Kabelo Chabalala

HEN I got the invitation to the Fantastic Fathers allday drive in the New Nissan Navara, I got nervous for two reasons: First, it was the high level of masculinity that I was going to be “subjected” to.

Second, I wondered, in a world with such huge fragile male egos, how these guys would handle being instructed by a woman on cars the whole day?

Oh boy, I hit the nail on the head on those two factors.

It dawned upon some of the guys that the organiser of this Fantastic Fathers 4x4 drive was a woman, and she went by the name Vuyi Mpofu.

Their facial expressions were of shock and disbelief.

Some even went as far as saying: “We are going to be instructed by a woman on cars, what does she know?”

Such is the untransformed mindset of men who still think only men can talk about cars and women should take a back seat, literally. You see, the egos are already getting bruised.

Then, we were told to jump into the bakkies and head out to Magalies from Nissan Sandburg Corner, Malibongwe and Avon Road.

The cars were in five different colours: black, white, orange, red and silver.

I jumped into the orange bakkie. I quickly realised that the car was automated. I was happy. I then put in my USB.

Yes, when you are in the business of reviewing cars, a USB with your best music collection becomes standard on your what to bring, just like a USB port in the car – it should be standard.

I plugged it and played Hugh Masekela’s Sixty album. Thanayi started the road trip with us.

As we headed out, I was car number nine in the entourage of about 16 bakkies.

I do not know what is with us men and the high level of competitiveness.

It is so strong, and as the R514 900 orange bakkie got on the road, I saw the fellow guys take each other on. In a few minutes I was car number 12.

This was a chance for me to test the 140kW powered from the 2.3 diesel engine of the car and see if the 450 Nm of torque would help me leverage with the other guys in the race to get to the first site first.

I mean, look at the picture of the leading car. It is the man in black, me. Sometimes, it is really not about how fast you drive, but how well you do so.

The gents felt emasculated to

Wbe out-driven, outsmarted and mentally outplayed by the youngest driver in the group.

And the drive was so smooth. The bakkie’s comfort matches that of the most luxurious cars you can think of.

For one’s comfort and convenience, the new Navara has a six-way driver’s seat with manual adjustment, front passenger seat with manual and recline. It also has cruise control.

This is my favourite feature in cars. I love long-distance driving, and knowing that all I need to do is to just set the speed and go, is the most amazing thing about the journey.

It comes standard keyless, with a remote. The bakkie comes in a manual version too. But who wants to change gears when they tackle mountainous terrain?

When we got to our destination, there was more fun involved for us.

We did a 4x4 challenge. As we were about to do the hill decline and incline, I admired the technology that comes with the Traction Control System (TCS).

It was fairly steep, but when I was told to put the car in drive mode and just control the steering wheel without worrying about the pedals, I held my breath.

To my amazement, the hill decline mode kicked in instantly, and the traction control took over. I just had to control the steering wheel to navigate the car through the holes, humps and bumps.

I was literally at the mercy of the amazing technology of the car.

Even as I was hitting those bumps, the comfort of the car was just as good as being on a flat tarred road. I kid you not.

Mpofu then took us through a car safety mini workshop.

It was so sad to realise that our sitting positions in cars were actually dangerous.

Some of us look all macho like the car, but the buff looks would