Kudos to the H-1 bus

South African motorists love their bakkies, but a close-run second favourite is bus-type vehicles, people carriers, if you will. Touted as much-loved modes of transport for mom’s taxis, shuttle vehicles, and, of course perfect for the annual holiday trip down to the coast.

The main criticism often levelled at them is their inability to stow decent amounts of cargo or one’s luggage – there’s never really been enough space allocated to shifting of all that gear, until now, that is. (Merc’s Vito bus is possibly the only exception being a very capable vehicle and that 2,1-litre turbodiesel motor is a real jewel in a sea of average ‘powerplants’.)

The answer for the perfect all-rounder is simple and Hyundai may well have got there first with their H-1 Multicab. By shoehorning in a decent (120kW mill and making it work to the tune of 392Nm), while providing space for nine adults and every bit of their luggage – all done without resorting to unnecessary (and oft-dangerous) add-ons such as trailers and roof-racks …

While the Hyundai H-1 press unit was in my care it happened to coincide with a public holiday – what better time to hit the road and be a little adventurous! Somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit is Sutherland in the Great Karoo (karoo is the Hottentot word for ‘land of the thirst’  … before it gets too cold, that is – apparently it’s often the coldest place in the country, and that’s before winter has fully set in. Representing a round trip of about 650 km from the Mother City, quite an achievable day out, methinks.

Alas, the interesting village of Matjiesfontein (somewhere I hadn’t visited for close on 30 years) took up a little too much daylight time – but what a pleasant experience to be re-acquainted with this little oasis in the desert … the reason being there’s now a superb car museum there that wasn’t there before – a must-see if a car fanatic and you are in the area.

Deciding to press on to Sutherland (the fuel tank of the H-1 still touching the three-quarter full mark), in the late afternoon, thankfully meant not having to worry about a ‘top-up’ for the 120km trip through to Sutherland, and my final  destination for the day.

What a superb road from the N1 highway it is: surely a motorcyclist’s mecca if ever there was one. Narrow, but not overly so (picture Isle of Man narrow roads); the road twisting and turning in a challenging sort of way to entertain any solo rider  – and ne’er a pothole to be seen anywhere. And, if I came across five other vehicles along that leg of the journey, it was a lot.

By giving the H-1 a chance to see what it could do in the handling stakes I can vouch that bodyroll was virtually nil, while there always seemed to be power in hand … the fuel gauge had again barely dropped on entering Sutherland. No obtrusive rattles could be heard anywhere, so it’s obviously well screwed together.

Sutherland has an alluring feel to it – we didn’t have the time to check out the planetarium (SALT), but certainly will when next visiting. Olde worlde charm and slap up-to-date people-carrying ability to get there … synergy at its very best!

• The Hyundai H-1 2.5CRDi MultiCab GL is priced at R339 900. A lot of vehicle for reasonable money!

Transport of delight

I’ve never really enjoyed the name Tiguan that Volkswagen finally came up after picking the name from the results from an international competition. Other suggested names were Rockton, Liger, Samun, Nanuk and the one I think that should have won: Namib!

Nevertheless, the VW Tiguan remains a first-rate crossover vehicle that has proved to be rather popular over here with seven different models on offer. (In the UK there are 22 different derivatives available.)

The one that I’ve just had the opportunity to evaluate was the BlueMotion 2,0 TDi version – and very good it was too. Economical to the point of wondering if perhaps the fuel gauge had ceased functioning(!), after seemingly travelling close to 900 km before the warning light started to flicker.

Those who know the Western Cape region of South Africa will know how brilliant the roads are – perfect for evaluating cars (and bikes) due to being able to negotiate just about every terrain over a morning’s drive. The steepest of climbs (St Lowry’s) to the switchback pass of Franshhoek that really ought to feature on every car manufacturer’s route when visiting the Mother City, was swiftly and safely negotiated.

Why oh why do people still bother with non-diesel type transport in this day and age?

 As we’ve come to expect from Volkswagen the Tiguan (81kW/280 Nm) is superbly built, roomy inside and great looking from the outside. I’d even go as far as to say the BlueMotion derivative is one of the quietest diesels tested yet on this website.

Volkswagen’s Tiguan is priced at R294 800 at the time of writing this article.