Reviews

The 500km road from Mombasa to Nairobi is a perfect spot for testing a car. It offers a varied mix of surfaces, and especially now that part of it is being re-carpeted.

The classic war treatise Art of War has 13 chapters, each devoted to one aspect of warfare. The aspects have been applied in modern business and military ventures, often with tremendous results. They include laying plans, waging war, attack by stratagem, manoeuvring and energy. These are being stealthy employed by Chinese car makers to break into a market dominated by Japanese and European cars. ERIC MWENI hopped from Dong Feng to Foton, Haojing to GWM, and brings you this report on Chinese motor vehicles in Kenya.   

Two dominant players in the lifestyle market; two locally loathed engines. ERIC MWENI went bundu bashing and highway plunking with the Toyota Rav 4 (D-4) and Pajero iO (GDI) and tells you which is the lesser evil.

Riding on Toyota brand heritage of reliability, the Vitz has become one of the hottest selling superminis in the used car market today. It’s synonymous with fuel economy thanks to its VVTi engine ranges –1,000CC, 1300CC and 1,500CC).

Made in China’ has never meant so much in the last few years for motor industry. Every large motor manufacturer, including BMW and Mercedes have set their sights on this highly populated sub-continent to up their sales and increase marketshare. While they are looking in, China is looking at Africa as a growth area for affordable motor vehicles. The recent introduction of models like the Foton, Lifan, FAW and Gonow are a sign of what to expect.

As Land Rover celebrates its 60th birthday, Michael Mwai looks at the then and now of an icon that has defied time

I took one look at the Land Rover line-up and was convinced that these were the warriors sent to protect their own. The Land Rover Defender is due for review again in 2010 but looking at the past 60 years, they might just throw in a more efficient engine and let us continue enjoying the ragged nature of this workhorse.