Including the KTM 990 Adventure

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Contents

Pg 5 Renault Koleos 4x2Pg10 Opel Astra GTCPg 20 KTM 990 AdventurePG26 Honda Civic DtecPg34 Volvo v60 T4 Pg42 Chevrolet Cruze 1.6LS

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Credits and stuff:

Editor : STephen De VriesPhotoGrapher : Shooting Spree PhotographyPublisher :360 MediaWebhosting : 360 MediaOnline Marketing : Internetmarketers.co.za / Perclick.co.za

Contact info:

Office 0224612526Mobile 0825888383Email: Info@Leftlane.co.zaWeb : www.leftlane.co.zaPhotography : Shootingspree.co.zaFacebook : www.facebook.com/leftlanezaTwitter @ leftlaneza

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ISSUE TwoHey Guys and Girls :)

I hope you had a lovely new year and christmas. Things have been pretty chilled here in the cape and, as per usual, the whole industry tends to slow down around this time of year.

fear not. we are back and with another exciting issue. Our current issue has an odd ball in the mix in the form of a lovely austrian adventure bike, the Ktm990 adventure. Totally addic-tive stuffs!

We also feature a bunch of different vehicles, but all in the form of a hatchback of some kind. from the fully specced Renault Koleos, to the spacious Volvo v60 T4 and all the way to the Chevrolet Cruze .16 LS. with all of them you will find a pretty good read and some very tasty photographs.

We would also like to take the time to thank you guys for your support over the last year and obviously for the next coming year. We

really appreciate all the response and emails.

We have also launched a new soft roader based web-site @ www.softroader.co.za combining all of the softies that we have tested over the years. New softies will be added accordingly. We hope you like.

Don’t forget to support our local boys in the dakar race. De villiers and Curtis seem to be battling it out with the best in the world. Terrain is tough and the deserts are extrmely sandy. Lets hope for the best boys!

That’s it from my side, enjoy the issue and please dont be shy to drop us a mail.

Stephen de Vries(wannabe editor guy)

6 Leftlane.co.zawww.renault.co.za

NOTHING WAS EVER ACCOMPLISHED BY STANDING STILL. Introducing the new Mégane Collection 2012 with expressive curves and smart technology – including LED lights; integrated navigation with live traffic updates and Google local search; climate control aircon with air quality control; USB with iPod connectivity; Bluetooth; rain and light sensors; ESP; and 8 airbags – every part is designed to make sure you never stop evolving.Mégane available in both hatch & coupé

Terms & conditions apply. Certain features are optional or may vary across different models. *Retail prices in accordance with 03 October 2012 price list. Prices exclude “on the road” costs.

DRIVE THE CHANGE

5ye ar Warr ant y1 50 000km

year SerVICe PLan1 00 000km5

*

9869 Megane sunday life.indd 1 2012/11/21 5:38 PM

Renault Koleos 4x2

7Leftlane.co.zawww.renault.co.za

NOTHING WAS EVER ACCOMPLISHED BY STANDING STILL. Introducing the new Mégane Collection 2012 with expressive curves and smart technology – including LED lights; integrated navigation with live traffic updates and Google local search; climate control aircon with air quality control; USB with iPod connectivity; Bluetooth; rain and light sensors; ESP; and 8 airbags – every part is designed to make sure you never stop evolving.Mégane available in both hatch & coupé

Terms & conditions apply. Certain features are optional or may vary across different models. *Retail prices in accordance with 03 October 2012 price list. Prices exclude “on the road” costs.

DRIVE THE CHANGE

5ye ar Warr ant y1 50 000km

year SerVICe PLan1 00 000km5

*

9869 Megane sunday life.indd 1 2012/11/21 5:38 PM

The ever-so-competitive soft roader market has really been thrown on its back by afford-able, luxury-type compact util-ity vehicles. Take the Koleos for example; you are sitting with an entry level vehicle in the Renault range, which com-pares to that of the higher end CUV’s from the other manu-facturers. The baby Koleos is basically a full-spec vehicle, with all the gadgets you would ever need.

Step inside and you are greet-ed by luxury leather interior,

including a leather wrapped multifunction steering wheel which also houses the multi-function controls. Driver seat is electronically adjustable while passenger is manual. Driver lumbar support is also avail-able. One-touch windows all the way around with privacy glass on the rear windows with a nifty sunshade on the in-side. This also makes it nearly impossible for prying eyes to see what’s in the vehicle from outside. The back seats are slightly reclineable but also flip flat in a split manner.

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The multimedia system is pret-ty intuitive; with a little control centre in the middle of the vehicle, this controls the fac-tory fitted Tom Tom navigation, which helps point out those ugly speeding cameras on our roads. It sure did save me a couple of times. Sound quality is average in this market and a decent amount of volume is available. Ipod , USB and blue tooth support also comes standard and the latter is easy to setup, once you read the manual. I highly advise you read it because the options can be a little confusing.

Driving the Koleos is where it comes together. Decent ground clearance and a rather nippy 2.5l 4 cylinder engine making 126kw. 0-100kph is claimed in 9.0 seconds and you thought I was joking about being nippy. The 6 speed gearbox is slick, but is probably let down with a very light clutch. I just feel that it’s too light for my lik-ing. On the overall package the Koleos drives well on all road conditions. Our overall consumption figures varied from 8.5l to 9.7l when we were eventually done with the re-view.

It’s strange how compact utility vehicles look so much smaller from the outside and how space is surprisingly adequate on the inside and a family of 5 will easily fit in the Koleos. There are pretty funky food trays behind the passenger and drivers seats, which is a nice touch. There is also a large boot with split doors for easy loading. The spare which is also located under the boot tray is a full size model.

The front McPherson shocks

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and multi-link rear suspension gives a smooth ride and also offers the Koleos 206mm of ground clearance with an ap-proach angle of 27 degrees and a departure angle of 31 degrees. This makes the occa-sional pavement jumping, or hill ascending, a little easier. Note that this model Koleos is not all wheel drive, but front wheel drive only. It handles rougher roads and gravel perfectly fine.

For a price of R289 000, the Koleos is priced extremely well if you consider the kit that you are getting. As usual, the Ko-leos is backed by Renaults 5 year / 150 000km mechanical warranty and their 100 000km, 3 year service plan.

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Opel Astra GTC

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2 Door hatches are sporty looking cars. No matter which way you look at it, 2 doors have always implied some-thing a little out of the norm when comparing it to their 4 door counterparts. I remember the 1.6GSE Kadette back in the day and then the sportier versioned 2 door Kadette Boss. The 2 door had a bigger road presence and instantly had more respect.

The new Astra GTC is a beautiful car from any angle. The sharp nose and those gorgeous hawk-like headlights compliment the front so nicely. It’s a great blend between sportiness and an executive feel. The lines keep flowing all the way to the rear, meeting up with chunky 18inch wheels and an equally aggressive rear end with a sort of ducktail rear boot spoiler. It’s like the head of the Astra design team went back to the drawing board and completely redesigned the car. It just looks awesome; there is no other way to describe it.

The interior which, as expect-ed, is pretty much signature

Opel, but is also pretty good with higher than normal quality parts used, or at least it feels like it. The heated front seats and the leather steering wheel just suits me perfectly and for a coupe, there is plenty of space in the front – almost too much to be honest. The car features a red ambient night light setup which at night gives the car a nice a warm feeling. If you ever feel cold, no prob-lem, the dual climate control will take perfectly good care of you. Soft touch dashboard looks great and as said before, the cabin is a huge improve-ment over the previous genera-tion and is enough reason for me to would want to upgrade.

The engine is a 1.6l 16v Ecotech mill with a turbo charger that produces 132kw. That’s 10kw down from the far sportier Corsa OPC we reviewed a couple of months ago. Acceleration is pretty brisk and while the car is not earth-shatteringly quick, it makes for some decent pace. It also puts out a relatively low 162 g/km c02 emissions. 0-100km/h comes up in 8.8seconds

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and will run onto a claimed 220kph. The sports chas-sis, comprising of Mcpherson struts in the front and watts link rears, give the car a good sense of road holding and feels very neutral in the bends. The 235/50/18inch tires fill the arches nicely and give the car good ride quality. The profile is not too low where most of the road noise enters the cabin and the Astra is a pretty quiet car on the highway.

Boot space is probably a little on the small size at only 380l

however, in its defense, there is a false floor and with that partitioning removed, I would guess that it comes up to around 420l. There is a space saver rear spare wheel though.

The Astra GTC averaged about 9.5l/100km with our combined driving cycles and with a 56l fuel tank, it gives you a range of around 600km depending on how you drive.

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The infotainement system features 7 speakers with an AUX and USB in. There is also Bluetooth support that’s works fabulously and it will even read your phone book details off your phone without having to download it to the vehicle. That was something that I really appreciated. Op-erations are also very simple and straight forward. The on-board computer also displays the norm, such as your aver-age fuel consumption, instan-taneous fuel consumption and estimated range. Cruise control is standard, as well as rear park assist, auto headlights and auto wipers.

In conclusion, the Astra GTC 1.6 makes a very good case. Good performance and good luxury features and for the young executives, this is a very good choice. It’s not too boy-racer and it’s not too flashy. It just shows that you have good style. The GTC retails at R304 000 and features Opels 90 000km service plan and their 5 year /120 000km warranty and road-side assist.

For more info, check out Opel.co.za

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Get a NEW

Model

2.5X MT

Retail Price

R 328 000

Instalment

R 3999

Interest Rate

8%

Deposit

R 0

Term

72 Months

Balloon Payment

R 108 240

FORESTER

fro

m o

nly

pm

Constant Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive

3 year/75 000kmMaintenance Plan

ANCAP

Rated

Interest rate linked to the prevailing prime rate. This deal is subject to credit approval by Subaru Finance,an authorised financial services and registered credit provider.Pricing includes once off initiation fee of R 1140 and a monthly service fee of R 57. Terms and conditions apply. E & OE. While stocks last.

BLOEMFONTEIN 051 448 6000 JOHANNESBURG 011 622 0260 BRYANSTON 011 463 2400 CAPE TOWN 021 430 8000 CENTURION 012 653 7309 DURBAN 031 365 6600 EAST LONDON 043 701 6400 PORT ELIZABETH 041 484 3331 PIETERMARITZBURG 033 342 9922 SOMERSET WEST 021 853 8618

www.subaru.co.za

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Get a NEW

Model

2.5X MT

Retail Price

R 328 000

Instalment

R 3999

Interest Rate

8%

Deposit

R 0

Term

72 Months

Balloon Payment

R 108 240

FORESTER

fro

m o

nly

pm

Constant Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive

3 year/75 000kmMaintenance Plan

ANCAP

Rated

Interest rate linked to the prevailing prime rate. This deal is subject to credit approval by Subaru Finance,an authorised financial services and registered credit provider.Pricing includes once off initiation fee of R 1140 and a monthly service fee of R 57. Terms and conditions apply. E & OE. While stocks last.

BLOEMFONTEIN 051 448 6000 JOHANNESBURG 011 622 0260 BRYANSTON 011 463 2400 CAPE TOWN 021 430 8000 CENTURION 012 653 7309 DURBAN 031 365 6600 EAST LONDON 043 701 6400 PORT ELIZABETH 041 484 3331 PIETERMARITZBURG 033 342 9922 SOMERSET WEST 021 853 8618

www.subaru.co.za

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KTM 990 Adventure

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Put up your hand if you don’t know about the KTM990. I don’t even need to say that I’m guessing you all know about the bike and secretly want to own one. Even if you are riding a Bavarian steed; deep down, you know your blood a slight tinge of orange in it.

And rightly so! The 990 has not changed much over the last couple of years, besides some little cosmetic changes like orange crash bars and a new front facia LCD/ speedo. This was probably the biggest change in the model since the 990 came out, which, as you should also know, replaced the wonderful 950.

Previous generation 990s had a snatchy throttle. You would ride around in 1st gear and the slightest twitch of your wrist would send the bike flying forward at a relatively intimidating pace, and even if you are used to the power, it could still catch you off-guard. The snatchy throttle has been cured and, I must admit, it’s so smooth down low now that even your granny could take it to the shop to buy bread on

a Sunday. So from that point, the bike can’t be faulted.The biggest biggy in the range was the R version, which versus the regular 990. Why would you want the 990 if you can have the R with lon-ger travel suspension and the added power? Everybody wants more power, right? Thankfully, the new bike is now identi-cal in terms of power with the R. Yes, it uses the same fuel injection mapping and I’m told that even more power can be extracted by fitting aftermarket exhausts like the Akraprov-ics. So now if you are on the shorter side of things, you can buy a 990, have the same bragging rights with your mates and still not feel intimidated with only your toes touching the ground, like you would on the R.The 990 also has ABS. Not everybody is fond of ABS on dirt but, thankfully, this time around they made it very easy to switch off. The previ-ous generation always had me fighting with it and, right now, it’s really a simple 5 second approach, as long as the bike is standing still and in neutral. You simply hold the button for

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about 5 seconds and voila, ABS off and playtime can begin.

The biggest perk of some-thing exotic is the parts. Brembo brakes and WP sus-pension is really in a class of their own. It handles the worst gravel roads with ease and, what may feel on the faster side on any other bike, feels rather normal, perhaps a little bland, but yet comfortable and in con-trol. I’m sure you’ve had the ‘oh-dear-what-now, I’m go-ing too fast and I might go down’ feeling. The simple “stand up, open up” term comes to mind and the Ad-

venture jumps forward, breaking the tail loose, sort of like the black stallion (orange perhaps?) and it just pulls you through anything. Yes the suspension is really that good. Combined with better dual purpose tires, the bike would make any road a breeze. It’s no wonder it’s the alpha dog when it comes to aggressive adventure riding.

The nature of the LC8 motor is a little on the peaky side. It sounds great when spinning at 6000rpm+ and below that, it’s just a mountain of torque, ready to roost anything behind you! As a touring bike, I felt it handle pretty well on tar, with a cruising sweet-spot of

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around 150kph. Around that speed you should still see decent fuel economy as it’s no secret the LC8 can drink like a v8 if you hold the taps open. There are talks of around 19km/l around 100-110kph and an average of about 15-16km/l around 140kph. Not bad for a bike that only spells FUN.

The 990 brings out the little naughty boy in everybody who rides it. They call it “the Dark Side”… I’ll take two if you can give me some cook-

ies with my milk, please!

Thanks to KTM Cape Town for the practically brand new 990 (800km) they loaned us! Much appreciated!

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Honda Civic 2.2 Dtec Exclusive

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The new Civic really is another piece of eye candy from the Japanese automaker. Come on, seriously, just look at those lines. It still looks like an alien ship ready to attack Earth and I’m guessing it probably will.

Honda claims that the Civic has been redesigned, but why does it still look like a Civic? Have you ever thought about the Honda Civic timeline? I don’t really suspect that you have, but let’s for a moment imagine that you have. The Civic has always been Honda’s

top seller. We’ve had the Ballade and really up until recently, it was really just a rebadged Civic – and to add even more confusion, they came in a variety of sizes, coupes, hatchbacks and se-dans.

Thankfully Honda has done away with all of that and has given us this masterpiece. The sharp angular front-end, with day light running lamps and bi-Xenon headlights, are stan-dard on this hi spec exclusive model. As you can imagine, it has also been fitted with every

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accessory in the options list; from PDC front and rear, to tasty 18inch alloys, which are optional. It even has a gor-geous panoramic roof.

The 2.2 diesel mill is a com-mon rail turbo unit which makes a healthy 110kw and 350nm. This gives the Civic a pretty urgent midrange surge of power, meaning that there is always power available for you to overtake on the highways. The 6 speed gearbox is a smooth shifter and with all that torque available, you still have a pretty grunty engine

when you are in top gear. This means it will sprint from 0-100kph in under 9 seconds and still do 6l/100km. Coupled with that, crazy low emissions for a diesel at 124g/km. Top speed is claimed at 217km/h.

The interior is attractive and it’s great to see that it’s still pretty much Honda like. The heated leather seats are power adjustable on the driver side and offer good lateral support. The rear seats can lift and shift around, much like Jazz seats. This brings more space to you, should you need it.

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The Exclusive model is fitted with a premium stereo with USB and a rear view reverse camera. Vision is excellent, even at night. Adding rear PDC to that means that you can squeeze your civic into the tiniest of parking spots with-out trouble. Honda’s handsfree telephone blue tooth kit is also standard.

Driving the Civic is maybe just a touch confusing. You have this incredibly sporty looking hatchback, lovely alloys and a relatively sporty suspension, but

it’s fitted with a diesel engine. It’s not a common combination, but Honda has pulled it off.

The new Civic is definitely something fresh for our roads and a really good looking car. It might still look like the old Civic, but the new car is defi-nitely worth considering if your shopping basket allows the R344 100 price tag.

The Civic 2.2 Exclusive comes standard with a 3 year / 100 000km warranty. For more info, check out Honda.co.za

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Volvo V60 T4 Powershift

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Volvo has always been known as a safe family car and, thus, has also been labeled as a ‘not so cool car’ for the up and coming family guy. Recent-ly Volvo has gone back to the drawing board and come back with this beautiful vehicle. With angular and smooth curves from the front to back, every-thing just flows into each other gorgeously.

The V60 T4 came with a 6 speed automatic powershift transmission. It’s a smooth transmission and, while some

reviews had claimed it to be slow and horrible, I found that in its application, it worked pretty well. The thing that you need to realise is that even though this T4 produces 132kw and 240nm, it’s still only a 1.6l engine and not really intended to be a rocket ship. It acceler-ates and overtakes pretty well at highway speeds and as a package, is very comfortable and relatively quick.

Performance figures are pretty adequate for a vehicle in the class and even at its size the

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V60 accelerates to 100kph in 9.2seconds. That does not tell all the figures though as most turbo charged vehicles only really start showing their colours when they get up and going and the V60 is no dif-ferent.

Our V60 was fitted with lovely 18inch wheels and what feels like a little bit of a sportier suspension. The wheels fit the arches just great and re-ally complement it. No longer does Volvo have to be bland and boring. Those days are long gone.

The leather interior is stunning and the front seats are also electric, but only on the driver side. The multi-function steer-ing wheel controls the cruise control and audio settings, while the on-board computer is controlled from the indica-tor stalk. The V60 also has dual zone climate control so both the driver and passenger can set their desired tempera-tures.

In the cabin you have USB, Bluetooth and IPod connec-tions for your music, as well

as an on-board CD changer which plays mp3’s and wmas. This is played through a Hi performance audio system with 8 speakers and a colour LCD screen. Sound is pretty impres-sive and it will go pretty loud

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with minimal distortion.

From a safety point of view, the Volvo brand has always prided itself on being one of the safest cars on the road. This new model is no different

and even by having an Ncap 5 safety rating, it does not just stop there. The V60 has 6 airbags, 2 in the front, 2 side airbags and 2 curtain airbags. The vehicle also comes stan-dard with feature called City

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Safety which makes use of certain technologies to help avoid certain collisions. ABS and Electronic brake force distribution is obviously also standard.

The Volvo V60 T4 is a great package. It ticks off all of the boxes that a young fam-ily man could ever need and want in a car. You’ve got plenty of space and a car that does not look dull and

boring. Buying a Volvo sport wagon will definitely set you apart from a German crowd follower.

I say, go for it!

The Volvo T4 Powershift is available in 2 models; the Excel and the Elite. The Ex-cel retails for R375 200 and the Elite retails at R390 800. For more info, check out Vol-vocars.co.za

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Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 LS

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The Cruze sedan has been with us for a couple of years now and it has always been a sensible option for the me-dium size family sedan seg-ment. It does, however, com-pete against more expensive vehicles and seems to be doing very well in terms of sales. The Cruze hatch was launched during the middle of last year and there is not much different from the sedan to the hatch, apart from the one being a hatch, or a sort of fastback.

In the heart of the 1.6LS,

which is the bottom of the range, is a 1.6l DOHC engine producing 91kw and 155nm. Chevrolet claims that this engine is their most power-ful 1600 naturally aspirated to date and on paper it’s impres-sive. Where it is a bit of a let-down, however, is in straight line acceleration as the heavy weight of the vehicle comes into play. 0-100kph is claimed at 12.8seconds. However, once up to speed, the Cruze will cruise the open road with no trouble. Overtaking accelera-tion between 120-140kph does require you to drop a gear or

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2, depending on how much of a hurry you are in. Average fuel consumption is around the 8l/100km mark and not bad for a petrol-powered 1.6l.

The interior, which is pretty much on par with the com-petition in terms of quality, is super spacious. It’s probably one of the largest seat-to-pedal distances I’ve come across and I’m 1.95m tall. The Cruze also features things like cruise con-trol and radio controls, which are all neatly placed on the multi-function steering wheel. The audio system supports

USB, plays mp3 and there is Bluetooth available on this base spec model. There is a lot of kit in the car and a lot of space, which is always a bonus.

The Cruze also features ABS brakes with Electronic brake force distribution and stability control is also available in this model. There are 6 airbags; driver passenger, curtain and seats and, as usual, Chevrolet has not skimped out on the safety equipment. There is also a collapsible steering col-umn and side impact protection

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bars. An alarm and immobi-lizer comes standard.

The 1.6 Ls rides on 205/60/16 inch wheels and also has the industry standard McPherson strut front and torsion rear beam suspension setup. The ride quality is plush and com-fortable, as a family hatch back should be.

The Chev Cruze 1.6Ls retails for R215 600 and has a 5 year 120 000km warranty with a 3 year 60 000km service plan and a 120 000km 5 year anti-corrosion warranty.