normal Ranger Wildtrack which in itself is massive. Parking this beast is a bit tricky at first but with all the tech like PDC's and reverse camera to help you with it, you will master it quicker than you would expect to. Overall, my second experience with the Ranger Raptor surpassed my first and I really got to appreciate the type of vehicle Ford built here. It's not just a status symbol, if its used for the purposes its built for, you will soon discover there is really nothing else like it on the market. It truly is worth the price tag which now is just shy of 900K. 

SA on Tap - Craft Food & Music Festival

It's probably one of the best and by far my favourite Craft Beer festival around and it's back this weekend in Durban! It is the biggest festival of it's kind with over 200 different brews, ciders, gins and more featured this year, there is plenty on offer to quench any thirst in the Durban hot sun. Organisers say that this event is built around the people who attend and they want you there this weekend! With over 90% of the tickets sold already, their call has been answered. It's a great outing for friends and families with much on offer. There will be a stage with some great local talent to entertain the masses, Majozi and Shortstraw just to name a few. There will also be a selection of gourmet street food stalls for you to chose from. 

Participating breweries for the event are many of the KZN local brewers, namely Nottingham Road, Zwakala, That Brewing Co, Mag Giant, Sxollie Cider, Growler, Drifter, Clarens, Smack Republic, Copperlake, Eversnos Cider, Standeaven, Time Anchor Distillery, Mainstram, Robsons, Two Okes, Scvenger Brewery, Basset, Great Railroad, Durban Brewing Co, Toti Brewing Co, Clockworx, Dragon Brewing Co, Distillery 031, Poison City and a variety of wine. Apart from featuring their normal range, there will be 32 Festival speciality brews so be sure to inquire about them on the day. 

This years festival see's it return to the Kings Park outer fields this Saturday the 12th of August, with gates opening at 11am for a day long fun filled time where visitors can enjoy a selction of bews, a gin garndem, lots of games and live entertainment. People attending are encouraged to bring picnic blankets, camping chairs and beach umbrellas. For those bringing children, there will be dedicated child minding areas. Tickets can be bought online via the website and a selction of glasses to chose from. Some of which are already soldout, tickets are R130 online or R150 on the day, on the day tickets are subject to availability. 

Bucket Seat: Ford Everest 2.2 4WD

When Ford launched their Everest in SA about 2 years ago, it wasn't going to take the market by storm, not because it isn't a good vehicle, but because of its price tag. The launch edition only featured the 3.2 Diesel engine, whilst it is a great engine it did make the SUV damn expensive! So it was with great joy to many when Ford launched the 2.2 variants late last year. While you still get the great vehicle, but with a power train that is smaller but still capable to lug this rather large car around. A few weeks back I spent a week with the Ford Everest 2.2 AWD 4X4 and put it through some tests that I didn't even imagine I would had to! All in all it was great fun as you will soon find out. 

STYLE

The model I had was the XLS 4WD which sits one below the XLT,  it still had the great look of the Everest, and it was just accentuated with the Ocean Blue colour that it came with. You did miss those minor touches from the LTD that make it look the part though, for example, the daytime running LED lights on the front headlamps and the chromed out front grille and the larger rims, this one did  come with 17" wheels but looked rather small on it. Other than that, the car still has a great presence on the road, I mean it is probably one of the biggest SUV's available on the market, size wise and in height. Interior was pretty plain but then with an entry level variant you wouldn't expect it to have everything in it. 

PERFORMANCE

If anyone has seen or been in an Everest you will know how big this car is and why I keep mentioning it so with the smaller engine, I was a bit optimistic on how it would cope. Credit to the engineers at Ford though, the engine did deliver plenty in-terms of power and torque, the 6 speed manual transmission I had also played a part in this. Also with the 2,2 ltr diesel engine, I did notice a significant economy difference to the 3.2 engine, Ford claims it can do 7.1L per the 100km which I struggled to get near but then again I was to blame for that, it was just so much fun testing the torque on take off all the time! 

COMFORT

The Everest is a full 7 seater SUV, and its capable of carrying 7 adults more than comfortably, yes we put this to the test but bare in mind when using all 7 seats it doesn't leave much boot space. The versatility of the Everest is just great, the seats are so easy to move and drop that even a child could do them. You can have them set up in multiple configurations to suit you. Even if you have to carry an extra large item, just fold down all the seats and be amazed at how much can actually fit inside this behemoth. The cabin air is controlled by climate control and has vents throughout the cabin with the option to switch off the rear cabin AC if there is no one there. 

OFF ROADING

Whats the point in having a 4X4 if you aren't going to take it off roading right? Well that was my point exactly with the Everest, while it did a great job on my daily commute to work and back, scaring taxi's and other idiot drivers off the fast lane on the highway, it was off track where I really wanted to experience it. That weekend, some of the first snow falls were reported in the Southern end of Drakensberg and Lesotho, it was the perfect opportunity to go looking for snow with the Everest. I rang up a few mates, and we were off early Saturday morning, on the road to find the snow. We had a snow tracker, scouring the internet to see where snow sightings were, most of which were deep in Lesotho which was a bit far for our liking but the closest area with reported snow fall was Sani Pass. A route we conquered many a time in the past, so off we went!

As we got closer, we could definitely feel the snow was not too far off with the temperature dropping from 11 degrees to 3 degrees in a matter of kilometers. We didn't have our passports with us so we couldn't actually head up the pass but thought we would drive to the border and see what we could find. The short gravel road to the border is only 13 km or so but it normally is a hard gravel road that isn't as easy as it sounds. Much to our bad luck as we began our trek on this road, it began to bucket down, making the gravel turn into thick mud, almost clay which saw a number of vehicles in front of us get bogged down, eventually forcing us to turn around. We did get close enough to see the snow from a distance though, we flew our drone blindly to capture it but only ended up capturing the grass below it....suffice to say it proved to be a handy lesson in drone flying!

Heading back I decided to take the "short cut" to Nottingham Road, a popular spot in the midlands meander to have a spot of lunch. Little did I know what this shortcut had in store for us. It needed us to navigate our selves though a long gravel route, which much like the Sani Pass Road turned into a rive of mud. Thankfully the Everest off road settings came into play with us making use of majority of the settings, ice and snow mode for the icey parts, rock crawl mode for navigating around tricky escarpments and towards the end of the route, there was a pass with loose sand in which we had to manoeuvre down. Although hair raising for myself and my occupants, the Everest did manage it quite well. There were no "lets do it again" chants though once we eventually got down.                    

VERDICT

Suffice to say I put the Everest through it's paces in all types of terrain and it came out with flying colours but it again, it all boils down to the price and the value you getting with the Everest, there's still a number of things I would like to see in the car that it doesn't have. It still comes with one of those wap ariels, the car is so damn high as it is, this just makes it taller so I found myself get into a panic every time it hit something! Also while I understand it's an entry level variant, we going to need that full touch screen display, the small screen this particular model came with was so small that my cell phone screen was bigger than it. Hopefully now with SYNC 3 out, Ford would consider adopting this in most of their Everest models. Another grip is the key, it's nice but I would expect for a vehicle like the Everest to have the smart keyless system like the Mustang and Fusion come with but that's just me. It is on the whole an extremely good vehicle, while it doesn't have all the bells and whistles I might be looking for, it's more than capable of the job it has to do. It's big, spacious and fun to drive, and very versatile which just ticks all the boxes that people check when buying an SUV.

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine	2.2 litre Diesel 4 cylinder
Gear Box	6 speed manual
Power	115kW
Torque	382Nm
Fuel Economy	7.1L/100km
Fuel Tank	80L
Price	R 539,000

Bucket Scene: Eora - Kitchen & Bar

Like I said from the start, this segment is to discover new places that are a step away from the norm, we're so used to our usual places we go to that we forget the fun in exploring and trying out new places. A couple weeks back my mates wanted to go out for a quiet dinner and drink, instead of opting for our usual hangout I suggested we try Eora, a new Mediterranean restaurant that opened up in Umhlanga that was getting raving reviews from people who have tried it. I followed them on instagram, had a look at what to offer and it was a done deal. Everything looked good on pictures so it was time to see if the food tasted as good as it looked.

Located at 190 Ridge Road in Umhlanga Rocks, the venue is located conveniently at the entrance of the village area with ample street parking and paid parking available at the centre across the road. We were greeted by our hostess and seated upon arrival. The decor is quite cool and I like the fact they have posters of old South African products that served as the art. Being a bar as well, they serve a host of drinks abd cocktails, the craft beer however is limited to local KZN brewers, so there isn't much variety but at the same time, it's nice to see them promoting the local guys and giving them exposure as they're normally outshone by Cape Town or German brewers. 

While enjoying our local beers we ordered a few of the starters to munch on, they have a good range of starters catering for every ones taste buds. We opted for the crispy calamari and satay chicken, both of which were awesome. The calamari as the name suggested was crispy, coated in a light tempura style batter and fried till crisp, served with a harissa mayo that just  made the taste buds tingle, it was also quite a healthy serving as they don't feel shy to load the bowl. The chicken satay was perfect, the chicken was well spiced and cooked just right, moist and full of flavour. What I liked about the starters is that you can also choose to have them as tapas which is bigger in size. So if you're looking to go out and have some snacks instead of full meals, this is now an option. 

Tapas/ Starters selection

Onto the mains, there are mains to choose of the menu and they have weekly specials written on a chalk board above the entrance. Being a lover of lamb I was sold on the lamb burger that was offered on the menu. Others at the table ordered the Hake and Chips, Steak with mushroom sauce and Sword Fish with prawns. 

Lamb burger

My burger looked great and just like the pictures had me salivating just by looked at it. Organic lamb patty with melted mozzarella topped with tomato relish, served on a toasted bun with sweet potato fries on the side. I like to eat my burgers the way its meant to be eaten, with both hands but due to the size of the patty and the bun being a tad bit too crispy, I couldn't force my mouth open that wide, yes its that big of a burger! I opted to use the utensils instead, the patty for me was a bit dry, but the relish sort of made up for it in a way, the bun as said was a tad bit crispy as well, which made it a bit tricky to eat. 

Hake and chips

My mates on the other hand enjoyed their meals, fish and chips which to be honest is very hard to screw up was great but he felt the chips were a bit oily but its chips... that's the best way to have it. The other enjoyed his steak, cooked well and very tasty. The swordfish was done to perfection, had great flavour and prawns were great too, his only gripe was that the portion was too small as he was still a bit peckish after the meal, I guess that's why they have dessert on the menu but his form of dessert was another craft beer. 

Swordfish and prawn

On the whole, my dinning experience was great, yes my burger wasn't what I expected it to be but everyone else that's had it loved it so it could just be me. Never the less we had an awesome time and the service was top notch. There's loads of things on the menu that I still want to try, including a tapas evening so I will definitely pay them more visits in the future. They also serve breakfast daily from 7am till 11:30am.

website: http://www.eora.co.za/
instagram: http://instagram.com/eorarestaurant
facebook: www.facebook.com/eorarestaurant

Interpret Durban 5

I love my city, in fact there's very few people from Durban that will tell you differently. It's been always said that Durban is melting pot of cultures, but what surprised me is the talent that comes from the various types of people in our city. I generally don't delve into the arts side of things since its not in my interest but you can't help but admire some of the work that's being created by the locals. It's because of this Interpret Durban (#ID5) was created, a platform for creatives to showcase their work and with it not only promote them but the city as well. This year sees the 5th installment of this event and competion with over R90,000 in prizes to be won!

Organisers are calling for artists to take part in #ID5, the theme for this year is Durban DNA which considers the building blocks under the city. The categories are:

• Professional Photography: I am Durban.
• Amateur Photography: Pure Durban.
• Illustration /Design: Durban Bulletin.
• Video: Durban Atmosphere.
• Visual Arts: Durban urban.

To enter simply visit www.interpretdurban.com then download the brief and entry form. Deadline for entries is the 12th of December 2014, so best get to it! The event will culminate at a prize giving evening with a host of exhibitions and live entertainment. As mentioned before there are big prizes and a host of sponsors, it's sure to be a great event. 

For more info:

website: www.interpretdurban.com
facebook: Interpret Durban
twitter: @InterpretDurban
instagram: interpretdurban