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| The campsite |
Here, as promised back in November, is the ‘warts-and-all’
update about Rio after half a year.
Beloved Wife made positive, albeit feminine, remarks along
the lines of “Cute,” and expressed further unkind opinions involving
hairdressers. But she had to acknowledge the efficacy with which Rio provided
sufficient shoulder and elbow room, and carried three adults and their luggage. Rio is also easy to park, being only 4.1m long and with a 10m
turning circle. Such a shame that after six months, she’s already showing wear
and tear courtesy of inconsiderate sods who open their adjacent car doors with
reckless abandon.
Rio, in bright red, looks not entirely unlike one of the Lekhwiya
(Internal Security) cars that somehow shrank in the wash.
Around town, the automatic gearbox is prone to getting
confused as it hunts for a suitable gear. Over the first thousand kilometres,
while the Goat was under strict instructions not to exceed 4000rpm, this was
less of an issue as he was being very gentle. Now that running her in is over
and the first service has been completed, a less gentle right hoof has the
1500cc engine spinning thrashily away from the traffic lights. The important
thing to remember is that the engine should be fully warmed up before doing
anything stressful. This is the same advice given to motorcyclists, and with
chain-driven DOHC and sixteen bucket-and-shim valves, the Terios engine is very
like one from a Japanese motorcycle. Basically, warm it up first, don’t
over-rev it, use decent oil and change it regularly, and the motor should be
pretty much indestructible. The rather short gearing makes cruising at over
120km/h a rather noisy process, but not so that listening to the in-car
entertainment or conversation actually becomes difficult. Especially at speed,
the cabin is nowhere near as quiet as a BMW 528, but what is?
Around town, Rio can be a lot of fun. What is lost in
outright performance is won back in roadholding. Full-time 4WD helps her to
stick to the corners, even on rare wet occasions. The suspension is rather
stiff and bouncy, especially when there’s no luggage on board, so bumpy corners
can be a little bit interesting with Rio’s rather basic solid axle and Panhard rod
rear suspension. One problem is that Rio stood in the showroom for over two
years before purchase, and all four road tyres have developed flat spots that
cause a vibration at 100km/h. Wheel balancing didn’t solve the problem, and
when each wheel was on the balancing machine the wobbly tyres were obvious. If
these don’t sort themselves out by the 5000km service, the Goat will be aiming
for replacement tyres under warranty.
Fuel consumption is rather disappointing. Within Doha, the
Goat generally achieves around 11 litres/100km (25 miles per imperial gallon).
Extended stops at red traffic lights followed by harsh acceleration are largely
responsible. On the open road, rather better 8 litres/100km (35mpg) is
realistically achievable. Not that the Goat really gives a stuff about the cost
of motor fuel. It’s 85 dirhams a litre; equivalent to UK 15p/litre or $0.88 per
US gallon. Fuel consumption is only of interest when considering the tank range
of between 450km and 625km.
The Goat reckons that the air conditioning could be better.
Plenty of cold air gets squirted into the cabin, but it takes a while for the
interior to cool after being parked in the sun for several hours. The black
upholstery probably doesn’t help to keep the temperature down. But it does help
to show the dirt.
There’s a reasonable number of whistles and bells to
entertain the driver. The basic radio and CD player will only do one CD at a
time, and there’s no short wave band and no cassette player. A useful socket
provides a convenient place to jack in the iPod. Twin trip meters and clock,
plus fuel computer and outside temperature are all available in the instrument
panel. Unfortunately there’s no temperature gauge; just a blue light when the
engine is cold and a red one if it overheats. Electric windows, central locking
and keyless entry all come as standard, as does a pathetic, weight-saving 35dB
mouse-fart horn. There’s fag-lighter socket in the front and another just
inside the tailgate to power camping accessories. Maximum 120W, according to
the owner’s handbook.
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| Desert Terios |
Now on to the subject of camping, and the Goat went down to the
Inland Sea last weekend. Rio performed very much as advertised, dancing on the
sand despite being full of camping gear. The central differential is locked by
punching a button on the dashboard, and a fair amount of revving is necessary
to release all 105 ponies. She even successfully scaled a couple of steep dunes
without fuss, where a younger and less experienced Goat sometimes used to have
trouble in his old Galloper, Cherokee, and occasionally Patrol. The Goat
suspects that this is the experience of years showing, rather than a Terios
being the best dune car in this list. As the Goat actually arrived at the
campsite after dark, he’s pleased to note that the headlights are excellent.
With both sides of the asymmetrical rear seat folded, the
load bed looks cavernous. It’s significantly larger in all three dimensions
than a Jeep Wrangler’s with the back seat removed. Of course, the load area
isn’t a patch on those in bigger 4x4s, but there was room for all the Goat’s
camping gear and provisions and plenty of space left over.
Where the Terios falls down is in build quality. Everything
fits, and everything works, but it all feels thin, plasticky, and apt to break
if it’s Goathandled roughly. So “Gently, gently” is the motto. Gently with the
interior fittings, and the Goat must remind himself that this tiny car,
notwithstanding its delusions, is not a Land Cruiser.
]}:-{>
