I’m shopping for a German machine, which among these three should I buy…

Hello,

I would like to buy a vehicle, I have three cars in mind. The Mercedes Benz C200, Audi A4 and the BMW 320I. All manufactured in 2013. Which one would you recommend that I buy bearing in mind the maintenance, the feel, drivability, kerb appeal and specification of the car?

Henry

Hello Henry,

Get the Benz since it ticks all the boxes, generally, however, you will have to put up with it being cliché, the go-to car for the single-mindedly aspirational who are yet to self-actualise. It's the price to pay.

So what is wrong with the other two cars? The BMW is the subject of flatbed jokes and not without good cause - those N engines are a mess - while Audis suffer from guilt by association: they are VAG products running on VAG platforms and powered by VAG engines (insert Check Engine Light joke here) with the added bonus of the higher-spec vehicles being insanely and needlessly complex and can be a repair nightmare if the warning lights start blinking. The guilt is not unwarranted.

The Benz? Not so much. Their 4-cylinder units seem largely problem-free, most issues start with the V6s going up. The C200 is not a V6.

It is in terms of feel that the Audi comes bouncing back. I have said it before and I still maintain my stand: Audi makes the best car interiors this side of a Bentley... actually second only to Bentley, when you think about it. They manage a skillful mix of luxury, practicality and appearance that nails it just the way it should, a way that automakers wish they could emulate.

Mercedes comes a close second but cannot trounce their rival from Ingolstadt, while it took another few years after 2013 before BMW started making interiors that match the asking price of their cars and reflect their pretence at premium.

Drivability: like any exciting tournament, third contest, third different winner. The BMW heaves not just into the podium, but it takes pole. For a long time, the 3 Series has been the yardstick against which compact saloons, premium or otherwise, are measured in terms of driving dynamics.

They have just been that good, a trend that was started by the 2002 before we knew what a World War was, through the famous E30 in the 80s and on to whatever it is they sell right now.

However, this comes with a caveat emptor: you need to specify the car with the right gubbins, which some refer to as performance packages, but as far as BMW goes, it should have the letter ///M with three stripes splashed somewhere on it.

The Audi comes second, whether close or not is up to you to decide, but they have this thing called a quatttro (small "q") drivetrain that does torque dispensation via a center diff which gives it excellent road-holding.

When I say excellent road-holding, I mean Audis understeer like nobody's business if pushed. Get the formula right as a wheelman and it is easily the safest to helm as far as driver skill (or lack thereof) is concerned.

The Benz? Well, it will waft quietly and regally but the driver logs will be full of notes along the line of "Rides smooth. Handles competently. Nothing special. Can't even recall".

Kerb appeal: the three-pointed star is unbeatable in this regard. Simply unbeatable, if there is one thing Mercedes-Benz have perfected in their 130-year history, it is the art of selling fear via the sheer, unbridled, undiluted gravitas exuded by their mainstream saloon cars (and the G tractor).

The BMW may be a touch on the polarising side: I don't find modern BMWs particularly good to look at, except maybe for the 5 Series and the X5, of which the 320 is none. Too bad.

Audi? I once said it's designed like a briefcase: square, inoffensive and understated, but you keep going back to it because there is a handsomeness within that blandness that one cannot just put their finger on.

Specification: this will depend on how much you want to spend, but all three German car makers can go overboard with the options if they choose to. Since you are buying a 2013 car, that means someone else already specced it for you, haha.

Why does the steering wheel of my Toyota Rush behave this way?

Hi Baraza, 

I purchased a second hand Toyota Rush in 2017 with very low mileage, however it has a unique problem. Every time I drive on a rough road, the car behaves as though the steering wheel will come off from the steering rack, but is very smooth on tarmacked surfaces. How would you define this problem?

Regards,
Charles. 

Hi Charles,

Your problem sounds a little vague and it's hard to give any advice beyond tighten whatever is loose in the steering system because clearly, something is loose and needs tightening.

Interestingly, I was very recently driving a Landcruiser Prado with the exact problem with the added bonus that the steering wheel moved and shifted every which way even on smooth tarmac when I gripped it too tightly. It made for a very exciting drive, the same way that encountering an untethered guard dog gets you excited.

It gets the heart racing, but not for the right reasons, mostly because you don't know how it will end and none of the possibilities look particularly attractive

Baraza, which one would you award first prize, the Volvo XC90 or the Range Rover Vogue 2020?

Please compare and contrast between a Volvo XC90 versus Range Rover Vogue 2019 or 2020.Their speed, durability, perfomance, maintenance and reliability when on and off road. Given a chance to choose between the two which one could you opt for?

Hi

I'd choose the XC90 for several reasons that I shall now proceed to list in order of priority:

1. Value for money: the XC90 costs less than the Range Rover while offering 90 percent of the utility. The remaining 10 percent is where the Range Rover leaves the Volvo in the dust: performance and off-road ability.

2. Safety: Volvo makes the safest cars in the world, hands down. As a father, this gains more importance with every passing day over flash and flex, or what the kids called "swag" a few days ago.

3. Uniqueness: I may not want flash and flex and swag, but I do like to stand out sometimes. Everybody who launders some money/wins a jackpot/acquires a gullible congregation immediately makes a beeline for a Range Rover or a 200 Series Landcruiser, vehicles they sell shortly afterwards once they discover they are not what they seem to be. I don't want to look like these people, for the reason that follows:

4. Eat The Rich: when the inevitable revolution comes and the Great Unwashed decides they have had enough economic suppression from the 1 percent and decide to eat them, the feeding spree will start with people in Range Rovers and 200 Series Landcruisers because these are the vehicles the culprits tend to hide in. Once the plebs come across me in my XC90, the conversation will go something like this:

"Nice car, dude, what make is that?"

"It's a Volvo"

"Interesting. Is it any good?"

"Actually, quite so. It bagged several Car/Truck Of The Year Awards when it came out."

"Sweet. Femur?"

"No thanks, I don't eat pork"

Now, imaginary chats over incipient cannibalism aside, let's address the matters you raised, which I assure you are largely irrelevant to the kind of person who cross-shops these vehicles:
 

5. Speed: The Range Rover. You have three options. Get one with a giant engine, or one with a supercharger, or if you will be among the first to be eaten when the day of reckoning comes, both. You will need very long money for this third option, which is why you may be the first to be eaten once you run out fuel as you try to escape the marauding hordes of disillusioned citizenry at full power. These vehicles are thirsty.

6. Durability: Volvo. The Range Rover is not exactly the dainty Faberge egg it seems to be, but frequent (and costly) maintenance do give it that reputation. They will last, but it will cost you.

7. Performance: see "Speed" above

8. Maintenance: see "Durability" above

9. Reliability: the Volvo. Range Rovers are not for everybody, let's be honest, they can easily transform you from a soon-to-be-victimised one-percenter into a part of the marauding horde of cannibals once bankruptcy becomes a clear and present problem, the difference being while the rest of the pack tries to eat politicians, you will be looking for the dealership manager with a fork in your hand and salt in your pocket.

(Disclaimer: no offense intended towards Range Rover and Landcruiser owners. Not all of you are dishonest one-percenters with sketchy financial histories, there are some good eggs amongst y'all.)

Here’s my unsolicited two cents worth on these two cars…

1. For its class and engine CC, the Verisa consumes significantly more fuel - I don't know why, but it just does. This is why you will not find many of them in the taxi business.

2. The reader who bought the “snake” Premio, tell him to drop all thoughts of money pit repairs on that automatic transmission that's bailed on him and buy a much cheaper manual transmission and prepare for unparalleled reliability and plain madness on those long trips. I envy him.

The (former) Blackberry man. 

Greetings Mr (Former) Blackberry! It has been a minute.

1. What numbers are we talking here? 10 percent more? 20 percent? Also, the Verisa is like the Toyota iST (first generation): the vehicle may look small at first glance but look again and you discover that it's actually a much larger car than one initially imagined.

2. This actually goes without saying, but you have said it anyway. However, while I have spotted quite a number of these manual “snake” Premios, they did seem a bit sparse and very widely distributed. Our man may have his work cut out for him tracking one down, let alone find one on sale (at a fair price or otherwise).

An option for him would be to do a transmission swap, which shouldn't be too difficult or even expensive.

However, when you mention long trips I do not envy him because I have had a glimpse of the dark side and tasted sin, and it was good. For long trips you want a mild turbocharged Subaru, preferably one with a row-your-own five-on-the-floor tranny nestled to the northwest of your hips.

Nice rumble (my radio was stolen and I didn't bother replacing it because the EJ20 sounded better than an influencer yodeling through the speakers about the paint job on the latest demonstrator they have been unjustly supplied with that week), effortless power and despite what many will tell you, outstanding economy.

I average about 12-13km/l on all my long-haul trips, and I do mean all of them, all while maintaining the speed limit, which means I can do a round trip between Nairobi and Eldoret on a single tank of fuel and get back with enough juice to terrorise the Southern Bypass end-to-end. I outrun almost everything else on the road because I can maintain that speed limit everywhere: uphill and through corners.

The only people I do not outrun are those breaking traffic rules. That snake of yours cannot handle this kind of awesomeness.

The clincher: the snake costs more in the used car market. Why would I bother with it, if not for the so-called “resale value”?