Refreshed Land Rover Discovery Sport arrives in South Africa
Land Rover has given its Discovery Sport line-up a refresh for 2025 with updated styling, enhanced technology and new model grades starting with the entry-level Dynamic S.
The most accessible Discovery Sport offering benefits from a racier exterior defined by a gloss black finish applied to its radiator grille, wheel arches, lower bumpers and front claw detailing. This attractive hue is also used on the lower body sides and Discovery script.
The cabin has been spruced up, with a digital instrument cluster and steering wheel-mounted gearshift paddles as standard, while the centre console is home to an 11.4" curved glass touchscreen running the latest Pivi Pro infotainment system. Smartphone integration has been boosted with the addition of wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto.
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Mail & Guardian
13 hours ago
- Mail & Guardian
The BYD Seal 7: Humbling BMW drivers since 2025
The BYD Seal 7. You're in the wrong country if you've never pulled up to a robot and heard a BMW driver rev his car before boosting to the next robot. It's usually a case of 'if you've got it, flaunt it' for those drivers, and some people want to be like them, while others of us laugh at them. One thing that you cannot take away from BMW drivers is that their vehicles can actually back up all the noise they make with the power they produce. However, since new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) entered the market, the power figures that we used to only see on performance cars have become child's play for NEVs. We constantly look at above 200kW of power and over 350Nm of torque. But one critique in the motoring world has been that, while everyone enjoys the power, they miss the noise. The term 'speed and sound' becomes redundant with EVs. With the BYD Seal 7, which is a fully electric sedan, the power figures are astounding. It comes in two variants: the premium and the performance, with the former producing 230kW of power and 360Nm of torque and the latter producing 390kW of power and 670Nm of torque. BYD claims that the performance model does 0-100 in just 3.8 seconds while the premium model takes just under 6 seconds to hit 100km/h. I had the premium model on test, so I didn't get the adrenaline rush I would have got from the performance, but the figures on it mean it is still extremely rapid. It's great to test the instant torque on the vehicles but you have to be a responsible driver and citizen. It's not as if you can go around racing everyone and making a noise — like those BMW drivers. But it also means that you can put them in their place should the need arise. Luckily for me, it actually did. I was going down Atlas Road in Boksburg on my way home after a long two-hour game of padel. I pulled up to the robot just before the highway and some smart BMW driver pulled up next to me revving his engine with his window down. He obviously couldn't hear my vehicle but the Seal 7 gives off real sports-car vibes, which is probably why he wanted to prove a point. I looked across at him and he made the same gesture that I've seen Vin Diesel make in the Fast & Furious movies. He basically challenged me to a race to the next robot. At first, I ignored the gesture and just looked forward but then he revved again. I was not going to just sit back now, so I gave him the signal that it was on. As we left that robot, he made a solid start because of his turbocharged engine, but when the BYD Seal 7 got moving, he just couldn't keep up. Bear in mind, because I was passing it, I didn't see what model he was driving. As we stopped at the next robot, he rolled his window down again, and he asked me about the car. It had obviously impressed him. What impressed me more was just how fast the arrogance disappeared off his face. The Seal 7 is an impressive vehicle. When I drove the BYD Sealion 7, I felt that, at higher speeds, the car seemed slightly nervous, but the Seal 7 got more and more comfortable as the speed increased. It feels extremely solid as the Seal 7 has a double-wishbone plus a five-link suspension. It uses the double wishbone set-up for individual wheel control, while incorporating five control arms for greater suspension geometry flexibility. The range of the car is also impressive. It uses the 82.5kWh BYD Blade battery and the premium variant has 570km of range while the performance variant has 520km of range. Comfort The Seal 7 comes with a beautiful interior that has heated and ventilated leather seats, a pleasing suede panel on the dashboard and a full leather steering wheel. The cabin is completed by the 10.25-inch instrument cluster and a 15.6-inch infotainment system that comes equipped with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. A nice touch is that there are a few buttons around the gear. These include the aircon and demister buttons. You still have to control temperatures on the infotainment system, but in a world where buttons in vehicles have become so rare, we appreciate the few that we see in a vehicle. There is ample room for backseat passengers to sit comfortably. The boot has 400 litres of space and the frunk, which refers to the storage space in the front of the vehicle, has an additional 53 litres. Safety The BYD Seal 7 has earned a maximum five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP. It scored 89% for adult occupant protection, 87% for child occupant protection, 82% for vulnerable road user protection and 76% for safety assist technology. 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The Citizen
a day ago
- The Citizen
Google rejects Meta's app store age-verification push
As Europe cracks down on online content for minors, Google argues Meta's solution would create new dangers instead of solving old ones. American tech heavyweight Google on Friday reiterated its opposition to verifying the age of a device's user through the app stores built into operating systems, calling a proposal from Facebook and Instagram parent Meta 'ineffective'. Age restrictions and the European regulatory push Limiting access to age-restricted content online is a live issue in Europe, with France battling pornography sites over its newly-introduced requirement that they check users' ages. Paris is also one of several capitals pressing Brussels to introduce Europe-wide regulations cutting off access to social networks for under-15s over concerns including addiction, cyberbullying and hate speech. Basing age verification on details from a device's app store 'would require the sharing of granular age band data with millions of developers… who don't need it', such as producers of uncontroversial apps like flashlights, Google wrote in a blog post. Risk to children 'We have strong concerns about the risks this 'solution' would pose to children,' it added. The search giant's Play Store is a part of the Android operating system, by far the most widely-used around the globe. Google said that using app store data to verify ages would also leave major ways people access content online unprotected for the underage, such as desktop computers or shared family devices. ALSO READ: Google takes issue with Competition Commission market inquiry report Apple — whose own App Store is loaded on every device running its iOS operating system, such as iPhones and iPads — has also pushed back against Meta's proposal. The back and forth 'The right place to address the dangers of age-restricted content online is the limited set of websites and apps that host that content,' the iPhone maker said in a February document. 'Implementing age verification at the operating system or app store level will help ensure that we create an ecosystem that's safe for teens,' the Facebook owner's safety chief Antigone Davis told Euronews in February. Meta has since launched a campaign for European regulation to require the measure. Europe's Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force last year, says it is up to platforms like Meta's to verify the age of their users — not providers of operating systems or app stores. Google said that changing to the latter system — which has also been pushed by Pornhub parent company Aylo — would mean 'reengineering the protocols that have defined the decentralized web in ways that are hard to fully predict'. NOW READ: WATCH: Meta Teen accounts launched in SA
The Herald
2 days ago
- The Herald
VW recalls 142 VW Polo and eight Taigo vehicles for passenger airbag fault
The National Consumer Commission (NCC) says there is a recall of 142 Volkswagen Polo vehicles and eight Volkswagen Taigo vehicles, as notified by Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA). 'The recall is due to a faulty part in the gas generators of the front passenger airbag module,' the commission said on Thursday. In the event of an accident with deployment of the front airbag, there may be a reduced protective effect by the front passenger airbag and an increased risk of injury to the passenger, the NCC said. 'Furthermore, the gas generator housing may burst, or components of the gas generator housing may come loose and cause serious or deadly injuries to vehicle occupants.' The NCC said that, according to the supplier, 141 Polo vehicles were made available for sale nationally from December 20 2022, while one Polo and eight Taigo vehicles were made available for sale from January 29 2024. Affected consumers are advised to d eactivate the front passenger airbag, r efrain from using the front passenger seat and s ubmit their vehicle to any VWSA approved dealer for a check and, if necessary, replacement of the affected components. TimesLIVE
