NEW MODELS
GEELY E2
An extraordinary-value Chinese electric car that makes tremendous sense for South African homeowners who have invested in home solar. The Geely E2 Aspire has a real-world driving range of about 300 km.
Recharge that 39.4 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery from your home solar, and you effectively have a highly sophisticated city car that drives for free, on electrons your home solar captures from South Africa’ s abundant sunlight. Powered by an electric motor rated at 85 kW and 150 Nm, the single-gear Geely E2 delivers decent performance, with a 0-100 km / h time of 11.5 seconds.
Issues? There’ s no spare wheel, and its top speed is limited to 130 km / h, so driving in the far-right lane of a South African multilane carriageway might be a bit tricky. Especially when you want to overtake and buffer against that 130 km / h speed limiter.
HONDA CR-V
Authentically one of the original mid-size crossover SUVs and still feels authentically Honda throughout, with excellent cabin quality and good feature spec. For loyal Honda followers, this remains the model that’ s truer to the brand’ s Japanese design and engineering philosophy.
As a driving experience, the latest CR-V has wonderfully low noise levels at cruising speeds, and overall driving stability is excellent for a crossover SUV in its class. But it’ s a 7-seater, and the 1.5-litre turbopetrol only makes 240Nm of torque to move the CR-V’ s 1,700 kg unladen mass. Load it with 7 occupants, and the performance-to-weight ratio really suffers.
Flawless quality and engineering throughout. But you can buy a larger, more all-terrain-capable Ford Everest 7-seater for the same money. With a diesel engine and much larger cabin load space. If you can look beyond the price, the CR-V offers a compelling driving and ownership experience, plus a very low theft risk.
WORDS IN ACTION 44 OCTOBER 2026