Basil Review

So I have had Basil for well over a month now, and I think I know him pretty well. I have become rather attached to him actually, and find myself taking special care parking him where he can't get hurt and checking him for dirt and scratches. I even gave him his first proper bath (with soap!) last night while it was raining. Amazingly after 6 weeks he still didn't even look dirty, so I think the paint protector coating I opted for as an extra was well worth it. It makes the paint glossier, and it seems to attract dust less, and any dust that does gather washes off easily in the rain.


By far the best thing about Basil is that he is cheap, now this is not always something you are looking for in a man, but in this case it is awesome. In 6 weeks he has cost me R360, and I have done well over 1000kms. Note that I was using at least R200 worth of petrol a week before. Basil can do 500km on a single 30 litre tank, and costs R150-R170 to refill. w00t! (Yes, the price of petrol has gone down twice recently but still this is really economical). He averages 6 l/100 over a tank, and thats with mostly to and from town rush-hour traffic stop-start driving, I think on the open road he would do even better than that. He tells me my current and trip average fuel consumption and even calculates how many kilometers I can drive before I need to fill up, based on the recent consumption. Clever hey?!

He is comfortable and the steering is nice and light but not flimsy. I drove the Elantra few meters along the drive way last night and it felt so HEAVY - and that has power steering! The smallness of Basil and the 'city' electronic boosted power steering means turning and manoeuvering are a breeze.

His air conditioner is good and works quickly and effectively. Amazingly it doesn't affect the car's power at all - even if you turn it on while driving up hill - the Elantra doesn't handle that well, and more amazingly it doesn't affect the fuel consumption reading when you turn the air con on or off either. I am not sure how it manages that, but yay!
I have now driven Basil in a good deal of rain. He handles the wet weather perfectly, and he is very clever. If I turn on the windscreen wipers and then reverse he'll automatically turn on the rear wipers while I reverse, and then turn it off when I go back into a forward gear, to make sure I can see out of the back. If I out the wipers on the fast speed, and then stop at a traffic light, they'll slow down and idle until I speed up and then they'll speed up again (Richard's beemer had this).

The headlamps are adjustable, and so is the steering wheel height.

I have been able to fit everything I have needed to - shopping, family outing gear, even 5 large (60dm) bags of compost into his boot. The only small niggle here is that the interior boot cover stays down when you open the boot, and you can flip it up if you want to. It is easy to forget to flip it down again, and then when you get in to drive your view is obscured by the flipped up cover. I manage to swivel around and just reach it though to prod it down, although one day I might get stuck like that and need a chiropractor to rescue me! ;)

The kids love that they can sit properley in their seats and see out of the windows. In other cars they always want to kneel up as they can't see anything.

The radio is not of brilliant quality and the speakers could be better, but it's not that bad, and since I don't spend all day in the car it is fine for commuter trips.

For a 1200 engine he goes surprisingly well and we have taken the whole family and paraphernalia over Ou Kaapse Weg, which is a formidable hill, and he managed fine. I wouldn't try to race him but he can hold his own in regular traffic. In fact the only time he has felt like he needed slightly more vooma was coming home from Canal Walk one day with the whole family, some shopping and a very strong and choppy head wind. He braved it nobly, but I felt that wind. I have found I drive him calmly and unhurriedly. I don't try to race everywhere anymore, I just cruise along. I think this is a good thing, and it feels like how he wants to be driven, not hard and fast. This is not a rally drivers car, it is a funky and fun city run around, and it's perfect for me.

So I am very happy with Basil and am very glad I bought him.

The beemer was sold on Thursday and is no longer with us. So now we just have Basil and Blue Thunder.

p.s. Basil is my new Fiat Panda 1.2

- and Dave he is named Basil as he is a manuel! :P