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

KIA World Record

This Friday see's the commencement of the record attempt by KIA Motors South Africa for the World's Longest Test drive! As mentioned in my previous post, the drive will start off in Umhlanga, KZN where a fleet of the all new KIA Sportage depart on it's 6 day journey across the country making numerous stops in towns and KIA dealerships along the way. Over the past month KIA gave the public the opportunity to take part in this record attempt test drive by entering their details on the website, with over 30,000 entries, the lucky few who won spots in the test drive will be getting their chance to get behind the wheel of this awesome new SUV and ultimately stand a chance of winning one!

Now with a record attempt of this magnitude, KIA has announced that it will be partnering with American based company, RecordSetter who will be accompanying KIA Motors South Africa on the 3000-odd kilometre relay adventure across the nation. RecordSetter is an innovative and fast-growing record holding company in the U.S.A, The New Yorker described them as "to the Guinness Book of Records as Wikipedia is to the Encyclopedia Britannica". With the overwhelming interest in the all-new KIA Sportage and its journey throughout South Africa, RecordSetters is an official partner to the World's Longest Test Drive, so it will be official and global recognised. 

"RecordSetters is a great partner for our attempt at setting the record for The World's Longest Test Drive, their vibrant and dynamic approach to world records is an excellent fit to the innovative launch campaign for the all-new KIA Sportage, and the KIA brand overall, and we are excited about the added wow an official world record will bring to the local introduction of one of KIA's most anticipated new cars" said David Sieff, Marketing Director for KIA Motors South Africa. 

Another new official partner for the World's Longest Test Drive that was just announced this morning is GoPro. Thanks to them, every step of the the mammoth journey will be filmed along the way with active GoPro dashcams and a 24-7 film crew as part of the event. Shaun Rubenstein of OmniCo, distributor of GoPro, couldn;t have agreed on a better fit for both brands leading up to the launch. "Voice control, Image Stabilization, Linear Mode and Stereo Audio are four of the new features packed into the GoPro Hero5, making it the perfect device to capture awesome road tripping moments and we're very excited to be a part of this"

The World's Longest Test Drive kicks off this Friday, the 14th of October from the KIA Motors dealership in Umhlanga, and I will be one of the first drivers to not only get to drive the all new KIA Sportage but also one of the first to get this world record attempt going! I am pretty excited for this and you can follow me on my various social streams to be apart of the experience. Thereafter I will be keeping you updated on the journey till it's conclusion at Cape Point on the 20th of October. All this is build up to the official local launch of the vehicle on the 21st of October.

For more information, vist www.kiaworldrecord.co.za

Bucket Seat: Toyota Fortuner 2.8 GD-6

If you haven't already noticed, Toyota have a new Fortuner on the market and my god does it look good! It's one of the best selling SUV's on the market for the past few years and with good reason to. Yes, I now am reviewing Toyota's, their name and heritage in South Africa is really high up there with the Germans, apart from being cheaper, they're also the most reliable and a major plus is the re-sale value, it's for this reason that the Japanese manufacturer dominates the NAMSA stats every month with their Hilux being the best sold bakkie in SA for a good few years now, with competitors coming and going they remain the one constant there. I am utterly delighting that Toyota have given me this opportunity to drive their latest addition to a market favourite, as I drive a Toyota this also gave me the chance to see the advancements that have come along in their new cars.

Style

While I may think the new Fortuner looks stunning, I soon found out that to the general public it was more controversial than great. I'm happy to say that most of the responses were positive because it's a bold step Toyota took in their design,with the old one it was just a Hilux made into an SUV, with this it follows more in the lines of what they're doing at Lexus but having that unique Toyota touch. The lines on the car are much sleeker, angled in all the right places and sharp edges that make the vehicle stand out in the crowd. The lights are fantastic with the BI-Beam LED's and the visuals at night are something else. I even took the opportunity to get some night shots to showcase how good they look. The overall shape is good symmetry from the front to the back, raised suspension with  17" rims gives the Fortuner that extra rugged look but the chrome detailing still add's that luxurious touch. 

Performance

The vehicle I had was the top of the range diesel models, the 2.8 GD-6 Auto, the GD Hi engine range replaces the D-4D engines which were quite a hit in the older models. Whilst the D-4D engines were good, these new GD Hi engines are superb, with high torque, power when it's needed and fuel economy that will leave you smiling. With such a big SUV like this, you'd expect yourself to be at the pumps more than often for a refuel, granted I had a diesel, I still found that my day to day short distant running around gave me a fantastic return.

I was please to see that Toyota have added three driving modes to the car, Eco, Normal and Power, all of which say what they mean. I had it in Eco mode for most of the time and I hardly found the car taking strain or down changing to get extra power form the lower gear. With the 6 speed automatic gearbox, the Fortuner also came with paddle shifts, which I found a bit odd for an SUV but none the less I tried it out on Power mode and it was damn good fun on the open road. Smooth and seamless changes when you trigger, the only thing I did have an issue with is the length of the paddles, if they could extend it just a bit to the out circumference of the steering wheel it would be great. 

Comfort

If you follow me on Snapchat (if you don't, look to the left for my ID), you would have heard me go one about the interior finishes of the Fortuner, especially the leather. My family have owned Toyota's our whole lives, from Corolla's to Camry's of which my dad won't part with his 2013 as he says there is no car like it but the point is I have never experience different leather qualities like this before. They soft touch and feel of the leather on the dash along with the hardy yet comfortable leather on the seats, such a contrast but so damn good! I was truly impressed and so were the many passengers I gave rides to during the time. 

Simple things like having cushioned leather side walls on the center Radio and AC cluster makes such a big difference as many drivers rest their leg there while driving. The Fortuner is a 7 seater and I just had to try it out, sitting in all the seats including the ones right at the back, all of which are comfortable for adults. The interior is finished off in a mixture of aluminium and wood covered high quality plastic trimmings that add that elegance to it. It really is a major improvement to what we are used to in Toyota and I'm glad all this didn't affect the pricing. 

Tech

Lets start off with key-less entry, a must have in cars over 500K in my opinion, then those Bi-Beam LED's, apart from looking great they actually serve a good purpose on the road. With direct illumination across a 4 lane highway without hampering oncoming traffic, switch over to brights and you can practically light up the whole place. Impressive lighting tech from Toyota it has to be said. The infotainment screen for was a bit of a let down, it just seemed lacking. Maybe in an update they will add more options to it, at the moment it has blue-tooth audio integration with your cellphone and access to your phone book. It also gives you an Eco view of the car, along with reverse camera.  Noteworthy things that they could add in the future is Satnav, PDC's, yes it didn't come with park distance control, something you would need in car this size and maybe some apps. The touch screen was great and what I like is it didn't leave much fingerprints on it but just above that you'll find the trusted old digital clock, while many said they should give it rest, I quite liked it, almost like a homage to Toyota's of the past.

Storage

Like with many 7 seater SUV's, with all the seats in place, there leaves not much room in the trunk but with the Fortuner they were clever with the design, they took the spare tyre out of the boot and mounted it under the vehicle, hence the need for the raise suspension but this gives the boot more height and able to store more things in it. Folding the back two seats is easy enough but what may need to be re-looking is the clamps that hold them as many a time whilst being folded up I found them falling out when taking sharp bends. It does give you a bit of a scare up front.

Off Road

I didn't get a chance to test it's full potential off road but took it out on a few gravel trails which suffice to say was a piece of cake for the Fortuner. I didn't have to change any settings as the normal driving mode did the job. With a high ground clearance and big tyres, I don't see this car facing any major challenges off road and true to tradition I'm sure it can manage just about any terrain. 

Verdict

I'm sure you can tell from most of this write up or if you follow me on Twitter and Instagram that I honestly loved the new Fortuner, yes there are some small issues I have with it but nothing major. The only one I would say that might be an issue is the engine noise in the cabin, if Toyota can borrow some of the tech from Lexus to sound proofing the cabin it would be a winner. I knew before I got the car I would be impressed with it but little did I know why it would impress me so much and as I mentioned before, the model I had was one below the top of the range petrol V6 but the top of the range diesel model, the pricing for them is superb if you had to compare them to the others on the market. I don't need to say much more to sell you this car because if you just take a look at how many are on the road already, you will know for yourself that many others share the same sentiment. 

Specifications

• 2.8 litre GD Hi 
• 6 speed automatic gear box with paddle shift
• 130kW
• 450Nm torque
• Consumption: 8.5ltr/ 100km
• 0-100kph in 10.8 seconds
• Price: R613,200