5DayDeals' Rocky Carror Show

Written by: 5daydeals.co.za

We love cars around here, but even we can admit that, in the right light, a roaring automotive beast can be a scary thing. Maybe that’s why there’s a surprising amount of horror media out there that’s centred around cars. In fact, of all the genres out there, horror is probably the one most likely to prominently feature cars while not being expressly marketed at car enthusiasts like us. It’s a funny thing, but “car horror” actually is a pretty underappreciated subgenre, once you look into it a bit.

And as a result, since today is Halloween, we’ve decided that now is as good a time as any to highlight some underappreciated examples of horror media that give our cars a chance to take on a villainous role, or to just get some significant screentime.

From A Buick 8

When it comes to “horror media about a car created by Stephen King”, most people’s minds go straight to Christine, that classic about a murderous 1958 Plymouth Fury. But – perhaps unsurprisingly, given the sheer volume of stuff King produced – that wasn’t his only instance of car-centric horror. In 2002, he put out From A Buick 8, a lesser-known novel that, unlike Christine, hasn’t yet made it to the big screen. This one centres around another handsome classic automotive from the 50s – this time a 1953 Buick Roadmaster – but is otherwise pretty different in tone. For the most part, the car becomes a source of horror not by causing terror on the tarmac, but by being a portal of some sort to an alien world. Creatures beyond description frequently emerge from the vehicle, and the protagonists spend much of the story attempting, and failing, to understand this piece of alien technology that clearly isn’t meant to be comprehensible to humans. It’s the sort of surreal, Lovecraft-inspired horror that King frequently dabbles in, and it might well be one of the most unconventional examples of using a car as a source of horror in the entire genre. Either way, it’s unique as can be.

Duel

And on the subject of horror produced by one of the most iconic fiction creators of the late 20th century, let’s talk about Duel, one of the earliest directorial efforts in Stephen Spielberg’s very respectable career. Made in 1971 and based on Richard Matheson’s short story of the same name, the simple narrative follows an unremarkable businessman named David Mann, who, while driving his Plymouth Valiant through the Mohave Desert, finds himself pursued by a rusty and roaring old Peterbilt 281 tanker truck. Unlike many examples of car horror, this one has no supernatural elements, which arguably makes it all the more effective. The driver of the truck is never shown, meaning that the truck itself becomes the film’s antagonist; and seeing this enormous, hulking machine bearing down on the protagonist’s low-set car, looking ready to crush him into dust at any moment, awakens a certain primal fear that chills you to the core. The dry, hot, isolated setting also greatly enhances the horror – many of us who’ve had to take long drives have experienced some level of paranoia at the notion of finding ourselves wrecked or broken down out in such a remote location, where help is scarce and travelling on foot is not feasible. Plus, the truck at the centre of the horror might well be one of the best examples of a grungy, rickety, run-down vehicle nonetheless being strikingly cool.

The Cars That Ate Paris

Another 70s film, The Cars That Ate Paris is pretty different from what the title might make you expect. For one thing, the Paris of the title isn’t the capital of France, but an isolated township in the Australian desert, and while cars do feature prominently in the film, they don’t literally eat anything. The inhabitants of Paris sustain themselves by causing cars that pass through their town to have accidents and scavage the wrecks. Much of the film’s plot concerns itself with a clash between the town elders and the unruly young Greasers, but cars nonetheless feature prominently, and there’s plenty of eye candy for gearheads. In fact, if you have any interest in unconventional car modification, this film might well find a place on your top ten list – it preceded the Mad Max films by several years in being a film about rusty old vehicles modified for destruction tearing up the Australian desert. A particularly iconic image – a Volkswagen Beetle covered entirely in massive spikes – is probably one of the coolest things you’re likely to see in any car-centric film. You really owe it to yourself to check this one out, just to see how striking low-budget practical car modifications can get.

2022 Range Rover review

Content originally provided to us by Ian Mclaren on behalf of Car Couple SA

For more than 50-years the Range Rover brand has been mandated with combining the off-road prowess of Land Rover with a level of opulence that's, quite literally, fit for royalty.

We've been behind the wheel of the impossibly opulent fifth-generation Range Rover offering.

Check out the rest of the Car Couple SA's videos over on their youtube channel by clicking here.

2018 Volkswagen California Spotlight

Written by: 5daydeals.co.za

Like a great many other car types that leading manufacturers have been putting out for a long while, Volkswagen camping vans have a certain culture surrounding them. For many people, they evoke that free-spirited rebelliousness and cultural upheaval that defined the 1960s, bringing to mind the idea of cruising down wide-open highways across shimmering coastlines, free of all worries and concerns and just soaking up the beauty of the open road. As a result, it’s not surprising that Volkswagen chose to name this particular variety of camper after the state of California, a place universally associated with that same sense of youthful freedom and rebellion.

Of course, the name also lends a bit of irony to the fact that this model isn’t available in the US, but that hardly need concern us.

Either way, when you buy a camper, what you’re looking for, first and foremost, is a car you can spend substantially more time in than most other car models. And generally speaking, the 2018 Volkswagen California is what you’re looking for in that regard. Everyone has their own idea of how big a roadtripping party can be before you start to feel starved for space, but by most standards, the California can fit four pretty comfortably – two on the rear seats, which slickly unfold into a bed, and two on the pop-up roof, which, with the tap of a few buttons from the driver’s seat, folds up into an extra sleeping space. The kids should love that one – it’s essentially a top bunk AND a tent, the coolest possible sleeping arrangement by any ten-year-old’s standards.

But it’s not just the sleeping arrangements. The whole vehicle in general is arranged to ensure that even an extensive getaway will never start to feel pokey or claustrophobic. When you open the driver’s seat, you’ll be presented with a fairly comfy-looking driving arrangement with an acceptable amount of leg room; but as you’ll soon learn, you can also turn the front seats all the way around. There’s a comfortably wide space between them and the rear seats, and a discreet table can be easily unfolded between them, making for a comfy spot to sit around and while away an evening chatting, playing board games, or eating dinner. Speaking of which, there’s also a small kitchenette right next to that little seating arrangement, complete with a small sink, freezer, and gas-powered stove. Perhaps there’s something to be desired in terms of hygiene when it comes to doing your cooking right next to the camper’s equivalent of a living room, but some compromises of space had to be made somewhere.

And you won’t just be relegated to sitting inside the vehicle, either (that would rather defeat the purpose of a camping getaway, after all). The California also boasts an awning that can be unfolded from the side of the vehicle to serve as a sunshade. It might take you a little while to get used to setting it up the first time – there’s a lot of cranks and latches involved – but overall, it’s much more convenient than having to lug your own portable sunshade out on the road with you. And you won’t have to give up storage space to bring along camping chairs and tables to put under it, either – Volkswagen’s taken care of that too, with a table tucked neatly into the side panelling of the side door, and a pair of camping chairs hidden in a storage compartment in the back hatch. Really, if there’s one thing that ought to be said about the California, it’s that Volkswagen’s decades of experience creating camper vans has made them absolute geniuses when it comes to full utilisation of space.

On the subject, sizable sleeping arrangements don’t mean much if you have to share them with your luggage, but fortunately, the California has that covered too. That comfy seating arrangement also has some decent storage space worked into it, including cupboard space under the kitchenette and a decently-sized drawer beneath the back seats, plus a small closet space accessible once you’ve unfolded the rear seat bed – more than enough space, most likely, for whatever you’ll need for a weekend of camping.

Sure, some folks love “roughing it” a bit, but for the most part, when you’re taking a trip out on the road, it’s nice to be able to bring a bit of comfort with you. And the remarkable thing about the California is how it fits all that comfort into the slick, neat space of a modestly sized camper that, on top of all of that, handles smoothly on the road. Say what you will about modern conveniences spoiling us a bit, but they’ve also made getting away from it all that much easier, too.

2022 Toyota Starlet review

Content originally provided to us by Ian Mclaren on behalf of Car Couple SA

Based on the historically underrated Suzuki Baleno package, the new Toyota Starlet continues to prove a massive sales success in the value-conscious South African market.

The second generation Baleno/Starlet package gains a more powerful 1.5-litre motor compared with the 1.4-litre unit in the previous cars.

Check out the rest of the Car Couple SA's videos over on their youtube channel by clicking here.

Volkwagen, from North to South to East.

2022 has been, to put it mildly, a pretty significant year for Volkswagen in the Eastern Cape. 
At the beginning of the year, the VW production plant in Kariega (formerly Uitenhage) celebrated the production of its 100,000th Polo Vivo. The remarkable milestone for this model, which is a bit of a local icon, was followed up another for the more internationally-distributed Polo model, the millionth unit of which rolled off the plant’s production line shortly thereafter.

Needless to say, numbers like these would be considered milestones for any manufacturing plant; but considering that they were achieved so shortly after a global pandemic that brought industries across the world to a grinding halt, and in the middle of a severe drop in the production of semiconductor chips, this is all the more cause for celebration at the Kariega plant.

Of course, it’s pretty clear that, even before these numbers were reached, the upper echelons of Volkswagen already had a good deal of faith in the plant. Early last year, production had begun on a new R235 million wax flooding facility at Kariega, which began operations only a few months after these recent milestones were achieved. The wax flooding process, which coats the cars with a layer of wax after the paint has been applied, is a key component of Volkswagen vehicles’ 12-year warranty against rust and corrosion.

The facility was also specifically designed to reduce the required energy for the process by 25%, and the CO2 emissions by 55%. This is part of the Kariega plant’s effort to reduce its environmental impact, which also included two other projects this year. One, a waste water recycling facility, will help the plant re-use waste water in its production efforts. Built in response to a major water crisis in the Eastern Cape that forced several towns in the province to implement water restrictions, the plant aims to reduce its freshwater consumption by around 26% with the help of the facility, thus simultaneously reducing its environmental impact and helping it weather any impact that future water shortages might have on its production process.

The plant’s other major environmental impact project is the 3136 photovoltaic solar panels it has installed. Generating power for the plant since April, these panels should, at full capacity, cover around 3% of the plant’s electricity requirements and reduce it CO2 emissions by around 2590 tons a year.

Naturally, all of this is a tremendous reflection of how Volkswagen’s local operations are adapting to some rather trying times. But perhaps most relevantly for us ordinary South African car lovers, these achievements serve as a reflection of what a prominent role that the Volkswagen production plant has played in making the Eastern Cape – and, by extension, the country as a whole – what it is today. First establishing itself in the town in 1947, the Kariega Volkswagen production plant grew into the largest car factory on the continent, and has been at the heart of the town’s thriving manufacturing industry for decades. And besides being a major part of the province’s economy, it’s also played something of a role in shaping everyday life in the country. The aforementioned Polo Vivo, much like the Citi Golf it was a successor to, is manufactured exclusively at the Kariega plant for the South African market, and now holds the position of one of the most widely popular cars in the country.

In many ways, these distinctive five-door hatchbacks, which will have long since impressed themselves into the memory of anyone who’s spent a significant amount of time on a South African highway, have ingrained themselves into, and served as a reflection of, the national identity. They’re small, they’re practical, they’re affordable, and they’re not flashy, but they’re full of personality – in brief, the quintessentially South African car.

Oh, incidentally, the Kariega plant also recently started up factory tours again for the first time since the pandemic, just in case that’s been on your bucket list. The Eastern Cape car manufacturing business, it’s pretty clear, really is coming out the other end of the outbreak.

𝗔 𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘄 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻