Mom's taxi test - Peta Lee discovers the brawny allure of the latest Chev Lumina SS sedan:
If there's one manufacturer whose name conjures up archives of memories, it's got to be Chevrolet. Or Chevy. And despite it being all-American, even South Africans love the name and the brand.
So no surprise when there was an outpouring of protest in the 'States last year when General Motors, after a bizarre epiphany, decided it needed to shed the word Chevy from its brand.
Reaction was fast and furious. Twitters, tweets and social networking sites went ballistic. Browse the net and you'll find pages devoted to songs with the word Chevy in them.
Don McLean drove his Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry (American Pie); Eric Clapton “got off on '57 Chevys, and on screaming guitars”; Motley Crue's “Dr Feelgood” had “a '65 Chevy, primered flames, traded for some powdered goods.” There's more.. Bob Seger was out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy, out in the back seat of his '60 Chevy in Night Moves, and even Elton John, whom it's easier to picture in a Jaguar, perhaps unbelievably “had so much fun with Suzie” when rock was young, with his “old gold Chevy and a place of my own.”
Somehow, the little Spark, fun and funky as it is, doesn't have quite the same sex appeal as the bigger Chevys. Like the latest Lumina SS sedan, for instance.
Despite its origins as an Aussie Holden, it delivers exactly what you'd expect from Chevrolet: or more accurately, the Chevrolet with which Americans grew up. Muscular and macho, it's a terrific family car, but strap yourselves in, dudes, for the ride of your life.
That massive 6-litre V8 engine is surprisingly muted, but touch the accelerator, and your blast off from rest is sheer exhilaration. The rear-wheel driven Lumina grips almost surprisingly well on snaky bends and the ride is smooth and comfortable.
In its 2011 guise, the Lumina has a revised bumper and airdam, and engineers have made styling adjustments to the headlights and fog lamps. Beneath that bonnet burbles a 260kW (517Nm of torque) engine, which, as you'd expect, gulps up gallons of galoobs (12.3 litres per 100km on a good run), but this car is such a pleasure to drive that you ultimately don't give a damn.
The Lumina sedan comes with everything that opens and shuts, like auto on-off headlights, ultrasonic rear park assist, rear spoiler, big fat 18-inch alloy wheels, and a full size spare, yippee! Techno-fans will be thrilled that it has advanced Bluetooth connectivity and USB port as well as MP3 compatibility etc.
Personally, my daughter and I just loved the sound of the engine, the cavernous boot, the large and lovely front seats, the phenomenal power and speed, the crisp, brilliant braking, the colour of the car, all the safety features, the fab sound system…
Actually, we loved everything about it. As usual, it was out of our price range, though, starting at R441 993.