I got to spend some time in two models of the Suzuki Across within a month of each other, the GL and the GLX models and while there are primarily the same car the GLX is the range topping model for a reason. As mentioned in my review of the GL, it's a car that Suzuki needed to show the world they can make a premium level car and not just budget friendly models that rely more on price point than actual comfort and practicality. I spent a week with the Across GLX and share my thoughts in this post.
DESIGN
Suzuki has never really been known for producing bold, premium-looking SUVs, but the new Across GLX Mild Hybrid changes that perception almost immediately. It's a design that feels like a significant step in the right direction for the brand. The front end is sharp and purposeful, with an imposing grille and sleek LED lighting giving it a far more upmarket appearance than we've come to expect from Suzuki. It strikes a balance between elegance and ruggedness without trying too hard, resulting in an SUV that looks mature and sophisticated. The proportions are well judged, the body lines are clean, and overall it has a confident road presence that makes it stand out in a crowded segment. It's refreshing to see Suzuki moving towards a more premium design language while still maintaining the practicality the brand is known for.
PERFORMANCE
Powering the Across GLX is Suzuki's 1.5-litre mild hybrid powertrain, and for everyday driving it delivers exactly what most South African buyers are looking for. Performance is smooth, predictable and more than adequate for commuting, school runs and long-distance cruising. The electric assistance helps the engine feel responsive when pulling away from traffic lights while also contributing to impressive fuel economy, making it an attractive option as fuel prices continue to fluctuate. The only area that doesn't quite impress is the gearbox. While it performs its duties competently, it can occasionally feel hesitant and lacks the refinement offered by some rivals. That said, once you're accustomed to its characteristics, it becomes easy to live with and doesn't detract significantly from the overall driving experience. For buyers prioritising efficiency, reliability and low running costs over outright performance, the Across delivers a well-rounded package.
COMFORT
Without question, this is one of the most comfortable Suzukis I've driven. The cabin immediately gives the impression that Suzuki has invested more attention into quality, with soft-touch materials, attractive textures and a layout that feels modern and well thought out. The seats provide excellent support whether you're navigating city traffic or spending hours on the highway, while passenger space in both rows is generous enough for family duties. The technology is another standout feature. The infotainment system is intuitive, smartphone connectivity works seamlessly, and features such as the excellent 360-degree camera make manoeuvring in tight parking spaces incredibly easy. It's one of those features you quickly become accustomed to and wonder how you managed without it. Combined with the quiet cabin and refined ride quality, the Across GLX genuinely feels like it belongs a class above many of Suzuki's previous offerings.
VERDICT
The Suzuki Across GLX Mild Hybrid represents a noticeable evolution for the brand. It looks more premium than ever before, offers excellent comfort, delivers impressive fuel economy and comes equipped with technology that buyers increasingly expect in this segment. While the gearbox could benefit from further refinement, it's a relatively small compromise in what is otherwise a very capable family SUV. The biggest talking point for South African buyers will undoubtedly be the pricing. The Across enters a fiercely competitive market filled with established rivals that offer strong value propositions, and that means Suzuki will need to convince buyers that its improved quality and generous specification justify the asking price. Even so, if you're looking for a comfortable, efficient and well-equipped SUV from a brand with an excellent reputation for reliability and affordability, the Across GLX deserves to be on your shortlist. It proves that Suzuki is no longer content with simply competing on value alone it now has the confidence to compete on quality, refinement and overall ownership experience as well.
I'll be honest, I cannot keep up with the various Chinese brands that are entering our market and I'm in the motoring space, so I can only imagine how the general consumer feels. It's like over the last year, there's just been a sudden influx of brands that we have never heard of popping up. Some are affiliated or are sub-brands of well known Chinese manufacturers that have a really good footprint and some are just totally new. For my first test car of 2026, I had one of the latest brands give me a car to spend some time with, and it was from "Leapmotor". Founded in 2015 in Hangzhou China, they are now the third largest new energy vehicle startup in China, having sold over 400,000 EV's in China as of July 2024. So over year has passed since that last stat, so that number has grown exponentially since then. The Financial Times calls them a "no-frills" EV maker", with offerings cheaper than their Chinese counterparts BYD which helped them gain market share in China, catching the likes of Tesla and soon BYD. Now while the SA market is still getting accustomed to the Chinese offerings, let alone EV's, Leapmotor which is partly owned by leading global automobile group Stellantis, they've taken the decision to introduce the C10 REEV, which is a petrol hybrid model medium SUV to the market. Offering locals a test of their EV technology but the safety net of a range extender petrol engine. After spending a week with the car, here are my thoughts on this latest addition to our market.
DESIGN
When the C10 cruised into my driveway, I was surprised at the size of it, as I was expecting something a bit smaller, sort of the Corolla Cross size but this was substantially bigger, about the size of the Audi Q5, if not a bit bigger. The clean design reminded me of the Geely which I saw late last year of which the lines are similar but with their own added flair. There aren't many ridges or edges but rather smooth flowing panels with subtle and soft curves that make the car look futuristic and elegant. It is a handsome looking car, I cannot deny that, the front LED headlights sit recessed into the front facia almost making it look like it was carved into the the body work. The slim grille that connects the two headlamps provides a subtle break in the body work with a straight edge difusser to make the front face more pronounced. There is a curvature to the bumper that folds into the body which just adds more character. The profile of the car is sleek with recessed door handles that continue the minimalist look with a black badge protruding from the front just above the wheel arch with the Leapmotor branding on it. The 20-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels are standard on the "Design" version of the C10 are really eye-catching. The rear is more of what you expect, clean, smooth and a solid light bar that runs across the back with a design very similar to that of the Porsche Cayenne. In fact, at a quick glance of the rear, some might mistake it for the German sports SUV.
PERFORMANCE
While Leapmotor are known for their EV's in China, the C10 REEV is a PHEV, meaning it has an electric plug in motor as well as an internal combustion engine but while most PHEV's use the electric motor as a slave with the master being the ICE, with the C10 its the opposite. If you have enough charge, it will use the electric motor for most part of your drive. Hence giving you a total range with a full tank of fuel and fully battery of 970km! The switch over from petrol to electric is seamless and only can be felt on the highway when extra power is required where the all too familiar groan of the CVT kicks in. The dual power plants are broken into a 158kW electric motor that punches our which is rear wheel driven that has a 28.4kwh battery and gives you a pure electric range of 145km on a full charge. The ICE part of the car sits up front with a 1.5L naturally aspirated 4-cylinder engine that has 63kW and 125Nm of torque, this is the sort of engine you'd find in a small C-Segment car. It has a 50L petrol tank so quite big but don't ask me how to open the fuel car for it as I'll explain that further in the next paragraph. The vehicle feels solid and steady on the road, with minimal body roll and extremely smooth on most surfaces. The steering wheel is light and rear active making easy work of controlling this big car on the road. I didn't take it on any gravel road but I feel with its raised suspension and big profile tyres, it would make light work of it.
COMFORT
The C10 is big, its spacious, its futuristic and most importantly, its comfortable. Like most of the Chinese cars, the brief for the interior seems to be standard "Big infotainment screen in excess of 10-inches, small instrument screen behind the steering wheel, little to no buttons, and floating center console with hard to reach USB ports". I get the whole futuristic thing but there's certain things about the C10 that annoyed me, a lot. For starters, the key, its an NFC card that only unlocked and locks the car from the driver side mirror. It had no proximity sensor which also means that there isn't comfort access for opening the tailgate when you are carrying a lot of things in your hands. With the cover on the car, it also made it tricky to get the card to read on the mirror. Once in the car, the second thing that annoyed me, was adjusting the side mirrors, no physical buttons meant going into the menu on the massive display screen, when you eventually find the sub-menu to adjust the mirrors, you have to use the little dials on the steering wheel to move the mirrors on either side. Extremely frustrating especially when you are trying to do this while driving. Then comes the climate control, works like a charm, dispelling even Durban's harsh humid conditions but when you want to change the direction of the airflow, you met with another conundrum, there isn't any physical lourves to adjust, how do you do it? Yes, you guessed it, its on that magic big screen, granted this one was much easier to access and it was pretty cool to just move your finger to show which direction you want the the air to go but all of that doesn't compare to the biggest gripe I have with the car, THERE IS NO MOBILE APPLICATIONS! Yes, no Apple Car Play, no Android Auto! in 2026?! Really?!!!! Well enough of the complaining, lets talk about the nice things, the seats were ultra comfy and have heating and ventilation, the ambient lighting is subtle and has a nice "rhythm" feature which changes colour to the beat of the music you are listening too. The electric seats are quite nice to use and easy to save for driver memory. The panoramic roof is large and the tint lets in the light without the heat. The driving safety sensors are not as pedantic as the other Chinese cars. The infotainment screen is easy to use and the vehicle menu gives you quite a comprehensive breakdown on the driving stats but I wish it had a graphic to show you when you are using the electric motor and when you are using the petrol engine.
VERDICT
For it's first model to hit the roads in South Africa, the C10 REEV is a decent offering, the thing that will appeal to most is the range of the car. 970km is quite impressive and the overall package is nice apart from those few grips I shared about, but I realised I forgot two more, to start the car, you need to place the NFC card on the wireless charging mat while pushing on the break, while it worked most of the time, some times I found myself fighting with the car to start. The car has a premium feel to it which I loved, the design is different to what we are used to and looks more on the sophisticated side instead of being brash and in your face. The drive is great and I'm sure on long distances it will perform extremely well. While some in the industry said they feel this car was rushed, I think it was just short-sightedness from the brand to not see what the local market liked and adapted that to their offering but they rather chose to just give us what they think we wanted, or hoped we would ignore those short-comings with some fancy things. The price tag for this model is quite high, with it being just shy of 800K, so it's hard to ignore those factors when you are paying European money for something coming out of China.
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class has long been one of the most desirable business sedan in the world. In South Africa, the E class enjoyed decent sales in the segment compared to its rivals over the years as it was one of the more preferred "business sedans" on offer but the previous model seemed to have lost that charm of which Mercedes-Benz has been known for in the past. I was invited last year to sample the latest version of the E-Class, at thee launch, I went in with a lot of skepticism thinking that the same mistakes would’ve been repeated, but I was very wrong. I was blown away with the package that was in front of me and even though it was just a short driving trip you could tell Merc had done something special with his car, fast forward a year later I finally got to spend five days with the new E-Class to see exactly what they’ve done and why this echoes the return of the Mercedes-Benz of old.
DESIGN
The design of the new E-Class is stunning, the car just exudes elegance when you look at it. Merc got all the things right with this one, the lines, the details and the general look of it, I can only imagine how it must look on the road when I was driving past everyone. From the front end you are greeted by the large star-studded grille with the huge Mercedes-Benz logo being front and prominent, the grille actually illuminates at night which just adds so much more character to the front end. The headlights are fitted with digital LED lighting, which give a little dance every time the car is started. The design of the headlamps are synonymous to the kidney styled ones of the past but with a modern twist. Moving along to the profile of the car, the silhouette gives it that limousine look, and long wheel base versions of this car must be stunning to look at from the side but this model does look great too. The large 21-inch AMG multi-spoke alloy wheels really enhance the cars stance but doesn't take away from the luxury look of it. The colour in which this particular car came in is called "Velvet Brown" and let me tell you, in the winters setting sun just looks so sophisticated, the way it shimmers in the dusk makes you think it's more than just an E-Class. Moving onto the rear of the car, some might feel the design of the tail lights are a bit gimmicky with the Star pattern but I think they look cool. Also the way the design is well rounded at the rear gives the E a very soft and subtle look from the back. The chrome accents at the boot lid are matched with the chrome twin faux tail pipes. The interior of the car is well designed, giving a good blend of ergonomics and luxury.
PERFORMANCE
The E200 comes powered with a 2-litre, 4 cylinder petrol combustion engine that is assisted by an electric hybrid power plant which aids the ICE motor when required. While the engine provides 150kW of power, the electric motor adds an additional 17kW of power to it, giving the combined power output of 167kW. The torque factor comes in at 320Nm which plentiful to get this 1,800kg beast of the line. While the E200 isn't a full hybrid per-say, the common term now being used is "mild hybrid", kinda like the Nando's sauce which as a hint of peri-peri but not too much, it does play a massive role in not only the performance but the fuel economy too. The E-Class could not have come at a better time for me as I had a nice long distance trip planned for it first up, a return journey of about 750km and on the first leg going up country, the car performed brilliantly, the ride was superb and the changing of the gears in that 9G-Tronic transmission was like a symphony in action. The thing that struck me the most was the fuel economy, seeing that this is a big car, a 2-litre, 4 cylinder engine would feel the pressure when venturing up the twisty's of the KZN midlands, I imagined a lot of groaning from the motor and downshifts galore from the gearbox but nothing of the sort transpired. It was effortless and by the time I reached my destination, the fuel economy was sitting at a proud 7.3L per 100km, the return trip back to Durban gave even more impressive reading with an average of 6.1L per 100km! I clocked just over 800km on a single tank of 66-litres.
COMFORT
Now we getting to the best part of the E-Class, the comfort, I mentioned that some of the newer cars that have rolled out the Mercedes-Benz factories lacked that defining factor that made Mercedes what it was. It was more than just a status symbol, it gave the ordinary man a chance to experience luxury at another level. While the line-up's expanded, the quality seemed to have dropped and I honestly was starting to lose hope in the brand, then this guy shows up and makes me re-consider my thinking. The essence of Merc is still not lost, it's just been kept away but I'm glad someone has found it and sprinkled it in abundance in this car. The interior is well laid out with a digital instrument cluster that gives you all relevant driving info that can be controlled from the multi-function steering wheel, it has a cool 3D button that you can toggle with the display giving you a multi-dimensional view of the various information. The centeral infotainment screen measures in at 14.4-inches, yes this thing is massive and its in high-resolution. The MBUX interface is easy to use and very fast. There's loads of menus and tools to go through in it, from sound options, to ambient lighting, to configuring driving modes and the lot. Of course the car comes with built-in mobile phone connectivity, for both Android and iOS, and there is even the AI assistant in which its ever ready to receive voice commands it can comply to. The car comes with quad zone climate control, seat heating for the driver and front passenger and both are electronically adjustable with 3 memory settings. The car came with a Burmester 3D sound system that came with 17-speakers that produces 730Watts and even had a 4D Sound experience with Dolby Digital. The quality of materials used the car were top notch, even the plastic wood grain felt like real wood! The luggage capacity measures in around 540L so plenty of space for long distance holiday trip. This particular car also came with the "super screen" extra, which is an additional 12.3 screen for the front passenger. This screen only activates when there is someone sitting in the seat. They have access to the usual MBUX menu but also can download games and video streaming apps for them to watch on, they are able to connect Bluetooth headphones to it so they can watch without disturbing the driver.
VERDICT
There's a lot more that I can say about this car that blew me away but just the fact that it brought a big smile to my face every time I got behind the wheel is enough to know that it is more than just good. While there is a very apparent decline in sales locally for the brand, which has a lot to do with pricing and competition from the east, there is no denying that there is somethings that China can't come close to and that is proper German engineering at its best. The refinement in this E-Class is next-to-none, the sophistication in almost every aspect is a true indication of the lengths the engineers went looking for perfection and achieved it. While some might say this isn't their cup of tea, this isn't tea to begin with, its Glühwein. With the E53 AMG Edition one confirmed to be heading to the country this week in limited numbers, that would probably be the Jagermeister. I kid, but take it from someone who was doubting the brand and its relevance in the motoring segment of recent, these guys still got what it takes to make a proper car and if this E-Class is anything to go by, Mercedes-Benz is going nowhere.
Over the December period I got to spend it with the new Volkswagen Tiguan. The third generation of the popular mid-sized family SUV was launched in the country last September but since then not many were to be seen on the roads, well at least here in Durban which has a strong VW presence. I couldn't help wonder why, given its good looks, modern interior, technology packed and great list of safety features, what could have been deterring prospective buyers from buying this car? The previous generation was a firm favourite in the segment, so much so they even brought the performance version Tiguan R which was in high demand. Now many of you must be already saying, "it's because of the price", but Volkswagen SA have done extremely well with the pricing, keeping it relatively equal to the outgoing model, so it definitely couldn't have been that. I was hoping that by spending a month with it, I could nail down the reason, so here's my thoughts that and more importantly, the car itself.
From the day it rolled into my driveway, I was grinning like a child, the Tiguan is a gorgeous looking car but the one that was handed to me, came in the R-Line package in Persimmon Red Metallic paint. It was a looker, with its curvaceous body, sporty lines, mesmerize lights and menacing stance it made sure to get attention wherever I went. The styling, especially on the R Line really gives the overall body a great look, the main focus being the large front grille which almost looks like a mouth open sucking in all the air as you drive. The solid panel grille above that which spans around the front joining the headlamps with the VW emblem in the center. The comments I got about the looks during my time with it were all positive, while it was a modern design its core still remained true to the VW design language. There was nothing extreme to deviate it away from the classic SUV look, unlike what we're seeing coming out of China and that is what the loyal VW customers expect from their brand, something that fits the mold of a family SUV but with that added German robustness.
While the outside drew a lot of attention, its the inside where I spent my time and let me tell you, it was quite a place to be. A fresh new take on an interior from VW with elements borrowed from other newer models like the Golf 8.5 and the Touareg. The first thing that gets your attention is the large infotainment screen, measuring in at 12.9-inch its the main focal point of the cabin. It feels like its floating on the dash and this illusion gets better at night with the ambient lighting which has 30-colours to choose from with a bi-colour display, so the combinations you can play around with really can make your imagination go wild. The instrument cluster is a 10-inch digital cockpit that has the usual VW displays which can be configured and changed from the multi-function steering wheel. I'm really please VW has gone back to conventional buttons here, and not the haptic type that we all loathed on the Golf 8 GTI..... however, they could have designed new buttons and not just lift them up from the previous Tiguan. The steering wheel is nice, being leather wrapped give its that premium feel with perforations where your palms should sit when holding it. While VW have gone back to conventional buttons for the steering wheel, they still chose to keep some haptic sensitive buttons for the volume, climate control and sunroof. The volume can be controlled from the steering wheel so no issues from me thee, however, adjusting the climate control proved to be an annoying task while driving, you require some level of attention to what you're doing which distracts you from the road, same goes for the sunroof wen wanting it in the tilt position, sliding gestures to open and close are fine but trying to get your finger hit dead center to tilt seemed like mission impossible at times.
Other cool tech that came in the Tiguan was the wireless mobile phone connectivity, which is pretty much the norm in any new Volkswagen, the cabin is very minimalist, so there isn't much to play around with apart from the infotainment screen however, VW have added a jog shuttle control which serves a dual purpose, in normal setting its a volume knob, yes, that makes it three ways to control the volume and much better than that haptic sensor thing below the screen and when you push it in, it allows you to select the various driving modes offered. The Tiguan has 4 USB C charging ports, 2 up front that is covered by a flip tray which has the wireless charging mat below and 2 additional USB C ports for the rear passengers. The interior as mentioned is simple but well laid out, my one gripe would be the extensive use of plastics, I realise this might be a mixture of cost cutting and weight saving but especially with the long solid pieces, they tend to creek when driving in hot weather. What I did love is how the ambient lighting is integrated into the dash panels with a matrix like pattern that lights up at night and really adds another element to the interior experience. This model also came with a large panoramic glass sunroof which during summer to have open will give you a nice roast, so I tend to only have the curtain open at night.
Lets talk about the power under the hood, at launch the Tiguan was only launched in the 1.4L TSI Petrol engine, now there is the 2.0L TSI Petrol and 2.0L TDI motors on offer, so my holiday wheels was the 1.4L TSI and while many did ask "Isn't it under powered?", truth be told, for 90% of my driving, it was just fine. On highways when you need that extra oomf it found itself searching for power but with the 7-speed DSG there to optimally change gears, the lack of power was there for just a few seconds. The great thing about the DSG is the way helps the motor get the best from each gear, not over straining the engine and this plays a major role in keeping that fuel economy down. Within the 30 days, I filled five full tanks of fuel, averaging about 52L every time, and I did just over 4000km with it, so giving me about 800km on every time I filled up. That's not bad from a 55L tank with a "small engine that can't cope".
My long distance trip with it to Johannesburg would be the ultimate test for the Tiguan , apart from seeing how the engine coped with the load, it was also a way to test the luggage capacity as it would be up against my mum! Many don't know this but people in Johannesburg don't get anything there, so my mother feels it is her duty to buy everything in Durban to take up for her sisters and my siblings, completely forgetting that we need to carry clothes as well. My plans of carrying my golf clubs with were dashed when I saw the 4 cooler boxes lined up in the passage to be loaded before we hit the road but with 3 luggage bags, an assortment of boxes and the cooler boxes packed in, the automatic tailgate closed without a fuss and it was time to hit the road. Seeing that it was just the three of us traveling, my mother felt that the unused seats in the back also deserved to be filled, so there was more things added to that. With a load, driving up country to higher altitude, the Tiguan felt at ease, with the construction and trucks in KZN, it was difficult to set the cruise control so I waited till we passed halfway to test it out. With all the functions on the steering wheel it was easy to set a speed and with the adaptive technology, also set a following distance to the car in front of you and I let it do the work. While it is a cool feature, it works well when the other drivers on the road know how to drive, I had loads of people cut in front of me which then kicks in the breaking since the minimum distance has been exceed so there were times the car would slow down right to 60kph to maintain that gap but that is no fault of the cars, it's just rather annoying to have that break in momentum.
The comfort of the drive was rather special, the ride quality was smooth with the shocks coping well with the various surfaces it traversed on. The climate control managed the temperature in the cabin but like I said, I had to close the curtain on the sun roof as the sun got quite strong over the Free State. After halfway I thought it would be the best time to test the massaging seats out, to stimulate the blood flow, with the various options of massages and the choice of intensity, this optional extra was becoming my favourite of the car. Applying just the right amount of pressure making your back and shoulders relaxed after a good few hours of driving. Not too relaxing as you don't want to be falling asleep at the wheel now, also it has a time limit so the most you can do is 30 minutes at a time. Overall the trip to and from Joburg with the Tiguan was a great success with all the passengers happy and all the goods delivered safely, on the journey up I averaged 7.2L per 100km and on the way down this dropped to 6.5L per 100km, so pretty efficient if you ask me.
While in Durban, I tend to get up to lots of things, from going to the beach for a run, to playing golf with mates and taking long drives for special lunches and dinners. For this, the Tiguan proved to be a worthy companion as well, rocking up to one of Durban's prestigious golf clubs in the striking looking SUV, it sure did turn some heads, what was even better is that I managed to fit the entire four ball in the car, all four bags and 4 players with ease, no dropping of the seats or anyone sitting cramped up. To say that is impressive is being unkind to the Tiguan, it had many other spectators at the golf club equally impressed. So, again, that luggage compartment of 652L cant pack a lot! With the torque derived from that TSI motor, the car can pull the load too.
Overall my 30 days with the Tiguan was faultless to say the least, while there were niggles that I picked up with the quality of certain materials and the slight lag of power on highway driving, I don't see that as major contributors to the low sales. I personally think it is the general consumer thinking that the 1.4L TSI engine is inadequate for their requirements so they were waiting for the 2.0L options to come out. While this may get more sales, the major issue VW and most of the other European brands are facing is competition from the East. The Chinese have infiltrated the market tenfolds with new brands coming in every week it seems, with each one offering more for less than the other. While these cars do offer a lot for a small price tag, it still is very early to tell if they will be worth it in the long run. With trusted names like VW, you still have peace of mind knowing you have a solid German vehilce, and the loyalist will agree but when push comes to shove, if you can be saving yourself an extra R6,000 a on a car installment, the answer is a no brainer for many. It's a pity though because Volkswagen have a great third generator of their much loved SUV, I doubt it will see the sales high as the previous generation but it should be able to take a stake in the market.
