Classy Audi Q2 turns heads

SMOOTH, BUTTERY: SEVERAL DRIVING MODES IN THIS SUPERB SUV, SO TAKE YOUR PICK

Driving this, people will mostly give you the right of way.

The feeling of guilt – a deep-rooted shame. It’s the worst feeling in the world isn’t it? The feeling overcame me the most on Malibongwe Drive as I drove a flashy Audi Q2 I had been handed for a week.

You see, I drive a beat-up old Corsa Lite, with no power steering, no electric windows and definitely no aircon. But Alfred and I get along just fine.

In fact, as a loyalist I can’t think of getting rid of him. I am often told by the car guard at my local shopping centre that my Corsa is nice but it’s time for a new car.

Alfred was handed to me all shiny and draped in a pink ribbon when I turned 21. And we have come a long way since then – facing some tough terrains, including unsavoury situations.

He was once pelted with stones during a protest I was covering in Kliptown some years ago.

By now you have guessed that I am not a motoring journalist – and I know nothing about cars, except that clutch in, gear in first and I am good to go.

Before the guilt struck, it was pretty exciting – riding around in this more than elaborate shiny red SUV – complete with fancy gadgetry, bits and technology that permits you to simply wave your hand around the interior light, allowing for it to come on.

I mean, who claps twice for the lights to come on anymore?

On the subject of lights, I had fetched the car at night. Whoever knew one could see the entire road ahead of you?

There were no bumps on the road with this smooth, buttery drive that in an instant takes you from 60 to 100 in a second or so. There were no “switch off mistakes”, and the freakiest thing had to be a button which is basically the handbrake.

People easily gave way to me on the road, without even two ticks going off on the indicator – and oh, and trust me, there were the stares at the robots. As in life, even on the roads I was treated differently by the measurement of my “material wealth”.

Showing the car off to my close friend, my first outing with the Q2 was to larney Illovo for an expensive fish dinner at a place frequented by certain celebs and some politicians. I mean why not go there? Us being both singles ... for one night, we were larneys too.

On the way, she decided to try out the Q2’s navigation system.

She proceeded to furiously touch the screen, not figuring out why it wouldn’t work when trying to change modes from radio to SAT NAV.

Turning down the vehicle’s more than impressive sound system from my steering wheel – I advised her that just would not work. “It’s not a touch screen,” I said. “What?,” she replied. “For a R600 000 car, they couldn’t add in a touch screen?”

I proceeded to show her the various gadgets – including buttons and knobs – situated near the gears which you use to manoeuvre to the options available – including a few very different driving modes.

I chose comfort mode over dynamic.

She finally found SAT NAV, and we proceeded to see how clever it really was.

“Find husband!” we said – only to be offered the choice of two bookstores. Not good enough, we thought. Entering Illovo, funnily enough, there were none of those stares, almost as though we had “fitted into the crowd”. And that’s where the “uncomfort mode” set in for me – it happened just before I found guilt.

The very next day, driving on Malibongwe, in a little traffic, and I was faced with a long line of less-privileged people, all waiting for a taxi in the bitter cold.

That’s when it happened – this draining emotion while I watched someone shiver as the insistent Johannesburg winter continued to set in.

And there I was, seated in the wondrous comfort of an aircon and a heater – guilty as charged.