Leisure Wheels – September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 61

Photographs: Mike Schmucker

Main image:

The DNA of

sports cars

has been

perfectly

expressed in

these two

cars, that

just happened

to be finished

as SUVs.

leisurewheels.co.za

Back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and a

little bit in the ’90s, high performance

cars were intent on killing you. They

attempted to do this by letting you

believe, for a brief while, that you were

a driving god. Then, just when you

thought the bucket of driving talent

handed to you was bottomless... the

bucket ran out.

Now the vast majority of modern

cars want to wrap you in a cotton ball

and save the planet, all at the same

time. Safety is paramount, as is

emission control and, in the near

future, autonomous driving. The

future may be bright but it promises

to be rather boring from a visceral

driving perspective.

What to do if you’re in a bit of a

visceral mood then? Well, you buy

yourself a first generation Renault

Kwid, which had no airbags or ABS

brakes, and you could scrape your

elbows on the tar in the corners on

two wheels. There’s even a mildly

entertaining drone from the three-

cylinder engine.

Alternatively, you could buy

a high-end, high-powered sports

car, disable all the safety nannies,

and have a go on a mountain pass.

But that’s maybe not the best option

these days with potholes, congested

roads and generally poor level of

driver ability prevailing on our

public roads.

Thanks goodness for cars like the

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and

the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. These are

thoroughly modern cars. But they are

also cars with a soul, and the lure that

not even a remote island filled with

nubile ladies with regrettable moral

standards can offer.

Praise the heavens.

TIME!