My SUV may be overkill for my 11-kilometre commute, but
nothing beats it for turning a muddy field into a bypass, for sneering
at storm-flooded roads or for swallowing what seems like an entire
garden to take to the tip. It’s thirsty, though, and expensive.
My wife’s hatchback is amazingly economical, but after a decade
on her 32-k rush-hour trek, her left leg is demanding an automatic
shift, or else.
Which is the better city car?
Clearly, neither.
As the world’s population inexorably drifts to the cities, as autonomous vehicles develop
along with connected cars and alternative forms of propulsion, the face of mobility will
inevitably change. But getting from A to B when we need to remains a priority right now
and certainly for the time being we can’t depend on public transport, e-cars, ride-sharing
and ride-hailing.
This line of thinking is underscored by the Global Trends Report, co‐presented annually
by Prime Research and Autoneum. According to Autoneum CEO Martin Hirzel, the auto-
motive industry is “in the midst of an upheaval that goes far beyond anything it has
experienced in the past 100 years”. Emerging industry trends such as autonomous driving,
electric mobility and connected cars are changing not only vehicles and their technologies,
but also their concepts and forms, he said.
So to get some insight into the current state of the urban-car art, we spent a week
with Suzuki’s nippy new Ignis. Although it’s a crossover, which means it’s kind of highURBAN WARRIORS
SMALL, BUT PERFECTLY FORMEDand boxy, it also scored runner-up spot in
the recent World Urban Car of the Year
competition. The winner, the BMW i3,
clearly made its mark in terms of its space
utilisation, electric drivetrain and general
coolness. Quite how much weight judges
accorded the BMW’s eye-watering price
compared with the competition isn’t
apparent, though they lauded its value for
money. The fact is, urban cars don’t neces-
sarily have to be cheap but one thing they
do have to be is small (see “Urban car: the
checklist”).DRIVING74 http://www.popularmechanics.co.za _ AUGUST 2017DRIVING
Compiled by ANTHONY DOMAN ([email protected])