SOMETHING deeply irritating happened over the long weekend. As a result, I ended up pondering the nature of Chinese taste. Let me explain. I had decided to visit a couple of friends up in Joburg a nd, because flights over the Easter weekend are more expensive than lunch with David Cameron, I also decided I would drive.
Many people looked at me as though I was mad, but by my reckoning I would do it in 12 hours, largely because I would be alone, which means just one bladder to worry about.
It was going swimmingly. I escaped Cape Town in time to avoid the imminent downpour and got on the road. I stopped at the Worcester One-stop for breakfast and, I thought, given that you never know, I’d take out some cash. So into the Absa ATM went the card, and … nothing. I didn’t even type in my PIN. It just swallowed it.
T his was awkward. I had cash in my wallet and a credit card, but still. The manager of the store helpfully told me that he knew the machine “does that sometimes”. Amazingly, I didn’t kill him.
Anyway, I carried on up the road, to within spitting distance of Laingsburg, where an irresistible attack of the what-ifs assailed me. I capitulated, swore like a sailor, turned round and headed for home.
This meant I drove about 500km for no reason, and the only upside was that I had a good fiddle with all the bits and pieces in the car I was driving, an Audi A6 TDI. And I was driving a de-specced model, which is unusual in this game, because usually — and understandably, I guess — cars handed out for testing purposes to the press are specced to the eyeballs in all the chintz and toys you can imagine.
Well, even in poverty-spec the A6 is excellent. The only thing I really missed was the satellite navigation, but even that’s a luxury you can do without. It’s got a good stereo and slots for SD cards, and jacks for USBs and iPhones. The seats recline electrically and there’s dual-zone climate control. Using the car’s computer you can tell it whether you want to waft along in “efficiency” mode, or whether you’re feeling more like you need to be in “comfort”. And obviously you get a zillion airbags and all the safety kit.
As a base level of luxury, it’s really excellent.
And here’s the thing: a ll of this stuff is coming to an ordinary family car near you soon. And for that we can thank the Chinese. Motoring culture in China is very different from ours. Chinese businessmen like to sit in the back, which explains the preponderance of extended-wheelbase models of ordinary cars. BMW have just announced a long-wheelbase 3-Series for the Chinese market — and the Germans do it with most of their sedan models. And when he or she is in the back seat, being driven to work, the Chinese manager likes to have gadgets, which means TV and internet connectivity. So, there’s more and more technology coming to increasingly ordinary cars, and it is migrating to the rear as much as to the front-seat passengers.
This is a good thing, I reckon. Indeed, Chinese taste is one of the greatest drivers of automotive design and technology. Some of this is not good. Consider, for example, those dreadfully chintzy daytime running light LEDs that festoon the front end of Range Rovers these days. Consider the one-click-too-far use of chrome on the front of the new 3-Series.
But in terms of interior toys and connectivity, Chinese taste is driving an automotive arms race. We in SA will benefit from this. In five years’ time the idea that you might be able to buy a new car without a USB port or an iPod jack will be unthinkable.
And at the top end? I think it’s going to blow our minds. I’m talking about augmented reality; super-intelligent, server-based additional infotainment and concierge services, all broadcast virtually onto the windscreen as a kind of windscreen-wide head-up display, and cars in constant communications with “head office” at places such as Munich and Stuttgart. Indeed, Mercedes have just quietly announced that, as their newer cars are in contact with the “cloud”, your Merc’s software can be updated remotely, from Stuttgart, at the press of a button. Motoring is changing dramatically, and dramatically quickly too.
And the Audi A6? Gosh, but it’s a hell of a freeway car, this. You still get that towering torque number — 500Nm — and that makes for simply effortless cruising and epic high-speed overtaking prowess. You also get range of something like 900km and extra-urban consumption of around about 7l /100km. It really is the best of all worlds. Even in frill-free spec like this, there’s cruise control, so in the Karoo, as I discovered, you can set the cruise, stick the car into “efficiency” mode, and relax.
In the pouring rain the Quattro all-wheel drive system makes for assured, safe acceleration. It’s not a dynamic thriller, like its rear-wheel-driven BMW 5-Series competition, but it offers a different kind of comfort. As a long-distance cruiser, the A6 is supremely quiet. Come the corners and you can dial in “Dynamic”, which automatically adjusts the steering weight and feel, and puts the gearbox into a sport mode, ensuring that big V6 turbodiesel is always in the sweet spot for instant responses to throttle inputs. All in, it’s quite fun. But it’s the long haul where the A6 TDI excels. For pointless trips to the Karoo, not much can beat it.
• Parker is deputy editor of Top Gear Magazine SA.
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