Muttering Rotter's Thoughts on a Dualis

If I had my time over again, I'd be a muttering rotter.*

It sounds to me the perfect occupation. Driving a wide variety of cars and being paid to write about them can't be bad. Having said that, along with the job would go deadlines, and I've never been much good at meeting them.

Which brings me to an attempt to review the Nissan Dualis. I've just travelled 2300km in a bright red example, across a variety of roads, although the bulk of travelling was at 110km/hr on straight bitumen roads. I have no idea why it was red. Maybe Nissan had a job lot of red ones they unloaded on the fleet market.

There are a range of vehicles available now that are derived from AWD SUVs. For those of you offended by acronyms, AWD means all-wheel-drive (as opposed to 4WD - four-wheel-drive) and SUV is transpacific jargon for sports-utility-vehicle.

I say derived, as this thing is not four-wheel-drive, even if it looks like it should be. Just to make sure I crawled underneath and counted the diffs. There was one only, and it was up front.

Why so? I guess the manufacturers have realised that they can take advantage of whatever image a car that looks like a four-wheel-drive delivers, and at the same time produce a lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicle for less money. The advantages include higher ground clearance, easier ingress and egress (especially for those like me approaching dotage) and a higher driving position. Most punters couldn't tell the difference from behind the wheel.

It's definitely a lot easier to access that my MX5, but to be frank, not much better in this aspect than our Focus. It does, however, have a very user-friendly driving position, and the elevated nature of this comes in handy when overtaking. The higher you sit, the further you can see.

It is reasonably fuel-efficient, with the readout indicating 7.5lit/100km when I returned it to the fleet depot yesterday. At the end of the westward journey it was showing 6.9. I guess driving into the teeth of a South Easterly had something to do with that.

I was quiet, comfortable, and a doddle to drive. I wasn't all that impressed by the performance, but that may be a perception rather than a reality. It uses one of those mysterious CVT transmissions, which holds the motor at a level which maintains the maximum torque to produce best acceleration and economy. Consequently, power comes on very smoothly, and sinking the slipper seems to produce more noise rather than more speed. For all that, it seemed to overtake quickly. That's important given the procession of mining equipment (including whopping great dongas) that has become the Warrego highway.

It cruises at 110km with the revcounter showing 2100, which means it's a fairly relaxed cruiser for this size of vehicle. No doubt a diesel would be even more cruisy, but despite the fact that the Nissan X-Trail packs a diesel, this one does not - at this stage anyway.

The only negative I discovered was a bit of back pain after one 300km stretch which I put down to a badly-positioned drivers' seat. A bit of fiddling with the rake lever cured this, and I emerged pain-free after later long stretches.

The verdict? This is an honest, comfortable, practical example of a new segment. At $25990 for the manual, it's good value.

Its rivals in this growing sector of the market include the Mazda CX-5, Kia Sportage, Hyundai iX-35, and Ssang Yong Korando.

*Motoring writer

Out Stanthorpe Way

Our MX5 club took a 98 kilometre Sunday afternoon run around the back roads of Stanthorpe.

I thought it was worth sharing. Thanks to Matthew who mounted a camera on his NA.

I didn't choose the music.

Beaut Ute

My kids are always shifting house.

Sometimes I think that it’s just a ritual demonstration of continuing dependency. Whatever – possession of a Ute is a powerful advantage when it comes to shifting.

I don’t, of course (own a Ute – that is). When I was making decisions about what form of transport I’d require for retirement, I thought leisure and pleasure, not shifting sprogs.

A roadster is not terribly useful at times like these.

So, there have been a number of occasions when I’ve needed a Ute. Once or twice, I hired a Japanese one-tonner (Toyota Hi-Ace or some such). Each time it did the job, but didn’t feel right.

The steering was numb, the ride woeful (especially when empty) and it always seemed to be working hard. It also had a fly-off handbrake.

Now fly-off handbrakes were invented by the Brits. They are one of the few things the Brits invented that the Japanese didn’t improve.

In fact, they made the stupid things worse – if that’s possible.

My brother-in-law has a BA Falcon Ute (pictured). He bought it at a government auction. The BA is familiar territory to me, having owned (or rather leased) an SR version a few years ago. I’ve since disposed of it, but the memory (fond) lingers.

BIL’s Ute pulls like a train, is comfortable, comes free (although I always return it with a full tank of juice, and a bottle of plonk), and is comfortable and easy to drive.

It doesn’t have a fly-off handbrake.

Now if I can persuade one of said sprogs to buy a Ute, I could, in a manner of speaking, have my cake and eat it too.

Minimalist Motoring

 

Have you ever watched the ubiquitous electric trolleys scooting around the burbs, and wondered about transport solutions for an increasingly congested urban environment?

The vast majority of Australians live in exactly these situations, yet we persist in buying machines to get us from home to supermarket, friends’ place, sporting venue or restaurant that weigh tonnes, use extravagant amounts of rapidly diminishing resources and take up precious road space.

We are conditioned to believe that unless our daily transport tool can travel at 200 km/hr, has a range of 750 kms, and is capable of shifting the contents of the shed out the back in one hit, it’s not worth having.

I’ll concede that maybe once or twice a year, we may need to undertake the Great Australian Road Trip, but why would you buy any piece of kit based on a need that is the exception rather than the rule?

Hire a 4WD when you need it – in the long run it’s a helluva lot cheaper.


It’s a bit like purchasing an industrial grade refrigerator when your needs are domestic only. Madness – yet when it comes to motor cars, we generally take leave of our senses.

Before you scoff – consider this.

In rapidly developing India, the industrial giant Tata has come up with a solution to India’s everyday transport problems called the Nano.

It will get four people from one side of Kolkatā or Mumbai to another quickly, relatively quietly, and out of the weather for very little fuel. It may not meet our local vehicle safety requirements, but it’s a bloody sight safer than your average pushbike, motor bike or 20 year old clunker.

So if it works in India, why not here?

Based on up-to-date currency conversions, a Tata Nano would retail here for $2820 AUD. That’s less than you’d pay for a battery powered senior’s scooter.

And they’re air-conditioned. Apparently it gets hot in India.

Watch the tester driving along talking to the camera which is outside the vehicle (at about 1.02).

That's confidence.

Typos are Dangerous

This has absolutely nothing to do with MX5s, but it is related to machines and transport.

It's an ATSB animation showing an incident that occurred at Tullamarine on the night of 20 March 2009. It was developed by downloading the data off the FDR. There's no sound.

The aircraft, an Airbus A340-541, registered A6-ERG and operating as Emirates EK407, with 18 crew and 257 passengers suffered a tailstrike and cleaned up a locator beacon when it ran out of runway.

The reason? Erroneous take-off performance parameters were entered into a laptop by the crew. Apparently someone typed "2" instead of "3".

Some typo!

The crew and passengers need buy no more lottery tickets. They've used up all their luck.

This shot (taken off the end of the runway) shows a locater beacon taken out by the aircraft.

This one shows marks left by the main wheels in the dirt also off the end of the runway.

That was close.

Hardtop Hassles

Paint it silver or leave it black?

Now that what felt like an interminable wait for the MX5’s hardtop is over, I decided I’d better get organised to actually fit the thing.

I’d taken a photo to see how it looked. It looked OK.

I’d even stuck it on top of the car, clipped the two front brackets in place, and drove it around the block.

This disabused me of any notion of actually using it before all clips and brackets were installed. It made the most amazing rubbery creaking noises, and threatened to detach itself and fall off onto the road. The results would not have been pretty.

Now we’re told by the aficionados that any hardtop will fit any MX5. This is true, but there are a range of clips and brackets and you have to match the clips on the hardtop with the latches on the car.

Frankenstein bolts aren't rocket science

Brackets and clips changed with three models of MX5 and I presume three models of hardtops. The mathematicians out there will probably contradict me, but I think that amounts to nine possible combinations. Given that I had no idea of the vintage of the hardtop (even if I did of the car) this matching up exercise was not necessarily straightforward.

Lots of bits

I did lots of browsing on MX5 websites (there are plenty) and after a careful inspection of both car and hardtop came up with pics of what was needed. These I emailed to the three or four suppliers and got info about price and availability. In the end the best deal was local (Brisbane) so I drove and collected the parts. In the process I discovered that the hardtop is about five years older than the car.

I checked the packaging carefully to make sure I had an LHS bracket and a RHS bracket. Turns out I should have taken the brackets out of the packaging. When I got home I unpacked two RHS brackets. Even weirder, they were different breeds of brackets.

The Frankenstein bolts were the right ones. I guess there’s not much to change in a Frankenstein bolt.

I decided to go ahead and fit it. I reckoned that only one securing device missing out of six would probably not be a major problem. I phoned the supplier who promised an LHS bracket to swap for the RHS one when I was next in Brisbane.

It got a bit messy

The most difficult part of the exercise was cutting an opening into the plastic panel behind the front seat to access the thread for the fixing bolts.

I didn’t have a Dremel, so I went to a hardware store where I was sold a twenty dollar drill attachment which took Dremel bits. It worked OK cutting the panel. The aperture has rough edges but that doesn’t matter as it is hidden by the bracket once mounted.

Dremel attachment

I discovered that a fair bit of mucking about is necessary to adjust each of the brackets to get a tight seal. First time on is not the two minute job it’s supposed to be.

RHS bracket installed 

Anyway, it all bolted together, and is watertight after spraying with a Karcher (which didn’t go “twang” when I packed it away).

There seems to be less wind noise with it mounted which means that you can hear the motor – a much more pleasant sound.

Front bracket and clip

The greatest advantage is security. I can leave the thing parked now without worrying that some lowlife will quickly and quietly slit the soft top to get at whatever is in the car. Rear vision is also improved.

Rear clips over Frankenstein bolts

It doesn’t leak, but then the convertible top was also watertight. This is one of the Mazda’s main advantages over classical British roadsters.

One of many virtues

The right truck

My bride tells me that patience is not my most noteworthy virtue.

She should know, as we’ve been married for thirty four years.

I reckon that’s changed with advancing years. My evidence for this statement resides in recent experience with an e-bay purchase.

I bought this item (a hardtop for our MX5) on 25^th August. I was probably a bit lucky to snaffle it, as they’re as rare as hens’ teeth and fiendishly expensive when new ($3000+).

I got this one for a third of that, so I was feeling pretty chuffed.

Problem was getting it from Melbourne to Toowoomba.

I was warned by the wise (members of local MX5 clubs) that these things don’t travel well. Simply loading it into a truck as is would be seriously tempting the courier Gods.

OK I thought – no problem – I’ll drive down to Melbourne, clip it on, and drive it home. This would combine a nice drive in the country with shipping the goods north. I’m always looking for excuses to drive this thing all day.

Unfortunately, the seller broke the bad news that it was lacking the vital parts (“Frankenstein” bolts and striker plates) that would attach it to my car. There are about 20 different combinations of hardtops and MX5s, despite the fact that only three models exist (NA, NB and NC), and the only way to be sure was to view the car and the hardtop together.

I wasn’t going to risk buying parts sight unseen, driving to Melbourne, and then finding that it wouldn’t fit because I didn’t have the right combination of parts.

Plan B was to get a crate made in Melbourne, ask my obliging vendor to pack the hardtop inside, and freight it north.

I found a crew in Melbourne, who knocked up crates, and gave them the dimensions. They fabricated a crate for $137 which was reasonable. I didn’t realise how reasonable until I saw the crate for the first time today.

It's sturdy

There seemed to be an interminable delay in getting it picked up from the vendors place in Melbourne – about ten days actually. I kept hearing that they “don’t have the right truck”. The couriers work alone, so if they’re shifting anything substantial they need a truck with a hoist.

Did I say “substantial”?

This crate would be proof against nuclear attack, and probably weighed four times as much as the hardtop.

Anyhow, it arrived today, after a further 24 hour delay getting it from the depot in Toowoomba to our place because (wait for it) they “didn’t have the right truck”.

It's nearly as big as the car

The hardtop fits. I know that because I’ve already tried it on, carefully avoiding the temptation to take it for a run with only the front clips engaged.

I figure that after waiting four months, another week or two sourcing the attachment parts won’t be a problem. It’s in good nick – although I might get it sprayed to match the MX5. It’s black – too hot in this climate.

Waiting for the attachments and the paint job is no hassle.

I’m patient now. Even my bride says so.

Update

Black or silver?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  It looks OK fitted.